  The Heroes are, left to right: Ali Larter, Noah Gray-Cabey, Adrian Pasdar, Milo Ventimiglia, Zachary Quinto, Masi Oka, Hayden Panettiere, Greg Grunberg, Jack Coleman, and Sendhil Ramamurthy. The series kicks off the new season tonight on Global and NBC.
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David Bowie once sang, "We can be heroes ... just for one day."
The question now is whether TV viewers are going to love Heroes ... just for one year.
The second season of the breakout fantasy/drama series Heroes debuts tonight on Global and NBC. But Zachary Quinto, who plays Sylar, thinks the show has far too much real-world relevance, and far too much to say, to be worried about a sophomore slump.
"It's not just that people like to talk about our show, it's the themes of the show," Quinto said. "The show is about saving the world. The show is about people waking up to their own power to make a difference.
Cast excited
"It's not like the entire world is talking about the sex scene in the shower at the hospital with the doctors, or the lawyers in the bathroom, or whatever."
Take that, Grey's Anatomy!
Take that, Boston Legal!
Take that, Antiques Road Show!
Okay, we went too far with that last one.
The point is, Heroes is back, and the ensemble cast seems as excited as anyone about where the series might be headed.
After all, in a universe where many of the characters have unexplained super-powers, just about anything is possible.
On tap tonight in an episode titled Four Months Later, the fates of Peter (Milo Ventimiglia), Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) and Matt (Greg Grunberg) are impacted in a major way following their showdown with Sylar at the conclusion of the first season; new characters Maya (Dania Ramirez) and Alejandro (Shalim Ortiz) search for help in coping with their deadly abilities; and a new and sinister force starts stalking the Heroes landscape (it probably isn't David Bowie, but you never know).
If there's extra pressure on the cast of Heroes to recreate the magic of Season No. 1, Ventimiglia claims he isn't feeling it.
"There always is going to be pressure, no matter whether it's the first, second, third, fourth or fifth season," Ventimiglia said.
"I think you have to strive to better yourself and better your characters. But this show always is going to be a big one to make. So I think, if anything, it reminds us not to slow down and not to slack off, to do better and to grow."
Grunberg went so far as to turn the pressure truck around.
"I think there's less pressure this year, personally," Grunberg said. "A pilot usually is never as good as the series, and this pilot was just extraordinary, but I think we have kept up the quality.
"To me, at least, whenever I received the next script, it just got better and better."
Hopefully that trend will continue.
ALSO RETURNING: n Corner Gas (CTV); n Dancing With the Stars (CTV/ABC); n The Bachelor (City/ABC); n Two and a Half Men (CBS); n How I Met Your Mother (E!/ CBS); n Rules of Engagement (E!/CBS); n CSI: Miami (CTV/CBS).
DEBUTING: n The Big Bang Theory (CBS); n Journeyman (Global/NBC); n Chuck (City/NBC).
ADVICE: Configure your PVR so you don't miss Heroes, Corner Gas and The Big Bang Theory, a promising new sitcom starring Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco and possible breakout star Jim Parsons.
