'Heroes' and Mister Rogers; 'Life on Mars' in-joke and a new podcast

Monday's "Heroes" episode included two Mister Rogers references:

In the first, Pittsburgh native Zachary Quinto's Sylar compained that his new traveling companion (Dan Byrd) described Sylar's absentee father in a way that made the man seem "like Mister freakin' Rogers."

Later in the episode, Claire's mother told her, "I love you just the way you are."

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Last night ABC's "Life on Mars" included a shout-out to one of the stars of the original BBC series of the same name. A bar that was bombed was called Glenister's. Actor Philip Glenister played Gene Hunt in the BBC series; Harvey Keitel plays the role in ABC's show, which has been canceled. Producers got the bad news soon enough so they should have time to create a definitive ending for the show.

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In this week's Tuned In Podcast, entertainment editor Sharon Eberson and I discuss this week's "24" episodes, Jimmy Fallon's debut as "Late Night" host and Bravo's "Top Chef." Listen or subscribe at post-gazette.com/podcast. 

Posted Mar 05 2009, 12:43 AM by Rob Owen
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Comments

Shane wrote re: 'Heroes' and Mister Rogers; 'Life on Mars' in-joke and a new podcast
on Thu, Mar 5 2009 11:50 AM

I've been watching Heroes all this time and had no idea that Sylar was from Greentree. We went to the same middle school (Jay Neff). :)

Rob Owen wrote re: 'Heroes' and Mister Rogers; 'Life on Mars' in-joke and a new podcast
on Thu, Mar 5 2009 3:01 PM

Yep.  We've written about his local connections many times, including when he got the "Heroes" job: www.post-gazette.com/.../742543-237.stm

Traffic wrote re: 'Heroes' and Mister Rogers; 'Life on Mars' in-joke and a new podcast
on Thu, Mar 5 2009 4:13 PM

Rob,

Glad you are back on board with 24. I thought Monday was a great episode, as pretty much they all have been this year. I was hopeful this season would be good, and so far have not been disappointed.

As with most shows, you have to suspend disbelief, but this one, a little more. For some reason, I didn't have a big problem with their getting into the White House via the river; I actually find the lack of traffic (at least they did run into some) more bothersome, not to mention that Juma and his man did not (thankfully) shoot Bill when they came upon him.

Looking forward to the rest.

Rob Owen wrote re: 'Heroes' and Mister Rogers; 'Life on Mars' in-joke and a new podcast
on Thu, Mar 5 2009 8:47 PM

There's plenty of things to nitpick on "24," but Monday's two-hour was great entertainment. I'm happy to see the show back on track.