When Heroes first came out, I did the usual thing of checking the cast list to see if there was anyone I knew whom I liked on the list. “Masi Oka? Okay, he’s in Scrubs. Ali Larter? Ooh, I liked her in Legally Blonde. She’s really hot, too. Greg Grunberg? That’s that pal of JJ Abrams who’s on Alias and everything else JJ Abrams has ever done, isn’t it? Adrian Pasdar? Profit!”
However, I was probably the only person to go: “Oh my God. It’s Ashley Crow! Mickey from Probe!”
Ashley Crow? She plays Claire’s mum Sandra on Heroes. And here she is on Probe:
Probe was one of those shows back in the 90s when the UK SciFi Channel started up that got repeated over and over again because they didn’t have the rights to anything else. So I got to watch a lot of it. It’s one of Isaac Asimov’s few interactions with television and bears all his hallmarks: reclusive scientific genius with few social skills investigates technology-related crimes with the assistance of his secretary Mickey, who brings him out of his shell. It’s basically Murder He Calculated, with a very small amount of Moonlighting thrown in.
It wasn’t a great show, but it was fun. And I liked Ashley Crow in it, even if she did have a thankless role. Below, you can watch all of the first episode on YouTube and there’s a fan site over here if you want more information. I just like the fact that the hot sidekicks of yesteryear still get to work in the 21st century. All that stuff with Sandra telling Claire about when she was a kid and doing what Claire was doing – it almost felt like a nod to Probe.
