This will most likely be the last season of Alias for Jennifer Garner because of her pregnancy. If their is a 6th season the lead character will not be Sidney Bristow, but someone else they are bringing in this season.

Every single of my guy friends (besides one) watches this show. I don't, but all of them do and all of them like it.

No Jennifer Garner = No Alias

Believing anything that Spiderman says = No Brain.
Spiderman; that was a rumour started by fans but denied by the cast and crew - just like the 20 million other rumours started by fans this season because of all the shockers that are going to come out in season 5.

Sydney Bristow is fundamental to the shows operation. Even ABC know this; the reason for the new cast members this season is to not only fill the void of the departures but to provide new levels to the storys depth and- most importantly - take care of a lot of the action sequences that Garner can't due to her pregnancy. Anyone who genuinely believes that they'd try to operate Alias without the leading lady who basically IS the show is a bit dim.

Forget not that "Alias" continues to be a bona fide DVD Smash across the world. Word of mouth is more than enough for people to wait for the DVD and especially in countries where its hard to track it on television [because its never been given the hoopla of 24, Lost or Desperate Housewives because of its timing and US perf] DVD and ancillaries are very big revenue generators these days for a show like Alias and for ABC. Combined with the ads rates and the shows certainly cutting a profit - but Networks are greedy and ABC has seen those profits multiplied several times over with Lost and Desperate Housewives - so Alias will have to pull up its socks if it wishes to remain on schedule.

P.S - Theres some substantial debate over when Jennifer Garners contract actually ends; most are saying its 2008 now rather than this season. Of course ABC aren't so forthcoming in talking about those kinds of things.