This season's success of "Everwood" adds another success to The WB's stable of dramas, but the network's quest for a breakout comedy hit continues. The WB's fall schedule finds the network juggling both comedies and dramas trying to find the magic combinations.

Thursday and Friday nights remain the network's comedy focus. Each night features two established shows and two fresh attempts at hilarity. Each night also sees the return of a familiar WB comedy star.

A new show anchors Thursday night, with "Steve Harvey's Big Time" taking the 8 p.m. slot. The variety show marks Harvey's return to the network that was his sitcom home from 1996 to 2002. Executive produced by "Late Show With David Letterman" alum Madeleine Smithberg, Harvey's new effort will focus on real people with extraordinary and humorous gifts. This makes a find lead-in to the third season of "JKX: The Jamie Kennedy Experiment," which continues to catch real people with extraordinary and humorous gifts in embarrassing situations.

"What I Like About You" returns for a second season at 9 p.m. and will be followed by "Run of the House," a family comedy from Betsy Thomas ("My So-Called Life"). Starring Joseph Lawrence, Kyle Howard, Sasha Barrese and Margo Harshman, the show centers on a 15-year-old girl raised by her protective older siblings, making it a nice compliment to its similarly themed lead-in.

Friday night is anchored by a third helping of the network's largest current comedy hit, "Reba." At 8:30 p.m., Holly Robinson Peete returns to The WB as a regular for the first time since "For Your Love" in the multi-ethnic laffer "Like Family." Robinson stars as a woman whose stable family life is given a healthy dose of tension when her best friend (Amy Yasbeck) and her 16-year-old son move in.

Following the return of "Grounded for Life," The WB will debut All About the Andersons" at 9:30. The show stars Barbershop" and "Kangaroo Jack" funnyman Anthony Anderson as a struggling actor and single dad who moves back in with his supportive mother (Roz Ryan) and cantankerous dad (John Amos).

"We have assembled the strongest group of comedies on one night in the history of the network," says WB Entertainment President Jordan Levin. "These are four quality comedies with broad appeal, multi-generational points of view and laugh-out-loud chemistry."

The WB's schedule offers only two new dramas, but they're both high profile.

"Smallville" is moving out of its comfy Tuesday night slot to make room for "Fearless," a new drama from Jerry Bruckheimer. Rachel Leigh Cook ("She's All That" ) stars as a 23-year-old FBI agent incapable of feeling fear. "Fearless" will follow season four of "Gilmore Girls."

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Even in "Smallville," one can dream big.

When executive producers Al Gough and Miles Millar were writing the pilot for The WB's hit series about Clark Kent as a teen, they thought about how wonderful it would be for Christopher Reeve, the Man of Steel in four "Superman" feature films, to guest star. In the episode "Rosetta," airing Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 9 p.m. ET, fans see the producers' dream realized.

"The first Superman film was very much on our minds," Gough says of creating the series. "And we thought, 'Wouldn't it be great to get Chris Reeve to guest star?' Then it just became a matter of, once the show established itself, we looked for opportunities. We didn't have the right character. And when we were arcing out this character, he seemed perfect for Chris. We were looking for that passing of the torch. Every hero needs a wise man."

Reeve is that wise man. He knows his role as billionaire astrophysicist Dr. Swann does not represent a return to his former alter ego, but rather a boost for the next generation, and that his place in the pantheon of Supermen remains secure.

Talking late one night from Sydney, Australia, where he's the keynote speaker at a forum on paralysis, Reeve speaks as seriously and intellectually about Superman as he does about stem-cell research and politics.

"I think he is an essential part of our culture and our mythology," Reeve says of the man from Krypton. "He is a friend, and he is an unassuming hero, and I also think the fact that he is both awkward and a shy newspaper reporter makes him like everybody else. And yet he has another identity, this larger-than-life superhero. Sometimes we feel like Clark Kent, and sometimes, if we are lucky, we feel like Superman."

"It's just been an American icon since 1938," Reeve continues. "He was an inspiration to the troops in World War II. Superman comics were issued to troops in World War II and sent over in their duffel bags by the USO. The character needs to be reinvented for every generation. Kirk Alyn was for the '40s and George Reeve for the '50s, and I was the man for the late '70s and '80s."

His influence continues to resonate. Reeve's "Superman" movies are in frequent rotation on television. His fourth and final Superman film was in 1987, and he has yet to be replaced, though a new movie is in the works and names like Jude Law, Ashton Kutcher and Josh Hartnett being bandied about to fill the tights.

Reeve, 50, is not the sort to pine, Norma Desmond-style, for his past stardom, though he certainly would be justified. After the horseback-riding accident that left him paralyzed in 1995, Reeve was not expected to do hours of exercise a day, regain limited use of one finger and some sensation, and become a leading activist for paralysis patients.

"I have always been this determined," Reeve says. "Acting is a very difficult profession. It requires a tremendous amount of self-discipline and the ability to face rejection. It doesn't come easy, and I started quite young. It is a very uncertain life, and sometimes you don't know when your next job is coming, or if there is going to be a next job. Even many established actors, when they finish a job, think they will never work again. So I lived that life for more than 30 years, and it was certainly good preparation for the life I am living now. It is true that will power and self-discipline play a key role."

