When popular supernatural dramedy Reaper ended its two-year run on The CW last season, fans were left with key unanswered mythology questions.  Series creators Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters provided closure this week in a rare post-mortem Q&A.  Here’s the shocker:  Sam (Bret Harrison) was not the devil’s son.  “Sam’s dad (Andrew Airlie) was a demon, who made a deal with the devil,” they tell CliqueClack.  “He fell in love with Sam’s mom and wanted to marry her, so the deal was, fine, you’re not a demon anymore.  But he was never fully human, either, which is why you can’t kill him.”  Part of the deal was that he could never tell Sam the truth—and that’s what was written on the contract pages Dad mysteriously ripped out and burned.  Sam’s special abilities came from his father, and the devil paid so much attention to him because he “was really worried that this kid was going to be his downfall.  Throughout the series, he’s trying to tempt Sam to be bad (so he) isn’t a threat anymore.”  Here are a few other interesting nuggets:  

Buffy the Vampire Slayer favorites Anthony Stewart Head (Giles) and James Marsters (Spike) both read for the role of the devil, “but as soon as Ray Wise auditioned, he was the one.”  The Akron native embodied what the producers were looking for.  “He was amazing, he just blew people away.” 

Andi (Missy Peregrym) gambled her own soul in the finale to try and save Sam.  Had the show continued, she would’ve worked in the DMV alongside Gladys.  “Christine Willes is just so much fun, and we thought she and Andi had a great way of sparring with each other.” 

The character of Ben became a dark-horse favorite of the writers.  “He had such an interesting love story with Nina; and more than any other person on the show, (Rick Gonzalez) formed that character.  Ben became a much different person toward the end.”  

Ben and Sock were not secret guardians of Sam.  “Tyler Labine had this storyline worked out that he and Rick were like archangels, but we had never intended for that.  They were just good friends helping out their buddy.” 

Reaper would’ve had a happy ending.  “Sam would have gotten the girl and he would have gotten out of his deal with the devil.  We would’ve found a way to get there.”

We see them briefly, sporadically…and then, suddenly, they’re gone.  Sometimes for years, sometimes forever.  They’re characters who become residents of TV’s mysterious ‘land of the lost.’  We’re talking about grandma Tabitha Wilson (Jessica Walter) on 90210, who’s away on the longest film-shoot in history.  Martha Kent, whose senatorial duties have apparently distracted her from an alien superhero running the farm in Smallville.  Or Dan and Jenny’s mother on Gossip Girl, the definition of “absentee parent.”  One Tree Hill folks are regular losties, with Karen, Andy and Lily circling the world on a yacht, Peyton’s brother and three fathers far, far away, and Haley’s parents a distant memory.  Amusingly, Sam’s younger brother on Reaper went off to school one day and never came home.  Television series are filled with unusual stories like that; it’s what fuels trivia game questions.  But at least two familiar faces have clawed their way back from the forgotten zone and will return to The CW this fall.  Ellen the demon hunter (Samantha Ferris) wandered the West on her own after the Supernatural season finale back in 2007.  Now she’ll lend a hand to the Winchesters in their war with the devil.  And Brooke’s unpredictable pal/nemesis Rachel (Danneel Harris, pictured) will stick around Tree Hill for at least seven new episodes.  Are there other characters you’d like to see again on the small screen?

Summer’s the time when fans look forward to their favorite TV shows arriving on DVD. Seven CW series have disc releases over the next ten weeks, so we’ve compiled a convenient list of dates and extras included in the box-sets. All are available for pre-order at amazon.com.

