Naturalism is a movement in European drama and theatre that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It refers to theatre that attempts to create a perfect illusion of reality through a range of dramatic and theatrical strategies: detailed, three-dimensional settings (which bring Darwinian understandings of the determining role of the environment into the staging of human drama); everyday intervening in the human action); an exclusive focus on subjects that are contemporary and indigenous (no exotic, otherworldly or fantastic locales, nor historical or mythic time-periods); an extension of the social range of characters portrayed (away from the aristocrats of classical drama, towards bourgeois and eventually working-class protagonists); and a style of acting that attempts to recreate the impression of reality (often by seeking complete identification with the role, understood in terms of its 'given circumstances', which, again, transcribe Darwinian motifs into performance, as advocated by Stanislavski).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalism_(theatre)

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Yeah, that describes Heroes perfectly.

The question never mentioned that the powers had to be supernatural based off definitions in the show. If that was the case Star Trek wouldn't be Sci-Fi since in the context of the show space travel is a reality.

So no one has ever attributed people’s abilities to God? Also, the 2nd definition speaks to the appearance to transcend the laws of nature.

I am going to need to see more visual evidence of the person from picture #2 before making a determination.

That's like saying the law of gravity doesn't apply to helicopters. Sure it does. In the context of the show, Nathan flies because of the way his genes make his body interact with the world. Maybe his thyroid generates anti-gravity particles. Who knows. The point is that it's not magic, it's a natural biological process, and the fact that not everyone can do it doesn't make it any more unnatural than the fact that not everyone has blue eyes or [blatant pander to the judge] the fact that not everyone is gay. Just because something is not universal does not make it unnatural.

Can somebody in the real world fly? Of course not. But nobody in the real world could survive the kinds of days Jack Bauer has. That doesn't mean he's supernatural -- it just means we're suppsoed to accept the premise that the human body can take the kind of punishment that his does.

Okay everyone. We're at the end of Round 4 (Primetime) and it is time to reach a decision on the Heroes question.

Envelope, please...

In the context of I Dream of Jeanie aren't all the thing she does "natural" because she "naturally" possesses those powers?

Whoa! It says "Heroes is a wrong answer. All other players receive a -5 bonus to their score."!

Bill and Ted are shocked.

I honestly read the question and immediately focused on shows involving magical phenomena, not science-fiction phenomena. I don't remember actually giving Heroes any thought, but if you had asked me, I would have said it was science fiction without a moment's hesitation.

The characters of Heroes are not ghosts, witches, gods, paranormal, magic, occult, vampires, etc.

Hooray for the envelope!

She's a genie. Scientifically explain how genies exist (or point to how the show scientifically explains this).

bad call on Heroes Tracer, the question was not specific enough to call it wrong.

D'oh! I was so busy focusing on Heroesgate that I missed this. When I came up with my answers, I spent more time debating South Park vs. Daily Show vs. Colbert than I did on all the rest of the questions combined. I quickly eliminated Colbert, since I figured anybody inclined to give it as an answer would have gone with the Daily Show, but between the Daily Show and South Park .... oh well. Guess I made the wrong choice.

She has unique genes which have mysteriously mutated to give her abilities. Wow, I could write for NBC.

point to where in the question it says that that the supernatural is defined by the show

I just went with South Park because it's had its own Sheep game.

They are a species like all other creatures.

I figured the movie, cds, and the fact that people would probably thinking along the lines of fiction shows for the majority of these questions made South Park the better answer.

Fair enough but I focused on the part of the question that said "supernatural." You can look up all definitions of the word, but if someone in our world was able to fly or read minds, would people not call it supernatural?

It doesn't matter now though, but I can't even believe that argument just happened.

Based on what I've learned from the religion threads in Other, anything that interacts with nature is by definition natural. Hence all the answers are wrong!

orangecrush wins this round with his score of -172, giving him a -8 bonus to his score!

What a turn-around for this previous Sheep victor! Is it enough for him to pull ahead?

Point to where it is not. Heroes (and Quantum Leap and most science fiction shows) define what seems "magical" to us through science. That is why that genre has a very specific name.

If Tracer Bullet wanted us to answer with sci-fi shows, he would've said so. When any "powers" or "abilities" are answered through science, it ceases to be magic.

Harry Potter = fantasy = magic

Heroes ≠ Harry Potter