While common-folk around the world are pulling their hair out trying to figure out how to program their DVRs, fans of Supernatural know that at 9PM on Thursday nights is time for the Winchester brothers to kick some supernatural butt. Given that tonight’s episode is the last episode of 2009, I figured it’s only appropriate to write something up.

Since the premiere of the fifth season, we’ve seen Lucifer rise from hell, Bobby become confined to a wheelchair, the brothers Winchester become television stars, 80-yr-old Dean Winchester kick some warlock butt and we finally find out what happens at all those Supernatural conventions. I’d say that’s pretty good for a couple of month’s work.

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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.

Smallville fans who are miffed at The CW for moving your favorite show, you probably don’t want to read this.

The CW’s Thursday night time slot is showing serious ratings momentum as The Vampire Diaries posted its best ratings yet since the series premiere.

The Vampire Diaries drew in an estimated 3.8 million viewers last Thursday, October 15th.

Behind The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural is also on an up tick in the ratings as 2.6 million viewers also tuned in for that powerful episode.

This Thursday, 10/1/09, the Supernatural episode titled “The End” airs.

In the preview for “The End,” Sam (Jared Padalecki) asks Dean (Jensen Ackles) if they can team back up, but Dean say no. Zachariah (guest star Kurt Fuller) later tosses Dean 5 years into the future and shows him what will be to come from his saying no to helping the angels fight Lucifer.

Check out the preview video after the jump.

A while back, word on the street was that the CW network would love to have John Winchester pass on through Supernatural in its 5th season. Howevever, showrunner Eric Kripke has been noted to saying that Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s schedule wasn’t making it easy to happen.

But was Kripke messing with us?

I ask because Morgan said in an interview with SCI FI Wire that no one has contacted him and adds that he’d love to come back and do an episode.

So it worked once and it developed a devoted following, despite how Fox treated it, so it looks like Fox is trying it again.

Scott Rosenbaum (Producer: Chuck, The Shield) is stepping outside the boundaries he’s made for himself with NBC’s Chuck and is taking a stab at a yet-to-be-named western with a science fiction twist.

Rosenbaum will be producing the show with Warner Bros. TV and Wonderland Sound and Vision studios (McG’s company), the latter of which has a fairly decent list of shows to their credits.  That’s if you count Chuck, Human Target and Supernatural as decent shows. They also produce The OC, but I couldn’t put that in the same sentence with the phrase “decent shows.” Just ain’t our cup of tea here at Screen Rant.

No real spoilers are in this article.

Sometimes a show will peak at their season finale and then come back a little subdued, but the season 5 premiere of Supernatural did anything but that. The show opened with a fantastic recap of last season, accompanied by an awesome AC/DC song called “Thunderstruck.”  After the recap, we slipped right into the action, picking up exactly where the finale left us. The Winchester brothers trying to get away from the portal that Lucifer was released from and we went from there.

We got a great opening dose of Castiel, Bobby, Meg, the scribe Chuck, Lucifer and his newest vessel (Mark Pellegrino). Eric Kripke (Creator) really tossed up a nice curve ball with Lucifer’s salesmanship. Dang.

Supernatural is barreling at us Thursday night at 9 p.m. on The CW for it’s 5th season premiere and we have a preview of it for you. This season brings closure to show creator Eric Kripke’s original vision for the series.

Season 5 will see the Winchester brothers release Lucifer, start Armageddon and help Cass learn to deal with his diminishing powers, now that he’s on the outs from the circle of angels he was working with.

Eric Kripke says that we’re going to be seeing few of what I would call heavy hitters in the upcoming 5th season of Supernatural.

God will be intervening, but probably not until the end of the season.

Castiel (Misha Collins) will be a hunted fugitive, as far as Heaven is concerned and as time goes on, his powers begin to fade.  This in turn, is where he’ll learn how to be human.  (Trust me Cass, it ain’t no picnic some days!)

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.

Just a brief update on this Monday: Plan your prime time with the 2009 TV Fall Schedule; Smallville is getting another new guest star; A certain “Foxy” lady might be kicking off SNL this year; Learn how to catch up on all the NBC shows you missed last year (for free!); and speaking of NBC, how about a first-look photo of Jim and Pam getting married on The Office?

And as a bonus (because I love you) I let you know about the government’s “Cash for TV Clunkers” program.

Let’s get to it!

