The season 4 premiere of Supernatural, "Lazarus Rising," pulled in 3.96 million viewers.  That's a whopping 33 percent surge over the season 3 premiere, and the best numbers the show has ever had on the CW.  As far as the demographics go, Supernatural was up 42 percent among 18-49 year-olds compared to the season 3 premiere.  That has to make the CW rather happy.

The premiere of Smallville, on the other hand, dropped 14 percent from its debut last year, delivering 4.38 million viewers.  That's nearly on par with FOX's Hole in the Wall, which aired in the same time slot and was seen by 4.72 million people.  Those are great numbers for a smaller network like the CW, but not so great numbers for FOX.  I don't think Hole in the Wall is long for this world, and I certainly won't cry when it goes away.

It's hard to explain the reasons behind Supernatural's ratings surge, but it's certainly a great thing to see.  The episode likely benefited from a lack of competition, since shows like Grey's Anatomy and The Office have yet to return.  People may have also been interested to see how Dean Winchester returned from the grave.  The show's ratings success is even more impressive when you realize the CW doesn't promote it nearly as much as soaps like Gossip Girl and 90210, both of which would kill for 3.96 million viewers.

Ending Supernatural in the fifth season is something anticipated by show creator Eric Kripke.  “Yes, there is certainly more to explore,” Kripke said.  “But we sort of have this five-year map.  And Jared and Jensen like the idea of a five-year map because we work them so hard.  It's possible, but I don't know... But a lot of these issues are beyond my control at the corporate level with ratings, etc. But my personal feeling is that I still want to go out in year five.  It's better to go out strong and on top than to be 8 or 9 years into a piece of shit. You want conclusions... you want to end it.  It's an epic story and epic stories deserve a good ending.”

Of course, only time will tell.  Closing the curtains on the series in its fifth season isn't something definite at this point and a lot can still happen in a span of two years.

It's been announced that due to both budget restrictions and negative fan reaction, the character of Bela (Lauren Cohan) will not be returning in season 4.  Series creator Eric Kripke told TV Guide, "I'm sad to see Lauren go.  I think she's going to have a huge career, but it became increasingly obvious to the writers that the character as we conceived it simply wasn't working."

In the interview, Kripke mentions that it was originally the studio's decision to open up the scope of the story and make things more epic in season 3.  When Kripke let the studio execs know that "epic" would translate to a higher budget, the network told him to go ahead and go for it.  However, after coming in "way, way over budget" on "The Magnificent Seven" episode from early in the season, the studio clamped down and insisted that Kripke stick to the budget for the rest of the year.  When he asked how to present a full-scale demon war with such a small amount of cash, the network basically said, "Figure it out."

"So here we are, a war without the money to mount it," Kripke pointed out.  "And our Season 4 budget is even smaller than our Season 3 budget.  Therefore, we'll be employing all kinds of tricks next year — the war will be smaller, more contained, underground, more guerrilla-style.  I actually think it'll improve the show.  Looking back over Season 3, the spectacle and size is never as interesting as the episodes that focus on the brothers.  I think we probably got a little too distracted at times.  So in Season 4, there will still be the war, but we'll be presenting it in our scruffy, angsty, Supernatural way, and we'll return to concentrating on the relationships and the characters."

While focusing more on Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) is never a bad thing, I've been a big fan of the more epic scope present throughout season 3.  It gives the story a more propulsive feel, like it's building up to something monumental and huge.  The fact that it will be building up to "skirmishes and off-camera battles," as Kripke puts it, is a bit disappointing.  However, there's not much that can be done when the show is on a small network with a limited amount of cash.

Despite the budgetary limitations, Kripke is optimistic that the important aspects of the story will remain unaffected.  "I have a core story that I want to tell, and I've never wavered from it, not once," he said.  "It's the saga of the Winchester clan — who the brothers really are, who their parents really are, why Demons are so closely intertwined with them, what their destiny really is.  It's an epic, emotional family story at its heart, and to me, that's what Supernatural is really and truly about."

The Friday the 13th remake is being produced by Platinum Dunes studios, which also brought us recent remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hitcher, and many others.  Fans of the original Friday, or the original Scream, will surely remember that Jason's mother was the killer in the first film.  Jason didn't show up until the sequel, and he didn't obtain his hockey mask until the third.  However, in this "remake" he'll already have his mask and be busy offing teens, so it's not exactly a copy of the source material.

The new Friday the 13th film is being directed by Marcus Nispel, who put together a lot of music videos before directing the Texas Chainsaw remake.  If you liked the gritty, stylized look of that film, chances are you'll enjoy this one as well.

Because the studios love a little bit of marketing synergy, the Friday the 13th remake will be in theaters on Friday, February 13, 2009.

The network aired a new episode of Reaper in Supernatural's Thursday at 9pm time slot for the first time last week, and the results weren't pretty.  Reaper was up 160,000 viewers compared to its last fresh episode, but down over 400,000 viewers compared to Supernatural's usual audience.  It also had a brand new episode of Smallville as a lead in, which wasn't the case for Supernatural's last new installment.  Things aren't looking good for the demon hunting duo of Sam (Bret Harrison) and Sock (Tyler Labine).

New episodes of Reaper will continue to air Thursdays at 9pm through March 27, then Supernatural will return on April 3 with a showing of a season 3 episode.  It will have a chance to air three repeats before new episodes begin airing on April 24.

Whether or not it was the outcry of the fans that led the CW to make this decision is unknown.  However, it never hurts to make your voice heard, and I'd like to think that the Supernatural fans helped to make this happen.