• 90210: Season 1 release on Aug. 11. Includes cast commentaries on select episodes, plus behind-the-scenes featurettes about the show’s music, fashion, sets and more.
• Gossip Girl: Season 2 release on Aug. 18. Includes nearly four hours of special features, such as unaired scenes, a gag reel, the ‘Chasing Dorota’ webisodes, and a downloadable audio-book of Gossip Girl: You Know You Love Me, read by Christina Ricci.
• Everybody Hates Chris: Season 4 release on Aug. 18. The comedy’s final season set will include commentary by creator Chris Rock, deleted scenes, featurettes and bloopers.
• Smallville: Season 8 release on Aug. 25. Available on DVD and Blu-ray. Bonus material includes cast and creator commentaries, unaired scenes, and two featurettes, Doomsday: The Making of a Monster, and Director’s Chair: Calling the Shots with Allison Mack.
• One Tree Hill: Season 6 release on Aug. 25. In addition to the unaired scenes and gag reel, the set includes commentary on two episodes by series creator Mark Schwahn and key cast members; and featurettes on recreating the 1940s (for episode 11); playing the new sport of SlamBall; shadowing first-time directors Chad Michael Murray, Bethany Joy Galeotti and James Lafferty; and guest singers discussing the role of music in the series, with a spotlight on the USO concert (episode 10).
• Supernatural: Season 4 release on Sep. 1. Available on DVD and Blu-ray. Anticipation is always great for this series’ gag reel—those guys just have fun at work, period. It will be accompanied by extended/unaired scenes, commentary on three key episodes by exec producers and writers, and a featurette on The Mythologies of Supernatural.
• The Game: Season 1 release on Sept. 1. This popular dramedy just completed its third and final campaign, and the show finally comes to DVD with all 21 episodes of its freshman year, plus the sixth-season episode of Girlfriends which served as a back-door pilot for The Game spinoff.
• Reaper: Both seasons are currently available on DVD.

Can we all agree, the creative minds who’ve been assembling this season’s Reaper promos deserve a big shout out?  Week after week, they’re 20-seconds of laugh-out-loud comedy.  The trend started strong with Episode 4, which featured the tongue-in-cheek kicker, “Nothing’s more disgusting than bugs…and old people.”  But subsequent teasers have employed a sexy, Barry White voiceover (“A Reaper man knows how to impress the lay-deez”), absurd plot points (“He is the prince of darkness…and ladies, he’s single!“) and insane sing-song lyrics.  Try not to giggle at Ray Wise shaking his martini with glee in tonight’s promo.  Will Sam find a loophole to escape his contract with the devil before next week’s Season Finale?  Renewal for a third year seemed a longshot until talks began recently to resurrect the popular dramedy in first-run syndication.  No matter the outcome, Reaper has given viewers 31 episodes of wicked humor and entertaining mythology.  And, in an unusual twist, the current season will debut on DVD just one week after the finale.  Funny stuff.

Two original reality series will debut this summer on The CW: Hitched or Ditched and Blonde Charity Mafia. Premiering after the May 26 finale of Reaper, Hitched centers on couples who’ve been dating for years—and are given an ultimatum to either set a wedding date within a week, or break up altogether. Of course, each featured couple will be put through a series of personalized exercises to test their relationship. The show is hosted by Tanya McQueen (pictured) from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Following its six-week run, Blonde Charity Mafia will then take over the Tuesday timeslot. It’s a docu-drama about Washington, D.C.’s most influential 20-something Alpha Girls, the ladies with the hottest ticket in town. From Congressmen to Capitol Hill staffers, everyone vies for an invitation to their social events—and Mafia exploits are played up Gossip Girl-style on latenightshots.com. Along with the summer announcements, the network decided against an early fall launch prior to September, Variety reports, and will likely follow the pattern of last year’s head start around Labor Day.

