Streaming Sci Fi TV: Tracking down sci fi and fantasy shows of interest available on the streaming services. Note that these shows can be pulled from the services at any time with little notice.
What Is It?
This superhero drama with bits of sci fi follows ordinary people around the world who suddenly discover they possess extraordinary abilities such as telepathy, flight, regeneration, and time travel. As they struggle to understand their powers, their lives become intertwined in a race to prevent a catastrophic future.
Aired: NBC, 2006-01, 4 Seasons Totaling 77 Episodes
Starring: Hayden Panettiere, Jack Coleman, Greg Grunberg, Ali Larter, Masi Oka, Adrian Pasdar, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Milo Ventimiglia
Created By: Tim Kring
Why Watch It?
Back before Marvel and DC were putting out movies several times a year and before The CW’s Arrow delivered half a dozen spin-offs, this superhero series with sci fi elements premiered on NBC, delivering a fascinating collection of characters who possessed strange and powerful abilities. Its cast consisted of a large number of names that were either already well known or were up-and-coming talents like Adrian Pasdar, Hayden Panettiere, Greg Grunberg, Ali Larter, Milo Ventimiglia, and more. And the show delivered an engaging first season as the various “heroes” came together to fight against a global threat—driven by the catchphrase “Save the cheerleader, save the world”—as it got off to a very promising start.
Sadly, the quality of the series dropped in its second year, in part due to the fact that it was cut short because of the writers’ strike and also because NBC insisted that the creative team diverge from their original season-long anthology plan of focusing on different heroes each year. (The departure of executive producer Bryan Fuller also likely had an impact on the show’s quality as well.) For the rest of its run, Heroes was mostly hit-and-miss, but it still had its moments, and the first year counts as a near-perfect season despite the fact that it ended on a rather anticlimactic note. The show has since developed somewhat of a mixed reputation, but it is still worth a watch even if you may not stick it out through the entire four-year run.
Where Is It Streaming?
Heroes had disappeared from streaming for a while, but it is available once again, and you can watch it for free on Tubi. That is an ad-supported service similar to Hulu when it first started, and it has a decent selection of sci fi and fantasy television shows and movies. All four seasons of Heroes are available there, though the revival series Heroes Reborn, which ran for one season, is not streaming on that service. The show has also been released on DVD, and you can purchase it VOD.
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