I haven't always been a fan of Superman, or any other superhero for that matter. In our family my older brother's the one who collects comic books, and he's the one who tells us about the adventures of his favorite superheroes. It's no surprise, then, that he's also the one who introduced me to Smallville.

My brother started collecting DVD box sets when they started making them. He has dozens: the complete Friends series, Alias, CSI, Desperate Housewives, Six Feet Under, Buffy... you name it, he's got it, including of course, Smallville. I couldn't be bothered to watch them because there were just too many and I didn't have the time. Sometimes my brother would tell me about how good some of the shows were, but I usually ignored him, and he usually left it at that.

When Smallville came out, though, he insisted that I watch it. He actually bribed me! "I'll pay you ten bucks to watch one episode," he said, "on the condition that you give me back the ten bucks if you like it. You can keep the money if you don't like it." How would he know if I really liked it? I could pretend not to, and keep the money. "Well, then you won't get to watch the other episodes." Shrewd guy, my brother. But then again, he was so confident I would love Smallville that it wasn't really a gamble to him.

(SPOILER ALERT: spoilers ahead for Smallville seasons 5 and 6.)

So I watched Smallville, and six years later, I'm still watching. The thing about Smallville is that although it's one of the most unrealistic shows on TV, it's got a human element that touches and inspires. I can't even begin to count how many episodes have brought tears to my eyes since Season 1. Judging from the fact that Smallville is now in its seventh season and still going strong, I'm not the only one who feels that way.

So many things have changed since we first met Clark, Lana, Lex, and the rest of the gang in Season 1. Our favorite characters have grown and changed, some for the better, some for the worse. We've lost a few beloved characters - most recently, Clark's father, who died in Season 5. Tell me you didn't cry when you watched that happen, and I'll call you the biggest, fattest liar on the face of this earth.

Season 6 brings even more changes. It starts with Lana and Lex still together after Lana's breakup with Clark. For most of the season, as we watch Lana and Lex dancing around their trust issues, we can't help but think that this may be one of the worst couples in television history. It's plain to all Smallville fans that they're so terribly wrong for each other. Lex even tricks Lana into believing that she's pregnant with his child so that she will agree to marry him.

Well, she does end up marrying Lex despite all Clark's efforts (or lack thereof) to break them up. Lana had actually decided at the eleventh hour not to marry Lex, but then was forced into it because of Lionel's threats against Clark. I was resisting, praying all the way to the altar for something to stop the wedding, but I guess it had to happen. It's what kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole season, that's for sure.

This season is also when Lana finally finds out the truth about Clark for real, with no losing her memory or whatever nonsense that usually happens after she comes even remotely close to the truth. It's actually part of the reason she decides not to marry Lex, though it happens just a little too late.

My favorite thing about this season, though, is the introduction of DC Comics' Green Arrow into the show. Justin Hartley makes his debut as Oliver Queen a.k.a. the Green Arrow, and he is deliciously hot! He's so hot I'm getting a fever just thinking about him in his green tights (which as it happens, his character wears to a costume party that Lex organizes). Oliver Queen is a young millionaire who used to be Lex's schoolmate, but they weren't exactly the best of friends, and we find out later that the apparent death of another schoolmate was what ended their acquaintance all those years ago.

Lex isn't happy about Oliver's appearance in their lives, but I sure am thrilled about it! The show desperately needed more good guys; there were too many meteor freaks using their powers for evil, and while Clark may be a superman, sometimes even Superman can use some help. Oliver Queen a.k.a. the Green Arrow is the perfect addition to the show, and I hope to see a lot more of him in the coming seasons.

If babelicious Justin Hartley isn't enough to make you want to go out and get Smallville Season 6 on DVD now, then wait until you hear about the special features. "Green Arrow: The Legend of the Emerald Archer" is a special documentary about the evolution of Green Arrow through the decades. I must admit I had never heard of Green Arrow until his appearance in Smallville, but this documentary is a really intriguing look at the character's history.

"Smallville Legends: The Oliver Queen Chronicles" are short computer-animated stories about the Oliver Queen character. There's also "The Making of Smallville Legends: The Oliver Queen Chronicles." "Smallville Legends: Justice & Doom" is an animated feature about the superheroes introduced in the season. These special features give so much more depth to the Oliver Queen character, and to the other superheroes, Cyborg, Aquaman, and Impulse.

The best extra, though, is "Smallville: Big Fans," a feature on Smallville fans from all over the country. They talk about what Smallville means to them, how much they've gotten out of it, how much more meaningful their lives are because of it - basically how great the show is. It's truly wonderful and amazing to see the effect Smallville has had on people. It has brought so many people closer. Just watching this feature made me feel closer to fans halfway around the world. This feature in itself is worth getting the DVD for. I'm not a die-hard fan of Smallville like most of the fans profiled, but like them, I've been given something deeply inspiring in my life by Smallville.

I work from home, so whenever I need a break, I plop down on the couch and watch TV for a while. Sometimes a good show will be on, and I'll be entertained for a half hour or so, other times there won't be anything showing that interests me at all — but I always wonder who makes the decisions to air these particular shows, and how they decide.

