As I was watching the new Eclipse trailer, out of sheer boredom and a hint of curiosity, I found myself wondering why in the world two super-powered boys would fight it out over a girl clad in American Apparel who’s a hell of a downer.

How is there an entire film series devoted to one girl’s delusional obsessions of a fairy tale ending with a born-again killer? Sparkely vampires want to kill you, strapping werewolf shape-shifters want to keep you safe.

Do these Edward fans have a death wish and a yearning for abandonment? Is Bella Swan so heavily marketed as mesmerizing that it erases the history of the brazen blonde that came before her?

A long time ago, otherwise known as the 90’s, there was a series called Buffy the Vampire Slayer where a feisty girl from the southland slayed Urban Outfitted demons. This legendary show paved the way for multi-tasking girls who cheer by day, slay by night, and every once in a while hook-up with a tormented blood sucker.

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Smallville fans have a lot to be happy about these days. The CW has officially renewed the show for its tenth season after strong performances on Friday nights and a creative resurgence due in no small part to the airing of “Absolute Justice,”  the two part Justice Society episode by Geoff Johns. Here’s one more reason to jump on your couch and get excited. The JSA will return to Smallville before the season 9 finale.

MTV’s Splash Page reports from last weekend’s Emerald City Comic-Con at Comics Alliance, Johns said that “[The JSA] do appear again at the end of season on Smallville.” Additionally, Johns stated, “The hope is for every DC character to appear outside the comic books. Correctly.”

This isn’t the only hint that the JSA would bbe back soon. In November, Michael Shanks (Hawkman) hinted to fans he might be returning in future episodes to mentor Clark Kent.

“Clark and his friends are figuring out what their destinies will be, so there is a ripe opportunity for the Justice Society who had been there done that to offer some tough love teaching,” said Shanks.“The way things land at the end of it all, there’s an open door for Carter Hall to be revisited and possibly be part of further mentoring Clark down the road.”

Additionally, Johns has also hinted that Darkseid and the dark gods of Apokolips may appear in season ten of Smallville.

There’s a lot of interesting stuff on the radar this week. An Avatar alumni could face off against Conan, Modern Warfare developers bring a fight to Activision, and director Guy Ritchie may be breathing new life into the heroes of Camelot.

Fox finds its shadow for $1 million and David Slade may be the man

Fans of the comic book series The Shadow rejoice as it seems the reboot continues to move forward.  While it was thought Sony and director Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, Army of Darkness) would bring a new version of the character to the big screen things have changed somewhat.

After Raimi began shopping the property around Fox decided to purchase the rights. Sadly, it sounds like Raimi may no longer direct, possibly replaced by David Slade.  Slade directed the vampire film Thirty Days of Night which, unfortunately, felt just that long in the theater. Here’s hoping he can put a little more adrenaline into The Shadow.

How I Met your…Smurf?

Neil Patrick Harris will be venturing to the land of blue, three apples tall creatures in Smurfs: The Movie.  The How I Met Your Mother star won’t be playing a Smurf though.  As this film will be a mix of live action and animation, Harris will be playing the lead live action character.  Too bad, I would have liked to know just which Smurf he’d play.  ”Awesome” Smurf maybe?  Let us know your picks in the comments.

‘Wolverine 2′ starts shooting next January

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was pretty good, but it was missing one thing: ninjas!  Hopefully that will be rectified in the sequel which is set to begin shooting next January.  Delving into Wolvie’s Japanese mythos the script follows stories penned by two pretty big names:

“Based on a story cycle by Frank Miller and Chris Claremont, Wolverine’s adventures in martial arts will be a love story featuring a Japanese actress, I am told. ‘It’s a beautiful story,’ says a source, ‘and will be very different than the first film.’”

Okay, I’m not really sold on the “love story” angle but considering the number of women that went to see Wolverine (pretty much for mutant hunk, Hugh Jackman) at least this will be one you can take your girlfriends to.

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Some early renewals for some popular shows over on the CW have just come in. The network has given the green light for new seasons of Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, 90201 and America’s Next Top Model.

No word on any other renewals of yet for shows we’re interested in, like Smallville, but with these early ones announced, it’s only a matter of time before we hear about more. The Supernatural and Vampire Diaries renewals weren’t completely unexpected as they’ve been doing well in the ratings, but for some reason I thought Top Model was on its last legs. Oh well, another season of beautiful models doing photo shoots in skimpy outfits can’t be all bad, right?

