That depends on whether those people care enough to shell out a fairly large chunk of change on the DVDs or not, doesn't it? That's my point. I think the sales for the DVD set might give us an idea whether the audience for the show has truly grown indifferent/angry/irritated by the show's direction, or whether the ratings drop was due more to other factors, like seasonal slump. If people simply don't care anymore, or if they're irritated enough by the show's recent direction that their teeth grind together when they see the DVD set in the store, they're not likely to buy it. If they missed some episodes but basically still enjoy the series, they will probably buy it.

Also to consider is that a lot of hardcore fans are completists...

I've generally found - I don't know if it's a psychological thing or what - that I enjoy the shows a lot more with the comfort of seeing them on DVD and knowing the bad stuff that is coming so I can fast forward through it. Veronica Mars Season Two was a prime example of that. Didn't like the season much at the time, but on DVD, I loved it.

*raises hand* Self-proclaimed completist here. I pre-ordered the day Craig posted the link. *turns red from embarrassment*

And not just hardcore fans. I have a friend who readily admits to hating this season. Yet, she's also said she'll probably buy the S6 DVDs simply because she has all the others and she doesn't want to be missing any.

Viewers, ie what counts to advertisers is not the same as people who like to buy up DVD seasons of a show. I have bought DVD seasons having NEVER watched an episode live or taped of a TV show. DVD sales can shoot off of the roof but in no way reflect the regular and live viewership at the time for a show. So I don't see DVD's sales as reliably tracking or explaining the current ratings drop off and the shows overall decline.

I own seasons one through five on DVD, but I have no intention of buying season six. There just aren't enough episodes that I'm going to want to rewatch again. It will be interesting to see how many others like me there will turn out to be. Does anyone know, however, if they publish data on DVD sales, and if so, how specific those data are?

I'm a completist as well but I haven't bought any DVD adn will not till the end of the series if SV turns out worth it at the end (of course that means if they do Chlois) then I will buy it to add to my Superman memorabilia but if not I will use the money to take hipnotherapy to erase the years I spent watching it.

I stopped buying after season 1 when the Clana writing was on the wall. Roswell burned me out on the tragic-lovers-fated-to be/not to be-despite-everything storyline and I couldn't bring myself to get invested in dvd sets. Sadly since that continued I have one barely watced season 1 dvd set *shrugs* I was considering season 5, but season 6 just sucked the interest right out of me. I will say though if they ever release Justice on it's own (like they did for the Xfiles series finale) that's one dvd I would get.

You hit the nail right on the head for me Craig, I'm most definitely a completionist. However, though I own seasons 1-5, I have no intention of buying the S6 DVD's. At least not now. Perhaps in a year or two when they drop down to the $20-30 dollar range or if I happen to find a used set somewhere. No, I definitely won't be paying full price for the spectacular crap that was offered this season. It really makes me sad since I had such love for this show. Last year I actively (mentally) marked the release date because I knew I'd be in Wisconsin. So when the S5 DVD's were released I made it my business to travel to another small WI town just to find a WalMart to get them. This year? Not a chance.

OT: I wonder if there are a lot of people downloading the episodes? I honestly have no clue but if so, I'm sure that also has to have some adverse affect on the ratings. Nothing like the crappy, miserable writing imo, but still. Especially when you consider that DVR's are included in the ratings (thanks Omar), and competing shows. Just a thought.

People might just Netflix it to save their money.

If I'm wanting them I'd just download and burn my own DVD/CDs. Nothing has made me want to do that except for Splinter and Transference since S3. Not into spending major grocery bucks for Bloopers when someone will upload a clip or two. I used to want all of DS9 and then when the season prices stayed at over $100, I sold my one season and rewatch my VCR tapes and recorded episodes on CD.

I was actually just reading an article in Entertainment Weekly about ratings declines across the board.. and one of the things they suggested is that it may be the result of people figuring "oh, the DVD will be out in August anyway, why should I waste my time and watch the show with commercials now?"

This is especially true for shows like Heroes, which is so much better of a show when watched without interruptions.

Yeah, but when a show is really good and gripping, I just don't have the nerve to wait for months to watch it all on DVD - I'll want to watch it right now, commercial breaks and all. And even if I already have the aired episodes on tape, I'd still be buying the DVD sets later on. That's the difference between casual viewer and dedicated fan, IMO. I used to be that way about Smallville, once - but sadly, Season 6 has totally killed that dedication and willingness to spend money on merchandise.

I live in Germany, and we get a new season almost 1 year after it's aired in the US. After reading the boards/Omar's reviews and watching some clips from Season 5, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it, so I had the S5 DVD set *imported* from the UK, because the season wasn't even showing yet in my country. I even paid the double price I'd usually pay (60 Euros instead of 30) - all just because I couldn't wait till the season started over here, and I certainly couldn't wait a year to have the German DVD set.

