NBC is show-hungry after axing five hours of prime-time television to make way for the failed Jay Leno Show, and 24 is a solid performer, even though its costs are high and the ratings aren’t as stellar as they were when the show was fresh.

However, a switch to NBC could lead to nightmare scenarios like having the network force 24’s producers to force “go green” messages into their anti-terrorist drama. Sounds like a bigger recipe for disaster than simply having Keifer munching on tatuaje cigars throughout an entire season.

Impressive. But little else was, this weekend.

The highly touted Green Zone failed to impress, raking on a mere $14.5 million in its opening weekend; that was good enough for second place, but unless the film develops legs on good word of mouth, it could be hard for even DVD and Blu-Ray sales to rescue this disaster, since Green Zone cost $100 million to make.

The “foul-mouthed John Hughes-esque” film, “She’s Out Of My League” debuted strong enough to take third place with virtually no big name stars, drawing $9.6 million; however, with a slim $20 million budget, a respectable four-week run ought to put this one in the black. Ditto the fourth-place flick, Remember Me, which drew $8.3 million against a $16 million budget. Shutter Island fell to fifth place, close behind Remember Me.

Our Family Wedding drew a strong $7.6 million in its opening bow, despite playing on half as many screens as most of the other films above it.

Next week doesn’t look all that impressive with The Bounty Hunter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Repo Men all looking only moderately interesting. Far more enthralling will be the weekend of March 26, when highly anticipated comedy Hot Tub Time Machine and interesting-looking family flick How To Train Your Dragon both look like they have potential to do big numbers.

Hope so, because some of the films taking up screens at the moment are less interesting than a Western General auto insurance review.

Now comes news that the CW is pleased with the show’s ratings performance enough to overlook the high production costs and renew the show for an unprecedented tenth season. While Clark is now six years past being a high school freshman and over his Lana fixation, and subplots about Clark’s public speaking anxiety are long since a thing of the past, the show remains intriguing and well scripted, even following the exit of series creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough.

By offering the show an early renewal, the network allows Smallville the chance to craft a season cliffhanger rather than a series-ending capstone episode.

That means a sophomore season for Community, a fifth season for 30 Rock and a seventh season for The Office. The other NBC Thursday night comedy, Parks and Recreation, was renewed for a third season back in January.

In all honesty, I have to say that this is the strongest four-comedy lineup has had on NBC since the network played host to … if memory serves … The Cosby Show, Night Court, Cheers and Seinfeld. But I may just be remembering the good ones..

However, new showrunner Steven Moffat, who penned a well-received parody of Doctor Who about 10 to 15 years ago, when the show was on hiatus, has proven to be adept at drawing some of the top talent available to work on the re-configured show.

As everyone who follows Doctor Who knows by now, tenth doctor David Tennant is out, as are all of the companions that befriended the Doctor during Tennant’s run. In are new, eleventh doctor Matt Smith and an all-new companion, portrayed by Irish actress Karen Gillen, who will be known by the name Amy Pond on the show.

Smith’s Doctor is a dapper dresser more in the mode of Tennant, rather than an eccentric dresser in the mode of fourth Doctor Tom Baker or many of those who followed him. At least he won’t ruin the nice dramatic tone of the new show by carting around used golf balls or something wacky like that!

Anyway, in addition to Gaiman, some other talent Moffat has snagged for the new series of Doctor Who includes director Richard (Love Actually) Curtis, as well as Torchwood writers Chris Chibnall and Toby Whithouse. Still, in most people’s books, Gaiman is the biggest “get” of the new season.

Unlike some stars who prefer to spend their spare time hawking auto insurance quotes, Harris found a gap in his HIMYM schedule to fit in a guest spot on the musical comedy, Glee, allowing him a chance to show off his singing ability once again after a dazzling and humorous performance in Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible, as well as a musical number extolling the virtues of suits earlier this season on How I Met Your Mother.

Glee returns on April 13 on Fox.

Shutter Island drew $22.2 million in new business, down almost 45 percent from opening weekend, but still strong enough to stay at the head of the pack. Shutter Island has drawn $75 million to date, just $5 million short of its $80 million production budget.

Cop Out, which co-stars Bruce Willis and 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan, as well as Sean William Scott, pulled in a strong but below expectation $18.5 million, while The Crazies drew $16.5 million despite having no notable big-screen stars.

Avatar held steady at fourth place with $14 million, the only other film this past weekend to top the $10 million mark. Soon the promotional items will outsell the movie tickets for the SF epic.

March should come in like a lion with the new Johnny Depp-Tim Burton collaboration, Alice In Wonderland, the only notable release of the coming weekend.

In a swerve well away from the novels of Charlaine Harris, it appears show creator Alan Ball is set on having Vampire Bill Compton hooking up with were-dog Sam Merlott in a horizontal way. Of course, true to the show’s vampiric origins, the coupling will come as a result of a blood exchange between the pair that was necessary at the end of season two for Bill to save Sam’s life.

In the Harris novels, the sharing of blood between vampire and human has been established to create a psychic and sexual bond. So it’s not that the two will be suddenly talking about the best face cream with each other; it will be the result of a plot device long-established in the Harris novels, but never exploited in exactly this pairing.

Now it all makes sense, right down to the two brothers’ CliniSlim looks.

The Fonz won’t get a warm welcome, however, as Eddie Lawson was revealed to be the responsible party in last season’s finale for taking the majority of money out of HankMed and fleeing. What kind of comeuppance will he receive? Well, that’s why they expect you to tune in, silly.

No replacement for Goyer has yet been named; the show is currently shooting episodes 17 and 18 of a 23-episode order this season, but all these behind-the-scenes shake-ups can’t be good for a show in its first season. It also probably isn’t much of a testosterone booster for Goyer.

Everything else is either opening small or won’t be released until later on. After seeing The Wolfman today, and viewing the preview for Cop Out, I’m now kind of looking forward to the Bruce Willis-Tracy Morgan-Sean William Scott buddy cop flick coming out at the end of February, but after that, there’s nothing much of interest until the middle of March!

Sitting atop the charts was the favorably-positioned Valentine’s Day, a rom-com with great timing that garnered an impressive $56.4 million in its opening bow. The overly gore-ridden remake of The Wolfman came in second place with $31.7 million, while the Harry Potter-wannabe film, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, came in third place with $31.4 million, a virtual photo-finish.

In fourth place, Avatar held steady with $23.5 million domestically, and climbed to $2.35 billion in worldwide box office. That’s almost enough to purchase some rare Ferrari parts for your old Ferrari!

Dear John rounded out the Top 5 films with a still-respectable $16 million in its second week and facing tremendous competition from a formidable trio of films. No other films drew more than $6 million.