Heroes
NBC | Release Date: September 25, 2006
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
10
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesDoug Elfman
Season 1 Review: The show's super strengths are its well-developed filmmaking, smooth pacing and a perfect cast. It views like the first hour of a fun, thoughtful movie. Read full review
100
People WeeklyTom Gliatto
Season 1 Review: The show's fun, and a little freaky. [2 Oct 2006, p.45]
91
Christian Science MonitorGloria Goodale
Season 1 Review: What they do with their powers and the impact they'll have on others is the raison d'etre of the show; the moody noir tone and offbeat writing are the reasons to tune in. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron
Season 1 Review: "Heroes" is one of TV's most imaginative creations and might, with luck, become this year's "Lost." Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyAlynda Wheat
Season 1 Review: Oka is pure delight as a wage slave who's broken the space-time continuum, and... Grunberg shines as a telepathic cop. [29 Sep 2006, p.71]
80
Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart
Season 1 Review: What makes this intriguing and ultimately irresistible serial thriller one of my favorites of the fall season are its characters. Read full review
80
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Season 1 Review: NBC's "Heroes" is the best pilot of fall 2006. Whether it continues to soar in future episodes remains to be seen. Read full review
80
Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert
Season 1 Review: Like "Lost," it has the potential to grow into a cross-genre drama that reaches beyond cultiness to all kinds of TV viewers. Read full review
80
NewsdayDiane Werts
Season 1 Review: A soul-deep sense of humanity grounds "Heroes." Read full review
80
Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker
Season 1 Review: Heroes offers uneven acting, clunky dialogue and some flat figures.... Yet Heroes overcomes its flaws to present arresting, off-the-wall entertainment. Read full review
75
Detroit Free PressMike Duffy
Season 1 Review: You don't have to be a fantasy or sci-fi geek to have fun with it Read full review
75
New York PostAdam Buckman
Season 1 Review: When I was watching the first three episodes of "Heroes" provided by NBC, I couldn't wait for Hiro's scenes, which is not to say you should dismiss the rest of the characters on "Heroes." Read full review
75
USA TodayRobert Bianco
Season 1 Review: Dense, dark, a little dreary and yet oddly intriguing, Heroes seems destined to attract an audience that is more loyal than large. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
Season 1 Review: It's an entertaining TV show that easily could translate to a terrific comic book. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman
Season 1 Review: "Heroes" may be the dark horse among this year's serialized dramas. It also might be a dud down the road. Because after two episodes, it's not even remotely clear what these "special" ordinary people are capable of. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesMisha Davenport
Season 3 Review: Based on the first action-packed and fun episode, it looks like Kring and crew have succeeded in pulling out of their sophomore slump. Read full review
75
NewsdayVerne Gay
Season 3 Review: This is good bunk, fun bunk, energetic bunk. Much better bunk than the last volume. Read full review
70
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray
Season 1 Review: In a season overrun with "Lost" wannabes, "Heroes" zigs where so many zag, keeping the ethnic diversity, the hidden connections between the characters and, of course, the overarching mystery, but infusing them with something that feels entirely fresh and yet whose appeal is as old as comic books. Read full review
70
Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall
Season 1 Review: A big, colorful, messy, involving, funny explosion of a show. If it's not the best new series of the season, it's definitely the most memorable. Read full review
70
San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa TimesCharlie McCollum
Season 1 Review: Fresh and fascinating. Read full review
70
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Season 3 Review: The first hour of Heroes answers enough questions and moves the story forward in such a way that a few "Huh?" moments won't matter as long as they're answered in short order and don't linger for too long. Read full review
70
PopMattersTodd R. Ramlow
Season 3 Review: In their certitude, the villains are more compelling than their wishy-washy heroic counterparts. The real excitement of “Villains” is its promise to expand the series’ assortment of baddies: their unabashed queerness and freakery make for more fun. Read full review
70
The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley
Season 3 Review: Mr. Kring has assured interviewers and fans that the third season will correct those mistakes and recover the fast-paced suspense and tension of the first season. The premiere episode lives up to that pledge, with lots of violence, special effects and laser-fast editing. The plot and ever-escalating conspiracies are hard to follow, but even first-time viewers can easily get the gist. Read full review
60
TimeJames Poniewozik
Season 1 Review: The writing is uneven... but the idea is audacious enough to keep you following the loose threads. Read full review
60
Seattle Post-IntelligencerMelanie McFarland
Season 1 Review: If you don't take it too seriously, it can be tremendous fun in a Saturday matinee kind of way. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd
Season 1 Review: It does get a little pretentious at times, especially during the opening and closing narrations, but its pretensions are very much comic-book pretensions, and therefore allowable in what is, fundamentally, a comic book. Read full review
60
Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin
Season 1 Review: If not exactly compelling, the pilot episode is engaging and often quirkily funny. Read full review
60
The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley
Season 1 Review: “Heroes” tries very hard to spook viewers with hints of science fiction and dark conspiracies. But its main appeal is the curious link among complete strangers. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara
Season 3 Review: Even just a half hour in, it's difficult not to wish everyone would just lighten the heck up. The graphic novel noir feel is becoming increasingly oppressive, and everyone is just so grim. Read full review
50
VarietyBrian Lowry
Season 1 Review: This is... one of those concepts seemingly destined to leave a small but outspoken fan contingent grumbling next summer at Comic-Con about its cancellation. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeJoanna Weiss
Season 3 Review: NBC sent the first hour of tonight's two-hour season premiere to critics, and it's sprinkled with some of the original fun: inventive special effects, a twist or two, some nifty gore. That doesn't stop it from being the same, familiar mess. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMatt Roush
Season 1 Review: Too much pretentious hooey about destiny obscures an unfocused saga of normal folks with odd powers. Read full review
40
Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall
Season 3 Review: Heroes may be better this year than it was last year, but it's still a very dumb show that just wants you to think it's smart. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyRobert Abele
Season 1 Review: The show is too diffuse, hokey and self-consciously portentous to suggest suspenseful possibility. Read full review
20
Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm
Season 1 Review: Despite oodles of cool effects, it lands, splat, in a pile of nonsense and dim dialogue. Read full review
20
Washington PostTom Shales
Season 1 Review: A largely dreary dirge. Read full review
10
Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan
Season 1 Review: You could watch the first few episodes of “Heroes,” or you could repeatedly hit yourself on the head with a brick. The effect is surprisingly similar. Read full review
0
New York PostAdam Buckman
Season 3 Review: This show, which was once so thrilling and fun, has become full of itself, its characters spouting crazy nonsense. Read full review
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