Although this podcast has come to a close, there is still plenty of Big-O goodness to be had! My Lost podcast is still going strong, and my Apple Hacking podcast is as well. And you can join in live to either one! I hope to talk with you soon.

Good news: Heroes season three starts tonight. Woo Hoo!

Bad news: My schedual isn’t going to let me do live shows at the moment. But don’t despair! I’m still doing to be recording my thoughts and releasing that into the feed. Hopefully my schedule will lighten up before the end of the season and I can start the live shows again.

–O

Hiro is disturbed by the grim future he discovers where those with special abilities are hunted and considered threats to society. He attempts to return to his own time, but is caught up in a battle that involves a host of new and oddly familiar faces.

Peter is disappointed by a betrayal; Claire can’t contain her anger toward her father; Matt loses control when radioactive refugee Ted Sprague shows up; a new hero with “wireless” mental powers appears.

Nathan meets Linderman in person just before the election; Hiro goes for the sword again with dire consequences; Suresh makes a breakthrough on “the list”; another person with powers, Candice Wilmer (Missy Peregrym), shows up.Nathan meets Linderman in person just before the election; Hiro goes for the sword again with dire consequences; Suresh makes a breakthrough on “the list”; another person with powers, Candice Wilmer (Missy Peregrym), shows up.

The Bennets are taken hostage by Matt and Ted Sprague, which leads to a tragic showdown—and some insight into Mr. Bennet’s mysterious past.

Meanwhile, here is the synapsis of this weeks episode:

Peter is disappointed by a betrayal; Claire can’t contain her anger toward her father; Matt loses control when radioactive refugee Ted Sprague shows up; a new hero with “wireless” mental powers appears.

Matt and Jessica’s new jobs bring them together. Mohinder tries to contact evolved humans from the list. Sylar resumes his efforts to collect new powers. As Sandra Bennet’s health declines, Claire seeks a connection with her birth parents. Nathan travels to Texas to see Meredith. Hiro and Ando attempt to help a showgirl in Las Vegas.

In the live Heroes Podcast Big-O is joined again by Patti and Emily, and also a new guy named Neil.

Hiro tries to explain his new life direction to his unsympathetic father and sister; Niki tries to connect with D.L. and Micah; Peter gets another lesson in harnessing his power; and Claire’s search for her birth mother leads her to a Texas trailer park.
This week I am joined by Patti, Emily, and a fellow named Kato who is fairly new to Heroes.

Hiro’s search for the sword takes an unexpected turn when his father appears; Claire decides to search for her birth parents; D.L. works to deal with his family duties; and Isaac dedicates himself to saving New York—from Peter.

“Thank you for your interest in Primatech Paper and taking the time to complete our employee application.

We are always interested in unique individuals with special abilities to help us provide the best service to our many clients.

Please retain this email for your records. A Primatech Paper representative will be contacting you in a few weeks with the next steps.”

This should prove to be interesting!

Here’s the press release:

NBC GIVES ‘HEROES’ AUDIENCE A 360 DEGREE EXPERIENCE BEGINNING ON JANUARY 22

NBC Digital Entertainment To Launch Comprehensive Interactive Extension For Scripted Series Sponsored In Part By Nissan

Burbank, CA - January 19, 2007 - NBC today unveiled its extensive “TV 360″ realization for the breakout-hit “Heroes.” The digital extensions, which launch with the return of original episodes of the show on Monday, January 22nd, will include exclusive and original content made available on several alternative platforms, sponsored in part by Nissan.

The announcement was made by Jeff Gaspin, President NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, Digital Content and Cross Network Strategy.

“This is particularly exciting because it’s the most developed TV 360 application we’ve created for a scripted series, and the first to use this level of interactivity,” said Gaspin. “‘Heroes’ has proven itself a hit on-air and online, and these extensions of rich, original content will allow our audience unprecedented access to new levels of the show as they dig deeper.”

Beginning on January 22nd, viewers will be invited to experience “Heroes” in a whole new way. As they investigate on-air clues and learn new truths about the characters, their involvement will lead them to new platforms, including interaction with unique mobile content; a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) site that one of the characters gives them access to; a special “two screen” application which provides a real-time experience; access to the fictional Primatech Paper company’s phone system; and significantly increased original content on NBC.com including secret files, hidden sites and original commentary from cast members added to each streaming episode.

“This opportunity is the next step in continuing Nissan’s successful partnership with Heroes,” said Melissa Adams, Senior Manager of Media, Nissan North America. “‘Heroes’ has been key to helping Nissan establish its new entry compact car, Versa. Heroes 360 will only further enhance the awareness of Nissan’s innovative products.”

As the season of “Heroes” continues, the “Heroes 360″ extensions will evolve with new areas of exploration each week. OMD will be handling the media buying and implementation for Nissan.

