By Don Kaye
Special to MSN TV

July 26, 2008

It's a cloudy, balmy Saturday morning in San Diego, day three of Comic-Con, and I'm on line for the highly anticipated "Heroes" panel. Nothing unusual about that, right? Not at all, except that the end of the line is a quarter mile away from the venue. A quarter mile. It snakes out of the convention center, around the back, through a park, along a marina and behind a hotel way down along the water, where the early morning workers watch in amusement as the queue of costumed conventioneers keeps getting longer (I'm dressed as a tired, cranky journalist, so I don't get as much attention as the Catwomen and Stormtroopers on the line). But much to my amazement, and some 55 minutes after getting on line, I find myself seated in the cavernous Hall H.

"Heroes"

One of the biggest genre TV hits in years (after "Lost," whose panel follows), "Heroes" is getting ready to fire up season three. The panel kicks off with a webisode called "Let's Talk," featuring Rebeka Montoya and Kiko Ellsworth, before executive producer Jeph Loeb arrives on stage. The first thing he does is thank the audience for making "Heroes" the now-global phenomenon it is. "Those of you who slept outside last night for this," he adds, "I thank you."

Loeb is actually vamping a little: a combination of traffic and elevator issues are preventing the show from truly getting on the road (no cast members are around yet either). So Loeb gives away some prizes and leads the crowd in a cheering/screaming/caterwauling contest to see which section holds the biggest "Heroes" fans. As he finally launches a "He-roes" chant, the momentum builds until he at last shouts, "Ladies and gentlemen, the entire cast of 'Heroes!'"

All 13 cast members file out, jumping, waving and reveling in the near-hysterical reaction from the crowd. Half the cast members are shooting the scene with their own cameras and cell phones. The noise level jumps even higher as series creator Tim Kring comes out, produces a DVD from a locked briefcase, and informs the crowd they're about to watch the entire third season premiere.

Now I'm not going to be the one to give away anything, but the premiere episode does hurtle along at breakneck speed, setting a lot of different plot threads in motion right away. I will tell you that Hiro (Masi Oka) receives a tantalizing and frustrating message from his father that leads to an even greater revelation, that Claire (Hayden Panetierre) is attacked by Sylar (Zachary Quinto) in a shockingly grisly confrontation, that a seemingly fatal shooting is followed by a speedy resurrection, and that Dr. Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) develops a potentially game-changing serum ... but that's all I'll spill. See the rest for yourself.

The crowd goes absolutely nuts for the premiere, with the cast coming back out for a brief and mostly riotous Q&A. Loeb promises all kinds of goodies to come for the fans, including more online content, graphic novels, "unseen" episodes and more. He, Kring and the entire cast once again thank the fans for their massive support for the show, and they leave to tumultuous cheering. I don't know if it beat the new decibel level record set at the "Twilight" panel on Thursday, but I bet it came close.

"Lost"

The "Lost" panel gets started with a screening of special features from the fourth season DVD, including a "found" video that purports to be footage from a documentary about the "Oceanic Six," a brief feature on the Freighter Folk, and a hilarious "flash forward" with executive producers Cartlon Cuse and Damon Lindelof that finds them engaged in a mostly bleeped conversation about "what happened" in the fifth and sixth seasons.

Like their program itself, Cuse and Lindelof like to play with reality in their panel presentation. The pair quickly introduces a "recruiting officer" for the Dharma Initiative to show video of some of the Initiative's latest "test subjects" ("recruited" from the convention floor). Four of them are trotted out onstage before whisked to the Dharma Initiative booth for purposes unknown. That done, Cuse and Lindelof take questions from the audience. But there's something strange going on: every person who comes to the mic gets a prize that's eerily appropriate to the question being asked. For example, a question about Richard Alpert is awarded with a T-shirt that reads, "I asked a question about Richard Alpert and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." Is it all staged, are these guys just really good at predicting the kinds of questions they'll get from fans these days, or is something more mysterious going on? Like "Lost" itself, the answer is less than clear.

We do find out that shooting for season five begins in three weeks, the island did not go back in time (at least I think that's what Lindelof said), and in a nice surprise, star Matthew Fox steps out to join the producers for the last 10 minutes of questions. He gets a rapturous response and poses for a picture with a fan whose question earns him a Jack Sheppard action figure. In a final odd bit of performance art, one of the Dharma "recruits" comes back onstage to show some "damaging video," but no sooner is the video (from the past, it seems) broadcast than the panel is ended, ostensibly by sponsor The Dharma Initiative. Yes, it's all perplexing as hell -- which is exactly the way the "Lost" boys like it.

