Screen Rant » smallville

First Look: Michael Shanks as Hawkman in Smallville

Bruce Simmons — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:54:52 +0000

TV Guide got themselves a nice little scoop on Nov 16th when they flaunted the first look at what Michael Shanks will look like as Hawkman on Smallville. They also had the opportunity to chat with Michael Shanks (Stargate SG-1) who will be playing Carter Hall aka Hawkman in an upcoming pair of episodes from Smallville.

The pair of episodes are now being drawn together into a single night of viewing and The CW Network is calling it a “movie” event.

We will be meeting the Justice Society in this movie and Shanks gave TV Guide some insight to the upcoming episodes and their first look at Shanks as Hawkman:

Admittedly, it looks a bit odd in the blue tint and doesn’t really give up too much except that he looks exactly like the classic Hawkman we’ve seen through the years:

The interview had some details that some may consider to be outline spoilers. If you like being surprised by plot line, then there are a few things below that might be considered plot spoilers.

Onward:

Shanks said he is doing his own flying, controlled by big men with big arms in his fly-by-wire get up.
He won’t be bare chested, but will have a chest plate. This will accommodate the FX harness for flying.
Carter Hall / Hawkman, who is a reincarnated prince from 1,000 years previous, comes off with a lot of cynicism and guilt about what he deems failures on his part from past events that involved the Justice Society.
The society has been around for some time and our own group of Smallville heroes are just hearing about them now… which will be an interesting plot point in the movie.
There will be many references to other Society members throughout the movie.
Hall and Queen will be at odds over political views.

What caught my eye was the reference to how the Society was originally treated so poorly by the public that it causes a debate about whether the Justice League itself should even try to pick up the hero mantle as a group.

Interesting bits: In addition to Hawkman, we’ll be seeing Dr. Fate, Stargirl, Martian Manhunter and Amanda Waller. Plus, Tom Welling will be directing the 2nd hour.

It’s all good stuff giving us something to look forward to when this two-hour event featuring the Justice Society and penned by the ever illustrious Geoff Johns hits the air on February 5th, 2010.

I am looking forward to the unveiling of so many heroes in a single episode of Smallville. To be honest, if feels like they’re pulling out all the stops for this 9th season to make sure they get a 10th. And they just might, at the rate they’re going this year.

Source: TV Guide

Header image edited from art penciled by Joe Ng, inked by Mickey Clausen, colored by Sean Ellery.

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Smallville: Justice Society Two-Hour Movie Event

Kofi Outlaw — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:01:01 +0000

Have you been watching Smallville for the last eight seasons, hoping and praying that one day the tweenage drama would be put aside and some kick-ass superhero adventures would ensue? Well, you’re prayers are fixin’ to be answered, my friend, as Smallville insiders are saying that the showrunners have to lump to highly-anticipated upcoming episodes into one two-part, two-hour, super hero event, to air in January of next year.

The Smallville two-part special will feature the wo episodes – entitled “Society” and “Legends” respectively -that we previously reported would be scripted by none other than DC Comics’ hottest writer, Geoff Johns (who is also currently working on BIG-screen adaptations of The Flash and Shazam! alongside this Smallville project and his regular comic book duties).

The event is being so hyped because it will feature cameos from famous DC super heroes such as Stargirl (Britt Irvin), Hawkman (Stargate SG-1’s Michael Shanks) and Dr. Fate (Brent Stait). It’s also rumored hat there might be cameos from other super heroes as well (like Martian Manhunter, played by Phil Morris, who will be making a return for the event). The actual plot of the two-part special remains a elusive, though I’m sure we’ll be getting the full skinny before too long. It will likely involve something about superheroes and shady government agencies, as we also learned recently that the movie event will feature blaxploitation icon Pam Grier as Amanda Waller, the DC Universe’s black ops superhero watchdog.

With Geoff Johns providing the vision, a boatload of superhero cameos and famous guest-stars adding to the fun, I say we’re in for one heck of a good show!

Catch the Smallville two-part special event (that’s both “Society” and “Legends”) on January 29, 2010 starting @ 8pm on the CW.

Source: EW

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Smallville Ratings Are Improving: Best In A Year

Bruce Simmons — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:10:26 +0000

Even though Smallville has been stuck in the death slot of Friday nights, (thanks, CW), the ratings for the Tom Welling-starring fantasy series are improving.

Now admittedly Smallville is not capturing 8 million viewers like NBC’s Law & Order or 7.9 million viewers like Ghost Whisperer on Friday nights, but it is picking up.

Smallville drew in 2.76 million viewers in overnight numbers from last night. But more importantly, the show won the demographic of adults between 18-34 & men 18-34.

It also hit a new season high and their best performance in these categories in over a year, since September of 2008.

Though the increases are roughly about 8%, something is better than nothing. Matching their best performance from a year ago is also good.

Whether this is from a grassroots effort of word of mouth or people are just catching on to the show with it’s new, slightly darker approach… who cares, right? As long as it improves enough for The CW and the powers that be to consider carrying the show into a 10th season. That’s all we, the fans care about.