From creator/writer Tim Kring (NBC’s “Crossing Jordan”) comes the Golden Globe nominated “Heroes,” an epic drama that chronicles the lives of ordinary people who discover they possess extraordinary abilities. “Heroes” has been honored recently with a People’s Choice Award, an AFI Award and a Multicultural Prism Award, as well as nominations at the Golden Globe Awards, NAACP Image Awards, WGA Awards and Satellite Awards. As a total eclipse casts its shadow across the globe, a genetics professor (Sendhil Ramamurthy, “Blind Guy Driving”) in India is led by his father’s disappearance to uncover a secret theory — there are people with super powers living among us. A young dreamer (Milo Ventimiglia, “Gilmore Girls”) tries to convince his politician brother (Adrian Pasdar, “Judging Amy”) that he can fly. A high school cheerleader (Hayden Panettiere, “Ice Princess”) learns that she is totally indestructible while trying to relate to her father (Jack Coleman, “Dynasty”) who has a keen interest in people with special abilities. A Las Vegas single mother (Ali Larter, “Final Destination”) struggles to make ends meet to support her young son (Noah Gray-Cabey, “My Wife & Kids”) and discovers that her mirror image has a secret. A fugitive from justice (Leonard Roberts, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) continues to baffle authorities who twice have been unable to contain him. A gifted artist (Santiago Cabrera, “Empire”), whose drug addiction is destroying his life and relationship with his girlfriend (Tawny Cypress, NBC’s “Third Watch”), can paint the future. A down-on-his-luck Los Angeles beat cop (Greg Grunberg, “Alias”) can hear people’s thoughts, which puts him on the trail of an elusive serial killer. In Japan, a young man (Masi Oka, NBC’s “Scrubs”) develops a way to stop time through sheer will power. Their ultimate destiny is nothing less than saving the world. Joining Kring as executive producer are Dennis Hammer (NBC’s “Crossing Jordan”) and Allan Arkush (NBC’s “Crossing Jordan”). The drama is produced by NBC Universal Television Studio in association with Tailwind Productions.

This is our live chat about the episode. I was joined by several other viewers right after the show aired, including Emily from the 3 Heroes podcast, and Joe from the 9th podcast.

Perhaps the most notable thing about this episode was that NBC seems to be entering the ARG space with an out-of-show interactive game tied to the Primatech Paper Company. So far it seems like a DIRECT copy of what ABC did with the Lost experiance, but I am of the group that was somewhat dissapointed with how ABC’s ARG turned out, so I’m just hoping that NBC does a better job of it.

There was a banner that came on the screen during the show that “Do you want to know the truth? Text…” and it showed a number to text message. I don’t remember what that number is because it was gone so quick, but the text you get just tells you to go to http://www.primatechpaper.com and use the code MT16 (note that people on the forums are reporting that some have gotten different numbers, it appears that the number you get from the text message may only be valid for a limited amount of time).

If that code doesn’t work for you, the call the 800 number listed on the Primatech site, 1-800-PRIMA16, and go to option #3 to get the code. Using that code on the careers page lets you fill out a survey to apply to work at Primatech. I have not gotten any word back from that yet myself, but people on the forums have said that they got a text message saying that there were things that “we need to work on together” and that they would be in touch.

I looked through the html code on every page of the site and didn’t find any easter eggs hidden anywhere. They are using a company called Omniture for statistic gathering, which is funny because I use that at work as well. Other than that, all of the html and javascript seemed very hand made and un-interesting.

The place where you enter the code is validated by JavaScript and is using MD5 and some other functions to obscure what it is doing, but my guess is that if you took the time to disect it you would find that the code is emmbeded right in the page in an obscured way in the JavaScript code.

The only other notable thing I saw was that on the Primatech careers page there is an html comment just above the place where the two check boxes are where you choose if you want to receive emails or texts AND emails. The comment says:

The following three opt-in boxes are used to calculate the thirdcontact hidden field value on submit. The individual checkbox values do not need to be recorded.

So that helped me notice that there is a “hidden” html value that is getting passed along with the other data when you submit the form. The value is called “thirdcontact” and has a default value of zero. I’m hoping that someone smarter than me can help me guess what that might be being used for.
Cool stuff

The list includes the following:

Lost has a middle-eastern man named Sayid
Heroes has a middle-eastern name named Mohinder

Lost has a hot girl named kate who is running from the law, and is good in a fight
Heroes has a hot girl named nikki who is running from the law, and is good in a fight

Lost has a black man named Michael who is estranged from his son
Heroes has a black man named DL who is estranged from his son

Lost has a black kid named walt with special abilities who was raised by a black mother and a white father
Heroes has a black kid named michah with speciall abilites who was raised by a white mother and a black father

Lost has a blonde named claire that stared in an episode named homecoming
Heroes has a blonde named claire that stared in an episode named homecoming

Lost has a future-seeing, long-haired painter named desmond
Heroes has a future-seeing, long-haired painter named issac

In Lost, most of the characters have daddy issues
In Heroes, most of the characters have daddy issues

Lost has pervasive references to christianity, far-east religions, and philosiphers
Heroes has pervasive references to christiantiy, far-east religions, and philosiphers
If you have other ideas for similarities between the shows then contact me!

And trust me when I say that we would all be better off if I just forgot about it but unfortunately for you, I’m bound and determined on this.

I would like to apologize in advance to all the other Heroes podcasts out there who as a whole suck much less than me.

Ok with that out of the way, a few words about my plans for this show. One of the things I am very fond of is LIVE podcasts, and if you have never been a part of one, it is a total blast. I’ll give more details about how it works later, but it’s basically a big conference call that I will start up every week right after the latest Heroes episode is done. That way we can all get together while the adreniline is still pumping and chatter about it, and that becomes the podcast for the week. It’s a lot of fun.

I will also be releasing other episodes besides the live ones. The format for those will vary, but if you listen to my Lost Podcast you can get the feel for how I like to operate. I love holding contests, I love giving interviews, and I love keeping things short and light.

Also, as the name Cranky Hero suggests, I am not afraid to share (often loudly) the things that I DON’T like about the show, but I am a huge fan so it should balance out in the end.

So, much more to come and feel free to hit my contact page to send me an email, or hit my myspace page at myspace.com/crankyfanatic.