"Battlestar Galactica"

Some basic human needs (like food) prevent me from seeing "Buffy" creator Joss Whedon's panel on his new program, "Dollhouse." Suffice to say that if Whedon's at the helm, the signs are good. The signs are also good that even though "Battlestar Galactica" is nearing the end of its run, fans of this highly acclaimed series have not tired of it. The 4,000-seat ballroom is stuffed as host Kevin Smith ("Clerks") introduces -- with typically salty language -- executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, along with cast members James Callis, Michael Trucco, Katee Sackhoff, Tricia Helfer and surprise guests Jamie Bamber (Apollo) and Tahmoh Penikett (Helo). Smith's language gets worse (he is apparently ignoring the signs asking panelists to be aware of fans under 18), but he clearly loves the show and asks knowledgeable questions of his guests.

Revelations about the upcoming final 10 episodes are far and few between for obvious reasons, but a few brief glimpses of footage shown at the beginning of the hour tantalizingly reveal that "Galactica" is getting ready to go out with a bang. During the Q&A, lively bad boy James Callis (Dr. Gaius Baltar) is the most popular and outspoken, although it's hard to match quips with the quick-witted fanboy-ish Smith. But Katie Sackhoff (Starbuck) is equally popular, especially when she gets into a long anecdote about why shooting guns on the show is one of her favorite things to do ("Two is better than one," she says suggestively at the end -- leaving even Smith with no response). When questions about the identity of the final Cylon persist, all Moore will say is that "it's someone you've seen -- not a guest star."

When asked about the series finale (which has already been shot) Bamber says "it does justice to everyone and everything and it's an absolutely sublime ending to the show," while Penikett adds, "It's brilliant and beautiful ... you guys are gonna be blown away." And with that, Smith ends the panel and the crowd gives the cast and creators the first extended standing ovation I've seen all weekend. I'm sure everyone in the room would agree that "Galactica" has earned that.

"Pushing Daisies" and "Chuck"

It's a tribute to the quickly growing success of "Pushing Daisies" that the weird, whimsical program, about to go into its second season, is afforded its very own panel at Comic-Con. Like most of the other series at the con, it's got a fiercely loyal fan base who enjoys its offbeat plot, surreal tone and charming quality of innocence.

Like many events at Comic-Con, however, the "Daisies" panel is scheduled directly opposite the "Chuck" forum, which is where I end up. The show's stars all turn up, along with executive producer Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. "E! News Live" host Kristin Dos Santos kicks off the panel with footage from the upcoming second season. The big revelations? Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Sarah's (Yvonne Strahovski) relationship will expand in a significant way, while danger comes Chuck's way from an unexpected source. Schwartz promises that the new season will deepen the mythology around Chuck and introduce more information about how the Intersect came to him. He also says the series "will own the love story in a big way," with Levi adding, "There's lots of kissing going on this year -- and not just between Yvonne and me."

Schwartz also hints that "something catastrophic" will happen at the end of the season premiere which will set the tone for the overall series arc, while also influencing the regular stand-alone "mission of the week" episodes. The new roster of guest stars include Michael Clarke Duncan ("The Green Mile"), John Larroquette ("Boston Legal") and Jordana Brewster ("The Fast and the Furious"), who appears in a multi-episode story as the girl who first broke Chuck's heart. Strahovski will also enjoy a fight scene in a shower with none other than Nicole Richie -- reason alone to tune in.

"Fringe"

The house is not quite full for the "Fringe" preview panel, which is surprising considering the heavyweights behind it: J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk of "Lost" and "Cloverfield" fame, along with "Transformers" screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. The trailer begins with a reminder of "Lost" -- an airliner caught in a vicious storm at sea. From there we see quick, unsettling glimpses of a lot of other imagery, such as mutated beings, large destructive powers and otherworldly apparitions -- just the kind of stuff you'd expect from the Abrams idea factory.

But while "Fringe" features other elements present in Abrams' signature series, such as scientific experimentation, conspiracy theories and an evil corporation, it also seems to go into "X-Files" territory, featuring both a skeptical protagonist (Josh Jackson of "Dawson's Creek") and a true believer (Anna Torv of "The Pacific"). The cast is rounded out by John Noble, previously seen in "The Lord of the Rings."

Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman (joined on the panel by the three principal actors and co-creators Bryan Burk and Jeff Pinkner) acknowledge that "Fringe" is, like their other work together, an amalgam of the things that influenced them growing up (the writing staff also features "X-Files" alumnus Darin Morgan). And while the show does have a mythology and will include ongoing storylines, Abrams says people won't be "confounded" if they miss an episode or two and that many stories will work independently on their own.

Although "Fringe" web sites are popping up all over, and the two-hour pilot has actually leaked online (Abrams swears the slip wasn't intentional), advance word of mouth on the show is mixed so far; even a proven winner like Abrams might have his work cut out for him in making "Fringe" a mainstream success.

I left my Joker costume home, so I won't be participating in the evening's masquerade ball, which means it's time for me to leave this room. Fine with me. I've been in this auditorium for hours as the biggest day of the convention -- certainly the biggest TV day -- has ebbed and flowed all around me. Time to kick back a bit before we head into Sunday and Comic-Con's closing festivities.

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See also: Friday TV Wrap-Up | Thursday TV Wrap-Up