With that said, keep telling folks you know. Hit up bulletin boards you visit and mention how much you like the show. Don’t forget to mention why, with good compelling reasons. Try to keep the enthusiasm to great points that folks can understand, like how Smallville is an interesting re-imagining of a classic comic, or whatever else you like about the show. Just keep it up. Never give up gang, never!

The Gory Nielsen Stats:

Adults	18-34	(1.3/4)
Men	18-34	(1.5/7)
Men	18-49	(1.5/5)

Total Viewers: 2.76 million.

Quick Rating Explanation Of (A/B):

A is an estimated percentage of the entire database of TV households or group tuned in to a program.
B is the percentage of households using television who are tuned in.

I hope that makes sense. It’s a tiny delineation between the numbers, but that’s what I have to work with!!!

Source: TV By The Numbers

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Ratings: ‘Smallville’ Flying High, ‘FlashForward’ Losing Viewers

Anthony Ocasio — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:39:51 +0000

With November sweeps and the World Series both starting last week, it causes a strange effect in television ratings. While November sweeps is supposed to bring in high ratings, the World Series always cuts into their usual audience as we’re seeing with ABC’s much touted drama, FlashForward. The new series created by David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga saw its lowest ratings last week and conversly, this past week Smallville saw their highest ratings since the ninth season began.

Still, can the World Series really account for all these ratings fluctuations? As a fan of Smallville, I make sure to always tune in, but even with the show being able to pull in 2.6 million viewers; it’s still down over 1 million viewers from last season. When Smallville made the move to Friday night, The CW was putting their veteran series up against the powerhouse that is CBS’s Friday night line-up. Since the Kryptonian visitor has been able to hold its own on the toughest night of the week, I have a feeling that Mr. Kent may receive another season order.

That is something, sadly, Dollhouse will unlikely be given as FOX’s decision to replace Dollhouse for the month of November with reruns of their number one rated medical drama, House. While the rerun of the two-hour series premiere received marginally more viewers than Dollhouse in that time slot, it was still bested by Smallville.

Alright, enough of the Smallville talk. While I could go on forever, we’ve got to get down to the nitty-gritty; what is up with FlashForward? Is this show on the decline? Will we even make it to the April 29, 2010?

ABC has been promoting FlashForward for as long as I can remember (My memory only goes back about a year). They’ve been setting this series up to be the replacement for Lost and if you looked at the premiere, you might think they were correct.

The series premiere pulled in 12.45 million viewers but as the sixth episode just aired, the latest episode received just 9 million viewers. I know that no one expects any series to retain 100% of their premiere audience, but I have a feeling that this has less to do with the World Series and more to do with what’s going on with show itself.

Since the news of FlashForward being down in the ratings, discussions behind-the-scenes at Screen Rant have been back and forth trying to figure out why exactly the show is losing viewers. Some people think it’s because of the direction that they’re taking the show, some people think that it’s the long, artificially drawn-out storylines, but almost everyone agrees that something’s up – we just can’t put our finger on it.

Not yet at least.

So, I pose the question to you, the reader; What is up FlashForward? Are you happy with the show the way it is and the way they’re taking it? Is there anything that you’re not enjoying? Do you think that this show will be able to reach the three to five year mark needed to tell the entire tale?

Let’s hear it!

(I’m not trying to leave all you Smallville fans out, so if you want to throw in some fist pumps, go for it. Also, if anyone wants to mention how great last weeks Supernatural was, I just might have to agree with you.)

If you want to make it to April 29, you better tune in to FlashForward Thrusdays at 8PM on ABC.
Fans of the blue blur tune into Smallville Fridays at 8PM on The CW.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter & The Hollywood Reporter

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Poster Friday: Smallville, Holmes, Fourth Kind, The Box & More!

Rob Keyes — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:22:47 +0000

Happy Friday everyone! For our last Friday of October 2009, Halloween weekend! And you know what that means… we’ve again gathered the latest posters to come out for this week’s poster round-up.

Screen Rant’s wall this week now includes new one-sheets for Sherlock Holmes, The Box, How To Train You Dragon, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, The Fourth Kind, The Graves, Psychosis, Old Dogs, The Blackout, Smallville, Cracks, V.A.m.L. and Altitude.

In addition to that, we have some hints as to the meaning of the Lost poster from two weeks back and a little bonus for Tron Legacy.

Let’s get to it.

To start, here’s the latest poster for Sherlock Holmes, courtesy of Cinematical:

Starring Robert Downey Jr. Jude Law, Rachel McAdams and Mark Strong, Guy Ritchie’s take on Sherlock Holmes opens this Christmas, December 25, 2009.

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How Are Smallville & Dollhouse Doing On Friday Nights?

Bruce Simmons — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:18:31 +0000

Friday nights used to be the graveyard for television programs. If you were scheduled to air on Friday night, you were doomed.

Though that might still generally be the case, modern times are changing perspectives on how ratings are looked at by the advertisers. Now-a-days, ratings are considered by many to be the live viewing plus 7 days to be a growing statistic, and if you really think about it, it might even go longer.

But ads have a certain amount of relevant, useful time to their message. So for now, we’re sticking to 7 days. With that said, it’s interesting to see that of the top 5 shows in the top of the DVR tables, 3 of them are Friday night shows.

