I'm not sure why people are gravitating to uneven NBC show Heroes, but they are. Audience numbers keep climbing – 15 million last week – and now the show is slated to suck up two famous SF TV actors. George "Sulu" Takei will make an appearance as the father of geek heartthrob Hiro (Masa Oki). And, mirabile dictu, the ornery and fantastic Christopher Eccleston will come on board as a mystery character to arrive in January. Eccleston is the guy who made Doctor Who cool again in season one of the new series (the Doctor is currently played by prettier but less inspired David Tennant). Eccleston also knocked my socks off as the evil military commander in Danny Boyle's superlative zombie flick 28 Days Later.
The real mystery here is why Eccleston decided to jump to this cheesy US show which is slightly better than Greatest American Hero and slightly worse than the 1970s Wonder Woman series. Allegedly Eccleston left Doctor Who because he wanted to do more serious projects, which seemed perfectly plausible given his credentials. Now he's joining a series whose goofiness outstrips even the farting aliens and cat nuns of Doctor Who. Maybe the guy just loves the United States or something. Or maybe it's the US dollar.
Eccleston Joining Heroes [Heroestheseries.com]
