Update: Smallville Maintains Full Fifth Season Order No shorting; merely a brief airing hiatus February 20th 2006 07:01pm | Posted by: Robert Falconer HNR Senior Editor Return to Smallville Homepage On February 16 HNR reported on a rumor we had been made privy to here in Vancouver suggesting that Smallville would be shorted this season. Well, it seems that the "rumor" was nothing but that - a rumor. We suspect, however, that our source's "confusion" - that's what we'll gently call it right now - may have been instigated by the fact that the series won't be airing any more new episodes again until March 30. Now on to the reason for THAT. There is no basis to this being a result of The WB/UPN merger under parent company CBS. In point of fact, it is because the full 22 episode order for Smallville (traditionally standard in the industry) is required to cover an entire 52 week year.   This means repeats must be scattered through not only the summer, but also the months of December, January and March as well. Moreover, when Smallville returned on January 12, it was a full week earlier than the show usually returns, resulting in the need for another repeat. The timing and spacing of episodes is also critical to demographic success in the marketplace. One exception to this rule is 24, which runs all 24 of its episodes back to back, but takes a five to six month hiatus between seasons. Source: HNR In: General Smallville News |Visit the HNR Forums

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