Bashing 'Heroes' has become a sport, much like bashing 'Saturday Night Live' became a sport several years ago. "It's not as good as it was" and "it sucks" are the phrases you hear most often when former fans (or fans that are still watching the show but always on the edge of leaving) talk about it.

Tim Kring tells The Onion that he knows what fans are saying about the show, but he also wants fans to know that there are things going on behind the scenes that they might not be aware of. For example, the writers strike hurt the show. Two, it's actually a more consistent show when more writers write an episode than having just one writer on an episode. Three, the writers don't even think of the show as being in "seasons," it's really all one continuous plot.

This isn't an official announcement at all, but Heroes star Greg Grunberg says that Heroes will be back next season (and he can read minds, so he should know).

Grunberg tells Michael Ausiello that the show just finished filming the season finale, and that even though the episode is "cliffhanger-y and exciting," it would not serve as a series finale for the show. There are too many plot points still up in the air. He's sure the show will be back.

While I wouldn't be surprised at all if a TV network cancelled a show before giving it a "proper" ending, I think Grunberg is probably right about this. The show does good enough, it's strong in time-shifted viewing, and the DVD sales are good. Like Grunberg, I think NBC will announce that next season is going to be the last, and that way the writers will know the show is ending and will be able to give it the ending that fans deserve.