The actor who formerly played Lex Luthor on television's 'Smallville,' Michael Rosenbaum, is set to star in a half-hour comedy series on Syfy about ... wait for it ... a former science fiction television star from a show with a cult following. It's a case of "art imitates life."

The project is called 'Saved By Zeroes' and also stars Jonathan Silverman, who hasn't been in any science fiction shows that I recall, unless you count 'Weekend at Bernie's II.' The premise is that the two co-stars blew all their money from the sci-fi show that made them famous and have to work conventions to make ends meet.

The premise sounds cute but is definitely an example of "channel drift" since it is only tangentially related to science fiction. Here's to hoping that Rosenbaum's new gig doesn't keep him from making at least one cameo as Lex Luthor during the series finale of 'Smallville' in 2021 (or whenever it ends).

It's been a long time since the Super Friends were on television. To prove it, DC Comics has released a preview of the new Superman/Batman: Public Enemies video, the latest in their animated onslaught of the direct-to-DVD market.

Like most of the stuff DC Comics produces for the animated market, this one is based on a comic book. The basic plot is the Lex Luthor is the President of the United States and declares Superman and Batman as, you guessed it, public enemies.

Looking at the preview, two thoughts come to mind. First, the American animation style is no longer present in action movies (although it's still around for comedies) and has been superseded by the Japanese style. The movie looks like anime, plain and simple. Second, there are an awful lot of villains in the movie, plus quite possibly the coolest-looking mad-scientist rocket ever.

The video follows so you can judge for yourself.

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.

When the Super Friends cartoons involving the Legion of Doom had finished, what did the 13 Doomsters do with their time? Rich had some thoughts on what the Super Friends had going on. Forgetting anything that happened in later comic books and other shows involving the characters, here's what might have happened to the Legion ...

In early May, we told you that Smallville was looking at adding two new characters to fill in the void left my some major departures (read here Lex, less Lana, and no more Lionel, since the character got killed). The two characters were that of Doomsday, the only DC Comics character to have killed Superman, and Tess, a female villain set to take care of Lex's estate.

Gossip columnist Michael Ausiello reports on his website that the show finally cast both roles. Battlestar Galactica's Sam Witwer was cast as a reviewed/revamped version of Doomsday while newcomer Cassidy Freeman will play Tess.

Slight spoilers about both roles coming up!

(S07E20) After a pretty intense set of scenes from the past season, we open with Edward Teague trying to run to South America (as all fugitives tend to do). His stewardess ends up being Kara, who takes a very sinister turn as she threatens to throw Teague out of the plane. When he gives her the information she requires, she destroys the plane and kills him anyway (along with everyone else on the plane).

For the last time this season: Somebody saaaavvvveeee meeeee...

We knew it was coming. At the end of February 2007, Smallville actor, Michael Rosenbaum, announced his intentions of leaving the show at the end of the 2007-2008 season in order to tackle new projects. For the past year, fans (I include myself here) hoped that the actor would change his mind. How can Smallville be, well, Smallville without Lex Luthor? Things looked grim when the actor reminded us last February that he was done with the show, come the Season 7 finale. And today, fans around the world must come to the realization that Rosenbaum wasn't joking: he really is leaving the show "to start the next chapter of my life and career," he says in a joint statement with The CW.

(S07E07) Okay, this was the first time I ever watched Smallville and had my jaw drop. Seriously. Why? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let's examine the facts: Lana and Clark are deep into dating mode. Plus, she's been staying at the Kent farm with him ever since she's returned from the dead. However, they've apparently not be able to um ... consummate that relationship because of Clark's superpowers. I guess if he gets amorous with someone, he might accidentally hurt them. Not to mention burn the place down, which he used to do when he'd get turned on.

While it's not clear how they've been getting around this, they sure didn't have to worry about it on this episode. Clark gets struck by lightning while close to some kryptonite, and his powers get transferred to someone else. Yes, again. However, this time he gets to keep his powers, and Lana is the beneficiary of the souped-up abilities. How do they celebrate this event? By knocking boots. Literally. They have such powerful sex that it causes seismic waves across Smallville. In fact, they practically destroy the Kent farm in the process. Holy cow.

(S07E06) Shades of Superman past! Kara getting sent off-world by her Dad Zor-El while Krypton starts to come apart around her? Egads. Plus all of that crystalline Kryptonian architecture that the Superman: The Movie provided us with. Then snap cut to Kara almost getting run down in the sky by a jetliner in a really nice special effects shot that probably blew their budget for a show to come later in the season featuring nothing but talking heads. Yes, this episode of Smallville begins with a bang.

However, that bang turned until a turning stomach once I had to witness that Lionel / Clark hug. Is it me or was that a pretty bizarre and awkward man-embrace? Clark's gone from hating to loving the Luthors more times than I can count, but hugging Lionel? I never thought I'd see the day.

