Heroes Webisodes This Week

A new, three-episode series of Heroes webisodes called "Going Postal" premieres this week on nbc.com, offering a glimpse at a new character and providing some setup for this fall's third season.

Heroes, which has been off the air since the writer's strike aborted the bottom half of the second season, is essaying its first web series. Short web dramas have proved very successful in generating attention for other genre properties, including Smallville and in particular Battlestar Galactica, whose ten-episode preview to season 3 in 2006 provided background about the Cylon occupation of New Caprica.

Here's the official rundown:

• In the first webisode of "Going Postal," "A Nifty Trick," Echo DeMille, an everyday mailman, discovers a startling ability that quickly makes him a target.
• In the second webisode, "The Houseguest," posting on July 21st, Echo races home to protect his girlfriend Gina, and finds deadly uses for his new ability.
• In the third webisode of this installment, "Let's Talk," which posts on July 28th, Echo sends Gina off to safety while he confronts his enemies, but the tables turn with an unexpected twist.

Echo is played by Kiko Ellsworth, whom Dexter fans will recognize as Bertrand, Lt. Pasquale's wayward boyfriend. Also present are girlfriend Gina (Rebeka Montoya), the ominously named thug Constrictor (Mark Steger), and the watchful Agent Howard (Brian Prescott). Echo's ability? Don't read the rest of this sentence if you don't want to know he can generate very loud screams.

The webisodes are a nice thing to have after six months without Heroes, but they're short, even for webisodes (less than four minutes), and – as with other nbc.com video – fronted with a commercial. There's also a 90-second trailer, which seems to reveal the unadvertised presence of Angela Petrelli (Cristine Rose).