Here is what I believe is the secret to the staying power of 'Smallville': there is an audience out there that is STARVED for some good science fiction-superhero-fantasy material on TV. This group is so STARVED that it will watch 'Smallville'. What is the other option? Zilch. I beg/borrow/steal the previous season on CD each autumn, and I watch it. And I consider it horrible TV (that Lana character is SO nauseating). But I watch it. What is the other option? Give me one, and I'll take it.................

Peter, you should really pay attention to whats happening in the smallville universe. Yes i agree that there is too much emphasis on the GA, and i think ECHO was the worse episode this season (although other viewers seem to have loved it to get a 9.9 -- the highest rating for an episode to ever get), and RABID was awesome! and now since Gough & Miller left the show, the new producers are going back and revisiting what Gough & Miller said "HELL NO" to (i.e 1 no tights, no flight, 2 batman being on the show, and whatever else they said.)

Seasons 1-3 were the best altho the FOTW angle seemed to be off characteristic for my taste. Season 4 was a little sloppy, 5 had to be the worst, 6 was iffy, 7 and 8 was basically a recovery and now 9 i think is second best to seasons 1-3.

Now that Johns agreed to do two more episodes, they are expected to be awesome, and have a lot jam packed sequences. Airing them as a two hour special movie, on Feb. 25 (based on kryptonsite) is the best decision so far.

Peter, the main reason why you dont like the show any more is because you completely abandoned the show as a(n) [active] viewer and as a fan. Season 9 has the theme of Clark's darkest hour as to show key characteristic changes that he needs to consider before dawning the cape. Last weeks episode, Idol was the second episode, in the entire series, to hint at the glasses.

I believe they are in season 8 now. So, if you quit watching 5 years ago, that would have been season 3, you couldn't have watched it for 4 or 5 seasons more than you should have.

Justice Society? More like worn-out 30 somethings, in a much more tired writing cul-de-sac. Wait, did someone say splosions? Where are you Mr. Bay?...

I saw up till the first few episodes of the 4th season, and then return for Johns' "Legion" episode and I was awaiting these 2 episodes ever since they wee announced, as Johns' recently finished run on Justice Society is one of my favorite comic stories of all time.

I stopped watching Smallville a while back as well, just got too ridiculous for me. I used to LOVE the show, couldn't miss an episode. Wonder how it is now in its ninth season..

Oh man girls are gonna go crazy!!!11 Soap opera Superman stinks though.. so does girly Justice Society. Bleargh..

I try to not judge it based on Season but on episodes themselves. I mean Season 4 had a TON of bad episodes, I mean some of the worst (Witch Lana?) but it also had some of my favourite episodes ever. Season 8 started perfectly but ended so stupid so I can't say it was a bad season altogether.

To those who say that it "isn't Superman", I say that there's nothing wrong with a reinterpretation of it all (such as Smallville). Just look at Star Trek.. it got stale, until they shook things up in the new movie. You can't keep telling the same story, the same way, time and time again as the years go by and as things change in life. And, we all know that the Superman movies never got off the ground for YEARS, Bryan Singer came along, tried to continue the same story, and the movie tanked. And, as of right now, Warner Bros has no plans for a sequel.

While I understand that Smallville isn't everyone's 'cup of tea' when it comes to Superman, you have to give them props for creativity and thinking outside the box and taking it in a new direction. It may not always be top quality TV or Shakespear, it's still kind of nice not knowing what's going to happen hen turning each corner in the Smallville storyline. It's not predictable, it's new. That's why I watch.

Sounds good ive ben a fan of smallville from the start. Unlike most people i actually understand the show and get what the producers are trying to do.
Slimming Pills

Smallville is an awful, awful TV show and yet I still watch it religiously. There's a difference between a quality show, say Deadwood, and good television. Smallville is good television, but qualitatively? It's the pits.

dude come on man thats a really show man dont hate on it just cause ur not a smallville fan or superman who cares if the change stuff its business

just like the episode he wrote last year for smallville, these ones will rock. Geoff Johns can do no wrong.

While I would agree Smallville has recently turned to less than high quality television, it still has some pretty great moments (the last episode was the first decent one in a while)... And was good up until season 6, so I take umbrage with the "5 or 6 years too late" comment! Seasons 1-3 were pretty great, all around. Recently, though, especially seasons 7-9... yikes (with a few glimmering moments).

The thing that has been true of Smallville is that it's capable of some great television, and then next week will do something horrendous. The writing is mind boggelingly inconsistent, and whether you keep watching or not really depends on which week you start. Cause if you start on one of the shitty weeks... Man, it's shitty. But if you see what it CAN be, you'll stick around. Especially if you're a supes fan.

