Save the cheerleader. Save the world

My favorite new TV show this season, hands down, is NBC's Heroes.

A teaser couresty of TV Rage:

Some People Are Born To Be Extraordinary.

They thought they were like everyone else...until they woke with incredible powers. In Japan, a lowly office worker can teleport at will. In New York, a struggling artist can paint the future. In Los Angeles, a discontented beat cop can hear the thoughts of others. Heroes chronicles the lives of these people, and the lives of others like them – whose destiny just might be the saving of humankind...but first they must come to grips with their newfound powers.

I'm not traditionally into superhero stories. I'm not even that enthralled by the new comic book hero movies. But this show has my attention.

Each week focuses on a few of the heroes - normal people across the United States who are finding out they have power. The cheerleader Claire who can survive anything. The Japansese tourist Hiro who can bend time. The split personality Nikki. Nikki's son Micah who can make broken things work again. The telepathic detective Matt. The senator who can fly, Nathan Petrelli. His brother who can emulate the power of whoever he's with, Peter Petrelli. Isaac, the heroin addicted painter who can paint the future. Eden, the girl who can make anyone do anything. Tina, the waitress with the incredible memory. The Haitian who can wipe minds clean. Sylar, the evil man who is hunting the Heroes and killing them one by one. Mr. Bennet, Claire's father who seems to know more than he says.

Each week we learn a little bit more about the characters, and they learn a little bit more about themselves and each other. And we hurtle towards the nuclear explosion that they are trying to prevent.

Each episode is chronicled in a comic.

So far, I haven't found anyone who isn't in love with this show.

Well maybe SOMEONE.

Garbage Disposal Maker Sues NBC Over 'Heroes' Scene
Company says its product cast 'in unsavory light'

The company that makes In-Sink-Erator garbage disposers is suing NBC, claiming that an episode of the new show "Heroes" makes the product look bad.

Appliance maker Emerson filed the lawsuit in a St. Louis federal court Monday, seeking to block rebroadcasts of the "Heroes" pilot. In the episode, a high-school cheerleader (Hayden Panettiere) who has the ability to withstand injury sticks her hand into an In-Sink-Erator while it's running, mangling her fingers (which return to normal within a few seconds).

Emerson's suit claims the scene "casts the disposer in an unsavory light, irreparably tarnishing the product" by suggesting that serious injuries will result "in the event consumers were to accidentally insert their hand into one."

The suit, however, is more about NBC's use of the In-Sink-Erator name than the content of the scene, the company says. "It's a trademark thing," spokesman Dan Callahan tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

NBC hasn't commented on the suit.

Keep watching.



Save the cheerleader. Save the world.