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Tom Welling as Clark Kent in Smallville.

© Jack Rowand/The CW

As expected, The CW has renewed the newly energized Smallville for a tenth season, joining its housemates The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural on the network's 2010-2011 schedule.

What won Smallville back? Two sets of numbers:

• In its Friday night slot, Smallville has taken on all the guys who aren't watching CBS's high-estrogen supernatural ratings dynamo, Ghost Whisperer, and its new partner Medium. On Friday nights Smallville has been winning its time slot among men 18-34 and men 18-49, always a plus for network executives.
• Smallville has also dramatically improved The CW's ratings performance in the troublesome Friday 8:00 p.m. time period over last year: the network is up by 74% overall (over 3 million viewers) and 200% in men 18-34. Improved over what? Last year The CW was airing the last season of Everybody Hates Chris and a football sitcom called The Game. Both shows were canceled after The CW decided to forego half-hour comedies, so the network must be pleased that its shift in tactics for Friday nights is paying off.

What about casting? The show has pared down its regulars over the last several seasons, leaving a current starting lineup of Tom Welling, Allison Mack, Erica Durance, Justin Hartley, and Cassidy Freeman (plus Callum Blue as Zod, but the Smallville nemesis storylines have been one-season deals lately). The CW has confirmed only Welling for season 10, but Durance's contract runs through season 10 and Freeman's has an option for season 10 as well. Read more...

Ellie Kemper" align="right" />Yesterday was a big day for The Office, with Pam and Jim finally having their baby (a girl named Cecilia Marie, if you care to send cards) and NBC debuting the latest online spin-off of the show, a four-episode series called "The Mentor." The series showcases new-ish character Erin (Ellie Kemper), who's become increasingly prominent this season. When Angela takes Erin under her wing, it threatens to crush Erin's free-spirited, fun-loving ways. Will anything significant actually happen? Probably not, but on a show with so many minor characters, it's nice that they get the chance to shine in different venues. Check out the episodes of "The Mentor" on the NBC website.

Photo courtesy of NBC

Remember this? Joseph Fiennes and Shohreh Aghdashloo in FlashForward.

© Ron Tom/ABC

 Go to Season 1.0 Episode Guide Go to ABC's Full Episodes

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December was such a long time ago, even for people seeing visions of the future. In fact it's been 14 weeks since FlashForward, ABC's Lost-in-waiting, aired its midseason finale--long enough to air, say, an entire season of Merlin (or two seasons of Survivors).

It was a pretty risky move postponing the return, not just once but twice, of such an arc-driven, detail oriented show, and it's an open question whether FlashForward will be able to regain traction after so long a hiatus. (Optimist: "Battlestar did it!" Realist: "Battlestar did a lot of things.")

ABC is doing what it can. It's rush-released the DVD of the first ten episodes, so you can catch up on your own time (click here to compare prices on the DVD). You can also watch all ten full episodes online at abc.com. And it announced the intriguing casting of James Callis in a recurring role later in the season.

Meanwhile, for those who watch like their TV on television, ABC is airing a synopsis episode, "What Did You See?", on Tuesday Mar. 16, two days before the return episode, "Revelation Zero." This will be useful even for regular watchers, as the title indicates: did you catch, in other words, all the stuff the creators wanted you to notice?

The recap, ABC says, details the intricate plotlines, including FBI agent Mark Benford's apparent involvement in partner Demetri Noh's impending death; Bryce Varley's Japan trip to find the woman from his vision; Lloyd Simcoe and Simon's confession that their experiment caused the blackout; and Lloyd's kidnapping.

Think of it as the in-class review before the midterm exam.