Is Smallville's Fifth Season Being Shorted? Plus, the series gets a 'Cyborg' February 16th 2006 03:01am | Posted by: Robert Falconer HNR Senior Editor Return to Smallville Homepage Smallville has been enjoying a great deal of ratings success during this - its fifth season - thanks in large part to more energetic storytelling, an increased "cool" factor, and some significant changes in the evolution of the characters. The series' 100th episode, "Reckoning," which featured the death of Jonothon Kent. grabbed 6.3 million viewers, according to Entertainment Weekly, a 29 percent increase over its season-to-date average and enough to tie NBC's Four Kings (71st). According to the magazine, Smallville even outperformed Fox's The O.C. (80th), which had 5.7 million fans tuning in at 9 p.m. to see Seth smoke his first joint.   Given such a stellar performance, it's no wonder that we're surprised to be hearing rumblings here in Vancouver that the series may be shorted episodes this season - that effectively the number of episodes may be intentionally reduced, with production wrapping in March as opposed to April, and possibly an increased number of episodes (perhaps 26) being filmed for a sixth season. Though a reliable source has tipped us about this, alleging that it has something to do with the recent amalgamation of the WB Network with UPN, please be aware that we have not corroborated these assertions nor do we yet understand the rationale behind them if they turn out to be true. Rest assured that as of this posting we're treating it as rumor, and as soon as we have more substantial information we'll let you know. Meanwhile, in this week's episode, "Cyborg," written by Caroline Dries and directed by Glen Winter, a sympathetic doctor releases a half-human/half-machine subject named Victor (guest star Lee Thompson Young) who was being held captive and experimented on by LuthorCorp. While making his escape, Victor is struck by Lana's (Kristin Kreuk) car. After watching him walk away without a scratch, Lana calls Clark (Tom Welling) to investigate. Clark befriends Victor and promises to help him find his girlfriend, but Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) traps Victor and takes him back to LuthorCorp. Source: HNR In: General Smallville News |Visit the HNR Forums

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