1- Smallville on the CW (1.3) (44%)
2- Dollhouse on Fox (1.4) (40%)
3- Fringe on Fox (3.0) (36%)
4- Castle on ABC (2.9) (32%)
5- Numb3rs on CBS (2.1) (31%)

Smallville, Dollhouse and Numb3rs are the Friday night shows from that list. Those numbers in parenthesis represent the household rating after 7-day DVR viewings have been added in and the percentage increase of viewers by DVR in those 7 days.

Now that looks like a great increase for both Smallville and Dollhouse, but we need to stay grounded in this new bit of exciting information. These numbers are 40-44% of already small numbers.

For example, Dollhouse’s live viewing came in at a 1.0 and increased to a 1.4 rating after adding DVR viewings. Smallville jumped to a 1.3 rating.

(Eh? A 1.0 represents 1% of all estimated households watching television. In 2008, total households were estimated at 112,800,000 households.)

That would guesstimate out to Smallville having roughly 1.5 million, and Dollhouse – 1.6 million viewers.

Looking at the numbers, admittedly we’re pretty prepared to watch Dollhouse be let go by Fox, and the scary aspect is that Dollhouse has better numbers than Smallville!

Even though numerically, the numbers tell all, The CW seems to have a different take on how well their shows perform. Their hits, though setting ratings records in their own books, still don’t really scratch the surface of the other shows. But they seem to accept that and move on.

This can’t be bad news for Smallville at all… but don’t ask me to hold my breath! Advertisers have a funny way of looking at things and pressuring the programming.

Footnote: These numbers were NOT TOTAL VIEWERS. They referenced the 18-49 demographic of viewers, one of the desirable spending demographics that watch television.

Source: TV By The Numbers

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Hawkman, Stargirl and Dr. Fate Coming To Smallville

Bruce Simmons — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:32:28 +0000

With Geoff Johns (The Flash) scripting an episode Smallville, folks are in anticipation of which characters from the Justice Society would actually show up.

The recent news breaking on the street is that Hawkman, Doctor Fate and Stargirl will be showing up. So we can now add these three to the other cast of heroes that will be gracing the episodes of Smallville, such as Green Arrow’s sidekick, Speedy (Appearing October 23rd) and the Wonder Twins.

What has me worried. though, is who is reportedly playing Hawkman. Michael Shanks (Stargate SG-1) is slated to appear as Hawkman. I’m happy to see Michael getting work, but I’m worried – as in career move worried. Is this the best direction Michael can go? I’ve been hoping for bigger, better roles from him since his time on Stargate. But that’s just me.

Brent Stait will be playing Doctor Fate and Britt Irvin (Aliens in America) is noted as playing Stargirl.

Here’s a tidbit about Hawkman: Geoff Johns says that Hawkman will have his wings and mace and he won’t be getting along with Green Arrow at all.

This Smallville episode we’re talking about will air in January, and it’s been noted that other Justice Society members will also appear, though I haven’t seen any details yet.

Is it me, or is The CW pulling out all the stops this season with the different heroes passing through? What’s up? It’s like a last bru-ha-ha party. I hope that’s not the case. Is anyone else having the same concerns?

Sources: Splash Page, Splash Page, IGN

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Meet Smallville’s Speedy

Kofi Outlaw — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:20:14 +0000

Green Arrow will be getting a sidekick on this season of Smallville and we now know the actress who will be playing the part. Elise Gatien (In the Land of Women) will be Mia/Speedy, a street urchin who Oliver (Justin Hartley) will train to be his bow-and-arrow-toting partner in the fight against crime.

I think my version of the synopsis sounded pretty good, but you’ll probably want to check out this official statement from the CW anyway:

OLIVER TAKES DC COMICS’ CHARACTER SPEEDY UNDER HIS WING — Oliver tries to help a young street girl, Mia AKA Speedy (guest star Elise Gatien), get out of her dangerous life by offering to train her, but Mia double crosses him. Lois asks Clark to help her land a job as an on-air television host, but the two are shocked when the station wants to hire them as a team.

Allison Mack, Cassidy Freeman and Callum Blue also star. Posted on KryptonSite. Mike Rohl directed the episode written by Holly Henderson and Don Whitehead.

Speedy

If you’re wondering which episode you need to tune into to catch the lovely creature pictured up top, Gatien will guest-star on Smallville season 9’s sixth episode, entitled “Crossfire”. The episode is scheduled to air (by my count) on October 23, 2009 @ 8pm on the CW.

What do you think of Smallville’s Speedy? Does she meet your standards?

Source: The CW

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What TV Shows Do You Want More Coverage Of?

Anthony Ocasio — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:19:33 +0000

We here at Screen Rant are here to cater to you, the reader. Now, that doesn’t mean that I’m going to be bringing over any freshly baked ice cream cone cupcakes (remember those? Awesome.), but that does mean that we like to hear from you about what you like, what you don’t, what you watch and what you’d like to see more coverage about.