In today’s Weekly TV Wrap Up, we’re going to talk about Fringe realities, Supernatural & Smallville news & True Blood setting records.

We’re then going to touch on some news from Fox’s House, and wrap things up with an NCIS tidbit and some more summer time ratings.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

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Fringe

Despite the possibility of there being multiple realities, the showrunners for Fringe are only going to torment the viewers with one alternate reality at a time.  Thank god.  I have enough trouble with my own reality as it is!

As they put it, there’s “over here” and the alternate reality referred to as “over there,” where William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) lives.

In attendance for the 2009 Comic-Con Supernatural panel were Eric Kripke, Misha Collins, Jim Beaver, Sara Gamble and Ben Edlund.

This is Misha Collins and Jim Beavers’ first ever Comic-Con appearances.

The preview opened up with the Ghost Facers doing what they do best, and that’s trying to steal the show.  Then they remembered that they were supposed to be introducing Supernatural.  Very funny.

They recapped old scenes with the usual awesome classic rock song accompaniment of Judas Priest, “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’.”

The preview clip we got was called “Sympathy For The Devil.”  The Winchester brothers are examining a wrecked room, which turned out to be Chuck’s (The prophet writer) house.  Chuck was telling them that Cas (Castiel) got wasted by the archangel.

In this weeks TV Wrap Up, I’ve found  casting news about Stargate Universe, Supernatural, Psych, Friday Night Lights, Smallville, Criminal Minds and Stephen King’s book-turned-tv-series, Cell!

As usual, I have a ratings recap at the bottom, but it’s the Summer Lite edition being as how we’re in repeat mode for the Summer (except for the reality drabble that is intertwined throughout the chart).

Let’s “git ‘er done“, shall we?

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Stargate Universe

Stargate Universe is looking to cast a “name actress” to play the wife of Robert Carlyle’s character.

These will be flashback scenes since she will be dead by the time we see her.

Supernatural has a wild season coming up with the Winchester brothers going head to head with Satan / Lucifer / the Devil.  No matter how much we like and root for the Winchesters, I’m not sure how they’re going to pull off taking on the man from down below himself.

With season five dealing with what comes of the final seal being broken, we’re going to be seeing some new faces and a few old faces.

This should be interesting.

UpDated 7-2-09

Last year at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con, the event was ruled by several big named movies that ranged from youthful vampires to illegal vigilantes.  TV was more a side-note than anything else.

This year at the 2009 Comic-Con, things will be a bit different as television programming seems to have a bigger presence than last year.

For instance, the Warner Brothers Television Group will have 11 different panels for their shows.  That’s a studio best for them.  ABC Studios will have 7 panels.  20th Century Fox will have 9 panels.

Do you think your favorite television show will be represented?

The CW Announced their 2009 Fall Schedule and it’s actually pretty thin as far as shows go compared to other networks.  But they do have a few shows we do want to see:  Smallville and Supernatural.

The CW doesn’t exactly fall into the category of power television with the likes of America’s Next Top Model or 90210 and such fare, but they do have a couple of shows that Screen Rant readers appreciate. Yet I’m sure you’d like to know what they have in store for their viewing audiences for the upcoming 2009 Fall season.

With Smallville moving to Fridays and Supernatural getting a new vampire neighbor on Thursday nights, what does the future look like for both shows?

Various factors have me thinking “bleak.”

As we know, Smallville is moving to the dreaded ratings vacuum called Friday night.  As far as I’m concerned, it’s a place networks put shows they don’t care about.  We all saw how Friday night killed viewer numbers for The Sarah Connor Chronicles when it was moved there.  And TSCC had more viewers than Smallville.

The CW released their 2009 lineup on Thursday, May 21st, following all the other network announcements this week.  The lineup has a few new shows, is down a couple of fan-favorite shows and has one schedule twist that surprised me, sort of.

The CW is now a power hitter in the chain of networks.  Their best rated show, America’s Next Top Model doesn’t even break the top 50 network shows.  I know… you’re shocked.

Despite the obvious numbers, Dawn Ostroff calls their lineup of shows “culturally current, quality programming.”  I guess that’s not inaccurate.

Welcome to Screen Rant’s weekly TV Update.

It seems that I’ve reported most of the developing TV news throughout the week.  I’m exhausted but I still dug up a few more bits about the Gossip Girl spin-off, a Chuck tidbit, the move that Smallville is making.

