Television is horrible. It has few redeeming qualities. But that’s probably why we love it.

I came to this conclusion after watching the latest episode of “Heroes,” NBC’s popular superhero serial. As a comic book dork, I was one of many drawn to the show’s kitschy premise and extended plot lines. The non-traditionalist delivery of storylines, which bridged into the real world with ties to character MySpace pages, congressional web sites and text messages, also seemed clever.

As the first episode kicked off this season, however, I realized something that I knew and perhaps denied from the moment I began watching the show: It’s stupid pap.

Attractive pap to be sure, but behind the flash and the embrace of new-media storytelling, “Heroes” is the same as most other shows. It favors style and predictability over substance and originality. The comic book gloss can’t hide the torpid acting or Swiss cheese plots. The telegraphed cliffhangers are predictable, mixed with a hint of classic serial zest. Yet, in spite of this, the show remains hugely popular and folks keep watching.

The show is based on a favored industry formula: pack enough mediocre in a market-tested shell and launch it at an easily-placated public. The body count will soar. Ironically, the few rounds that aren’t complete duds often go under appreciated for not being mediocre enough. Or air on HBO. Those unlucky shows on broadcast networks are promptly canceled for poor ratings.

By aiming for the lowest common denominator, the industry is only being fiscally conservative. A chance on anything that might potentially diverge from the formula is a dollar at risk. So it’s understandable that things are the way they are, seeing as the method works and TV is a business. But this kind of pop pandering spills over into other venues as well.

Journalistic outlets use the same methods to increase viewership, often at the cost of compelling news. If we constantly seem to have Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan or any other number of celebrities on our mind, it’s because we’re constantly fed every update of their lives, if only to maintain some media corporation’s bottom line. It’s the same thing fabled broadcast journalist Edward Murrow dealt with as CBS shunned his hard news reporting.

“If we were to do the Second Coming of Christ in color for a full hour,” Murrow once said, “there would be a considerable number of stations which would decline to carry it on the grounds that a Western or a quiz show would be more profitable.”

Things haven’t changed much since Murrow’s time. The recent success of Ken Burns’ “The War” documentary, which spotlighted Sacramento and three other towns, proves that Americans do tune into educational television. But comparatively, it is a marked success. According to PBS, the overnight rating of the show’s Sept. 23 premiere was a 7.3, which means roughly 8.5 million TVs were tuned in to the World War II documentary. In contrast, “Heroes” averaged 14.3 million viewers last fall over the course of the season.

Evil TV corporations only hold half the blame. After all, we’re the ones willing to forgo “deep” television in favor of shallow pursuits. Maybe we just don’t want to be challenged. Maybe after dealing with all the junk doled out in our increasingly mediated but somehow cloistered lives, escapism, in whatever form expressed, seems much more appealing than the truth. But the lie is still a lie, no matter how it’s packaged.

Paul Rios can be reached at [email protected].