By Rohin Guha
This past TV season was overflowing with dashing fictitious heroes of every stripe and stroke, from Adam Lambert to Jack Bauer. Be they gentlemen you'd take home to meet your mother or bad-asses with a mean streak you'd sooner lock up in a penitentiary, you still can't forget the way they got into antics, weekly, made your heart palpitate.
Even Joel McHale of "The Soup" proves that your TV boyfriend doesn't need to be built like a superhero, wear guyliner or pack heat to be gorgeous. He just needs to turn a quick punch line.
Sadly, not all of these fantastic fellas are going to stick around. Television tends to be a cruel and unforgiving medium that indiscriminately shortchanges perfect 10s, leaving us to settle for fives and sixes instead. So for every strapping Mike Delfino that confidently struts through primetime, a more princely hero's head rolls. This season, especially, has seen some of the finest heroes face disheartening defeats, by way of pink-slipped serials or those verging on cancellation.
Ned, "Pushing Daisies." Sure you can allude to Ned's (Lee Pace) uncanny ability to invoke and revoke death with a chance touch when talking about his heroics. But his chivalry, doe-like eyes and sweeping sense of romance made him out to be a rare heartthrob. Ned is ideal husband material – putting love ahead of sex, but never turning down an adventure. The salt in the wound of this show's premature axe was probably Ned's innate dreaminess. There was no way you could say "no" to those eyes, and yet, the suits at ABC did just that. Jerks.
Chuck Bass, "Gossip Girl." Motherchucker, indeed. The tortured, scotch-soaked histrionics of Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), combined with his refusal to ever profess his love for Blair Waldorf (well, until the recent second season finale, anyway), make the agonized anti-hero a near-perfect specimen. He's a man who can hold his liquor, dress the whole nine and remain elusive. Let's be honest, this makes him the ideal trifecta for most men surveying dating prospects. This isn't to say that "GG"'s fate looks bleak, but with its creative misfire this past year, the pressure's on to deliver in its third outing.
Marc St. James, "Ugly Betty." The character of Marc (Michael Urie), an overdressed flaneur, initially seemed problematic. But he quickly evolved from mincing stereotype into wily social climber. Alternately, he wasn't all evil. During Betty's three-year tenure, he's emerged as an unlikely champion for the sunny journalist. And as the candy-colored soap flails into its fourth season Fridays this fall, Marc's days as Betty's smart-mouthed foil seem numbered.
Sylar, "Heroes." Unlikely choice? You bet. But Sylar (Zachary Quinto) pulls off a tricky balancing act, simultaneously conveying creepy and sexy. While Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia) and Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy) offer eye candy aplenty, Sylar's added mania, danger and unpredictability are what firmly place him in a league above. And considering "Star Trek"'s overwhelming success, the demise of "Heroes" could only mean excellent things for those of us who find that Quinto brings a little of Sylar to each of his performances.