It was a busy—and exciting—weekend at The CW, with several breaking news stories. Here’s a quick recap:

• Laura Leighton will reprise her role as devious schemer “Sydney” on the new Melrose Place. In fact, she’s now the landlord—so Sydney can mess with the heads of all the young tenants. Fans of the original MP assumed Sydney was killed in a car accident, but c’mon…it’s a soap opera; amazing recoveries are the norm. Laura (photo, left) is married to former costar Doug Savant, who now plays “Tom Scavo” on Desperate Housewives.
• In another link to the first Melrose Place, Shaun Sipos has been cast as the sexy, spoiled bad boy son of “Jake Hansen.” WBNX viewers might remember Shaun (photo, right) from Maybe It’s Me; others know him from The Savages.
• With The CW’s half-hour Friday comedies expected to exit at the end of this year, says The Hollywood Reporter, producers of The Game will repitch the series to the network this week as a one-hour dramedy. Does this mean the May 8 episode of Everybody Hates Chris is the series finale?
• Reaper co-creators Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters just signed a two-year, seven-figure deal with another studio, and the terms include their departure from The CW series. Could Reaper return with a new creative team?

In 20 seconds, the promo for Tuesday’s episode of Reaper clearly illustrates the type of off-the-wall humor this series is known for. “Nothing’s more disgusting than bugs….and old people,” the announcer deadpans. Ha! What the spot really doesn’t do is alert you to a key mythology development: the introduction of the devil’s “other” son, Morgan. Armie Hammer makes his debut as the suave and spoiled offspring of Ray Wise, and Sam (Bret Harrison) is charged with showing his new half-bro the family biz. Expect a little sibling rivalry—and you just know that Wise is gonna have fun with this storyline. Hammer Time then continues next week on Gossip Girl, when the 6’5” jet-setter catches the eye of Serena (Blake Lively). It’s not long before the two begin a whirlwind romance that media accounts have likened to the real-life roguishness Anne Hathaway recently experienced.

You might think the generation gap between Reaper stars is awkward. After all, most of the cast members are in their late 20s…and then there’s that pesky devil. Ray Wise is 61, one of the most respected actors in Hollywood, and the one star who is consistently praised in reviews of the CW series. So how do the young guns feel about their senior scene-stealer? “He’s probably the coolest man alive,” Tyler Labine (Sock) told TV Guide. “He’s just a dude, you know what I mean? He’s got this big Cheshire cat grin, and he stands around chewing his gum with his crazy white teeth and his L.A. tan. He’s just a really cool guy, and quite possibly one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. No pretentions, no ego, just a nice, nice guy. And he’s so happy to be here. He’s like a cheerleader on set, he loves working here.” Talk to fans of the show, and most will admit that their favorite moments of each episode are when Wise appears on screen. He plays his character with so much menacing humor and mystery, you can’t help but chuckle at his twisted shenanigans. The Season Two premiere tomorrow night will bring viewers up to speed with Sam’s (Bret Harrison) predicament, and next week’s installment really soars.

It’s Friday the 13th, so why not see what TV’s most popular devil has to say about the new season of Reaper?  The mythology-based dramedy returns in less than three weeks after a nine-month layoff, and it lands in a challenging timeslot opposite the season’s top-ranked show.  Nevertheless, Reaper has its share of hard-core fans—and they simply adore Akron native Ray Wise, who took some time recently to answer viewer questions.  Enjoy…

The best thing about March—besides the end of snow, hopefully—is the return of CW favorite Reaper.  Akron’s Ray Wise (the devil) tried to describe the show once, saying it was a horror-mystery-action-comedy; it’s pure entertainment, for sure.  Many of the laughs are supplied by co-star Tyler Labine (Sock), who has posted a series update on Facebook.  Here are some key excerpts:  “Wowee, we just finished shooting season two (13 episodes), and I personally think we’ve outdone ourselves.  There are some of the funniest things I’ve ever put on film in my entire career in this season.  I’m very proud of our lil’-engine-that-could show; all that’s left to do is tell every single person you know to watch.  We’re on the ‘bubble’ for a season three, (although) I was talking to series co-creator/writer/producer Tara Butters at our wrap party, and she told me we have a better chance of getting picked up for season three than we did for season two—good news!  There was also a studio rep who was emphatic about how much they love what they’ve seen this year.  It’s all good shtuff.”