Why is Heroes so awesome? Warning-Spoilers!

[scaeagles]

OK...I watch Prison Break, 24, Survivor, and Lost. Never seen Heroes. Except...

I happened to catch 45 minutes of an episode tonight where some burning man kidnaps a dad and his family and it seems as if the dad is some kind of scientist working for an organization that finds people with special abilities and experiments on them? Is that right? He's the dad of Claire, some sort of invincible girl and there was another mind reader guy there and some guy who could extract memories.

It intrigued me, certainly, even though I have no idea really what was going on. Wondering if it is worth my time to start watching. I'm also wondering if I would need to watch the entire first season on DVD prior to the premier on the 24th, or if I would be completely lost. I know if anyone started watching Lost now they'd have no idea what was going on without watching the first few seasons.

Thoughts?