Over the past few weeks of the fall season premiere, we have played around with reviews and discussions on a variety of television shows – and while some received the expected responses (Stargate, Flashforward, Smallville), others did not (CSI, CSI:NY, Criminal Minds, MythBusters). And then there were some shows that nobody expected to receive the amount of response it did (Ghost Whisperer).

If we went with writing about the top rated shows, we’d be left with this…

NCIS
Dancing with the Stars
NCIS: Los Angeles
The Mentalist
CSI
Grey’s Anatomy
Desperate Houeswives
CSI: Miami
The Good Wife

While I know a couple Screen Rant writers that just love Dancing with the Stars, we’re not sure that you’d want to read about it. I’m not going to lie, we watch our fair share of television and that means we have the ability to cover many of your favorite shows. The only thing is, we don’t know what you favorite shows are or if you’d want to read more reviews/recaps/discussions of those shows. So, instead of staying the course and writing about shows that are our favorites, we’d like to know what yours are.

If you could list the top 5 shows you’d like to see recaps and discussions on, what would that be? Now we’re not talking about regular news. If James Earl Jones decides to join Cougar Town, you’ll probably hear about it.

For all you manly men out there, don’t’ be afraid to say The Hills or The City. Sure, we’ll mock you for it, but this is all about being open and honest and from my experience there’s usually fair amount of mocking in being open and honest. Especially when it’s about your favorite MTV scripted “realty” TV shows.

So, what have you? What 5 shows would you like to see recaps and discussions on?

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Smallville Metallo Preview Clip

Bruce Simmons — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:45:03 +0000

As we all know, Brian Austin Green will be playing Metallo in this Friday’s episode of Smallville. The following clip is from this Friday nights’ episode titled “Metallo.”

Two things about the preview clip that follows after the break:

You might consider it a spoiler if you enjoy being experiencing a scene for the first time when watching Smallville.

And for me, it almost borders on gross with all the tubes and stuff!

Enjoy!

Source: CWTV

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Friday Night Ratings: Dollhouse & Smallville

Bruce Simmons — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:17:18 +0000

The overnight ratings numbers are in for the premieres of Dollhouse and Smallville and they’re not as rosy-looking as we’d like. Then again, it is Friday night and our favorite returning shows are up against some heavy hitters.

CBS dominated Friday night with their shoe-in season premiers of Ghost Whisperer and Medium. Both shows raked in over 8 1/2 million viewers.

Even the encore presentation of FlashForward dusted our favored shows by bringing in an additional 4.6 million viewers.

Dollhouse premiered with 2.56 million viewers and Smallville’s 8 o’clock showing reaped 2.5 mil viewers. Not great numbers for sure – especially when they don’t lead into or have decent lead-in shows.

Smallville is the lead-in for America’s Next Top Model’s encore airing. Two 1/2 hour comedies, Seinfeld and a new comedy, Brothers, are the lead-in for Dollhouse.

The usual practice is to have like-genre programming follow each other. This is how Smallville got shoved out of Thursday nights, in favor of Vampire Diaries being paired up with Supernatural. Or at least put Vampire Diaries in the same time slot that viewers have been tuning into on the network. Again, another desirable factor.

At least Smallville and Dollhouse aren’t up against each other… as if that mattered.

Dollhouse is up against Dateline NBC, Friday Night SmackDown and Medium.

Smallville is battling Law & Order, Ghost Whisperer and what looks like encore airings of FlashForward. (Not sure that’s the regular schedule.)

As far as I see, neither network is probably expecting anything solid out of the overnight numbers and I hope, neither Fox or The CW would be looking to use ratings as an excuse to do anything drastic.

We can only wait… and see.

Source: TV By The Numbers

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Smallville Season 9 Premiere: Review & Discussion

Bruce Simmons — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 19:51:12 +0000

Last night’s premiere of Smallville started out with a recap of various scenes from season 8 to help catch up viewers to the big events that concluded last season’s storylines.

It has felt like forever since we’ve seen Clark take down Doomsday, watched Jimmy die and saw Clark walk away from Chloe. So, it was quite a rush to watch the teaser lead into the 9th season of Smallville as we were treated to several details for the upcoming season.

Join us to recap and discuss the premiere of Season 9 of Smallville.

*** SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT***

It’s been 3 weeks since the events of last season’s finale when Lois (Erica Durance) returns to the present, showing up in a flash of light on a moving train. An unidentified female assassin who is pursuing her also shows up on the train in a similar flash of light. The train derails just after that and Clark shows up and catches it.

Clark (Tom Welling) has gone from the red-blue blur to just a blur in his new dark outfit. He’s also become compelled to burn his chest symbol into things when he makes a save, to leave his mark.

In these last 3 weeks, Clark has committed himself to training with Jor-El in the fortress of solitude. I found his conversation with Jor-El about his inability to fly interesting. Speaking of flying, did I miss it, or did they not show what happened after Clark jumped off the Statue of Liberty?

Meanwhile, it seems that Major Zod (Callum Blue) has been holed up in the Luthor mansion, having taken Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman) hostage, believing she has information he needs. He also has a number of soldiers from Kandor with him, but none of them have any powers under the yellow sun.

