TalkVille: Tom Welling & Michael Rosenbaum Discuss Their Smallville Podcast

The ultimate Smallville podcast “TalkVille” is almost here, arriving this Wednesday, July 13 on all major podcast platforms. The launch of TalkVille is a big deal as it is hosted by the show’s stars Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum, who played Clark and Lex, respectively.

To promote TalkVille, KryptonSite was able to do something very big that we’ve waited decades to do — we were able to interview Welling and Rosenbaum about the new show for some ideas on what fans can expect. Tom and Michael are both great in this interview, and you can tell they’re as excited as fans are for the show.

You can watch video of the interview above, or at the end of this interview, if you want to read it as text. Enjoy!

KRYPTONSITE’S CRAIG BYRNE: For my first question… covering every season of Smallville, does this include the three seasons Michael was not in?

MICHAEL ROSENBAUM: [Laughs] Unfortunately, Tom’s making me do it. Yes, as of now, unless something happens, we’re planning on going through every season of Smallville.

TOM WELLING: One of the best things about this whole thing, Craig, is I was in 99% of all the scenes of the show for 10 years. I then became a producer and would watch the shows and gave notes on them. Michael really has only seen some of the scenes that Lex was in and I know Michael didn’t watch Smallville for [the] three seasons he wasn’t in before he came back for the final season, so a lot of this is new to Michael and new to Lex. Lex wasn’t following everybody around. It’s a lot of fun to watch Michael watch the episodes.

MICHAEL: It’s definitely different. We’re stepping back now, and it’s really [us] watching as fans now. There’s been so much separation and so much time that it really feels like “That’s not me. That’s not you.” We’re so much older now, so it’s interesting.

KRYPTONSITE: Are you recording these in production order or airing order ,because I know “Jitters” was episode 3 shot but aired like episode 9 or something?

MICHAEL: Airing order.

KRYPTONSITE: Do you have any specific dream guests to have on your show?

MICHAEL: We talked about it. We’re thinking… like hopefully Amy Adams, if we can get her. Supposedly, Justin Bieber’s a big fan of Smallville. When I played in a hockey tournament with him for the All-Star Game, he asked me about Smallvile. He asked me about Lana Lang.

TOM: It’s funny, because I was at a restaurant one afternoon, and I went to the bathroom and walking back out, I heard this kid say ‘Hey!’ and I turned around; it was Justin Bieber. He goes, “You’re Tom Welling from Smallville, can I get a picture?!” I was like, “Yeah!” and his buddy jumped up and took a picture. He was like, “Thanks, man, I love the show!” So maybe he remembers. That would be great.

MICHAEL: I love that.

KRYPTONSITE: I’ve heard there were some epic pranks on the show. I heard a specific one about Emmanuelle Vaugier [Helen Bryce] in your trailer. Will we be hearing some of those on the podcast?

MICHAEL: They are gonna hear everything that we can think of! Anything that comes up in our minds that we recall, or anything that’s self deprecating, or hearsay… we’re gonna bring it up. There’s a lot of episodes to go through, we’ve already recorded a few.

We have a hotline so fans can interact and they can ask questions. We have a Patreon account, for people to support the podcast. So we’re just starting. It’s an evolution with this show.

TOM: It’s also going to help us, because we go to a lot of these fan conventions now and here’s panels where people get to ask you questions. With half the questions, we’re like “oh, I don’t remember, because I don’t remember doing that episode. I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” Now, we’re gonna lose that excuse, because we’re gonna have watched all these episodes. It sparks a lot of memories, which if you ask me about an episode right now, I might be able to tell you a couple things. But having watched a few that we’ve done, dude, there’s too many things to talk about. We actually edit it down a little bit, because there’s so much to talk about on TalkVille.

KRYPTONSITE: Speaking of the conventions, will you ever do a podcast during one of your Smallville Nights?

MICHAEL: That’s a good idea! Maybe we will!

TOM: Maybe we could have a live audience or something!

MICHAEL: Yeah, we could do something like that, where we dissect the episode, tell the fan base what episode we’re watching, and then talk about it on the episode when we do it live.

KRYPTONSITE: I did Smallville Nights back in December and it was such a great time. I recommend it. One thing I noticed, though, is Tom…. you very much still have a director’s brain. Could we be seeing you direct again anytime soon?

TOM: I don’t know if it’s directing ,or controlling… but I would love to direct [again]. I loved directing Smallville, I haven’t directed since, but that experience has helped me with the other projects I’ve been a part of, because what I always think about directing and acting is if you can kind of speak both languages a little bit, you can understand the communication.

Sometimes the director will ask you to do things as an actor, which make no sense to you. But once you’ve directed an actor, you go “okay, I’m gonna have to ask them to do something that makes no sense to them, but it works for the cameram” and it helps that way. But yes, I would love to direct again. I get a lot of joy giving an actor a note and then filming and seeing it. It’s literally magic to me. It’s just magic. So I would like to [do it again].

KRYPTONSITE: Are you guys able to reveal any of the guests you’re having in the early weeks of TalkVille?

MICHAEL: I’d just say that the show is really about me and Tom talking about the episodes. That’s what the show is mostly about. However, that being said, occasionally we’re going to have guests like the costume guy, Steve Oben. Maybe Kristin Kreuk [Lana Lang], John Schneider [Jonathan Kent]… maybe the creators of Smallville, [Al Gough and Miles Millar.] So they’ll all make appearances eventually. But it’s not going to be every episode, where there’s going to be a guest. It’s going to be really {just] me and Tom talking about the episodes.

