Hollywood Reporter says that actor Rick Worthy, who played Cylon Simon in Battlestar Galactica may be headed over to Heroes for the new season. Worthy is in talks to play Greg Grunberg’s new partner.

Worthy comes from a long line of scifi projects. He was Jannar on Enterprise, and he guested on Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Fallen, and he had a pivitol role in the series finale of Dark Angel. Without checking IMDB — can you name the character he played?

Photo: Mar 16, 2009 - New York, New York, USA - Actor RICK WORTHY at the New York premiere of ‘Duplicity’ held at the Ziegfeld Theater

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Peacock network execs have said all along Heroes was never in any danger, despite flagging ratings. They’ve now made it official, as they continue their trend of announcing their plans two weeks before the other networks pitch shows to advertisers.

NBC will wait two weeks to announce the scheduling for its shows, so we’ll be waiting to see if Heroes remains on Monday nights. And if so, what shows will share that night with it. The Christian Slater spy vehicle My Own Worst Enemy was NBC’s big plan for Monday nights last season but it quickly vanished. Combined with Heroes’ well-documented problems and Mondays haven’t exactly been sunshine and lollipops.

Jay Leno will take care of the 10 p.m. hour on Mondays and the rest of the primetime week. That will leave potential pilots with precious few primetime hours to scrap over.  The drama behind the scenes at NBC is even better than the stuff in front of the camera.

NBC Photo: Chris Haston

You know, with each passing technological evolution the traditional Nielsen ratings get just a little more outdated. Former entertainment lawyer Eric Belloni writes a column about Hollywood and the law at The Hollywood Reporter.

This week he looks at the shows that got illegally file shared the most and NBC’s embattled drama Heroes tops the list with an estimated with 1.6 million downloads. The top 10 also includes SFUniverse faves Supernatural, Smallville and Fringe. Second on the list is now canceled Prison Break, which was also suffering from low ratings. That is to say, at least the way we’re calculating ratings these days.

I’ve said for years that I don’t think we really know what the majority of people are watching out there. For all we know, the highest rated show on TV could be Samantha Who. 

NBC Photo: Adam Taylor

Oh, what a long, strange trip Season 3 has been. After starting the “Days of Future Past-ish” imprisonment of mutants- I mean, “ones of them,” the suddenly sainted Sen. Nathan Petrelli may be our last, best hope. 

Spoilers, intricate plot details and possibly (OK probably) some ranting about Season 3. So don’t read further if you don’t want to know!

NBC Photo: Chris Haston

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Seriously, what is Sylar up to? And can he be killed? Knives to the back of the head are apparently not sufficient. Season 3 comes to an end tonight, as Danko prepares to wipe out all the people with special abilities.

He really can’t do that, or else we don’t have much of a show. It seems like we just started Season 3 and we’re at the end already. The word going around is that a major character is going to die and it’s actually going to stick.

Heroes has always maintained a strong connection to other sci-fi shows including Star Trek. Guest starring tonight as the president is Star Trek:The Next Generation star Michael Dorn. Readers, how do you think it’s going to end? Who’s going to die? Who would you like to see killed off, if anyone?

NBC Photo: Trae Patton

The networks are deciding less is more when it comes to popular shows such as 24 and Lost, opting to film fewer episodes than previous years. Advertising Age said NBC will follow suit, likely cutting the number of Heroes episodes down to 18-20 after doing 25 this season.

Those episodes are also expected to run closer together to minimize storyline interruptions. That’s probably a good move with shows as plot-twisty as genre shows tend to be.

It’s no coincidence the move comes as Heroes continues to struggle in the ratings. Cable networks pioneered the smaller episode count and it does help with creating buzz. As a fan of The Sopranos, it often seemed they were off the air again as soon as they got back.

But the shows do still have to be good. Tighter plotlines and higher stakes may be a good idea for a show that’s meandered a bit through the last two seasons. What’s your take, readers?

NBC Photo: Trae Patton

My wife loved Will Smith’s heroic turn in I Am Legend. Folks loved Sean Penn in I Am Sam. But those I Ams were all just a prelude building up to I Am Sylar. Well, maybe not, but now we’re seeing Sylar’s diabolical plan unfold. Shapeshifting his way into the White House would give Sylar carte blanche to take out whoever he wants. And he’d get a kick out of pushing everybody’s buttons.

How long will the alliance between Sylar and Danko last? I’m thinking until one decides the other’s help is no longer beneficial. I wonder if once that happens, Danko will even get the chance to tell Noah Bennet “You know, I did something really dumb. Can a Danko get a hand with this one?”

While a lot of people have been unhappy with Heroes‘ story developments the past couple of years, you can’t blame Zachary Quinto for the show’s declining fortunes. He has consistently made Sylar one of TV’s most interesting villains. Whether he’s playing FBI agent, cuddling with puppies in an alternative future or just ripping people’s heads open, he takes on each role and makes it fun for us. Because he’s obviously having a lot of fun.

When fake Sen. Petrelli stepped up to the podium at his press conference, you just knew we’re in for a wild ride. If the Fugitives thought things were bad before (and they were), I don’t think they’ve seen anything yet.

Images: NBC/ Chris Haston

A report at Forbes sheds some more light on why Heroes isn’t leaving NBC’s lineup, despite dwindling ratings. The tale of ordinary people who suddenly become superhuman generates $4.3 million per average telecast, thanks to a largely young male demo that many advertisers find attractive.

That pricey real estate puts Heroes in the top 10 most lucrative shows on TV, joining hits such as American Idol and Dancing With The Stars. The show’s viewers also have heavy online participation, which presents advertisers with all new opportunities to sell viewers stuff. We’ve seen NBC capitalize on this with a web-based set of Heroes episodes. Those were sponsored quite prominently by Sprint.

Just over $4 million a telecast is not a bad number generated by a show that placed 59th among network programs this year. Buyers do expect some adjustment in price due to the show’s declining ratings. Of course if Heroes makes less in 2009 than it did in 2008, that just makes them like everyone else in today’s economy.

NBC Photo: Adam Taylor

                                     I’ve often said, only half jokingly, that if we eliminated the Petrelli family Earth might be safe on this show. You’ve got Nathan’s abuse of power, Angela’s secrets, Arthur’s well, being Arthur and Peter often does as much damage as the others just trying to straighten things up.

Tonight we’ll learn more of Angela and Dr. Chandra Suresh’s secrets. It seems Angela was once an idealistic dreamer just like her son. And she has a sister who may have powers as well.

Love them, hate them, or periodically try to kill them, your family are the ones you have to stick with. As we learn every week, the Petrellis and their multiple dysfunctions leave a huge mark on the world around them. It looks as if tonight we’ll learn just how long they’ve been doing that.

NBC Photo: Adam Taylor

You almost can’t tell the players without a scorecard on Heroes right now. HRG could have turned Peter and Angela over to the Danko death squad, but he didn’t.

Danko has gone to Sylar for help, even after ridiculing the Company’s “One of Us, One of Them” methods. Nathan and Claire are actually trying to reconcile their relationship, while fleeing from Danko. Yes, Heroes is about people with incredible powers but also about families. Parents that realize they’ve screwed up and kids that aren’t sure they can forgive them. That’s something we can relate to, even if we can’t fly or benchpress an SUV.

NBC Photo: Chris Haston