For savvy TV fans this is the biggest week of the entire season.  Not only do we learn what shows have made the Fall 2008 schedule, but we’ll also GASP! again and again at the season finale shockers.  Beginning tomorrow, The CW will roll out ten series eye-poppers over the next eight nights.  Turn off the cell-phones, unplug the computer and don’t answer the door.  This is gonna be good.  Beauty & The Geek offers an unexpected romantic battle—presumably over Tommy, whose “geekiness” escapes us—before awarding the big payoff.  Wednesday, will Tyra choose Top Model’s first-ever “plus size” winner?  After seven years, Michael Rosenbaum bids farewell to Smallville, but only after Lex finally learns Clark’s secret in a huge showdown at the Fortress!  And Dean Winchester?  Yikes! Guess who’s come to collect on his Supernatural soul-deal?  The Sunday comedies leave on a high note, with Everybody Hates Chris and The Game poised to return next season.  On Gossip Girl, will Lily go thru with her grand wedding—or run to Rufus?  And what are the “bigger” secrets Michelle Trachtenberg (Georgina) promises are yet to come?  One Tree Hill, as usual, tosses every character into the drama blender, with one person’s survival, well…suspect, at best.  But next week’s Reaper finale may contain the most chilling revelation of all.  Yeah, this sprint-to-the-finish makes the TV marathon worthwhile.  Feel free to vent nightly, as needed…

We’ve reached that annual summit where magazine editors feel compelled to tell us which celebrities are this year’s Most Beautiful or Sexiest—since we can’t determine that for ourselves.  People has offered a teaser of its upcoming Top 100 list, and loses credibility with the selection of Rumer Willis.  It does note that Bruce and Demi’s kid is best friends with the sizzling Jessica Szohr (Vanessa on Gossip Girl), so she scores points for that.  By the way, how perfectly did Vanessa and Nate blend on this week’s episode?  To avoid hogging seven individual spots, People lumps together the entire young, beautiful cast of Gossip Girl; no arguments here…it’s the best-looking group on plasma.  TV Guide was hit-and-miss with their choices.  Patrick Dempsey as Sexiest Man?  McPlease!  Runners-up for the overall sexiest titles included Jared Padalecki from Supernatural, and a trio of Gossip-ers:  Ed Westwick, Chace Crawford and Leighton Meester.  In sub-categories, Erica Durance (Lois on Smallville) was crowned Sexiest Sci-Fi Gal; Supernatural’s Sam and Dean (Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) are Sexiest Siblings; and Blake Lively (Serena) has the Sexiest Pout.  Others receiving nominations are Tom Welling, Ray Wise (the devil on Reaper), Penn Badgley, and One Tree Hill co-stars Chad Michael Murray and James Lafferty.  Are there any CW stars you feel were overlooked?  Sound off…

To say that Reaper returns with a vengeance may be understating things. Tomorrow night, in the first of five new episodes, the series zeroes in on a startling revelation: there’s an underground alliance of fallen angels planning to overthrow the devil! Can Sam’s mysterious neighbors, Steve and Tony, convince him to be their “insider” in the plot? Could it really be an escape clause in Sam’s soul-contract? Speaking of that document, why did Sam’s father burn part of it? And why has the devil forged a fatherly relationship with Sam? Expect answers to those questions and more, as the freshman drama-comedy-thriller makes a strong bid for another season. There’s not a more imposing network presence than Ray Wise, whose “sarcastic, but dangerous” portrayal of the devil has made him Reaper’s focal point. We’ve seen plenty of the LOL persona; wait til he gets wind of a secret rebellion! Bret Harrison (Sam) doesn’t get nearly enough praise for his subdued comic role. He plays off the devil so well, and his bumbling sidekicks, Tyler Labine (Sock) and Rick Gonzales (Ben), only add to the merriment. At a recent WBNX event, more fans talked about Reaper than any other show. Already one of TV’s most engaging hours, blending in the mythology storylines will take it to a whole new level.

Many fans and TV critics are vocally united about wanting to see even more of Akron’s Ray Wise as the devil in each episode of Reaper.  Tomorrow night, they’ll get their wish, as the new episode centers around his character’s mysterious 20-year romance with a hottie played by The O.C. villain Melinda Clarke.  She thinks her boyfriend is just a rich playboy, and Sam suspects her gorgeous daughter may have some underworld genes.  All of which will make for one of the season’s best episodes!  Prior that that, however, the final two Beauty & The Geek teams pay a surprise visit to each others’ family and friends—where we learn what these contestants are really like.  The big twist is already floating around cyberworld:  YOUR VOTES will determine who gets the $250,000 prize!  The players have no idea about this showdown, and they can’t go back and recreate their images at this point.  It’s either Sam and Nicole, who’ve dominated most challenges; or Dave and quirky Columbus-native Jasmine, who’ve blended like I never thought they could.  Be sure to watch so you’ll know exactly how to cast your vote!

