In case you’ve not been paying attention recently, the ten year run of Smallville is coming to an end next Friday with a two hour blockbuster finale. As much of a bummer as this is for fans of the show, it turns out the cast, led by Tom Welling, is pretty broken up about it too.

Welling, who plays Clark Kent on the show, spoke to Zap2it about the end of Smallville and dropped some clues about what to expect as the series finishes its run.

“I think people will feel fulfilled, but it’s going to be bittersweet,” he said. “If someone has been watching the show for 10 years, it’s coming to an end, and that’s never a fun thing . . .You always want more, but the reality is that it can’t go on forever.”

You do always want more. That’s for sure. Welling went on to explain that they ended up filming the finale in a rather different way than other series.

“We shot the actual finale as our third-to-last episode,” he said. “We shot two more episodes, then shot the first part of the finale last. It gave us the opportunity to take a look at what would be the last image of the show in post-production and make any changes or adaptations to it. It didn’t necessarily take the emotional pressure off us, but the time pressure.”

Speaking about filming the very end, he said, “As we were shooting it, everyone’s senses were heightened. People were flying up from L.A. [to Vancouver, where the show has been made] to supervise and make sure everyone who had to make a decision was there. Everybody was just really excited, and the energy level went up.”

Continue Reading →

This week, Chris and Matt tackle the hot-button subject of Nerd Girls and Matt explains his editorial from earlier this week in which he calls out top-level models and actresses for pandering to the ever-loving nerd community.

Click here to see the editorial rant that started it all.

Also, the duo discuss a uninspiring episode of Smallville from last week, get ready for the upcoming finale of next week’s Smallville, and gush about how excited they are for the Paintball finale of Community this week.

As for their picks, the boys went a little more obscure this week. Matt dug deep into his knowledge of Ozploitation films to pick the 1984 Philippe Mora classic The Return of Captain Invincible, a musical comedy starring Alan Arkin and Christopher Lee. Chris also went old school and picked the first season from the original Twilight Zone series, which is currently available on Instant Netflix.

Take a listen to the podcast below, and don’t forget to comment and subscribe on iTunes!

We’ve got one more episode (a double) coming up of arguebly one of the best weekly Superman TV shows, but once it’s over, what do we do then? Warner’s already on the case, as they have just announced the full series on DVD to hit shelves this fall.

Here’s the official press release with details on only a few of the awesome features.

BURBANK, CA (April 27, 2011) – After 10 incredible seasons, Smallville: The Complete Series will arrive on DVD this fall. This ultimate collector’s set for the ultimate fan features over 192 hours of content – including all 218 episodes, over five hours of newly added special features such as an unaired, never-before-seen Superboy pilot from 1961, a 90-minute series retrospective with all new interviews, the 2010 final Comic-Con panel and more!

In addition, exclusive printed materials include a Daily Planet newspaper, written by DC Comics, that highlights the important story lines developed during the 10-year run of the show and an episode guide with never-before-seen production art (storyboards/sketches) and behind-the-scenes photos. Smallville: The Complete Series is presented in highly collectible new packaging consisting of two lay-flat picture books that hold 62 discs.

So if you’re a diehard fan and can’t stand not having Tom Welling and the gang on TV every week, or if you haven’t had the chance to catch up on the series, this is definitely for you. Take a look at the full box art after the jump.

Continue Reading →

This week on The Flickcast Chris and Matt are back to doing what they do best: working alone and without a net. Not only that but, as usual, they discuss and debate all manner of new and returning topics.

This week those include HBO’s Game of Thrones, The Avengers, Smallville and Lex Luthor’s return. In addition, they talked about the Thor movies (yes, both of them), Portal 2, a brand new, exciting product from Apple called the HumancentiPad and pretty much whatever the hell ‘else they want to talk about..

Of course, your hosts also made some picks this week including Matt’s pick of the movie Matinee and Chris’ pick of the returning HBO series Treme.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook and MySpace or via email.

