It takes a special guy to rock primary colors. Dick Tracy had the
yellow hat and coat. The Tick was deep into the blue. And everyone
knows that the red suit belongs now and forever to Santa Claus.

But take yellow, red and blue together, and what have you got?
Everyone's favorite Man of Steel, Superman.

Or in the case of The WB Network's Thursday-night teen-Superman
drama "Smallville," in its fifth season, it's college-age Kansas
farmboy Clark Kent, who was once called "the hottie in primary
colors."

In "Lexmas," the episode that aired last week, Clark (played by
Tom Welling) has a Claus encounter and delivers a few presents to
good little children. For Welling, getting the role on "Smallville"
has been the gift that keeps on giving -- but he couldn't have known
that at the time.

While the move from Wednesday (where it faced off with "Lost"
last season) to the very competitive Thursday night has proven
unexpectedly beneficial for "Smallville" (and for "Everwood," the
show that comes after it), the impending end of its fifth season
represents a particular challenge.