Save the Cheerleader… Save the Network?
Women keep running up to Masi Oka, hugging him and running away. His message to them:
“Please stay. I’d be happy to stay and make out as long as you want.”
Masi is getting public attention now because he portrays Hiro the time traveler on NBC’s new buzz hit Heroes. The character drama about super people who are just discovering their powers has been in repeats since November.
Sudden TV fame has changed the lives of actors on the ensemble cast, especially Masi, according to the Naperville Sun.
“One year ago, I was literally auditioning for this [show]. I was running around trying to get a job. And now people recognize me on the street,” Masi said.
“At the Golden Globes, I was starstruck just being in the same room with these amazing, talented artists. To have Tom Hanks coming up to you going, ‘We love your show,’ and Steven Spielberg saying, ‘We love your show’ … that’s surreal.”
Masi says he isn’t at all tired of the sudden rush of fans approaching him on the street. But quick fame makes it hard for him to find private time in restaurants, where he used to go alone to work or collect his thoughts.
“Now I can’t do that,” he said. “Sometimes, people sit down right across from you [and they ask], ‘Do you mind? Is this seat open?’ ”
But now Masi is lined up to do movies, thanks to the success of the show. Milo Ventimiglia, who plays power-copying Peter, had already filmed his role as Rocky Jr. for “Rocky Balboa” before the show became a hit. Ali Larter has a few movies coming out this year.
Hayden Panettiere, who plays Claire, has recorded an album.
One song is called, fittingly, “Saved.”
“It’s about a boy I was very close with, who actually drowned last summer,” Hayden said.
“He was one of my first-ever boyfriends in seventh and eighth grade. We were close friends. We were a little past the point of carrying books.”
Panettiere’s cheerleading character is the one who needs to be saved. The show’s catchphrase is “Save the cheerleader, save the world.”
But since Heroes is a phenomenon for troubled NBC, the show’s motto could be, “Save the cheerleader, save the network.”
Show creator Tim Kring says “Save the cheerleader, save the world” was just a bit in the script; he’s not trying to coin phrases.
It was NBC’s marketing department that turned it into a splashy ad.
“But it also helps T-shirt sales,” Masi cracks.
“That’s right,” Kring jokes. “We are in the T-shirt business suddenly.”
Since Heroes is a romanticized serial of its time, any character can be killed off, supposedly.
“That is why we race to get the next script,” says Greg Grunberg, who plays Matt, the cop who hears others’ thoughts.
Panettiere, whose character regenerates after perishing, takes her fate in stride.
“I die all the time,” so it’s not a big deal, she says. “I feel like Kenny in ‘South Park.’”
Kring says part of the show’s success is due to “24,” “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives.” Those who created “Heroes,” along with network executives, analyzed what worked and didn’t work on those other serials before plowing ahead.
“Heroes” was “an absolute, direct reaction to the audience frustration over ‘Lost,’” Kring says. “We were very much conscious that we wanted to avoid that.
“I knew I didn’t want to posit an ending point, an ultimate goal, like getting off of an island [as in 'Lost']. It just felt it would be too handicapping. … The show can go on forever as long as their lives have normal needs of jobs and relationships.”
Kring sees the public love for Heroes only when he’s out and about and spies his show on the cover of a magazine on a checkout stand, he says. (He also created “Crossing Jordan” for NBC in 2001.)
“The job doesn’t change,” he says. “You still go to work in the same crappy offices, and the same lousy [on-the-set] food. So there’s a real disconnect between success and what your job is.”
One thing Kring initially worried about was “subtitle fatigue” with Japanese being spoken between Hiro and his buddy Ando (James Kyson Lee). But even that didn’t turn into a problem.
“We thought maybe [viewers] would get tired if there were just too much to read. But,” Kring says, “as people get closer to these characters, they seem to want to know more about them. … I think their tolerance for it is increasing.”
Masi - fluent in English, Japanese and Spanish - says Heroes still hasn’t aired in Japan, where people on the street would have no clue who he is.
“It’s kind of interesting,” Masi says. “I could still be anonymous in Japan, which is the irony of it all.”