Those who are fans of The CW’s Smallville already are aware how intense this season has been, leading up to the series finale on Friday, May 13th. This season alone, we’ve had DC Universe characters Ultraman, Deathstroke, Darkseid, Stargirl, Blue Beetle, and Booster Gold make an appearance, just to name a few. Now, it looks like things are only going to get more intense.

This past Friday marked the third to last episode of the series, which was written by DC legend Geoff Johns. We can tell that this season is leading up to an incredible ending in which Tom Welling’s Clark Kent finally dons the blue tights and red cape, but we’re not sure what events in the eleventh hour will lead up to that.

However, a brand new promo that aired with Friday’s episode may just give a clue to those events. Since 2008, original series regular Michael Rosenbaum has been off the show, and his character Lex Luthor has been presumed dead. Now, it looks like we’ll be getting him back for the big 2-hour finale on May 13th.

Take a look at the teaser after the jump, and see what we’re talking about. Smallville airs every Friday on the CW.

Continue Reading →

Okay, here’s my official take on the Academy Award show this year. The entertainment world is abuzz today with reports of how horrible James Franco and Anne Hathaway were as hosts of the show. I think that they are being unfairly maligned. I found Hathaway charming, beautiful, and eager to please.

On the other hand, Franco seemed like he didn’t give a crap about the show or his performance. He was obviously stoned out of his mind, and I am not one to judge, but that is flat out disrespectful. Do that stuff on your own time, not when you are in front of a billion people. Anne Hathaway didn’t stand a chance when she was saddled with the stoner from hell. I genuinely felt bad for her.

Franco has had an amazing year. I used to dismiss him as a joke, until I saw his performance in 127 Hours. He was astounding. Shortly after I saw the film, I spoke at a public event, and swore that I would never sell him short again. Until now.

Franco has squandered all the good will he has earned in one catastrophic hosting gig. Back in the penalty box you go, Mr. Franco. This time it won’t be so easy to earn your way out. For a very funny take on Franco’s questionable frame of mind, check out this Gawker.com article.

To be fair, I truly didn’t feel that the two were given much to do. Outside of a great film montage at the beginning of the show, they were barely present. Perhaps that was a blessing. Still, Hathaway deserves props.

Franco’s quick little appearance in drag was bizarre, jarring and random. I felt like I was watching an SNL skit.

Continue Reading →

As it is every week, this week’s episode of The Flickcast is brimming with fun, entertainment, knowledge and all sorts of humor and insightful commentary. Well, it’s sorta funny at least.

Anyway, this week Chris and Matt are joined by Chief Gaming Guru John Carle to talk all things DCU Online, Sony PS2, PSP2, Activision and Toy Fair. In addition, they discuss new trailers for X-Men: First Class and I Am Number Four, Smallville‘s series finale featuring Lex Luthor and a whole lot more.

Chris, Matt and John also make some new picks this week to help guide you and highlight movies, TV shows, games and more that you may not have heard of. What were the picks? Well, you’ll just have to listen to the show to find out. We can’t always give everything away.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook and MySpace or via email.

Even though this news came out a couple days ago that doesn’t make it any less awesome. So awesome, in fact, we thought it was worth telling you about it even if though you may already know. What is this amazing news?

Well, get ready to be thrilled, especially if you’re a fan of Smallville. Michael Rosenbaum will be returning to play Lex Luthor for the series finale. That’s right, after months of speculation, the actor just closed a deal to return to the CW series for the finale, reprising his role as Lex.

“It feels like the stars are aligning, literally. We couldn’t be more excited about having Michael back,” Smallville executive producers/showrunners Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson said. “And as far as the way he returns … there’ll be no doubt about how Lex becomes the great rival in Clark Kent’s life. He is the villain of the story.”

