The CW introduces its new Friday-night lineup consisting of reliable dramas Smallville and Supernatural tonight, September 24, at 8pm ET.

Smallville is up first with “Lazarus,” the premiere episode of its tenth and final season, which features the return of Dukes of Hazzard vet John Schneider as Clark Kent’s much-missed father Jonathan. While Lois discovers Clark where we last saw him in the ninth-season finale and saves him, Chloe searches for Oliver and Tess ends up in a LuthorCorp facility.

Supernatural follows at 9pm with its sixth-season premiere Exile on Main Street,” which features the return of X-Files vet Mitch Pileggi as Dean and Sam’s grandfather Samuel. The episode fast forwards to a year after the previous season’s finale, when Sam breaks free from hell and then tries to convince Dean, who has turned his back on hunting, to reconsider leaving their old “profession.”

Preview Smallville and Supernatural‘s latest season premieres below. A list of additional series returning on Friday, September 24, follows the sneak peeks.

Also Returning on September 24

Former NBC paranormal drama Medium opens its seventh season at 8pm on CBS, followed by the seventh-season premiere of former Wednesday-night crime procedural CSI: NY at 9pm.

The first season of Fox crime dramedy The Good Guys, which debuted way back in May, ends a brief rerun break and resumes airing fresh episodes at 9pm.

Newsmagazine Dateline NBC begins Season 20 on NBC at 8pm with a two-hour premiere that investigates the strange disappearance of two teenage girls from California. Rookie Jimmy Smits legal drama Outlaw, which premiered on September 15, follows at 10pm with the first new episode in the show’s regular time slot.

TNT to the rescue! Supernatural fans whose memories of the show have gotten a tad rusty over the summer can refresh their recollection before its September 24 sixth-season premiere with a 20-hour marathon on TNT next Friday.

The basic-cable network, which syndicates the series, plans to air 20 back-to-back episodes of the paranormal thriller from midnight to 8pm ET on season-premiere night, September 24. If that’s not terrific enough, the network will cap the marathon at 8pm with the 2007 sci-fi flick I Am Legend, starring Will Smith.

Highlights of TNT’s Supernatural marathon include the Season Four finale “Lucifer Rising” at the very start, the Season Five premiere “Sympathy for the Devil” right afterwards, and the Season Five finale “Swan Song” terminating the extravaganza from 7–8pm on Friday. Also included are select episodes from the second and third seasons, so you’re out of luck if you would like the marathon to go all the way back to the beginning and the first season.

Continue below for the entire September 24 Supernatural lineup, courtesy of TNT.

FYI: Supernatural has a new time slot on The CW this fall. The drama moves from Thursday nights to Fridays at 9pm.

September 24 Supernatural Marathon on TNT

• 12am: Lucifer Rising (Season 4 Finale)
  As the Apocalypse approaches, Castiel and Zachariah inform Dean that his moment of glory draws nigh. Sam, disagreeing, goes with Ruby to take on Lilith.
• 1am: Sympathy for the Devil (Season 5 Premiere)
  Sam, Dean and Bobby must deal with the aftermath of the Devil’s escape from Hell. They also receive startling news from the Prophet.
• 2am: Mystery Spot (Season 3)
  Dean is killed after looking into a case about the disappearance of a man with Sam. The next morning, Sam is shocked to find Dean alive and realizes that he is reliving the day before.
• 3am: In My Time of Dying (Season 2 Premiere)
  In the aftermath of the car crash, the surviving Winchesters go to the hospital, where one is stalked by a Reaper while another must consider sacrificing himself to save the others.
• 4am: Jus in Bello (Season 3)
  FBI Agent Henricksen finally captures Sam and Dean, but he is caught in the middle when a horde of demons descends on the small-town jail to eliminate the brothers.
• 5am: Ghostfacers (Season 3)
  While investigating the haunted Morton Mansion, Sam and Dean run into a couple of familiar faces and become inadvertent participants in a new reality show named Ghostfacers. As events turn deadly and the team is trapped in the house, the investigation becomes a battle to survive until morning.
• 6am: Bloodlust (Season 2)
  Sam and Dean encounter a vampire hunter whose obsession may get them all killed.
• 7am: Sin City (Season 3)
  The brothers investigate a town where the citizens have turned to drinking and gambling. Meanwhile, Bobby gets an unexpected ally as he attempts to rebuild the Colt.
• 8am: In the Beginning (Season 4)
  Dean gets transported back in time and ends up in Lawrence, Kan., where he crosses paths with a young version of his parents, who have just fallen in love.
• 9am: Nightshifter (Season 2)
  The Winchesters investigate a series of crimes where robbers with no criminal past commit suicide after the hold-ups.
• 10am: The Real Ghostbusters (Season 5)
  Sam and Dean are tricked into attending a Supernatural convention by their super-fan Becky. The brothers are in for a shock when many of the fans are dressed up like them.
• 11am: Changing Channels (Season 5)
  Dean and Sam find themselves mystically trapped in a series of real-life TV shows, from which there appears to be no escape. They believe their old enemy the Trickster is responsible, but discover it could involve someone or something else.
• 12pm: The Song Remains the Same (Season 5)
  Anna travels back in time to kill Mary and John Winchester before they can conceive Sam and Dean, thus preventing the Apocalypse. Castiel transports the brothers back to save their own parents, but they must answer awkward questions when their parents begin to wonder what’s going on.
• 1pm: My Bloody Valentine (Season 5)
  Lovers begin to kill each other in a small town on Valentine’s Day. When Sam, Dean and Castiel investigate, they discover that people are not starved for just love. Famine, one of the Four Horsemen, is fueling their hunger.
• 2pm: Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (Season 5)
  In Bobby’s hometown, the dead rise from their graves and take up their normal family lives where they left off. Sam and Dean suspect something sinister is responsible, but Bobby refuses to investigate after his dead wife, Karen, returns.
• 3pm: 99 Problems (Season 5)
  Sam and Dean find a town where the angels have chosen a pastor’s daughter, Leah, as a prophet to teach the townsfolk how to fight demons. The town is soon swept up in a religious fervor as Leah passes on the angels’ increasingly strict commandments.
• 4pm: Hammer of the Gods (Season 5)
  Earth’s pagan gods gather and trap Sam and Dean in a hotel. While they try to decide what to do, Gabriel arrives and tries to keep the gods from engaging in futile battle.
• 5pm: The Devil You Know (Season 5)
  Crowley contacts Sam and Dean and offers to help them find Pestilence so they can get the third ring and trap Lucifer. They capture the demon in charge of coordinating the Horsemen’s activities, but Sam realizes that the demon is an old acquaintance.
• 6pm: Two Minutes to Midnight (Season 5)
  After Bobby and the brothers recover Castiel, they search out Pestilence, who is preparing to unleash the Croatoan virus upon the planet. Meanwhile, Lucifer is using Death to create a storm that will wipe out 3 million people, but Death has a plan of his own.
• 7pm: Swan Song (Season 5 Finale)
  The fifth season concludes with the Apocalypse, which forces Sam and Dean to make heart-shattering decisions that will alter their lives forever.