I don't really ponder it too much, but when a couple of my favorite shows got canceled, my ire towards television networks and the people who canceled my shows popped up. I wouldn't do anything except mutter under my breath about my dissatisfaction, but watching The TV Set makes me think that any protest I make would be futile anyway.

The TV Set, starring David Duchovny and Sigourney Weaver, is a satire about what happens behind the scenes of our beloved dramas and sitcoms in the television industry. It isn't 'laugh-out-loud hilarious' as much as it is 'smirky-sarcastic', but it does give us a pretty good idea of the problems and trials the people behind the television networks face.

David Duchovny plays television writer Mike Klein, who writes a script that has personal meaning to him. He sells it to a network and they seem to love it. However, network president Lenny, played by Sigourney Weaver, wants him to make some changes to the script that compromise the original premise of the story. Mike Klein's wife (Justine Bateman) is pregnant with their second child, and he has to decide between standing up for his ideals and being out of a job, or compromising his script and getting it on air. His optimistic manager (Judy Greer) wants her client to be happy, but she also wants his script to air, so she encourages him to go with the changes Lenny wants him to make. The only person who seems to understand Mike's ideals is the network president's second-in-command, Richard McAllister (Ioan Gruffudd), but even he doesn't dare stand up against Lenny.

As the movie proceeds, we see Mike make more and more compromises to get his show on the air, and eventually the show ends up becoming entirely different from what Mike started out with. The TV Set is a very realistic portrayal of the inner workings of network television, and although it's meant to be a comical portrayal, it also comes across as a little bit sad. Mike's experience is funny, but so very sad, because many of us have had to sacrifice our ideals for one reason or another at some point in our lives. Whether it is because the boss said you had to, or your significant other asked you to, or maybe your parents guilted you into it, most of us have had this experience, and it's sad. Perhaps that's what makes The TV Set so poignant.

While I wouldn't call The TV Set the best comedy I've watched in a while, I did enjoy the moral behind it, and the cast's performance was simply superb. David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver, and Ioan Gruffudd portrayed their characters really well, but that's no surprise. Lesser known actor Fran Kranz, who played the lead actor in Mike Klein's sitcom, was a very interesting surprise; I thought his different portrayals of his character's character was hilarious, and Lindsay Sloane, who plays the female lead in the sitcom, reacts beautifully to his antics as well.

Special features on the DVD include a featurette of "The Making of The TV Set", audio commentaries by writer and director Jake Kasdan, David Duchovny, Lindsay Sloane, and producer Aaron Ryder on the making of The TV Set, and Jake Kasdan and executive producer Judd Apatow on the inspiration for The TV Set, and a deleted scene of small talk at the network's event before the introduction of Mike Klein's sitcom.

Unaccompanied Minors is about a group of kids who are stranded in the airport on Christmas Eve because of a snowstorm. They get put into the Unaccompanied Minors room with all the other minors traveling without their parents or guardians, and of course, when there's a room full of kids and no proper adult supervision, chaos reigns.

Spencer, played by Dyllan Christopher, and four other kids, Charlie (Tyler James Williams), Grace (Gina Mantegna), Donna (Quinn Shephard), and Beef (Brett Kelly) find unlikely friendship in each other when they sneak out of the Unaccompanied Minors room and wreak havoc in the airport. They get into trouble and Spencer is separated from his sister, Katherine (Dominique Saldana), when she and the other unaccompanied minors are sent to a nearby hotel to wait out the storm. Spencer and his friends are kept under supervision in the UM room at the airport under the orders of Passenger Relations Manager, Oliver Porter (Lewis Black).

Spencer and his friends find creative and ingenious ways to escape and get to his sister at the airport so that she can have a Christmas with Santa, and get into lots of adventures and mischief along the way.

Special features on the DVD include a commentary by director Paul Feig, writers Jacob Meszaros and Mya Stark, and actor/comedian Lewis Black, who plays the Passenger Relations Manager in the movie. There's also Charlie's dance reel, additional deleted scenes, and a featurette of the guards in the hall which run up to about twenty minutes. You can watch some of it courtesy of the BC Goodie Bag.

It's a fun movie, with lots of antics to laugh at, sweet and awkward teen romance, and a feel-good Christmas ending to it. It's highly unrealistic, sure, but most movies usually are, so that doesn't really matter here. When the film was released in December, Chris Beaumont compared it to Home Alone “but without the heart, but that’s me judging based on a trailer.”

I think it's got a heart, and what I like most about Unaccompanied Minors is that it's mostly about friendship — how a group of kids that have absolutely nothing in common can become friends when circumstances bring them together, and the way they work together to make the lousy situation of being stranded at the airport on Christmas Eve less intolerable for everyone. This friendship factor is something that Home Alone certainly didn't have. Even the clip of the guards in the hall features the friendship between them.

While Unaccompanied Minors is no epic movie, it is hilarious and enjoyable, and definitely worth watching with your friends.