The rigors of his life were revealed in "Christopher Reeve: Courageous Steps," a documentary by his son, Matthew, which ABC aired in September. It related his struggles and triumphs over the course of a year, showing Reeve without makeup and missing patches of hair. Like anyone who has suffered physical trauma, his life became divided into before and after the accident. Along with the loss of mobility, the actor also lost his identity as a horseman, pilot and sailor.

If you missed last Tuesday's second-season finale of The WB's "Smallville," and plan to watch the "Exodus" repeat on Sunday, May 25, fear not. Executive producer Al Gough won't spill the beans.

But, he will talk about the challenges and triumphs of the past season on the teen-Superman drama, and some of the plans for next year.

And there definitely will be a next year. Gough didn't have to wait for the networks' announcements of their fall schedules to advertisers in mid-May. As one of The WB's brightest lights, "Smallville" received an early renewal.

"It's like running for office," Gough says of the yearly pilot season, "then once you're elected, all the work begins. I never miss this time of year in terms of the nail-biting and the testing and all the network scheduling and the upfronts."

In Season 2, Kansas teen Clark Kent (Tom Welling) learned his alien parents intended him to rule Earth. At the same time, his unrequited love, classmate Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), explored her own family history and dealt with the tragic death of former boyfriend Whitney (Eric Johnson).

"Season 1 was, 'Who am I?'" Gough says. "Season 2 was really, 'Where am I from?' To us, it's the adopted kid looking into his biological parents. Once you find out who you are, are they people you want to know, or do you wish you'd never asked those questions at all?"

"We also played more with the Clark-Lana relationship. Last year, Whitney was the obstacle between them. But this year, it was really about -- and it's a classic superhero dilemma -- Clark's secrets. Can you really have any sort of intimacy if you can't be completely honest with somebody? So it's always a question of, do I save the world, or do I have a life? He's started to wrestle with those questions."

"Also, we were able to flesh out Lana's character and dimensionalize her more. She started to question Clark, and obviously she's come around to the fact that he's going to have secrets in his life, and is she willing to accept him for that, knowing that he does, obviously, love her?"

At the same time, student investigative journalist Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack), who pines for Clark much as he pines for Lana, has come to a breaking point, both in her emotional and professional life. When her school paper, The Torch, was destroyed, ruthless tycoon Lionel Luthor (John Glover) stepped in as an unlikely patron.

"That will continue into next year," Gough reveals. "How many times can she be jilted by Clark? That turns into resentment. Where will that take their friendship, and will that ultimately put Clark's secret in jeopardy, now that Lionel Luthor has obviously taken an interest in Chloe and her work studying the Kryptonite?"

"As Lionel Luthor tends to do with people he either perceives as a threat or a help, he co-opts them. You see that dance played out in the season finale."

Also, unlike last year, Season 3 will not pick up on the heels of Season 2. "There will be a cliffhanger element to the show," Gough admits, "but it won't be like Season 2, where it started three minutes after Season 1. It will pick up three months later. We're going to play the summer."

In the meantime, there's the ongoing dance between Clark and his future nemesis, Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), son of Lionel. Lex currently considers Clark a friend, but that hasn't stopped him from trying to figure out Clark's secrets. But, as of right now, Lex has not quite strayed over to the Dark Side.

In an earlier interview, John Schneider, who plays Clark's adopted father, farmer Jonathan Kent, wondered if Jonathan's hostility to Lex might contribute to the younger Luthor becoming the archvillain of the Superman comics.

"I'm right about him," Schneider said, "but what I fear is the lack of acceptance on Jonathan's part for Lex is one of the contributing factors in him becoming the evil character that he does."

"Absolutely," Gough agrees. "He senses there's something about Lex that's bad. Ultimately, he's correct. But of all the mitigating factors in Lex's life, there is a certain culpability on Jonathan's part."

Speaking of Lex, Gough points out, "As I always say, Clark Kent has lied to Lex Luthor much more than Lex Luthor's lied to Clark Kent. At this point, Lex is still struggling. There is that part of him that is always striving to do the right thing, but will the hands of fate ultimately push him over the edge? But it isn't for lack of trying. You can never say that Lex Luthor didn't try to do the right thing."

While Gough says that Superman's true love, Lois Lane, probably won't show up until Season 4, expect a few other visitors from the Superman universe -- and DC Comics in general -- in the coming year.

"Our hope is in Season 3, and I put it out there, is that you will see Bruce Wayne. This year, we really want to make it happen. You could also see Perry White and Jimmy Olsen this year."

Although he can't reveal his casting wish list for Bruce Wayne, Gough has a type in mind. "Basically about Lex's age, and he's more of a darker, brooding figure. At this stage in their lives, I don't think Clark and Bruce get along, because they are, in a weird way, opposite sides of the coin.

" One's grown up under the guidance of very loving parents, and one has grown up without parents and feels the need to avenge their murder. Bruce is not Batman yet, but again you see, as you do with Clark, the seeds of the man he will become."

As for the Boy of Steel, Gough asks, " Now that Clark has all this information about his past, and what he believes his destiny to be, how will he take that and move into the future?"