I'm not commenting on the quality of the show I'm just questioning why you would post a story about a tv show when your site mainly is about movie news and the post isn't even positive. Why post a negative story about a show you don't watch when it doesn't fit with your normal posts?

Smallville is a terrible terrible television show.

What? What are you a hanna montana fan? Smallville's one of the last decent things on telivision these days since the medium's declined into soulless bullshit, for lack of a more intelligent words yall smart folk use. I know I'm getting old when I see how kids gobble up today's garbage... well let me teach you young ones something. When I was a small fry myself back in 2002, I started watching smallville and it WAS MY LIFE I loved it as much as I loved superman the movie. Too bad things went south for the series but I knew it would happen since it always does to any show that's on for a long time but watch the first 3 seasons and call it a terrible show. That's right you can't because those first few seasons were excellent. Then it became a big pile of shit.

Smallville is an incredibly bad show. But like someone mentioned already, it has it's moments. Like the pic in the article as an example that episode and that moment shown in the pic were probably the best of the series. They really lost something cruicial to the show when they lost Michael, but the show still has random moments of decentness.. and I really expect the 2 hours of JSA to be pretty awesome, especially if they bring all the members of JLA back.

I just started watching smallville this past spring and I love it a lot!!!! I'm super excited for Geoff Johns two episode mini movie, it's gonna be great!

The series was at its peak after season 5. "SPOILER"-The episode of Jonathan's death is in the top 5 of the series. Season's 6,7, and 8 left much to be desired. Season nine so far out of ten, ten being the best, is a 5 or 6. Maybe this two hour thing could help. However, for a Friday show, it's got "good" ratings. I've always been for more more more, but this show, would be great if they brought Rosenbaum back for the last two episodes of the season and ended it with Clark becoming Superman, stoping a season 10. But for some reason, I have a strange, uncomfortable feeling that Season 10 will happen and hopefully 10 is the end. I'll always say I love this show, but they're seriously milking the cow. It's dry now. Start to walk away.

I stopped watching after season 5 also. But it seems to have gotten better, and they have been getting away from "formula" writing.

Wait a sec -- you're saying this show has had nine seasons and Clark Kent is STILL not Superman? I say this as someone who has never watched the show except for brief moments while channel surfing.

Is he in high school during all nine seasons? How old is he? When does he move to Metropolis or build his Fortress of Solitude?

He lives in Metropolis now and has the fortress of solitude built.
Hes working at the Daily Planet and has created a superhero identity that is known by the public even though Clark has yet to show his face publicly.

I think the show is massively entertaining and great fun, despite being quite dumb sometimes. The showrunners change has been a breath of fresh air for it, the show finally embraced its cheese aspects and stopped being ashamed of being superhero action adventure.

Its been freed from a half-baked "serious" vibe that had been choking the show in season 5 and 6.

Everything about it is better and it feels more like the show it shouldve always have been. Altough I cant imagine itd make new converts now.

Jonathan's death was quite an affecting moment--in fact, that is the strenght of Smallville; they create great moments. They require you to almost delete the rest of the show around and what lead up to those.

But the rest of that season is pretty forgettable. Like the interminable Lana-relationship stuff, fuzzy Brainiac plotlines.

I guess it was better than season 6 with that awful wedding storyline.

What are you talking about? Season 5 was GREAT. Johnathan Kent's death and aftermath could make a stone cry. That was seriously great tv there.

I watched the first season and then stopped watching it. I recently started watching this season and honesty: It's pretty awesome! It takes place in metropolis and it's darker. You should give it a try.

Well i have been a fan of the series since it premiered over 9 years ago. Sure at times the show has been bad and other times it has been good. The series has changed over time with the show maturing and plots changing. With characters killed off/written off and new characters brought in. So far this season their 9th season has been pretty well. Story is going nicely, visually looks great and good character development.

I am happy that the two parter jsa episodes will be airing together. I think its a smart move for the Cw. This will surely get a big ratings boost. I cant wait to see how the episodes turn out.

I'm not sure about the ratings boost. Wouldn't it be better to have two separate shows/weeks to boost ratings rather than one big event? Doesn't sweeps last a whole month?

Smallville is a great show.

I started watching in season 6, went through the writers' strike of season 7, and am now enjoying this season as the best of all. I love the show now more than ever. Maybe it's because I missed all the Lana years that I seem to have less hang ups with the show than the old fans. The main issue on talkboards nowadays is with bitter Chloe fans who thought she would become Lois. I don't understand where that started, but that seems to be what all the buzz is about now.

Sounds cool. This came back from death last season I'm really enjoying this year. I'm sure Geoff Johns will do a pretty damn good work just like "Legion".

Dear executives of moving picture media.

