in an effort to "reduce the carbon footprint," Kring said, although he wasn't quite sure how, since jets and cars eat are on the forefront of global polluting. Maybe they can bike around Europe? That'd be a nice special feature on next season's DVD. Greg Grunberg, who plays the mind-reading Matt Parkman, said he was visiting Paris with his wife recently, and the show hasn't even premiered on the air there. However, he had people coming up to him left and right who recognized him from seeing the show on their computers. Sacrebleu!

After it was said and done, they wheeled out an enormous cake shaped like the globe, with cookies stuck in the seven cities they'll be visiting. Tim Kring chopped it up with Hiro's sword, and secured himself a good photo-op in the process in case he goes for global domination of the non-pastry type.

Everybody needs a hero, and everybody in television wants the next Heroes.

TV is infamously imitative and Heroes was the just-concluded season's buzz rookie. Ergo, about one in four of the 29 new series unveiled last month by the broadcast networks will feature characters with superhuman powers or some paranormal trait. To put this into perspective, there will be more Heroes knockoffs than new sitcoms, the genre that until recently has been the backbone of episodic television.

1. American Idol (Results) Fox 30.6 12.3/30 (1)
2. American Idol Fox 30.1 12.0/31 (2)
3. Dancing With The Stars 3 ABC 20.7 5.8/15 (10)
4. CSI Crime Scene Investigation CBS 20.5 6.6/16 (6)
5. Dancing With The Stars 4 ABC 20.0 5.4/14 (12)
6. Grey's Anatomy ABC 19.5 8.1/20 (3)
7. House Fox 19.4 8.1/20 (3)
7. Dancing With The Stars 3 (Results) ABC 19.4 5.0/14 (14)
9. Dancing With The Stars 4 (Results) ABC 18.2 4.8/12 (19)
10. Desperate Housewives ABC 17.5 6.9/16 (5)
11. CSI: Miami CBS 17.1 5.4/14 (12)
12. NBC Sunday Night Football NBC 16.5 6.4/16 (7)
13. Survivor: Cook Islands CBS 15.8 5.5/15 (11)
14. Deal Or No Deal (Monday) NBC 14.9 4.4/12 (23)
15. Survivor: Fiji CBS 14.8 5.0/14 (14)
16. Without A Trace CBS 14.7 4.1/11 (28)
17. Lost ABC 14.6 6.3/16 (9)
18. NCIS CBS 14.5 3.5/9 (43)
19. Two And A Half Men CBS 14.4 4.7/11 (20)
19. Cold Case CBS 14.4 3.8/9 (37)
21. Heroes NBC 14.3 6.4/15 (7)
22. Criminal Minds CBS 14.0 3.9/10 (33)
23. CSI: NY CBS 13.9 4.3/11 (25)
24. Shark CBS 13.7 3.8/10 (37)
25. Extreme Makeover: Home Ed. ABC 13.4 4.9/12 (17)
26. 60 Minutes CBS 13.2 2.8/8 (68)
27. 24 Fox 13.0 5.0/12 (14)
28. Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? Fox 12.7 4.6/13 (21)
29. Rules Of Engagement CBS 12.4 4.5/10 (22)
30. Law & Order: SVU NBC 11.9 4.2/11 (27)
31. ER NBC 11.5 4.9/13 (17)
31. The Amazing Race 10 ABC 11.5 3.9/9 (33)
33. Deal Or No Deal (Friday) NBC 11.4 3.1/11 (56)
33. The King Of Queens CBS 11.4 4.0/10 (32)
35. Ugly Betty ABC 11.3 3.7/10 (40)
36. The Unit CBS 11.1 3.2/8 (51)
37. Brothers & Sisters ABC 11.0 4.3/11 (25)
38. Numbers CBS 10.5 2.9/9 (65)
38. October Road ABC 10.5 4.4/12 (23)
40. Old Christine CBS 10.4 3.4/8 (46)
41. Close To Home CBS 10.3 2.5/8 (87)
41. Deal Or No Deal (Wed/Thu/Sun) NBC 10.3 3.1/7 (56)
41. Bachelor: Officer & Gentleman ABC 10.3 3.9/9 (33)
44. Smith CBS 10.1 3.4/9 (46)
44. The Amazing Race 11 CBS 10.1 3.4/9 (46)
44. Ghost Whisperer CBS 9.9 3.0/10 (61)
47. 1 Vs. 100 NBC 9.6 2.8/9 (68)
48. Boston Legal ABC 9.5 2.7/7 (74)
48. Jericho CBS 9.5 2.8/8 (68)
50. Bones Fox 9.4 3.2/9 (51)

Jeff Zucker, when he was the president of NBC Entertainment in 2000-2001, started the super-sizing of shows as a tool to keep viewers from going to to the start of strong shows of competitors at the time. Super-sizing of shows is intentionally extending the duration of a show be five or ten minutes.

"It was a good idea when we started it. It was very novel. But it's just not a good idea to have shows starting at 9:23 p.m.," said Vince Manze, head of scheduling at NBC. "I don't think anyone here thinks, at this point, super-sizing often is good for the shows. We're going to do our best to not have to do it next year."

Part of the problem is the new DVR world we live in, where if a show is of by a minute or two, those programming them would miss seeing part of the show; not too popular with viewers.

The network needs a lot more than these types of gimmicks to get people watching them again. All of their energies need to be focused on creating more interesting programs that people will want to watch. At this time, other than "Heroes" there is nothing guaranteed to have any type of following next season.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The 2006-07 season is barely over and the broadcast networks announced their fall schedules only a week ago, but buzz has started about new characters being added to returning hits next season and roles being recast on the newly picked-up rookie shows.

NBC's "Heroes," which wrapped its freshman season with an explosive finale Monday, is rumored to be introducing at least four new, mostly international, characters next season, among them a sexy boyfriend for everyone's favorite cheerleader, Claire (Hayden Panettiere).

Also potentially joining the cast of characters on "Heroes" next season are a 28-year-old black mother, a surrogate for Niki's (Ali Larter) son, an Irish mobster and a twentysomething Latina. It is believed that most of these characters will only do arcs on the show rather than become regulars.