We’re also introduced to John Corben, the street reporter. It’s good to see Brian Austin Green on TV again, but John is a critic of “the blur’s” methods, questioning why he has to burn symbols at his rescue scenes. He openly calls him a vigilante.

Even though the female assassin who was pursuing Lois is never identified, she has the same powers as Clark and she brings some power-neutralizing blue kryptonite with her. It seems she wasn’t after Lois at all, but was just using her to lure Clark out since he is her true target. When she and Clark do deck it out, it seems to me that Clark’s training with Jor-El pays off as he stands his ground with her surprisingly well.

There were some interesting moments however, like the assassin telling Clark the world will end in a year and that she’s here to stop him, Chloe (Allison Mack) getting ticked at Clark for refusing her request to use the time-ring to save Jimmy, and the army of powerless Kryptonians at Zod’s command. That’s really befuddling me.

Lois hunting down Oliver/Green Arrow (Justin Hartley) and finding him in cage matches was interesting but dang, how quickly he sank to this new lifestyle. Jimmy’s death is having quite the impact on everyone, being as how everyone seems to be blaming themselves for it.

Was it me, or was Lois running around in tank tops in this episode more than usual? That wasn’t a complaint at all, just wondering out loud.

We also got to hear a new term for time travel: “Temporal Aperture Continuum” and I thought it was a nice cameo for the Statue of Liberty.

I’ve got to chime in about Oliver and the similarities between himself and Bruce Wayne / Batman has in his own mythos. Since we’ll never see Bats in Smallville, I find the parallels interesting. My final “ah-ha” moment pondering Oliver being the replacement Bats came when Oliver Queen’s money helped set up Chloe’s Watchtower. “Oliver may be AWOL, but his funds aren’t.” In the source material for this reimagination, Watchtower was funded by Bruce Wayne.

How’d We Feel About The New Episode?

This episode started out with the momentum from last season and different aspects of the upcoming season were introduced to us. I came away from the episode pleased but I have to wonder if they will be able to keep this up? They had a lot to feed us right away so they had material for us. Though the producers have said that this wasn’t going to be a dark season, there are a lot of story threads laced with overshadowing darkness to the characters.

If they can manage this momentum, it will be a good season but I think many of us are gun-shy after last seasons’ Doomsday buildup. Plus, if the show gets another season, will this affect what material they’ll deliver to us?

My thought is that if they feel that this is the last season, I presume they’ll be wrapping up a lot of things for us. But if they get another season, will the production team pull back and pace themselves, saving some of the plot points and issues for next season?

I have to admit; at the end of the episode when Lois laid down to go to sleep, she sure had one heck of a recall/dream sequence from her alternate time trip… I mean her temporal aperture continuum trip!

Your turn!

Time to chime in Screen Rant readers. We want to hear your thoughts on what you saw, what you felt while watching the start of the 9th season of Smallville!

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Fall 2009 TV: Premiering Tonight – Sept. 25

Anthony Ocasio — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:59:44 +0000

Ghost Whisperer, Law & Order, Smallville, Dollhouse, Medium & Numb3rs are all returning tonight… and then we have the premiere of a FOX comedy with a retired football player?

Friday hasn’t been this popular for television since ABC was in its hay-day with TGIF and Boy Meets World (Feeny!). With seven hours of new and returning programming stuffed into a three hour block, you’re either going to have to make some tough decisions on what to watch, or be a DVR master.

Let’s take a look at tonight’s lineup.

What’s New?

8:00 PM

FOX - Brothers: “Pilot/House Rules & Anniversary”
(one hour special)

Mike Trainor seemingly has it all – he’s a good-looking, wealthy and recently retired NFL player living the high life in New York City. With one phone call from his mom, Adele, Mike’s life changes in an instant. He comes home to Houston to find that his brother Chill, whose life changed drastically after a car accident left him in a wheelchair, is struggling to keep his restaurant afloat and that his father’s memory is not as sharp as it used to be. When Adele reveals everyone’s secrets, the family decides it’s time for a fresh start.

Later, Mike’s date spends the night at his parents’ place propelling his mom, Adele, to set specific house rules for her very grown sons. As all the family members try to find their way living together again as adults, Mike and Chill are taken aback at their new assigned daily chores and strict limitations on overnight guests. Meanwhile, Coach forgets his and Adele’s anniversary and lands in the doghouse, forcing him to come up with a creative way to make it up to her.

I’m not really putting much faith in this show lasting the season. I don’t care if you were a fan of Michael Strahan on the Giants, there’s no way you can tell me this show looks great. The only thing that redeems it, IMHO, is Daryl Mitchell being part of the cast, but even then, he can’t hold the entire show on his own. If you’re interested in this, watch it now because I suspect it might be gone soon. Oh yeah… and thanks for the wonderful lead-in you’re giving Dollhouse, FOX.

What’s Returning?

If you’re not tempted by the former Giants’ comedy series on FOX, it’s a good thing the other networks have stepped up and premiered all your favorite Friday night primetime shows at once.

8:00 PM

CBS – Ghost Whisperer: “Birthday Presence”

Melinda gives birth to a baby boy who also has the gift of seeing spirits, but with one important difference which will have far-reaching consequences.

