'Heroes' Nissan Rogue Goes Rogue

An awkward bit of product placement from NBC's "Heroes" season premiere took an odd twist during last night's episode when a shiny new Nissan Rogue went, well, rogue. "Heroes" teen heroine Claire (the Cheerleader) was thrilled to receive a brand-new Nissan Rogue as a birthday gift from her father in the opening minutes of last week's high-rated premiere. But the car was stolen by persons unknown during Monday's second episode from Claire's high school parking lot.

The plot point didn't progress during the episode beyond a disappointed Claire revealing the theft to her father, leaving some viewers to wonder if the car's disappearance was for commercial or creative reasons – and whether the car is coming back.

"Claire's new car didn't last very long, did it?" posted a viewer on AintItCoolNews.com. "Guess Nissan only forked over enough loot for one episode worth of product placement."

An NBC rival joked, "Maybe Nissan stole it back considering the clunky way it was introduced."

According to a Universal Media Studios representative, however, the Rogue will return.

The car will be in future episodes, the rep said, but would not elaborate.

The episode also took pains to suggest the Rogue was stolen because Claire left the car door unlocked. In the NBC 2.0 world, it's probably better to let viewers think your lead heroine is none too bright than to make your sponsor's product seem easy to snatch.