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''Heroes'': On set of the hit that's saving the TV season | 133410__cheerleader_l
SAVE THE CHEERLEADER Panettiere has a key sweeps month story line
Heroes: Dean Hendler

A little more grounded is Adrian Pasdar, who plays high-flying (literally) congressional candidate Nathan Petrelli. A critics' darling since starring in the 1996 cult series Profit, Pasdar typifies this cast composed of working actors–turned–stars of a hit show. ''When we were doing the photo shoot for this story,'' he says, ''we were all looking at each other like we were our own stand-ins. We kept waiting for the real stars to show up. I remember looking at Greg, and we gave each other this knowing nod, like he was thinking the same thing. Then again, he might have just had gas or something.''

Heroes is a story about transformation — on screen and off. Exhibit A: creator Tim Kring, best known for his NBC crime procedural Crossing Jordan. A 24-year TV vet, Kring was looking to ''reinvent'' himself in 2005 after four years of finding different ways to murder different people every week. In particular, he'd been dying to do one of those ''serialized sagas'' for years. Kring needed a novel premise that could hook a mass audience, and when he noticed the culture's conspicuous preponderance of superheroes, he began to wonder why these colorfully clad vigilantes always seem to experience a population boom during catastrophe-shaken times. You know, besides the billions of dollars in licensing and Happy Meals. A high-concept thought bubbled up: What if, in times of profound global duress, Mother Nature created new forms of life to deal with it? An epic conceit began coalescing, but Kring tried his damnedest to forget about it. ''It felt unproducible. Too big. Too out there,'' says Kring, a soft-spoken father of two who radiates a professorial vibe. ''I tried to kill it a few times, but it just kept rising up, partly because I didn't have another idea.''

So he consulted an inner circle of industry friends, like Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof. ''The first thing that hit me when I heard the idea was, 'F---. I wish I had thought of that,''' says Lindelof. ''What was so surprising was how simple the concept was, yet it was built upon a grander theme: the wish-fulfillment of ordinary people suddenly realizing they were meant for something much greater.'' However, Lindelof suggested that Kring might want to check out the similarly themed comic book Rising Stars by J. Michael Straczynski, who also created Babylon 5. So Kring picked up a copy, read the jacket summary, and put it right back down: ''I was like, 'This is the same idea! I'm not reading this!''' For his part, Straczynski says he's not ruffled: ''Everybody in comics...looks to what came before and builds upon it,'' says the writer, who's now — in a circuitous turn of events — shopping a Rising Stars TV series with director Sam Raimi. And what if the networks say, ''Sounds too much like Heroes''? ''Well, there's always seppuku,'' jokes Straczynski.


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