I was afraid of this. Every other season of Smallville has suffered from this same type of ailment. There are these amazing, poignant episodes that crop up a couple of times a year (normally in November, February and May; go figure), and the rest of the season is a lot of fluff and filler. This season, as a whole, has been amazing. Even the episodes that weren't the cornerstones had huge character development that was being used later on. For the first time, this felt like an "epic", like the huge origin of Superman, instead of his weekly comic book adventures as a young man. Everything seemed to build to Reckoning, the 100th episode two weeks ago, and since that amazing event, the show has been, well, pretty "meh". On with the show!

You could see this coming, huh? Last week, Rory took charge and bailed the Yale Daily News out of a tough spot after Paris broke down. Logan actually became useful and helped her out, bringing the two of them back together. We then see a promo about Rory's big news, news that will shake the very foundation of the Gilmore family!

Ok, the revelation, Rory moving in with Logan, wasn't that big of a deal. It wasn't even a surprise to many of our readers. But one of these days, I may want to get a job with a network promotions department, so I might as well get some practice writing overblown copy.

There have been few single episodes of a show that have emotionally drained me as much as last week's Reckoning. I thought the first half was perfect, and the second was perfectly devastating. I love Kristin Kreuk, and Lana's character (a lot more than most), but if they could have left it with her dying, I think it would have shown some real cajones and really splintered Smallville from every other Superman mythos out there. The anger that Clark and Lex have towards each other would be tangible. They could have played with Johnathan struggling to do the right thing with his power, wanting to destroy the Luthor's, but still do the right thing. Don't get me wrong; last week's episode was great, and everyone's performances were perfect. I just think an even bigger change to the status quo would have been to let Lana die. So, on to this week's episode. Much like after any loss of a loved one, everyone seemed to just be going through the motions. It was an OK episode, but it could have happened two weeks ago and still been in place. On with the show!

November sweeps stunts brought us stormtroopers on The Apprentice, a live debate on The West Wing, a dead chick on Lost and Medium in 3-D. Why are February ratings so tame? One word: Olympics.

NBC is expected to kick some television tail when it covers the Olympics every single night from February 10-26. Going into this month, the networks are touting some pretty uninteresting guest stars on the shows that need a boost. And that's about it. Oh, there is also going to be some sh*t going down on The O.C., but you don't want the spoilers, do you?

Here are some highlights for February sweeps, which began yesterday and run through March 1:

It seems like we've been hearing about Pepper Dennis for a really, really long time. Now, it finally has an air date of Tuesday, April 4 at 9 pm on WB. The show has been getting a ton of buzz because of its star-studded cast, headlined by Rebecca Romijn and supported by Josh Hopkins and Brooke Burns. Romijn has the title role of Pepper Dennis, an ambitious television reporter who tries to balance her professional life with her quest for the right man.

Boy, oh boy, a lot happened on Gilmore Girls this week. Before I dive in to this funny, juicy episode, let me go right into the three major plot points:

1. It's the day after Luke's postponed the wedding, and Lorelai is coming to grips with why. She understands that he needs to give Luke space with April, so she agrees to not visit the diner while she's around. But she's curious, so she goes into the sweet shop and looks at her through the window between the stores (I knew there was a reason they put that window up three years ago!). The whole town, conveniently gathered in the sweet shop to sample some hot chocolate, joins her, curious to know what Luke's daughter is like ("She's reading!" they say in amazement). Lorelai ducks out before Luke can see what's going on. She wants to get to know April and get things right with Luke, but wants to be the Good Fiancé, so she's stamping down her burgeoning doubt about the relationship. More roadblocks to come, I guess.

The inevitable has happened. With the merging of UPN and WB as one network, some things will have to go. After all, there are only so many hours in the day. The first show to fall victim to the merge is Cult, which was in development. The CW just announced that it will not be needing its services. What a bummer for the creators of the show, who were probably ecstatic two weeks ago when WB picked it up. It is was about a television program that mysteriously manipulates its viewers.

And if you're wondering what that means for Aquaman, you can relax. WB ordered the drama pilot before the networks merged, but The CW is reportedly still backing the Smallville spin-off.

It's often a bit of a tease when a show promises a death. Ever since so long ago when Beverly Hills 90210 promised that "one of their own" would die and then killed off Silver's friend in the cowboy hat, I've learned not to expect too much. Last night's 100th episode had Clark whisking Lana off to his secret lair, confessing all and popping the question. She makes him wait for a little while and then agrees to marry him. All seems to be perfect, Mr. Kent wins the election and is now Senator Kent, Lana is welcomed into the Kent family and it's good feelings all around. But wait, we are only a half hour in. Lana's phone rings, Lex beckons and next we see Lana at the Luthor lair talking to Lex lit by firelight. He finds out she knows Clark's secret, she runs off and he tosses his drink into the fire. Next we see Lana driving away, calling Clark, Lex pulls up behind her, a rather rocking schoolbus with a distracted driver is crossing and intersection and bam, smash. No more Lana. Clark zooms in to see his broken and bloodied beloved. Of course we know Clark won't let this stand.