The CW has some excitement-worthy scheduling changes coming up involving three engaging and highly recommended (at least by me) paranormal series: its own Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries, in addition to the short-lived CBS cult hit Moonlight from 2007–2008.

Television news website The Futon Critic reports The CW will air repeats of the oldest series, Supernatural, on Friday nights at 9pm ET, following veteran superhero drama Smallville at 8pm. The move takes effect just three weeks from now on May 28.

Moving in to Supernatural‘s current 9pm Thursday-night post-Vampire Diaries time slot beginning on June 3 is the mega-popular CBS import Moonlight, starring Australian actor Alex O’Loughlin and British actress Sophia Myles. Both the canceled show and its fellow bloodsucking drama The Vampire Diaries will present encores of their respective first — and in the case of Moonlight, only — seasons.

Now if that’s not cool summer programming to help beat the heat, repeats or not, then I don’t know what is. Thanks, CW.

April 15 is a very special day for the cast and crew of The CW’s always entertaining Supernatural. Not only do they have to file their U.S. taxes, just like the rest of us lowly plebes stateside, but they also get to celebrate the premiere of the show’s milestone 100th episode, “Point of No Return.” Woot!

The central dilemma during the installment is the ever-simmering hostility between good and evil, with the weary Winchester brothers caught in the middle, as usual. After Dean learns the angels have no use for him anymore, he, his brother Sam, and Castiel decide to confront Zachariah head-on to foil the angels’ latest questionable strategy and avoid a disastrous war.

Sneak a peek at Episode #100 in the preview below, which features Dean and Castiel having a not-so-friendly chat. Get ready for a major beat down.

Woo-hoo! Get psyched, my fellow sci-fi TV fans. Stargate: SG-1 veteran Michael Shanks pays a visit to The CW’s magnificent Supernatural on April 8 during the new episode “99 Problems.”

The recent Smallville guest star has another juicy role, this time playing Rob, a fellow hunter of the Winchester brothers who saves the siblings when they find themselves overcome by another bunch of dumb yet vicious demons.

Unfortunately, the extremely religious town that Rob lives in soon becomes an equally pressing problem for Dean and Sam when they realize something hinky is going on with the local pastor’s daughter. It seems she’s pitting residents against one another in an effort to obtain one of the limited prized spots in Heaven after the infamous Apocalypse, which is just the kind of deceitful evil we all know the Winchesters can’t allow.

A sneak peek at “99 Problems” follows, featuring Shankman’s character Rob getting down to demonic business. He don’t play!

Thought it would never happen. After a grueling, seemingly never-ending six-week hiatus, The CW’s chilling Thursday-night lineup comprised of hit newbie The Vampire Diaries and fan-favorite veteran Supernatural finally returns with fresh episodes tonight, March 25.

Former The O.C. regular Melinda Clarke guest stars on the “A Few Good Men” episode of The Vampire Diaries at 8pm ET. She plays Matt’s long-absent mother Kelly, who suddenly shows up in town without warning. As Clarke fans know, the actress always aces her featured appearances on television shows, such as Ghost Whisperer and CSI, so there’s no doubt her latest role is going to help Diaries kick it up another notch during the series’ return.