Rosenbaum, who left the series after season 7 to pursue his writing, said he was “delighted” to return for the series finale. “I’m simply doing it for all of the fans out there who made Smallville the great success it is,” he said. “I appreciate all of their passion, their relentlessness and even their threats. Ha ha. I can’t wait to hug the old crew back in Vancouver one last time and see all of my old friends once again….. Oh, and for Lex to become the badass he’s destined to be.”

Well, it seems the stars are aligning and the Smallville series finale should end up being one to remember. The series finale of Smallville airs on May 13th on the CW.

If you were one of the millions of fans anxiously awaiting the return of Smallville or Supernatural tonight, you’re just going to have to wait a bit longer. The network that carries those shows, The CW, has decided to push back both show’s premieres, which were to take place tonight, by another week.

Now, both shows will return next Friday at their regularly scheduled times. Why is this happening? Reportedly, it is to give the network’s winter debuts of The Vampire Diaries and Nikita extra time to build an audience and ratings by showing them again this week in the time slots usually reserved for Smallville and Supernatural.

While I can understand the decision from a business perspective, it is still a rather crappy thing to do to fans eagerly awaiting the return of Smallville and Supernatural. I know The CW wants to give its newer shows as much of a chance as possible, but they also need to keep in mind that shows like Smallville, and its fans, are one of the reason the network is still in business.

Oh well, I guess we can wait one more week, right?

This week on The Flickcast brings more insight, innovation and innuendo from your favorite co-hosts. That’s right, Chris and Matt are back and discussing all sorts of new and returning topics.

Some of those topics include the Oscars, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, Call of Duty: Black Ops Map Packs, the Verizon iPhone, Fantastic Four developments, Smallville’s final season and potential spin-offs, the Dead Space 2 ads and much more.

Chris and Matt also made new picks this week including Matt’s pick of the Sam Raimi film Darkman the and Chris’ pick of the new Starz series Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook and MySpace or via email.

Back in the old days we had three TV networks and they scheduled new shows to premiere in the Fall and reruns all Summer. That scheduling model is now a distant memory as new shows premiere pretty much any time of the year these days.

One of the biggest times for networks to bring out new shows is during what is known as midseason. This midseason is no exception with many new shows hitting the air for the first time or previous ones coming back after the holiday break. So, to help you get your DVRs ready, here is a list of the major premiere dates on broadcast and cable compiled by the extremely helpful folks over at Deadline.

It includes season/series premieres and many return dates for series with split seasons. Now to find that DVR remote and get to programming.

Jan. 3
The Bachelor, ABC, season premiere
Pretty Little Liars, ABC Family, winter season premiere
Greek, ABC Family, season premiere

Jan. 4
V, ABC, season premiere
Live to Dance, CBS, series premiere
The Biggest Loser: Couples, NBC, season premiere
Southland, TNT, season premiere
Chopped, Food Network, season premiere
Caprica, Syfy, final 5 episodes

Jan.5
Ghost Hunters International, Syfy, season premiere
Are We There Yet?, TBS, season premiere
Flying Wild Alaska, Discovery, series premiere

Continue Reading →

In leading up to tonight’s big premiere of Cartoon Network’s newest live action series, Tower Prep, we’ve been bringing you significant coverage of the show. Yesterday, we interviewed two of the four main stars, Ryan Pinkston and Drew Van Acker. Today, you guessed it, we’re bringing you an interview with the two other stars, Dyana Liu and Elise Gatien.

This may be one of the first major shows for Dyana, but many fans of the comic genre remember Elise Gatien from season 9 of Smallville as that universe’s version of Green Arrow’s Speedy. How does it all tie in? DC veteran Paul Dini is executive producer of this series, as well as writing tonight’s pilot episode.

The series revolves around this group of teens who wake up in a mysterious prep school for kids with special abilities.

Check out the interview after the jump, and catch Tower Prep on Cartoon Network, tonight at 8pm ET/PT.

Continue Reading →