KRYPTONSITE: Do you have a favorite episode that you guys have rewatched so far?

TOM: It’s funny, because I kind of remembered this episode before we watched it. It’s called “Cool” about a football player who falls in the lake and that needs to get warm. I kind of remembered that episode, and then I watched it, and so much more came out of it. It was funny, because Michael’s reaction [to the] episode was like, “What the hell is going on here?!” Talking to Michael about the episode made that episode even better to me. So, that’s one that we’ve already done.

MICHAEL: We also did one called “Hourglass” where Cassandra Carver sees into your future. That one I really appreciate, I thought it was really dark….

TOM: And the serial killer was back on the loose!

MICHAEL: Yeah, the old man! That was a cool episode. It was cool! I really liked it.

KRYPTONSITE: Tom, how did Michael convince you to do this show?

TOM: There were other companies who had actually, in the months prior, were coming to me about doing a podcast about Smallville, and I was like “I don’t really get it. I don’t really know this world, and I don’t know who you guys are. I don’t know what the numbers are, and I don’t know if I can trust you.” And seemingly enough, Michael came in, and because of his success [with] Inside of You – and the production team that he had – made me feel much more protected and comfortable. He has everything that we need to get it done. And then with this idea that we would watch episodes, and then talk about them, was like “well, that just sounds like a good time with my friends!” It really was that simple.

KRYPTONSITE: Will there be exclusive Patreon content kind of like Inside of You has?

MICHAEL: There is some! We’re figuring all of that out now. People that want to support the podcast can go on Patreon.com/TalkVille, and there will be some exclusive stuff, yes. As we continue, hopefully, there’ll be more.

KRYPTONSITE: Are there any specific episodes that you’re kind of dreading having to watch again?

MICHAEL: I don’t know! I don’t remember, that’s the thing. Every episode is rehashing these old memories. So I can’t really tell you that I’m dreading something as much as I am curious, and just excited about each episode to come.

TOM: I got one! There’s an episode I think it’s called…I want to say it’s “Bewitched.” [He’s actually referring to Season 4’s “Spell.”] It’s where all the female cast members turned into witches. There’s a party in Clark’s barn or loft, and Clark’s dancing like a fool. That still haunts me to this day, because I was dancing and they went “Cut!” and the director’s note was “everything’s great, except Clark. We kind of think Clark doesn’t know how to dance at all.”

So I started dancing like a fool, and I don’t know which one of the actresses was right in front of me, it was either Kristin, or I don’t know… looking at me, horrified! And I just remember being like “oh, this is embarrassing.” I don’t know what season that is, but we’ll get to it!

KRYPTONSITE: Season 4, and when you get to it, Annette O’Toole [Martha Kent] has great stories about filming that episode.

TOM: I think that’s the one where she made me cry at the end, and she wasn’t supposed to. She’s like, “I’m disappointed in you, Clark” in that whole scene, and I ended up crying in the scene. It wasn’t even written. I was just like, “I feel so bad!”

KRYPTONSITE: Is there any episode you’re really excited to cover? Like the Christopher Reeve episodes, or anything like that?

TOM: That one definitely, obviously. When people ask me my favorite episode, it’s “Transference,” because of being able to play Lionel Luthor and switching bodies with a great actor like John Glover. I’m looking forward to rewatching that again.

MICHAEL: Each episode is so new for me, it’s just because I never really watched the episodes as much.

TOM: I want to see the one where Lionel falls off the building.

MICHAEL: Yeah, where I kill my father! I mean, there was “Lexmas,” and “Onyx,” and…

TOM: “Zod!” [Laughs]

MICHAEL: Oh man, it’s endless. The list is endless of the shows that I can’t wait to see!

TOM: The cool thing about this podcast – and we found this through an interview yesterday – is a lot of podcasts is the work of getting guests or getting content. We already know that we have 217 episodes [EDITOR’S NOTE: The show is sold to streaming as 218] of this show. So I think that if people are like “I don’t know if I want to start listening to this thing, because I don’t want it to fade out”… well, there are no plans for this to fade out for the next couple years! [Laughs]

MICHAEL: We’ll see what happens. We’re gonna take it day by day, and hopefully we enjoy it as much as we’re enjoying it now, and we keep doing it.

KRYPTONSITE: What are you most excited for the fans to get out of this podcast?

MICHAEL: I think them seeing us really watch as fans is going to be exciting to them.

And interacting with them, and getting to see our perspective, and getting to hear the stories behind the stories. I think that is going to entice people to kind of take a trip with us, to take a little vacation back to Smallville for all the seasons and just enjoy it. I think it’ll be fun for them.

TOM: I think you’ll find that it’s a good time. This podcast is a good time and you’re gonna get some color commentary about things that you probably don’t know about that happened behind the scenes on the day right before this scene, or what we thought about this actor or director. My cheeks always end up hurting because I smile so much on these things. It’s just a good time.

KRYPTONSITE: Do you have anything else you’d like to say to the fans will be watching this and reading about it on KryptonSite?

TOM: Thank you for considering it. Thank you for watching it. Fan participation is a big part, whether it’s questions or phone-in questions… you’re going to help us shape this whole thing. So please, participate!

MICHAEL: We’re really excited to share this with you. It’s a long time coming. So join us every week Wednesday, Wednesdays for TalkVille!

You can visit the official TalkVille Podcast website at talkvillepodcast.com. Visit and tell them KryptonSite sent you!