Heroes: Reborn

Heroes Reborn, a 13-episode “event series” on NBC, may or may not satisfy fans of the original series (which ended in 2010). Judged on its own, Heroes Reborn doesn’t make an airtight case for its revival. Nevertheless, the first three episodes (including the two-hour Sept. 24 premiere) demonstrate that “Heroes” is/was an often stylish way to tell tales of the super-abled.

There’s still little reason to think anyone is clamoring for this particular reboot.... The new show is not nearly as convoluted, but it shows signs that it could go down that road.

The imagination of the show is all front-loaded, in the conception of the characters, yet what they actually DO when they are met by Renautas Corp is tiresomely predictable: they engage in yet another chase scene.

Creator/executive producer Kring hasn’t learned anything from seasons two through four. Heroes Reborn suffers from the same excesses that alienated viewers--too many characters, too many plot threads, too many snippets of scenes that serve to advance little but the time to a commercial break. Finally, the show seems old-fashioned.

Mostly it’s business as usual, which, for a show that apparently ran out of good ideas years ago, is not exactly promising.

All of the newbies (including a luchador-styled vigilante and a pair of gun-toting assassins) are the broadest of types, often brought to life more by the originality of their powers than by the actors playing them.

Unless the show improves from this more or less adequate premiere and shows consistent flair and originality, I can’t in good conscience recommend Heroes Reborn over the sterling comic books, new and old, the property continues to imitate.

Right now, it's big and busy and slickly packaged but dramatically diffuse and a little soapy in its portentousness. That probably makes it unsuitable for grownups.

The Heroes Reborn opener had its share of potentially showstopping moments, but they land awkwardly and without much force. In place of wonder, there is mostly nostalgia.

Above all, there’s a world to be saved. But Heroes Reborn so far is anything but a world-beater when it comes to cohesive, comprehendible storytelling.

The two-hour premiere moves with enough verve and vigor that it got me hoping that the show, despite its flaws, can be as engrossing as its first season. But the second week outing is a clunker that left me convinced that Heroes is more likely to squander my interest all over again.

Heroes Reborn would have to do something drastically different to distinguish itself in 2015, but all it seems to offer so far is more of the same.

Heroes Reborn is in a curious middle ground where it seems to be giving both too much and too little exposition.

Relying over-much on nostalgia for its roots, Heroes Reborn seems astonishingly obtuse about the new world of television.... Ambitious is one thing, a big hot mess is quite another. There are too many characters to keep track of, never mind care about.

The newest aspect of Heroes: Reborn is that there are no new characters, only the same inertia that plagued the first go-round for Heroes. The superfans will be pleased if only because it's comforting to see long-gone characters return to continue their story lines, but everyone else will be confused as to why Heroes was resurrected in the first place.