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Smallville at 25: Welling and Rosenbaum look back

The WB drama ran ten seasons, and in a quiz video Welling guessed a trillion live viewers while the real answer was eight point four million.

Photo: John Manard · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0
▶ As it aired · Pop Culture

Watch it as it aired: Hank Ledger and Vera Bullock on this story, from BBN Tonight at 6:53 PM ET. Cartoon anchors, real headline: the facts are Variety's, the jokes are ours.

Photo: Tom Welling
Photo: John Manard · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance

The real story

The reporting behind this segment. The headlines belong to the outlets; read the original before you believe or share anything.

What BBN said about it

  1. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorSmallville is turning twenty-five, and stars Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum have been looking back at Clark Kent and Lex Luthor's origin story, Variety reports.

  2. Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorI love a reunion. I'm told it's a show about Superman as a teenager, which is a brave place to start a career.

  3. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorIt ran ten seasons on The WB, created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.

  4. Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorTen seasons. Clark never once just told somebody, and I find that very relatable and very unhealthy.

  5. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe cast also did a New York Comic Con panel called The Road to Superman, with Kristin Kreuk and Erica Durance.

  6. Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorIs Superman at that one? The panel's called The Road to Superman, so I assume he's still on his way.

  7. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorNo.

  8. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorIn a quiz video, they had to guess the live viewer count. Rosenbaum wrote twelve million.

  9. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorWelling wrote one trillion, and later said he meant worldwide.

  10. Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorI think a trillion is a bold reading of the audience.

  11. Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorThe correct answer was eight point four million, which Tom would call a soft launch.

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From the archive: everything BBN aired on Tuesday, October 20, 2026 · the Pop Culture archive · all months