Well, I won't be doing that with Season 6 - not when the episodes are not worth the price. And I know I won't touch that S6 DVD set when it's released over here - not even when it's reduced. The S6 stuff I downloaded is more than enough.

Well, it makes sense to wait for DVDs in some cases. If you like serials, and you miss an episode or two along the season, it's easier to get lost and wait until you can pick the show up from the episode you missed.

Exactly. If a person has been watching a show all season, then says, "Why watch it live when I can wait for the DVD to watch the rest of the season?" that usually means they aren't all that thrilled with the show at that point in time anyway. If they are really enjoying a show, they will want to watch every new episode as soon as possible, even if they fully intend to buy the DVDs later on.

We had a post-sweeps meeting and talked about how ratings are down for everyone, everything. Even ratings for Heroes has dropped off since February, though, relatively, it's still obviously a hit show. (I think I posted earlier how in my market, we won pretty much every time slot, but our overall share was, on average, three points less than our share in February.)

I really don't think you can point to just one thing and say "That's why people aren't watching," because Smallville is not the only program that lost viewers between the February and May books. Some of it was due to awkward hiatuses (Heroes), some of it may have been because of DVR, some of it even was attributed to the weather.

This is true, but Smallville lost 600,000 viewers from PROMISE to COMBAT...That's a lot for a show that only averages 4 and a half million. That can not be explained by weather, awkward hiatuses or DVR's. I can see it if the episode after COMBAT gained those viewers back, or the show gained that 600,000 back at some point, but that didn't happen until the finale. While PROMISE isn't the only cause of the slide, I believe it's safe to assume it's the root cause.

I read that too - very interesting article. One of the show-runners (the dude from "Lost", I think) pointed out what a slim margin of error shows have now. One bad episode can cause a bunch of viewers to decide to DVR the rest of the season or wait for DVDs. (Someday this will be known as "The "Promise" Effect.")

Does that also take into account NBC and ABC letting people watch full eps on-line for several shows, commercial free? I started watching Heroes and watched the first 18 episodes over two days.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/conten...eed3e283c6b581b

Case and point, I don't ever see and episode until I decide to download or goto a European YouTube-like site where another fan always posts a couple of days after the full episodes in chunks. Becuase I found an antenna, configured my VCR tuner to get the local CW signal and could see atleast a crappy picture, I watched Noir LIVE, because I felt the genre, look and specialness of the plot and costuming was that exciting that I couldn't wait since I had the chance to be home for that evening. Otherwise, DVD sales will and won't ever count my viewing habits which could be the same as the person who only watched Noir because of the period '40's take and never has watched it and won't again.

Also with lousy reception you'll see stuff in black and white instead of color anyway, so it's not like you'd notice a difference. ;)

Thought I'd post this because I just think it's interesting. But Smallvllle last night got 2.2 for a repeat and One Tree Hill got a 2.3 for a first showing. That's fast nationals on both. I didn't check what the final number was for OTH. IMO, considering how the numbers dropped towards the end of the season, that's not too bad for a repeat. I was expecting between 1.0 and 2.0 for SV.

Also, if you saw the promo for OTH, it's really obvious how totally bad the CW is at promotion. They freaking gave away the last scene of the episode. I wasted an hour of my life actually watching it, thinking there was more to it. Anyway, it reminded me of all the sucky promos SV had during the season. ugh, I hope they fire the promo dept. and hire competent people.

Just so everyone knows, here in the US Smallville's time is being changed on ABC Family from 7 on Tues-Fri to midnight on Thurs-Sat as of next week.

It is being replaced with Groudned for Life. Thank gawd for DVR. Honestly, why would they move it like that and replace it with 2 episodes in a row of a 30 minute sitcom? I have a better solution if they want to air that show more. Take away one of the episodes of the shows you have in double ep blocks and make that slot Grounded for Life, that way all the times stay somewhat normal.

Honestly, have they no brains at all? Teens/kids watch the show who don't stay up until 1 AM and don't have DVR. Being 13, I don't usually stay up that late just to watch TV. I have DVR but I'm feeling cheated with only 3 episodes a week. We went from 5 to 4 to 3. It's only a matter of time until it's off ABC family completely. Thankfully, I've got an HD channel to watch S5 on Monday.

I hate the way ABCFamily sets up their schedule. They take away shows for months, and then bring them back for a short time. I don't think they do. I really wish another network would get the syndication rights to the show. ABC Family isn't treating the show well at all.

Well, shit. There's goes my evening routine while making dinner. DVR I guess. I like G4L, but seriously, I'd rather watch SV reruns than G4L.

