Tim Kring and his team over at Heroes HQ have had a tough go of it in 2008. There was the unfortunate bungling of a joke that garnered more ill will, another apology and promise that things will get better, some firings, and, of course, those ratings numbers that just seem to keep dropping. But you know what they say, "It's always darkest before the dawn."

So, rather than put the boots to the show one more time, how about some news that brings with it a sign of good things to come? When last we left our heroes, Sylar had used his newly acquired lie detecting powers to determine that Arthur isn't his father. I'm sure the wave of relief that came with knowing he wasn't related to Peter was glorious. Even better than that, now we know who will be taking on the role of Pa Sylar.

It's none other than TV veteran John Glover. Most of the mentions of this that I have seen on my copy of the internet make the understandable comparison to Smallville. There is a nice bit of symmetry there I suppose - father of Lex, father of Sylar. For me though, and I hope at least some of you, John Glover is always thought of, first and foremost, as The Devil from Brimstone. The show didn't have much of a following, which led to it not having a whole lot of episodes, but he was fantastic in it.

Details are thin at the moment. Glover is set to join the show during the upcoming "Fugitives" chapter and it's said that Sylar "has a lot more in common with his father than he realized." Make of that what you will. I'm left wondering if there is any chance that Angela is still his mother. Perhaps there were some shenanigans while Arthur was off setting things in motion to save/destroy the world? Whatever the case, this is certainly something to look forward to in what has been a rough season so far.

Finally, just because the internet is awesome, here's a flashback to Glover in the pilot for Brimstone.