Here’s all the info from the CW about these renewals from their official press release:

THE CW ANNOUNCES EARLY PICKUPS FOR FIVE SERIES

Freshman Hit “The Vampire Diaries,” “Gossip Girl,” “90210,” “Supernatural” and “America’s Next Top Model” To Return Next Season

February 16, 2010 (Burbank, California) ─ The CW Network has given early pickups to five series for next season, including four signature dramas and the reality hit AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL. All five shows will return in Fall 2010.

The series receiving early renewals include this season’s breakout hit THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, The CW’s most-watched show (4.6 million viewers) and the network’s number one show among adults 18-34 (2.5/8). THE VAMPIRE DIARIES premiere generated the largest audience in network history for a series debut (5.7 million total viewers). THE VAMPIRE DIARIES has improved The CW’s performance Thursday at 8:00 p.m. by 114% among women 18-34 this season.

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This week marks a pretty big event for the gang over at Smallville as they encounter the Justice Society of America for the first time. Granted, this isn’t the first time other DC superheroes have made it onto the show, with characters like Green Arrow, Aquaman, Black Canary, and others joining in the fray from time to time. With all those characters making appearances in the past, there’s still something even more special about this week’s two-hour episode.

While this season has brought up some interesting plots including Braniac, the Legion, Metallo, and others, this coming event, written by Geoff Johns, seems to take the cake. From Kryptonsite:

A man named Sylvester Pemberton tracks down Chloe (Allison Mack) and tells her he knows about her team of superheroes and needs their help. However, before he can explain who he is, he is attacked and killed by Icicle (guest star Wesley Macinnes). Clark (Tom Welling) and Chloe’s (Allison Mack) investigation leads Clark to the former headquarters of the Justice Society of America where he meets up with Nelson AKA Dr. Fate (guest star Brent Stait), Carter Hall AKA Hawkman (guest star Michael Shanks) and Courtney AKA Star Girl (guest star Britt Irvin).

Courtney pleads with Hawkman and Dr. Fate to help her catch the killer that is targeting their group but they are reluctant to resume their duties as superheroes. Clark, John Jones (guest star Phil Morris), Green Arrow (Justin Hartley) and Chloe team up to help the JSA stop Icicle before he murders another member of the group. Meanwhile, Lois (Erica Durance) receives a package from a mysterious agency called Checkmate, run by Amanda Waller (guest star Pam Grier).

Check out two exclusive clips from Smallville: Absolute Justice and be sure to watch the entire two-hour event this Friday at 8/7 Central on the CW.

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Who doesn’t love a good “swapped bodies” storyline? Just about every show has done it at one point. From Buffy to Gilligan’s Island to The X-Files, there are over 50 TV episodes that focus on the plot, and now that Supernatural has hit its fifth season, its their turn.

It isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Plenty of shows have stooped lower by pulling off a “trapped in a freezer and forced to tell stories” clip show, or even a musical episode. The “body swap” storyline is only a right of passage after you hit so many episodes, and it looks like this one is just that. From The CW:

High school nerd Gary (guest star Colton James), conjures up a body-switching spell and changes bodies with Sam (Jared Padalecki).  Thrilled by his new handsome and built body, Gary (now Sam) investigates a case with Dean (Jensen Ackles) and takes advantage of Sam’s good looks and age by hitting on women and getting drunk. Meanwhile, the real Sam is stuck inside Gary’s teenage body, dealing with intrusive parents and high school.

The episode also guest stars Mad Men’s Sarah Drew. Check out two new clips from the upcoming “Swap Meat” episode, and be sure to catch it this Thursday night at 9:00 PM ET/PT on The CW.

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In the first installment of TV Digest: Canceled, I talked about shows such as Moonlight, Jerico and Studio 60 that were gone too soon. This time I’ve got more shows that were canceled way before their time, and are a testament to both how amazing television can be but also how nearsighted executives can be when making the decision to cancel a show.

While these shows may no longer grace our television sets with shiny, fresh new episodes, they live on in our hearts and on our DVD shelves. These are what I consider to be the most beloved canceled TV shows of our time.

Arrested Development

Produced by brilliant filmmaker Ron Howard and starring a slew of incredible actors, Arrested Development ran for three seasons from 2003-2006. Shot in a documentary style fashion, like The Office, the show is about the wealthy but seriously crazy Bluth family after their father gets arrested and their company faces bankruptcy.