And I’ve got the usual set of numbers for the ratings from last week.

Onward, my fair readers.

The Supernatural season 4 finale, titled Lucifer Rising created a great collection of plot lines that were drawn together in a neat little tidy knot.  With this, a freaking big new plot line evolved from last night’s episode.

The show opened to a background theme to the tune of a classic Kansas song titled Carry On Wayward Son.  The montage helped build the emotion that was going to be necessary to get through this last episode of this season.  It was very well done – this is my kind of classic rock as I channel Dean continually.

Spoiler Filled Answers Follow The Break

It is Thursday yet again. How’s your week been so far? We’re doing good here at Screen Rant.

Today we’re chatting a little about CBS’s season finales, also  A Game Of Thrones, Supernatural, Fringe, Burn Notice, BSG, Dexter, Kings, and a bit on Ugly Betty.  We’ve also got a video preview of True Blood season two, and a few other bits and pieces.  Oh, and of course, I touch on some ratings from the week that was.

Due to technical difficulties beyond my control, the digital dog ate my homework. Or, I had to write this article twice! The digital dog just sounds more light-hearted than what the second line implies. Enough about my woes with technological gremlins.

There wasn’t a ton of news to report or snark on this week, so I had to dig up enough to make this yet another interesting read. Well, at least I think it is! I do have a few snippets that might be spoilers for The Office (Guest appearance) and Lost (Possible finale shoot notes).

Shall we get on with it?

So what’s happening this week with some of our favorite television shows? I’ll fill you in on the vaporizing ratings for Dollhouse, The Sarah Connor Chronicles and others. I touch on some Supernatural & NCIS casting news and a season ending story development. I then sprinkle some CSI:NY bits and round it out with some Lily cast updates.

Let’s check it out.

Hello Screen Rant readers. There isn’t a lot of TV stuff going on, but I did manage to dig up some noise on a few things. Namely some info on the upcoming Caprica DVD, Tin Man, The Mentalist, Dollhouse, Heroes and ER.

Let’s get to it.

After all the noise and going back and forth on whether The CW is or is not going to do anything about two of its major tentpole shows, the wait is finally over.

Today The CW President Dawn Ostroff announced that Supernatural and Smallville were renewed for another season.

That makes it season 9 for Smallville, and Supernatural will be headed into season 5. Woohoo!

This week, we chat about Caprica, Supernatural, the NCIS spin-off, a new vampire pilot from The CW, Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer, Bones, Grey’s Anatomy and some bits about ABC renewing some shows. Also, since we reported that Dave Letterman was announcing the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model last week, it’s only right that we finish what we started with a little something at the bottom of this post. Shall we get on with it? I knew you’d say that.

But before I say anything else, I would be remiss to not remind you that Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles are coming to your TV this Friday night!

Well, we survived the Super Bowl and the travesty of a 3D commercial and now we, what?  Wait for the 2009 football season to start back up?  Well, so be it.  In the mean time, let’s check out what happened during the last week.

This week, we chat a little about the latest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, NBC’s Chuck, some wedding news about Fringe, upcoming episodes of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Prison Break’s final episodes, Nip/Tuck going away, Supernatural feuds, and some sad or stupid news about Kyle XY, Reaper and the Digital TV transition delay.

Let’s get to it gang!

All kinds of goodies took place this last week. Let’s get on with the tidbits of TV!

1. Bruce’s Public Service Announcement: Be aware that the season premiere of season 4.5 (Is that just not the most ridiculous thing ever?) of Battlestar Galactica that is airing this Friday on January 16th will run over by 3 1/2 minutes. That means you need to make the appropriate changes to whatever recording device you may employ, if that is indeed what you are doing. Me, I’m gonna be there live! Despite in-laws crawling all over my place, they’ve been warned. Back off when my show comes on. Go to sleep, go for a walk, go for a drive, or watch it with me, but git out of my way and don’t talk during my show! I take my BSG serious! Source: SciFi Wire

Come Thursday, the brothers Winchester will be back in action thumping demon butt and carrying out angel orders on Supernatural on The CW!  The episode coming up is called Family Remains.

Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) investigate the appearance of a young female ghost (guest star) in an abandoned house, but things become more complicated when a family moves in.

The brothers fail to get the family to leave, but when the son is kidnapped though the walls, they look to Sam and Dean to rescue the boy.