NBC NEEDS some heroes.

Not just the supercharged ones of "Heroes" (8 tonight, Channel 10), but the kind that can land a helicopter on a crash-strewn highway and whisk away people who used to love "ER" from "Two and a Half Men" and "Dancing with the Stars."

That's the mission of "Trauma," which debuts tonight with a couple of expensive-looking action sequences and a bunch of troubled first responders whose tangled relationships make a multicar pileup look tidy.

Set in San Francisco and filmed on location, "Trauma" is from actor/director/producer Peter Berg ("Friday Night Lights," "Hancock"), who clearly knows his way around a crash, and was created by Dario Scardapane.

New Zealander Cliff Curtis ("Push," "Whale Rider") stars as Reuben "Rabbit" Palchuk, and despite the always welcome presence of Jamey Sheridan, who plays a doctor in a cast that also includes Anastasia Griffith ("Damages"), Derek Luke ("Antwone Fisher"), Aimee Garcia, Taylor Kinney and Kevin Rankin ("Friday Night Lights"), Curtis is so far the best thing about "Trauma."

He also could be the worst.

Written as an arrogant hothead with major scars, physical and otherwise, Rabbit, like just about everyone in "Trauma," is a too-familiar type, and it's not clear from tonight's episode that he's worth the trouble he causes.

Curtis, though, is something else again. The man has charisma to burn, and in a landscape littered with floppy-haired McDreamys, his less familiar face is bound to attract some attention.

Assuming we're not too distracted by the carnage to notice.

Readers weigh in

"It would have been nice to get to know the players before [being] expected to feel their pain," wrote Marcell Costello, of Bensalem, who gave it a 6.

"Reminded me of the show 'Emergency' on steroids," wrote Marc Malfara, of Blackwood, N.J., who obviously considers that a good thing, because he gave it a 9.

Another 9 came from Anthony Holmes, of Northeast Philadelphia, who's married to a paramedic. "They captured the day of a paramedic very well," he wrote.

Denise Bray, of University City, wasn't buying it. "A lot of what happened in the beginning seemed unrealistic to me," wrote Bray, who gave "Trauma" a 1. "There is a lot of trauma in real life, and I wouldn't want to watch it on TV."

'Lie' still not for me

I might have spotted Ryan's fingerprints in an action-filled episode in which human lie-detector Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) becomes entangled in a murder mystery involving a woman (Erika Christensen) with multiple personality disorder. Adding to the adrenaline: "ER's" Mekhi Phifer is now a regular.

Ultimately, I saw a decently produced procedural that I still don't feel compelled to watch.

As always, your mileage may vary. *

Send e-mail to graye@phillynews.com.