Smallville: Season 7

Super-sexy and super-flirty, Clark's super-cousin Kara (Laura Vandervoot) made the splashiest addition to the cast in Smallville's season 7. Unfortunately for Clark (Tom Welling), she's more advanced in her powers than he is (she can fly), and she's not the kind to shy away from drawing attention to herself, whether it's in a skimpy bikini or garnering notice from Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) and Jimmy (Aaron Ashmore, joining the opening credits). Chloe (Allison Mack, rightfully moving ahead of Erica Durance in the credits) is trying to come to terms with her "meteor freak" powers, and Lois (Durance) is dallying with the new Daily Planet editor Grant Gabriel (Michael Cassidy), who has a mysterious past. The dreary drama of Lex and Lana (Kristin Kreuk) is over, and Martha Kent (Annette O'Toole) has permanently departed for Congress, so Lana is now playing house with Clark at the Kent farm. More elements of the DC Comics mythology enter, such as superheroine Black Canary (Alana Huffman), as do guest stars from the universe of Super-entertainment (Lois and Clark's Dean Cain as a doctor who claims to be able to "cure" meteor powers, and Helen "Supergirl" Slater as Clark's Kryptonian mother). Braniac (James Marsters) is still a threat, and Lionel (John Glover) reveals a shady past as part of an order called Veritas, which is purportedly assigned with protecting "the Traveler," an alien who has come to Earth as its salvation. Yet even with the numerous cast comings and goings, the most surprising change happened at the end of the season, when series producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar announced their departure. Whether that would be a good or bad thing (and whether it would mean an end to their original Smallville edict, "No flights, no tights") would have to be answered in season 8.