Oldest son Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) is the glue that holds everyone together while siblings Gob (Will Arnett), Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) and her husband Tobias (David Cross), and Buster (Tony Hale) do their best to make a mess of things. I really can’t say enough about how good this show was.

Other than the incredible casting, this show has some of the best writing and comedic timing I’ve ever seen on television. I have watched all three seasons multiple times and I can watch an episode now and still find something brand new to laugh about, because of how well the writers reference old jokes and spin new ones in their wake.

But the show also can have these incredibly heartfelt moments, in between the insanity, that remind us how important it is to be a family despite how much money you have in the bank. And as the economy continues its slump, this crazy family in the midst of financial turmoil is looking far less eccentric and just plain average. As this show ages it becomes more and more relevant, and it becomes clearer and clearer just how great it is.

Despite all that, as well as numerous Emmy nominations and wins, the show was canceled. Luckily we’ll see more of the Bluth family soon, in a feature length movie that begins shooting this year.

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The CW (Formerly UPN and The WB) has managed to latch on to some strong properties over the years, while of course picking up a few new ones, such as Gossip Girl. One of the original series’ that seems to stay strong, even in it’s fifth season, is Supernatural.

This season, thing seem to get a bit more interesting as the show attempts some risky episode scripts. Back in November, the “Changing Channels” episode had the two brothers flipping into different fictitious TV shows, which were basic spoofs of the other shows in Supernatural’s timeslot.

This week it seems that they’ll be taking a page from the book of Buffy, as Sam and Dean get locked up in an insane asylum. From Warner:

SAM & DEAN LOCKED UP IN THE NUTHOUSE?! – Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) go undercover at a mental institution in response
to a distress call from Martin Creaser, a former hunter (guest star Jon Gries) who’s a patient there.  Creaser thinks supernatural forces may be the real reason behind a large number of patient suicides and is afraid for his own life, but the experience proves to be a very dangerous one for the Winchester brothers as well.

Check out two brand-new clips from “Sam, Interrupted” after the jump. Be sure to catch this week’s episode Of Supernatural on Thursday at 9:00pm ET/PT on The CW.

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Every month, I bring you dedicated readers my favorite TV shows of the moment. And while I love reporting on the latest and greatest in TV Land, what is also just as important to me are the dozens of shows that were canceled before their time.

Whether the ratings were bad or the shows were too expensive, many of TV’s best and brightest have been taken off the air before they have a chance to flourish. But while these shows had their untimely demise, these articles should hopefully resurrect them, at least in the form of you watching them and thinking they’re awesome.

Moonlight

So the reviews weren’t great and the show only lasted a season. But had Moonlight premiered a year or two later, it would have been a smash hit. Why? Because it’s all about vampires, and whether it’s TV, movies, or books, vampires are the hottest thing in media right now.  And while competing with HBO’s hit True Blood and CW’s mediocre The Vampire Diaries wouldn’t be easy, it would have at least stood a chance.

Canceled after 2008’s Writers Guild of America strike, Moonlight centered around Mick St. John, who turned vampire after being bitten by his bride on their wedding night. Years later he works as a P.I., protecting humans while hunting down the vampires who harm them. The show feels like a cross between Veronica Mars and Supernatural, while still being as focused on romance as the shows that have followed it.

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Smallville is a show that hasn’t really generated that much intense interest with with true fanboys in it’s 9 seasons, yet we are all pretty excited about the upcoming “Ultimate Justice” event, in which the Justice Society of America make an appearance on the show. We already got a brief look at Michael Shanks as Hawkman earlier last week, and now we get much more to salivate over.

The episode was originally called “Society,” but due to the magnitude of the story, has been stretched to a two-part event entitled “Ultimate Justice.” As well as Shanks, the rest of the guest cast is filled out by Brent Stait (Andromeda) as Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate, Britt Irvin (Courtney Whitmore/Stargirl), Phil Morris  as John Jones/Martian Manhunter, and Erica Carroll (Reunion) as Dr. Fate’s wife, Inza.

Check out the brand new preview clip of the episodes after the jump, in which we get a glimpse of the Green Lantern ring, the Sandman mask, Dr. Fate, and a really cool Justice Society “Last Supper” painting. The episode is set to air January 29th of 2010.

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