After Jay Mohr left this show to start his own sitcom, I’ve fallen behind in the whole Ghost Whisperer mythology. The fact that they believed Jamie Kennedy could replace Jay Mohr was ridiculous and now that Kennedy and Love Hewitt are dating, it means he’s not going to be gone any time soon. ‘Til that happens, I’ll take a pass.

NBC – Law & Order: “Memo from the Dark Side”

The body of a young war veteran is found in a parking garage and the murder is connected to a law professor who used to work for the Department of Justice.

For some reason, I’ve never been a fan of Law & Order. I don’t know why, I enjoy CSI and all the other procedurals. I guess back in the day when it was Law & Order or NYPD Blue, I was a Blue-man.

The CW – Smallville: “Savior”

Clark (Tom Welling) tells Jor-El he’s ready to start his training, but Jor-El sends him back to Metropolis to cut ties with Lois before he can begin. Chloe (Allison Mack) is shocked when Lois (Erica Durance) suddenly reappears after having been missing for weeks, but Lois has no recollection of vanishing into thin air with the Legion ring.

While investigating a monorail crash, Lois meets John Corben (guest star Brian Austin Green), a new reporter at The Daily Planet, with a negative attitude toward the Red-Blue Blur. Chloe begs Clark to use the Legion ring to go back in time to save Jimmy, but he refuses, driving a wedge into their friendship. Meanwhile, Oliver (Justin Hartley) continues down a dark road, and Zod (Callum Blue) arrives at the Luthor mansion.

Oh, I’m very excited for this. While I don’t enjoy Smallville as much as Supernatural, I’m still caught up in it. Even with Michael Rosenbaum leaving the show I’ve stayed a fan because I love Green Arrow and find his portrayal on the show extremely entertaining. Mix in Brian Austin Green guest staring and the addition of Callum Blue (Dead Like Me, Secret Diary of A Call Girl) to the cast and you have me sold. Keep an eye out later for a full write up and discussion of tonight’s episode. If interested, you can check out a sneak peek at tonight’s episode.

(pg. 2 for the 9pm & 10pm slots)

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Smallville Season 9 Premiere Preview Clip

Bruce Simmons — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:57:41 +0000

If you need something to tide you over until Smallville premieres on the CW, Friday night, September 25th, the CW just released this Smallville clip today.

Check it out!

Source: The CW

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Smallville Season 9 Premiere Pics & TV Spot

Bruce Simmons — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:16:43 +0000

As September 25th crawls ever closer, The CW is starting to work a little harder on generating some attention for their TV series Smallville. Which as you know, was moved to Friday nights.

Tom Welling, Erica Durance, Allison Mack & Justin Hartley amongst others will be reprising their roles and we’ll have some guest spots & villains played by Brian Austin Green, Callum Blue, Julian Sands & others.

Is it me, or is anyone worried that the pics we’re seeing of Clark in his Neo-looking outfit are only from one episode? Maybe I’m just being a bit gun-shy after that 3-hit fight with Doomsday. Regardless, Smallville is looking to be a fun season… if done properly!

Here’s a quick TV spot and a few pics that the CW has released:

You can catch more pics and clips over at Superhero Hype.

Smallville returns to the CW September 25th @ 8pm.

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Smallville Casting Note: Julian Sands is Jor-El

Bruce Simmons — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:26:08 +0000

Season 9 of Smallville is piling on the guest appearances and classic characters.

Entertainment Weekly has let us know that Julian Sands has been cast to play the role of Jor-El and will show up in that role in a November episode.

Apparently he showed up on Earth when Zod and the other Kandorians popped in during that very last scene we witnessed in the season 8 finale of Smallville.

Finally, a face to the voice.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

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DC Entertainment: What’s The Game Plan?

Kofi Outlaw — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:19:13 +0000

Yesterday we found out that Warner Bros. has created DC Entertainment Inc. (DCE) to better expand the DC Comics into a multimedia brand of steel . Now comes the inevitable question of “What’s the game plan?”

MTV Splash Page posted a nice piece declaring which DC properties should be put on fast-track under the DCE banner, and this being Friday and all, I thought I’d once again do a little call-and-response on the topic (I now consider Splash Page’s Josh Wigler to be something of a pen-pal).

So in response to the call, here’s my take on the DC Entertainment venture and what paths it should be considering…

BIGGER PICTURE BUSINESS

DC Entertainment Inc. President Diane Nelson has already been grilled by the press and thick-skinned exec has been pretty forthright with her opinions. As she told The Wrap earlier this week:

“…I’m the first one to admit, I’m not by my nature a comic fan. It’s not what I’m bringing to the party. We have so many experts who will remain the cornerstone of DC Entertainment. What I bring to the party is a skill at moving properties and brands through Time Warner as a company… additionally it will be about how invested our content distribution is in the DC library. If our businesses feel that they have greater access and enthusiasm for new characters to incubate.”

Now some people are going to read that quote and worry that Time Warner is going to “corporatize” (read: taint) their favorite DC properties. I’m going to keep in mind that Nelson is the same lady who helped transform Harry Potter from a lucrative book franchise into a multimedia/merchandising empire, loved by both Potter devotees and newcomers who just know the films. Nelson understands how to take what is at the resonating core of a character and/or story and fit it into the bigger profit picture.