Please stop with the super hero thing while you are ahead. (forgetting Daredevil, Electra, Fantastic 4, Fantastic 4-2, Hulk, The Incredible Hulk, Watchmen, Superman Returns.....). The genro-movie/TV show is now Vampires....so get with the program.

And young boys are back to liking Star Wars and Lego. The only super heroes they may (MAY!) care about are: Spiderman, X-men and Batman (ONLY!!!!....none of this other crap). All the other well known super heroes are gone and people will not go see movie and watch shows with dumb no-name clowns.

Lesser, but still kinda known superheroes that only comic fan boys (which there are not a lot of anymore...just so you know) and their moms may know are also not acceptable. Flash, Green Hornet, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Shazzam, Thor, Marvel-Girl etc....are all terrible plans....stop them now.

Get with the program. Make sexy vampires that fight/love things and be prepared for the next craze...which is probably going to be ninjas again (get more TMNT and Power Ranger movies ready to go).

Love,
-Peter-

I read this post (-peter-) and thought it was sarcasm?

star wars- for fags

them's fightin words pal

"Flash, Green Hornet, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Shazzam, Thor, Marvel-Girl etc....are all terrible plans"

He's right. Don't kill the messenger. They will all bomb terribly. There are maybe 800,000 comic book readers in the US. And that's for the biggest titles. Most superheroes have about 5,000 readers. The 800,000 is enough to get a Daredevil-sized box office. Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Superman, and Batman have all had decades of tv shows and cartoons followed by millions of views, which is why they can grow beyond the comicbook ghetto. Movie studios have already reached the bottom of the barrell in terms of name recognition of superheroes the public gives a fig about.

Iron Man. That's the clencher. The fact that people saw Iron Man shows that, at least some, lesser comic book movies can thrive.

Everyone thought IRON MAN was going to be a disaster until that ComiCon trailer and then IRON MAN went through the roof. What IRONMAN, SPIDERMAN, XMEN, DARK KNIGHT have in common? Directors that loved the source material and that were intent on making a great film. I feel like many of the other movies are just attempts to cash in on the "latest thing."

The only one of the current wave of Marvel/DC movies that sounds interesting is the THOR one, b/c of Branagh at the helm and the interesting array of actors he's getting.

Yannick, I don't know exactly what you're disagreeing on. I wasn't saying people won't care because they don't know the character, I was saying people saw Iron Man, and by all accounts he wasn't a wildly popular hero before the movie. Hell, most of my friends call me a comic book geek, and I didn't know who Tony Stark was (granted, I'm more steeped in DC, not Marvel). So all I'm saying is that just because people DON'T know a character doesn't mean the movie will flop, which was insinuated above.

As to the Iron Man cartoon, I don't remember too many people watching that. It certainly wasn't a hot topic amongst my friends when we were younger, and I know the audience wasn't nearly large enough to match up with everybody who saw that movie.

Ghost Rider did okay in theaters (115 million domestic), but that movie sucked ass. It's problem wasn't it's obscurity, it's that the movie was God awful.

Iron Man was a cartoon seen by far more people than ever read the comic book. All the big superhero movies first had a tv show to pave the way. Even that doesn't always help. Look at Hulk's numbers. But without the tv show, the superhero doesn't penetrate to the wider audience. Hello Ghost Rider and Spirit. Transformers has a comic book too, but nobody went to the movies because of it. They went for the tv show.

You just cant rely on "people wont care because they dont know the character" its a dumb argument. Like the wise Simon Pegg once said "Who cared about Indiana Jones before Raiders of the Lost Ark?" he was a brand new character and he still came out of the gate awesome.
When the character is lesser-known, you can only rely on actual craft from the movie to make it crossover.

Oh my god, i think this guy is a Twilight fan!!

so a lesser known hero called iron man making about
erm.... $600million means that superhero movies are dead

and the dark knight becoming the second highest grossing film ever
also supports your theory

and just to prove your point futher
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant making about $13million against a 40 million budget proves vampires are profitable

my reason for watching this is that it's written by Geoff Johns. i'm curious on how the Flash and Shazam movie scripts he's working on are going. i think bill birch (shazam) said it's going awesome or something.

Yes, Birch said something like that recently.

Peter, you just love taking pot shots at Smallville, which you admit you haven't seen in five or six years. I assure you, it's quite entertaining and not nearly as dreadful as you seem to think it is.

I agree. Peter, we love ya, but you could always report the news without taking a crap on the product. Some people might actually be excited about this.

If you wanted the "news" on entertainment, then why in God's name are you reading a blog? You know the whole blog=opinion, I mean you DO remember don't you?

Just doing my job Robin, just doing my job.

Wow you are so totally right! Now I remember! Thanks for taking a moment out of your busy life to point out my error! What a dummy I am! Oh wait. Isn't this the News section and not the Reviews section?