Supernatural might not have any immediately recognizable guest stars for its Jim Beaver-centric, Zombie-fied “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid” episode at 9pm, but Canadian actress Carrie Anne Fleming (Alice, The L Word) does return to the show to play Bobby’s (Beaver) dead wife Karen. Fans with really good memories may recall Fleming also appeared in the Season Two premiere “In My Time of Dying” four years ago, where she played a nurse.

Preview both new episodes below before checking out the full versions.

It’s hard to believe the last fresh episode of Supernatural aired on February 5, just a little over a month ago, since it feels like the hiatus has been at least three times that long. Thankfully, the series returns tomorrow with “Death Takes a Holiday,” and now all will be right on Thursday nights for me again.

The latest paranormal adventures of the Winchester brothers will find them venturing to a tiny town where the local folks have a nasty habit of cheating death. You’d think somebody or something would be in charge of preventing naughty stuff like that, and you would be 110 percent correct.

Dean and Sam eventually learn that a supernatural dude name Alastair — it’s always the Alastairs, isn’t it? — has been hunting down Reapers, not because he’s especially fond of death-cheating humans, but because he wants to break another one of those all-important seals wide open. Death may take a holiday, but evil certainly doesn’t.

The big guest star of the episode is Christopher Heyerdahl, whom genre fans will have no trouble recognizing as the actor who plays both John Druitt and Bigfoot on Sci Fi Channel’s Sanctuary and Todd the improbable Wraith on Stargate Atlantis before it. Also reprising her role as blinded psychic and Winchester ally Pamela Barnes is two-time former guest star Traci Dinwiddie.

“Death Takes a Holiday” should be a great “We’re back, fans!” episode, so check out a preview below to get all warm and fuzzy in anticipation of its premiere. The sneak peek features Dean and Pamela having an appropriately freaky experience with regards to Sam.

The “Family Remains” episode of Supernatural is the most boring episode of the series to date. Having admitted that, even a dull-as-a-doorknob installment in the Adventures of the Winchester Brothers is more exciting than 90 percent of the other stuff on TV.

During this outing, Sam and Dean encounter what appears to be a ghost girl at a secluded farmhouse. After she bloodily offs an ancient man who lives there in the opening scene, Sam and Dean arrive to investigate and eventually protect the new family of five moving in: Brian and Susan Carter, their two children Kate and Danny, and Susan’s brother Ted.

The boys don’t manage to accomplish that mission until they realize that not only is the “ghost” actually human — she enters a salt circle like it ain’t no thang — but she’s actually the daughter and granddaughter of the dead old man. Nasty, no? It turns out he molested his daughter, her mother, who committed suicide by hanging in the attic, and then he decided to hide the girl from authorities by holding her hostage in the house.

Dean, still torn up over all of the souls he enjoyed torturing during his 30+-year sojourn in hell (inflicting pain was a release of sorts), vows to save Danny from his new ghost buddy when she abducts him, especially after Uncle Ted gets stabbed to death in the throat while in the walls of the house hunting her down with Dean.

So, just when you think the biggest twist is Ghost Girl actually being Savage Girl, you go and learn she has a Savage Brother, whom Dean quickly dispatches before explaining to Sam — again — why his main focus these days is saving as many people as possible. Meanwhile, out in the shed with the womenfolk, Daddy Brian takes care of Savage Girl with her weapon of choice: a rusty, crusty knife.

A nice casting touch in the episode is 1980s Supergirl Helen Slater as Susan. I barely recognized her, but she looks good, and the rest of the guest cast does a typically fine job acting terrified, terrifying, and/or dead on command.

NEXT UP: January 22nd’s very cleverly titled “Criss Angel Is a Douche Bag,” featuring extra special guest star Barry Bostwick (Spin City). He plays one of three washed-up magicians who could possibly be dabbling in that old black magic.

The Brothers Winchester step in to do their usual thing, which this time around means reversing a spell that could wreak some serious havoc on the old-timers. Here’s hoping “Douche Bag” is more intriguing than the last episode.

“Family Remains” Guest Cast: Helen Slater (Susan Carter), David Newsom (Brian Carter), Bradley Stryker (Uncle Ted), Alexa Nikolas (Kate Carter), Dylan Minnette (Danny Carter), Mandy Playdon (The Girl), Gerry Rousseau (Bill Gibson), Mark Wynn (The Boy), Karin Konoval (Mrs. Curry)

“Family Remains” Original Air Date: January 15, 2009

This Is Going to Be a Good One

Whoa! After watching the two preview clips for this Thursday’s Supernatural third-season finale, I can’t even remain too upset about CBS’ reportedly imminent cancellation of the vamp drama Moonlight. They’re that good.

The Next Villain Rocks

When it comes to playing truly chilling, utterly unforgettable villains, there are three actors I love more than any others: J.T. Walsh (RIP), Rutger Hauer, and Billy Drago.