[image via kryptonsite.com]

We're just a little over a day away from Reckoning, the epic 100th episode of Smallville. This is the one where Jor-El makes good on his promise to collect a life in exchange for Clark's miraculous resurrection earlier in the season. I've been warning you guys for months that this episode is going to have huge, huge ramifications on the show, but now I'm beginning to think that that's not even going to come close to describing what's about to go down. This is going to be the turning point for not only Clark and his journey, but for Smallville in general. If you want to be shocked tomorrow, don't watch the link over on AOL's media page; they give away  a couple of huge spoilers and strongly hint at the death in the family. Regardless, make sure you tune in tomorrow to spend those final moments with --

Well, I guess we've all heard the big news today by now, right? The WB network and the UPN network are going to merge to become "The CW network", or "The CW" for short. Sounds like a decent idea to me: two half-networks that are limping along combine to create a more powerful network, capable of defeating the forces of evil while shooting lasers out of its hands (wait, I might be getting this new network confused with Voltron).

There's only one problem: the name. "The CW". I realize that the name is a combination of "CBS" and "Warner", and that naming it "The WC" is problematic; besides the fact that the name is a classy way to say "toilet", it's too close to "the WB" for comfort's sake.  But this name... it just doesn't work for me. It sounds like it's one letter short of being called "The Cow", or, as one commenter suggested, "The Country Western Network".

So can anyone think of a better name? Let me know in the comments.

[Photo: Bebeto Matthews/AP]

File this one under "Surprising News of the Day."

As of September, both the WB and UPN networks will cease to exist! That's because the CBS is joining forces with the WB to create a new 5th network, CW. It will feature "the best programming from CBS corporation and Warner Brothers," as the press release says. Each company will have a 50% interest in the company, and have a ten year agreement with Tribune/CBS stations around the country.

But seriously, the CW Network? That sounds like the Country and Western Channel. They really have to come up with a different name.

(Thanks Patrick, Rick and Izzy!)

I seem to learn something new every time I watch Gilmore Girls. Did you know that Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale found out that Gavin had a kid he never knew about? I didn't have a clue, but now I know, thanks to Amy Sherman-Palladino and her knowledge of pop culture minutiae. After Lorelai accidentally finds out about the existence of Luke's long-lost daughter April -- she runs into April at the diner, happily loading the salt and pepper shakers and figuring out experiments on how to keep the salt from clumping -- Rory uses Gwen and Gavin as a means to keep her mother from freaking out. Oh, and she also took the opportunity to take a quick swipe at the pair's singing ability, but that's another matter...

(It was a good aside: "They're people. You're people. I mean, you don't sing and neither does Luke. But really, neither can Gwen and Gavin, but they're still together.")

As if Ellen doesn't have enough to do with her wildly popular talk show, she is also going to find time to write a new weekly comedy for WB. Ellen is going to share the writing responsibilities with her brother, Vance, one of my all-time favorite reporters from The Daily Show. The half-hour, live-action sitcom features a family from two points of view: the humans and the pets. Ellen will voice one of the animal characters. It's a goofy idea that I might laugh off if it didn't have such strong comedic power behind it. Especially Vance. That guy is hi-larious. So far, plans for the show only have him listed as a writer but I sure would love to see him back on television. In the press release, Vance says that any creative differences will be solved by their mom.

Hey kids, it's time to play another exciting game of "Help Bob Recap Because His Cable Went Out!" (We'll have to shorten the title if this game ever makes it to television.)

Last night I watched the first five minutes of Supernatural, and then my cable went out. Oh, sure, I could write a stunning recap of those first five minutes, but something tells me that it wouldn't do the episode justice. So, can you help us out? No need to go into long detail, but maybe a quick recap in the comments below would help us and other readers who might have missed it.

I can always catch the repeat this weekend, but by then doing a review here would be kinda silly.

I just looked up my last recap of a Gilmore Girls episode and I noticed that it was dated November 23. November 23! I didn't realize it had been that long since the WB saw fit to give us a "fresh" episode. I wonder why they took six weeks to get us a new episode; in my experience, people's memories of a show's storylines start to fade after the show's been off the air for a month. So at the six week mark, people need a little refresher, which is not a good thing. I mean, could it have killed The Powers That Be to give us a new one on, say, December 18 or something to help us out?

Ok, enough bitching. If you want to know how we got here, read the last recap. You'll need it to follow the leap from that pre-Thanksgiving episode to today's January-themed hijinks.