That, and they cut out parts to go to commercial. (Every network does that with reruns, but ABCFamily is pretty bad at it.)

ABC Family is bad because they are also editing for content. Something the others wouldn't have to do, but since they are a Family channel they have to edit things a bit different. And they also have no idea how to edit the last 10 minutes of the show. They cut to commercial then come back for a 20 second shot.

I'm really surprised SciFi hasn't tried to pick them up. I mean they have reruns of some crappy ass shows on during the day, I don't think Smallville would be that expensive of a get for them. And it would be a nice to have when they launch Flash Gordon with Whitney.

See, I would think that would be a natural, but I'm kind of biased because our sci-fi channel, Space, already has it.

I've always wondered why the Sci-Fi network hasn't tried to buy the syndie rights. It seems like they would have already done so.

i heart youwrote:
Which one? I have several HD channels, but can't find Smallville on them.

HDNet

I'm incredibly bitter that our local CW affiliate doesn't broadcast in HD. Fuckers.

Thanks.

Something I don't get......Why in the world would the CW skip over Arrow and show a re-run of Reunion instead??? Besides the fact that Arrow is a far better episode...it was much more relevant to the overall plot of the season. Reunion's kinda one of those Fringe episodes, I for one, hated it.

Arrow has been repeated more than any episode this season, thanks to the pre-Justice hero catchup. They like to keep it even. Plus, I really like Reunion. :)

Ah, yes. The one with the handy plot-device arrow introduced just to kill the krypto-freak.

Yeah, I would have preferred the boxing glove arrow.

I wouldn't have cared as much if they had introduced the arrow, along with several other special ones, several episodes before Reunion, so it wasn't so much "look, here's the obvious MacGuffin!!!"

I also like the boxing glove arrow. It annoys me that DC is ashamed of the goofy, old style arrows and even have Green Arrow going on about how stupid it was. It was supposed to be a non-lethal form of incapacitating people, but they switched it to shooting people with hunting arrows through their shoulder into a wall, like he did to Catman when he was a fat, drunk loser who attended his "funeral" and wasn't an active criminal or hostile.

Plus it's more impressive to be able to accurately use boxing glove or handcuff arrows, instead of regular boring ol' hunting arrows. Besides, it's a comic book, it's part of the character, and DC needs to realize that it's nothing to be ashamed of.

So I just caught the last few minutes of One Tree Hill. Don't ask.The VO talked about the show for next season and there was a visual at the end that said 'Get into The CW.' Apparently, that is The CW's new theme?? Didn't hear any music though.

Still debating on whether or not I like that theme. It could work depending on what the marketing department does with it. Oh wait...what am I saying?

It's a little better than the "Free To be _____." one of last season.

Hee. I agree. I just hope the promo pictures are better than the ones they had last season. That 'Free to be Super' pic of TW was terrible. Still haven't figured out how they could mess up The Pretty like that.

The Supernatural one was awful too. Don't get me started on Gilmore Girl's "Free To Be a Girl".

I think there's an implied "Please" before "Get into the CW."

The theme for next season really should be "sorry about last season".

Or And you thought last season was shit!

That "Free To Be..." campaign was one of the most generic, half-assed things I've ever seen. The only thing distinctive about it was how bad it was.

And I know it was because they were trying to save money. The CW's goal was to be the first network to break even its first year, and part of their strategy for doing that was being "cautious" with their advertising budget.

But come on. Even I know that, when you're starting a new network, you accept that your first few years might be a loss, and you go all out on PR to attract viewers and build a loyal audience that will stick with you, and help you start pulling profits down the line.

Instead, the CW chose to try to be cheap about it. And shot themselves in the foot in the process.

And "Get Into the CW" already sounds better than "Free To Be..." I mean, what does "Free To Be..." even mean in relation to a TV network? Free to be like the characters? Free to be the type of person that watches these shows? What?

ETA: Wow! Got a little ranty there. But I still can't get over the laziness of that campaign.

Being 'free' sound more enlightening and inventive/creative than 'get into' WHAT? CW. You get into restrained restricted uneventful spaces and things.
Get into a box, a cage a straight jacket. Which actually fits their philosphy. they don't want their viewers to be open minded free thinkers but cosed minded zombies eager to 'GET INTO' their crypt of a network.

My apologies, I didn't realize that "Get into the CW" was the actual slogan.

Dear God, that's horrible. It seems like the last idea thrown out at a pitch meeting.

At least the "Free to be" they were able to tailor it to the shows. I mean they did it terribly (Free to be Super with a profile of Clark in a black shirt screaming? Free to be Girly? I remember Veronica Mars had an equally bad one.)

With his strangely toothless mouth. I will never understand how they can make Tom Welling look so weird.

While the Supernatural boys had this "Duh." expression.