For DC Superheroes, I suspect Nelson aims to give us more Dark Knight quality films and Arkham Asylum video games (read: ventures which transform the core appeal of the properties into commercial appeal), and fewer Catwoman disasters (read: failed ventures that tarnish both the core and commercial viability of the properties). And I see no reason at this point why she’d fail at the task.

DOING THINGS THE MARVEL WAY

No, I don’t want DC Entertainment to try to be the second coming of Marvel Studios, however, the latter did set an interesting precedent by linking all their Avengers related films – Captain America, Iron Man, Thor – in one shared continuity, complete with cinematic cameo crossovers.

Should Christopher Nolan’s Batman universe be disrupted for the sake of a Superman cameo? No. Should The Green Lantern maybe feature an appearance from Supes or (better yet) The Flash? Absolutely. And what would be the reasoning behind doing so? Remember a little project called Justice League that DC/WB tried and failed and failed and failed to get off the ground awhile back? If you want to expand your brand, getting your heroes onscreen together where everybody can revel in them is a great way to do it.

Click to continue reading about how DC Entertainment can expand its brand…

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Warner Bros. Creates DC Entertainment Inc.

Kofi Outlaw — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:49:39 +0000

After the Disney/Marvel merger DC Comics and longtime-partner Warner Bros. had to be shaking in their boots. “The House of the Mouse” is already looking like a force that few will likely be able to reckon with.

Well, in an effort to become one of those few forces able to take on Disney/Marvel, Nikke Finke reports that Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. has launched a new division, DC Entertainment Inc., in order to better expand the DC Brand.

Marvel fanboys have already been having heart palpitations wondering what the fate of their favorite characters will be in the hands of Disney. Now DC fans can officially share in that anxiety.

Diane Nelson will be the lady in charge of DC Entertainment Inc., as announced yesterday by Warner Bros. CEO Barry Meyer, and COO, Alan Horn. The mission statement of DC Entertainment Inc. will be to “strategically integrate the DC Comics business, brand and characters deeply into Warner Bros. Entertainment and all its content and distribution businesses.” Basically that constitutes Warner Bros. taking a more hands-on approach to developing DC Comic properties into successful film and TV franchises, interactive and new platform media, etc. In the midst of all this, DC Comics will remain as is for the most part, serving as the creative cornerstone of DC Entertainment Inc.

Of course this new structure means that DC’s comic book division has officially become a limb on a much larger body. As a result, Paul Levitz, President & Publisher of DC Comics since 2002, will vacate his exec post and return to a writing position, lending his three decades of experience to the “new DC” as a contributing editor and consultant.

Said Levitz:

“After so many roles at DC, it’s exciting to look forward to focusing on my writing and being able to remain a part of the company I love as it grows into its next stage. It’s a new golden age for comics and DC’s great characters, and I hope my new position will allow me to contribute to that magic time.”

Diane Nelson (Click Image for Source)

Nelson is leaving her post as President of Warner Premiere to take on the DC Entertainment job. If you’re wondering about her qualifications and experience: in her two decades working in creative brand management, strategic marketing and content development and production, Nelson has most notably had a big hand in adapting and managing the Harry Potter franchise for WB. Taking J.K. Rowling’s beloved novels and turning them into a juggernaut (read: cash cow) movie franchise is no small accomplishment; IMO, it demonstrates that Nelson understands how to maintain the balance between being true to source material, while making the needed changes to create successful multimedia ventures – an area where DC has admittedly had some trouble (See: Superman Returns).

Said Nelson:

“The founding of DC Entertainment fully recognizes our desire to provide both the DC properties and fans the type of content that is only possible through a concerted cross-company, multi-platform effort…DC Entertainment will help us to formally take the great working relationships between DC Comics and various Warner Bros. businesses to the next level in order to maximize every opportunity to bring DC’s unrivalled collection of titles and characters to life.”

For a great in-depth explanation of all this (with more quotes from the players involved) head on over to Deadline Hollywood.

Personally, I’m not at all upset (or surprised, really) about any of this. For better or worse, comic book fans, these are chicks we raised that are coming home to roost. We were the ones who pushed for so long to see our favorite heroes grace the big and small screens; our money fed the box office and gave rise to the “Era of Geek-Chic.” And in that proud era, our favorite comic books and superheroes have had their market value shoot WAY up – they are now worldwide icons and potential cash cows. When you think about it like that, it’s only logical that the big dawgs have come a barkin’ and comic book publishers have had to answer the call by stepping up into the corporate big leagues.

But will the source material – our beloved comic books – survive and flourish under these bright neon corporate banners, or whither and be forever tainted? As the zen master says “We shall see…”

What do you think about the creation of DC Entertainment Inc.? Will it be a good way for DC to catch up to Marvel in the multimedia market, or are you DC fans worrying that this is the end of the age of innocence for your beloved universe?

(And be sure to check our list of tags below to know which DC/WB movies are currently in the pipeline . Will this re-structuring affect them too?)

