Collider - TV

‘Smallville’ Is About Clark Kent, But Lex Luthor Is the Real Star

Michael John Petty — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 03:30:19 GMT

We all know that Smallville is about a young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) on his way to becoming Superman. It takes him a decade to get there, but once he's there it feels both earned and about time. But what makes Smallville, especially in its earlier years, work so well is the well-placed juxtaposition between Clark and his best frienemy Lex Luthor, played to perfection by Michael Rosenbaum. Still considered by many to be the best interpretation of the character, Smallville's Lex steals the show in every scene he's in, and it's because of his ultimate destiny that we hope (beyond hope) that he won't fall into that same dark pit he always does. Yeah, Smallville is about becoming Superman, but it works because we also get to see the origins of Lex Luthor.

This Underrated British Miniseries Is the Best Fantasy TV Show

Elisa Guimarães — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 02:15:18 GMT

The history of fantasy on television is a pretty rich one, especially in the post-2000, peak TV landscape. Fans of the genre have a swath of options when it comes to picking their favorites, from high fantasy classics such as Game of Thrones or The Wheel of Time to urban enterprises usually aimed at younger audiences, like Shadowhunters and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. There are even some examples right there in the middle, such as the prematurely canceled Shadow and Bone. The point is that there is no scarcity of magical storytelling and amazing worldbuilding to choose from. However, there is a fantasy show that rarely makes the lists of best of the genre, even though it is a beautiful series with a unique approach to fantastical elements. We are talking about the 2015 British miniseries Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

USA Network Never Should've Abandoned Its 'Blue Sky' Shows

Jeffrey Harris — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 00:45:18 GMT

Earlier this month, Deadline reported that the USA Network is mounting a major comeback for scripted original content — a mind-boggling move for the post-streaming era. Under the current plan, NBCUniversal plans to roll out new shows for the ad-supported cable network, with the apparent goal of launching the new shows by 2025. This does not seem like a coincidence as one of the network’s formerly most popular and long-running shows, Suits, started streaming on Netflix for the first time in June.

The Recast That Changed 'Riverdale' Forever

Jay Snow — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 23:00:18 GMT

Following his award-winning performance as Joe in May December, Charles Melton is the talk of the town (and the internet). Joe’s emotional journey was the tour de force of the film, finally giving the actor his flowers. However, his rise to stardom is no surprise to those who watched him regularly on Riverdale until the series ended in 2023. Entering in the second season as the new Reggie Mantle, replacing Ross Butler in the role, Melton changed the character — and, by extension, the show — for the better, bringing a much-needed new energy to Reggie (even after only 13 episodes of Butler’s take) that turned him into the character that fans later came to adore, especially in the final season.

There's a Reason Burt Reynolds' 'Gunsmoke' Role Is So Small

Samuel Williamson — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 23:00:18 GMT

Sometimes, you'll find that certain actors are just too good at their job. So good, in fact, that they end up having their roles minimized because they are so talented! Unfortunately, this was the case for Burt Reynolds after a brief stint on the classic Western series, Gunsmoke. That's right, after playing the part of Quint Asper across three years and over 50 episodes, Reynolds put his days on the small screen to an end and left the series to pursue a career on the big screen! This was a smart choice, considering the legendary filmography that he would end up having.

The Last Five Minutes of ‘Desperate Housewives’ Ruins the Show

Samantha Graves — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 22:31:18 GMT

Desperate Housewives changed the scope of television when we were welcomed into the neighborhood of Wisteria Lane in 2004. Created by Marc Cherry, the series followed a group of women, “housewives”, who consistently found themselves elbow-deep in dirty laundry — and not the machine-washable kind. The series started off with a bang — literally, when Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong) committed suicide for unknown reasons. She's our narrator for the series and through her, we follow her friends, Gabrielle (Eva Longoria), Susan (Teri Hatcher), Bree (Marcia Cross), and Lynette (Felicity Huffman) as they try to uncover the reason behind her suicide, all the while balancing their own messy dramas. Every season brought a new mystery to the lane, and there was no predicting what would happen next. Everything from tornadoes, to a plane crashing in the middle of the street, and illegitimate children — there was never a shortage of drama on Desperate Housewives.

‘X-Men: Evolution’ Is Better Than ‘X-Men: The Animated Series’

Collier Jennings — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 21:46:17 GMT

The X-Men have been a staple of television for a very, very long time. Even before they helped kick-start the superhero movie boom, Marvel's mighty mutants appeared in various animated series, including Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and X-Men: Pryde of The X-Men. Most fans will point to X-Men: The Animated Series as the pinnacle of these shows; after all, it managed to introduce the X-Men to a wider audience. With X-Men '97 slated to continue the series next year, that point of discussion is more than likely to make a return (as well as appreciation for its iconic theme song.) But there's another X-Men series that deserves just as much recognition, if not the title of "best X-Men series" ever. That series happens to be X-Men: Evolution.

‘Spy x Family’ Forger Family Tree Explained

TanChun Watkins — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 21:31:17 GMT

When it comes to fact and fiction, spies always seem to be involved in dangerous missions that prevent them from having a stable family at home. But then came, Spy x Family, the hilarious action anime that takes a twist to stealthy espionage, bringing together an elite secret agent, a lethal assassin, a mind reader, and a clairvoyant dog. Produced by Wit Studio and CloverWorks, the show, currently airing Season 2, is based on the manga written and illustrated by Tatsuya Endo and has received universal acclaim since its release last year!

This Supernatural Mystery Teen Series Should Be Your Next Binge

Rebecca Schriesheim — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 21:01:17 GMT

For high schoolers, there's nothing worse than being doomed to return to the same school, every day, each year, for an endless seven hours of tests, heartbreak, and hormones. For other students on the Paramount+ series, School Spirits, it's a literal death sentence. When a dead girl wakes up among other dead students in the high school cafeteria as they bare their souls to each other, it is not the John Hughes' The Breakfast Club movie moment most would hope for. Instead, high schoolers are sharing stories of the various ways they died on school property, and are now doomed to live out the rest of their eternity among the living. School Spirits is an invigorating, fresh take on the supernatural teen soap genre, starring Cobra Kai's Peyton List as Maddie Nears, a 17-year-old loner who wakes up dead with no memory of her death. Determined to solve the crime, she enlists the help of the various other ghosts who have inhabited her high school to help solve the gruesome murder.

'Doctor Who' Trailer — Ncuti Gatwa Is Betrayed by Jonathan Groff

Diego Peralta — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 19:17:59 GMT

The first trailer for Series 14, or as Disney+ will have it listed, Season 1 of Doctor Who has been released by the streaming platform, teasing the first adventures of the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), as he continues to travel around the universe while adapting to his new life. After facing a group of unpredictable goblins during the events of "The Church on Ruby Road", the Time Lord will do anything in his power to continue saving humanity from the dangers outer space throws at it. Thankfully, he won't be alone for the ride this time around.