Smallville and Supernatural Renewed

This week's "oh really?" news item is the report from Entertainment Weekly that the CW has included Smallville in its list of shows it's renewing for next year, along with Supernatural and Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, 90210, and America's Next Top Model.

(A decision on Reaper, which only just had its second season premiere this week, will depend on its performance over the next few weeks.)

As EW says, all we can draw from this is that Tom Welling is on board. In terms of cast and producers, he's probably the only nonexpendable individual, since Smallville is clearly at a transition point and could completely change its format and structure in its 9th season. In fact the current showrunners, Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin, have already moved on to the revamp of Melrose Place, leaving the show to the other two executive producers, Kelly Souders (producer since 2002 and writer of a number of episodes, including "Prey" and the upcoming "Eternal") and Brian Peterson (also a writer/producer on the show since 2002, and, incidentally, the scripter for But I'm a Cheerleader). Perhaps fewer cooks will make for a more focused show.

Apart from that, there's no solid news. Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor) is suspected of being willing to appear in a couple of episodes. Wrestler Matt Morgan is claiming to have been cast as Doomsday, replacing Sam Witwer, but The CW has denied this.

But there's no word on where a season 9 would find Clark on his protracted voyage toward becoming Superman. Rumors that Clark will finally learn to fly and/or acquire his costume this season mainly represent the anxious wishes of fans, which the producers seem to enjoy stringing along (as in "Identity," where we were teased into thinking Clark would put on the cape – only to find out it was Oliver pretending to be the "red/blue blur").

I have to say that despite recent chatter about a ninth season I'm really surprised that Smallville has been renewed. It seemed pretty clear that season 8 was meant to be its last, a chance to bodily move Clark toward his destiny as a superhero after years of neglecting established continuity. But I'm also optimistic – season 9 will be a great opportunity for Clark to establish a more solid foundation for his future as Superman. I hope that's what Tom and the new show-runners are looking to do.

Meanwhile in its press release The CW congratulated Supernatural on its ratings growth this season, which obviously ensured its renewal. The confirmation that Supernatural is coming back for a fifth season is awesome news, and perfectly timed for the return of new episodes of both Smallville and Supernatural on March 12.