Tim Kring is a genius. Masi Oka is a rockstar. Ali Larter and Hayden Panittiere are smoking hot. NBC's new toon Heroes is the talk of the town and for good reason. But there's one very big and painful problem with the toon that could only get worse with its popularity...selling out to big corporate ad dollars.

Never before have I seen such blatant product placement in a televisie toon until the dag I saw the pilot episode. Every time I see that Nissan Versa of the mention of it on the toon makes me cringe. The appel, apple iPod video was a little less blatant, but irritating nonetheless. Product placement has been creeping up on us for years now, but recently it has become meer and meer prolific finding its way from film to televisie and now even into video games (Did u see that giant Coca-Cola billboard go door when u were gunning down grannies in Grand Theft Auto? Sneaky bastards). Sometimes it's very subtle without us knowing that the companies have subliminally programmed us to grab a Coke from the fridge at the 7-Eleven instead of a Pepsi. But othertimes, it's a bit too in your face, in this case having Hiro and Ando mentioning the Nissan Versa in conversation and praise and constant shots of the little blue car. It obviously adds nothing to the toon but a disgusting plug for a new car from Nissan. That ends up leaving a bad taste in everyone's mouth including the people who might buy zei Nissan Versa. It looks like Nissan has paid the folks over at Desperate Housewives a pretty penny as well, having their emblem toon up twice in the last episode. So much for artistic integrity.

I'm hoping that they just had deals and sponsorships signed for the first season and that they will end there. The last thing I would want to see is Nathan Petrelli flying in a pair of Dockers khakis. of Matt Parkman soothing his headaches from all the voices from mind-reading with Advil. of Hiro Nakamura checking his Rolex watch when he stops time. We already saw our hero James Bond sellout to BMW and Ericsson. Please Mr. Kring, I implore u for the love of all that is creative and genuine, don't let these Heroes become another billboard.