According to a press release from The CW, Supergirl will be joining the cast of Smallville next season. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Some people might call this a possible shark-jumping moment ... but for me that already happened back when Jonathan Kent kicked the bucket *sniffle*.

Straight from the network -- "On Smallville, the seventh season premiere kicks off with the arrival of Supergirl, whose name is Kara, as Clark's (Tom Welling) 19-year-old cousin. She was born on Krypton and is the daughter of Zor-El, Jor-El's brother. Kara possesses all of Clark's powers and one he doesn't yet have ? she can fly! Kara also has a strong, rebellious streak that puts her at odds with Clark, and puts her onto Lex's (Michael Rosenbaum) radar. In addition, she takes a romantic interest in Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore)."

(S05E17) As I got into this episode, two things occurred to me. First, since next week is the season finale, when did they decide to cut this season to 18 episodes? More importantly for our purposes here though, this episode felt very familiar. It took a minute, but when Lois and Mayor West got to the debate, I remembered what it was. The main story was very similar to the season two episode, "Running Mates."

(S06E21) Okay, before we get much further, can anyone tell me why Lex's super-powered project Ares can turn invisible, has super-strength, can deflect bullets, but has to use a knife? Did that strike anyone else as weird or was it just me? I'm trying not to digress here because I really enjoyed this episode, but a couple of small things nagged at me.

Chief among them was the fact that ... Ares is Helo from Battlestar Galactica! Tahmoh Penikett is a terrific actor who lives in Vancouver, where both Smallville and Battlestar Galactica are shot, but I have a rule of thumb that if one actor is on a fairly popular sci-fi show and then jumps across to another, it's going to rattle a few fanboy brain cells, mine included. If Helo suddenly appeared on say ... Law & Order, it probably wouldn't feel so jarring, but this was a bit distracting for me.

(S06E19) Alternatively titled "Welcome Back, Lionel" ... or the "Clark and Lex Tunnel Exploration Power Hour". Was that some pretty heinous underground action or what?

Okay, right off the bat I have to admit ... this was a pretty darn cool episode of Smallville. I'll get to the bones I have to pick with it later, but for the most part it really rocked. You've got Lex and Clark sort of facing off, sort of friends again, Clark wondering if he gave up on Lex too early, Lana being pretty hard-nosed and kick ass ... and all of this without any super powers at all and they kept me interested the whole time. I'm sold.

(S06E02) Second show and already here we go with the gimmicks. Clark gets a cold -- a super-powered cold, but nevertheless ...

I know a lot a viewers were disappointed when Zod's conquest of Earth was thwarted in only one episode. I rather, prefer Lex to be Lex, but it's tough to buy the world returning to normal so soon -- even though Kal-el is spending his nights surreptitiously cleaning up Metropolis after "Dark Thursday." It's too soon for me to get excited over a comic relief episode filled with Kryptonian super-sneezes. Clark's fourth-wall-breaking quip to Chloe about putting the world in jeopardy "on an annual basis," was kind of cute though.

In unintentional humor: Lex is kidnapped by a black-ops duo using massively corny walkie-talkie code: the bear is hibernating. Over.

(S05E20) Now, I know you guys miss me, but this is just a temporary thing; Lacy had some technical difficulties and I'm just stepping in to help her out for this episode. We'll be returning you to your regularly scheduled reviewer next week. I think I somehow missed an episode somewhere along the way the past couple of weeks, because I was just as shocked as Clark to find that Lana and Lex were now an item. I knew that they would end up together, but I thought they would tease the issue a while ala Clark and Lana. I know they share some traits and bonding moments, but how gullible and lame is Lana to just jump together with Lex? I had more faith in her than that, apparently, so did Clark. On with the show!

It seems that the big guns are being pulled out for the last few weeks of Saturday Night Live. First, it was announced that Tom Hanks, who will probably be promoting his movie The DaVinci Code, would be hosting the May 6th episode along with musical guest Red Hot Chili Peppers. Now we learn from the fan site drivingmrspacey that actor Kevin Spacey will be hosting the May 20th season finale.

Spacey, who will be starring as Lex Luthor in this summer's Superman Returns, hasn't hosted SNL since 1997 (at least according his IMdb entry). This will place him far down the leader board in a tie with, er, Lindsay Lohan.

If you have been reading Jonathan Toomey's SNL reviews this year (and I know you all have), you know that this season has been a bit of a hit-and-miss, with the highlights being the pre-recorded sketches and the TV Funhouse cartoons. Let's see if the combined power of Hanks and Spacey will get the writers pumped to produce some great comedy.

[Thanks to Anthony for the tip]