Once upon a time, Halloween was a “holiday” for kids in costumes and rotting teeth. Nowadays, it’s evolved into a time for sinister movies (i.e. Saw IV) and eerily-themed episodes on TV. Last night, Reaper took its usual tongue-in-cheek approach to the devil’s least-favorite day—sending all of his minions on vacation, and saddling Sam & Co. with a wise-cracking con artist trapped in a snowglobe. Trusting the bad guy nearly got Sam and Sock fed to “the butcher.” Tomorrow, the laughs will be less frequent, as Supernatural explores the “real” Grimms Fairy Tales…you know, where things certainly don’t end “happily ever after.” Even the promo for this hour of haunted bedtime stories looks freaky! If you like a good scare, this show’s for you. In the midst of this Halloween mystery-solving, Sam finds time to summon the Crossroads Demon, played this time by Jared Padalecki’s real life girlfriend, Sandra McCoy. The two met filming the horror flick, Cry Wolf, two years ago and have been together ever since. Sam tries to double-cross her while bargaining for Dean’s life…and let’s just say, the ending will unnerve you!

For those who can’t get enough TV spoilers, here are a few plot previews and guest-stars we’ll see over the next few weeks on The CW.  America’s Next Top Model will fly the girls to China and also to Mexico, where they’ll star in a music video with Enrique Iglesias.  The Nate/Blair fiasco is about to explode on Gossip Girl, which may pale in comparison to the revealing Thanksgiving episode!  Clark meets his Kryptonian mother—played by big-screen Supergirl Helen Slater—on Smallville.  Mercedes McNab (Harmony on Buffy and Angel) will guest-star on both Reaper and Supernatural.  And in the casting coup of the year, Melinda Clarke (The O.C.’s Julie Cooper) is the devil’s girlfriend on Reaper!  Erykah Badu, Eva Marcelle and Lil’ Kim visit the Monday comedies, while Justin and Raja outdo themselves with an outrageous school prank on Aliens in America.  Even the animals are turning up the heat on Life is Wild, where a hippo chases two stars up a tree, and an elephant falls in love with a giraffe.  Sweet.  And trust me, that’s just a small sampling of what’s to come.  Stay tuned…

When fun facts begin to snowball, interesting trends emerge. I began thinking about various WBNX stars who are also involved in the music industry…and was surprised to quickly list 22. With Cleveland’s strong rock-and-roll ties, having that many actors on one north coast network who also “moonlight” as singers is unusual, if not unprecedented. The impressive group includes three Grammy winners (Reba, Queen and Will), multi-Grammy nominees (Foxx and Milian), and a member of one of the most-popular ‘70s groups, Tony Orlando & Dawn, Telma Hopkins. I also included Kiefer Sutherland, since he’s formed his own recording label and studio for hot indie bands. Many of these stars below can be heard performing on YouTube. Here’s my rockin’ rundown… look over our TV program lineup and see if you can add to the list! If you want more info on a particular star, post a comment.

Reba McEntire (Reba)
Queen Latifah (Living Single)
Will Smith (Fresh Prince)
Jamie Foxx (Jamie Foxx Show)
Telma Hopkins (Half & Half)
Scarlett Pomers (Reba)
Renee Olstead (Still Standing)
Persia White (Girlfriends)
Bethany Joy Galeotti (One Tree Hill)
Wesley Jonathan (What I Like About You)
Calvin Goldspink (Life is Wild)
Katie Cassidy (Supernatural)
Cassie Steele (Degrassi)
Mike Lobel (Degrassi)
Jake Epstein (Degrassi)
Tisha Campbell (My Wife & Kids)
Jim Belushi (According to Jim)
Tatyana Ali (Fresh Prince)
Kiefer Sutherland (24)
Christina Milian (8 Days a Week / midseason)
Bret Harrison (Reaper)
Amy Pietz (Aliens in America)

Chemistry is vital, whether you’re playing Cupid or casting a TV show—and The CW hit the jackpot with geeky heroes Bret Harrison and Tyler Labine. Bret’s anxiety-filled characters on Grounded For Life and The Loop caught the eyes of Reaper producers; and let’s face it, Tyler has perfected the comic sidekick role, most recently on Invasion. Mix in a wily adversary like Ray Wise (who’s having the time of his life), and you’ve got core chemistry for on-screen magic. Premiering tomorrow night, Reaper is universally praised by critics as one of the top two or three new fall series. In the video here, Bret and Tyler have a little “in character” fun behind-the-scenes. Click on it, and take an impromptu ad-libbed tour of their “Work Bench” store set!

Reaper Series Premiere Tuesday 9pm (encore Thursday 9pm)