Smallville

It’s Superman! , By Tom De Haven, Chronicle Books, 425 pp., $24.95 Nearly seven decades after Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel first introduced their caped superhero Superman, there's been a steady array of comic books, TV series, and films about the man imbued with extraordinary powers. These days, "Smallville," a WB drama that premiered in 2001, gives the story a contemporary twist with the Man of Steel trying to negotiate the foibles of young adulthood as well as his supernatural abilities.

CHICKEN LITTLE (Comcast Movies: All Movies) Disney’s first in-house attempt at a Pixar-style CGI blockbuster is shiny and peppy, but even a small child may sense how hard it tries to be all things to all audiences. The story line’s a forced stew of funny-animal comedy, personal growth, and alien invasion - with classic disco hits - but the gags are bright and the voice actors (Zach Braff, Joan Cusack, Steve Zahn, et al) do smart work. (G; runs through Jan. 11)

The CW has “Smallville,’’ about Superman as a teenage hunk, and now NBC has what amounts to “Camelotville.’’ “Merlin,’’ a summer series imported from the BBC, chronicles the early days of Arthurian legend, when the fledgling magician was still honing his craft. Essentially, the show is a portrait of the wizard as a young man, with the impossibly handsome Prince Arthur as his best frenemy and Guinevere - “most people call me Gwen’’ - as his possible love interest.

The CW has “Smallville,’’ about Superman as a teenage hunk, and now NBC has what amounts to “Camelotville.’’ “Merlin,’’ a summer series imported from the BBC, chronicles the early days of Arthurian legend, when the fledgling magician was still honing his craft. Essentially, the show is a portrait of the wizard as a young man, with the impossibly handsome Prince Arthur as his best frenemy and Guinevere - “most people call me Gwen’’ - as his possible love interest.

CHICKEN LITTLE (Comcast Movies: All Movies) Disney’s first in-house attempt at a Pixar-style CGI blockbuster is shiny and peppy, but even a small child may sense how hard it tries to be all things to all audiences. The story line’s a forced stew of funny-animal comedy, personal growth, and alien invasion - with classic disco hits - but the gags are bright and the voice actors (Zach Braff, Joan Cusack, Steve Zahn, et al) do smart work. (G; runs through Jan. 11)

The whiny comedian Jamie Kennedy does more of his idiot b-boy shtick in "Kickin' It Old Skool . " He's just as harmless here as he was in 2003's "Malibu's Most Wanted," but the movie is scarcely as bold, even though it makes similar attempts to send up the limits of race. All "Old Skool " wants is to be -- being good or, more crucially, being funny are merely incidental. Kennedy plays a man-child named Justin . After a 20-year-coma following a break-dancing accident, he's awake and ready to resume his 1980s adolescence.

E! reports that Boston-bred "Smallville" actor Sam Jones III - who pleaded guilty to being involved in a drug ring that intended to distribute oxycodone - has started serving his sentence in California. According to the entertainment network's website, he'll be released from the correctional facility in Lompoc next October.

Smallville 8 p.m., Channel 56 Pam Grier begins a multi-episode arc in tonight’s two-hour special episode of “Smallville’’ about the Justice Society of America. The blaxploitation icon will play a villian, Agent Amanda Waller. Let’s hope the writers treat her better than the “L Word’’ writers, who never quite seemed to know what to do with Grier’s character. Pictured: Tom Welling as Clark Kent. Ghost Whisperer 8 p.m., Channel 4 Margaret Cho guest stars as Ned’s occult anthropology professor, Dr. Avery Grant.

Washington is afflutter when a nuclear device inexplicably explodes in the Indian Ocean. On "The West Wing," Channel 7 at 9. Music mogul Russell Simmons discusses the hip-hop industry on "60 Minutes II," Channel 4 at 8. Pete gets into trouble using kryptonite-fueled cars while street racing. On "Smallville," Channel 56 at 8. Meredith visits the home towns and families of the four remaining contestants and then rejects one on "The Bachelorette," Channel 5 at 9. Doug and Carrie -- who baby-sit their friends' kids from time to time -- think those friends...

NEW YORK -- Even though nine of 10 people with digital video recorders say they usually fast-forward through commercials, broadcast executives argued yesterday that doesn't mean the death knell for advertisers. People with DVRs watch more television, and even if they zip through ads, they notice them, the executives said. Researchers from ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN, and the WB took the unusual step yesterday of appearing together to share data about the impact of DVRs on TV-watching habits.

The whiny comedian Jamie Kennedy does more of his idiot b-boy shtick in "Kickin' It Old Skool . " He's just as harmless here as he was in 2003's "Malibu's Most Wanted," but the movie is scarcely as bold, even though it makes similar attempts to send up the limits of race. All "Old Skool " wants is to be -- being good or, more crucially, being funny are merely incidental. Kennedy plays a man-child named Justin . After a 20-year-coma following a break-dancing accident, he's awake and ready to resume his 1980s adolescence.

It’s Superman! , By Tom De Haven, Chronicle Books, 425 pp., $24.95 Nearly seven decades after Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel first introduced their caped superhero Superman, there's been a steady array of comic books, TV series, and films about the man imbued with extraordinary powers. These days, "Smallville," a WB drama that premiered in 2001, gives the story a contemporary twist with the Man of Steel trying to negotiate the foibles of young adulthood as well as his supernatural abilities.