Source: Deadline Hollywood

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First Look At Tom Welling As ‘Superman’ On Smallville

Bruce Simmons — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:20:06 +0000

Season 9 of Smallville has a lot of changes coming up:

Tom Welling will be directing a few episodes of Smallville this season, the pesky (lack of) flying will be addressed, Geoff Johns will be writing an episode and we’ve all heard how Clark will be dealing with issues on trying to be only a hero, leaving the personality of Clark behind.

We’ve also got Metallo, General Zod and (shudder), the Wonder Twins showing up in season 9.

On top of that, Clark Kent will have a new look in the upcoming 9th season of Smallville. Check it out after the page break.

OK, so it’s not the red and blue skin tight suit – but it IS his first Superman-style outfit.

When I first mentioned seeing this new look at Comic-Con, did I not say he looks like Neo from The Matrix? I hope they do this well enough to pull it off. And I also hope it’s not a fleeting moment where he wears the outfit for 1 or 2 episodes and then back to the red and blue jackets and shirts.

What do you think of the new look of Super-Clark in Smallville Screen Rant readers?

Source: LilMissX Twitter account

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TV News & Notes: Fringe, True Blood, Alien Nation & More

Kofi Outlaw — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:32:31 +0000

It’s a new week and today your TV news includes a look at Fringe’s second season; Superman will be teaming with Chuck; The Alien Nation is rising again; True Blood takes a big bit of DVD sales; Patton Oswalt talks life on Caprica; and could Supernatural rise from the grave?

Let’s get to it:

FRINGE

Got a few pics from Fringe’s upcoming second season. The pics include The Bishops (Joshua Jackson, John Noble) and Astrid (Jasika Nicole) up to their usual hijinks in the lab, as well as guest star Meghan Markle, who will play junior FBI agent Amy Jessup – I’m guessing while Sr. Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) is hanging out with Leonard Nimoy in alternate dimensions.

If you haven’t caught up on Fringe, you really need to. Here are the pics:

Should I even ask what’s up with the cow in a birthday hat? Of course not! It’s Fringe!

For the full gallery head over to Sci-fi Wire.

Fringe Returns on September 17 (Thursdays now) @ 9pm ET/PT on Fox.

CHUCK

Superman Returns star Brandon Routh will be joining the cast of Chuck for a multi-episode story arch in the upcoming season. Routh will join the show during its fourth episode where he will be playing a new spy named Shaw who takes over Operation Bartwoski and naturally starts competing for Sarah’s affections.

Chuck returns this spring on NBC.

Source: EW

ALIEN NATION

Alien Nation is still making its way back to television. Syfy (and parent company NBC Universal) are working with Twentieth Century Fox to reboot the 80s-90s cult hit show, under the creative direction of Tim Minear, a TV vet with shows like Firefly and The X-Files under his belt.

Minear has claimed that he was the new Alien Nation to be ‘The Wire with aliens,’ and after seeing all the great stuff that director Neil Blomkamp milked out of the premise for District 9 (a film undoubtedly inspired by shows like Alien Nation), I’d say a retooled Alien Nation definitely has potential.

As for contemporary relevance, Minear claims that examples like the culture clashes happening in many European countries would be a good starting point for the series (transplanted to the US of A, of course).

Head over to Earth’s Mightiest for the full interview with Minear. Alien Nation hopes to be in production sometime next year.

Source: Cinemastatic

TRUE BLOOD

True Blood has “glammed” the masses! The DVD of the HBO Series’ first season is slowly gaining on Flight of the Concords as the best-selling TV DVD. True Blood has sold almost $46 million in DVDs as of the middle of August.

Personally, I think True Blood deserves to be crowned king of DVD, considering how explicitly adult-themed the show is. Guess sex (mixed with violence and vamps) still does sell…

If you still haven’t seen True Blood season 1 (shame on you!) you can snag the DVD for cheap by going here.

Source: TV By The Numbers

SUPERNATURAL

Seems Supernatural still has its neck on the chopping block. Said show creator Eric Kripke in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly:

“I did set out [to] tell a five-season storyline…Quite frankly, I never expected [the show] to make it to five years. But now that we’re in our fifth year, I have every intention of ending the story with a bang and not drawing it out or watering it down.”

Well… Kripke at least makes a kind of concession do Supernatural die-hards out there, claiming that is finale for the series will leave room for a whole new installment of the show, with a whole new mythology to build on, in case it gets an eleventh-hour stay of execution. As Kripke points out, Buffy did it, The X-Files did it, so can Supernatural.

The show returns on September 10th @ 9pm ET/PT on the CW.

Source: EW

CAPRICA

Wanna hear actor/comedian Patton Oswalt talk about his role on the upcoming Battlestar Galactica series, Caprica? Oswalt will play Baxter Sarno, a talk show comedian who snags an interview with Cylon creator Daniel Graystone and his wife. There are a couple of good tidbits of the series for you BSG fans who have been wondering what’s coming your way.

Caprica starts with a two-hour premiere on January 22, 2010, @ 9 p.m. ET/PT and will air Fridays at 10 p.m. on Syfy.

Check out the interview with Oswalt over at AV Club.

That’s it for now. Talk to you again during the commercials.

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