I watched it all. It's pure soap...miss a few episodes and tune in to watch one...every character is still in the same place when you tuned out. SV should take the hint from one of Brooke's lines, which was "love triangles are so high school".

And that was supposed to be him looking "super".


They were also oddly shoved into the same size picture as all the other single occupant ads, except for Tyra, who got a double-sized picture just for her hair.

Is anyone else as pissed off at the CW as I am? I have to keep taping the episodes and it's so irritating! And three days a week? They could at least put it on every weeknight!


Word.

I haven't seen these ads everyone is talking about. What are they exactly? I barely watch the CW (Gilmore Girls when it was still new, SV, and Hidden Palms) so I just probabluy haven't seen them.

Attention all UK and Ireland Smallville fans:

Finally, E4 (Bastards) have decided to show Season 6 of Smallville starting on Sunday July 22nd.

I believe I speak for everyone on this side of the pond when I say: "If you complete and utter fucking bollocks' ever make us wait this fucking long again, un-nice things will happen."

The fact that after reading everyone's comments in the forums you're excited about watching the dreck, I feel sorry and bullocks for you.

I have a question: Has anyone come across any statements by Gough, Millar, or anyone connected with the show or the network on what they attribute the ratings decline of season six to? I'd be very curious to know why they think fewer people are watching. Thanks in advance.

Thats actually one of the questions, I hope somebody asks them at the ComicCon...

It was announced yesterday that Supernatural's season 3 premiere won't air until October 4th, a week after Smallville's supposed premiere airdate. Does this mean that we might have to wait longer as well? :\

Nah. Apparently they're airing an encore of Reaper in that time slot after the SV premier. Boo. *pouts at waiting for new SPN*

CSI, Gray's Anatomy and The Office (which is doing a full hour that night) are all doing their season premieres September 27th at 9pm Eastern, which is Supernatural's usual timeslot, and when SPN's season three premiere was supposed to air. But the thought of SPN premiering on that night against those three shows...makes my blood run cold.

So I'm actually happy they moved SPN's premiere date back another week. Not happy to have to wait an extra week, but happy it won't be up against those other premeirs.

Excellent point. Plus, REAPER looks REALLY REALLY GOOD!!!! It's a Buffy rip-off, but it looks like a Good one. The CW may have found Smallville's Heir apparent if it's a hit.

I saw the Reaper pilot the other day and really, really loved it. Plus, eye candy for both sexes in that one. :)

Really? I've seen the cast and I'd love to know who you're talking about *g*

For the guys (and gay girls) - Missy Peregrym (and Nikki Reed in the first pilot)
For the girls (and gay guys) - Bret Harrison

Both fun to look at.

Beyond it's effect on SPN, I have no interest in this show, but neither cast member makes me want to watch.

I'm not sure when they started doing this or how long it will persist for but ABC has started showing Smallville at 11 pm CST (which I guess would be 12 am EST) and Arrival just ended. Maybe it's me but I always felt a latish time slot for syndicated repeats would work perfectly for this show.

I really like the show too, not sure about it having SV/SPN level eye candy though...unless we are talking about the guy that plays the devil (sexy). I'm glad Missy is replacing Nikki, Nikki was annoying and not right for the role. I can honestly say I would regularly watch this show unlike SPN that I didn't care for after the first episode.

I agree. I admit when I first heard about this, I hated it. But now, it's much more easier for me to catch the episodes.

So i noticed that they're gonna start running season 6 repeats on sundays, starting with Subterranean....does anyone know if they'll be running the ones they skipped over recently on thursday? they went from Subterranean to Crimson on Thursdays, and I was looking forward to watching Hydro, Justice and Labyrinth again. Especially Justice.

An observation from Comic-Con.... when I was at the DC booth looking at the SV action figure prototypes, I overheard a girl telling her boyfriend that she only watched the show for the Green Arrow, and once he left, so did she.

Though the internet fans, especially here on TWOP, seemed to dislike GreenArrowVille (at the time)... do you think that may have been a contributing factor to the ratings drop?

Secondly on the subject of ratings... curious for some predictions... who here thinks Supergirl will help ratings? Or will she hurt them?

Well, any guest star is going to bring new fans to the show, and it's not surprising they go away when the guest star does. Since the Green Arrow was only introduced in the sixth season, the young lady you overheard was presumably not a longterm SV fan, but a JH fan. I imagine Marsters brought a much more significant group of fans to the show, since he's popular among SF fans, and I'm sure the show lost a lot of those fans when he left, too. But ratings didn't fall all that much at that point, as I recall (and my recollection could certainly be faulty, so feel free to correct me here). But I would tend to doubt that JH leaving the show had a really significant effect on the ratings, personally, because I'm reasonably certain he drew fewer fans to the show than JM did.

I think there will be an intial positive surge and if the stories are weak or contradict from week to week they will lose people in drones.

Is that really the type of fan the PTB are hoping to attract? What about the fans that have been there from day 1 who are watching for the story of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor? I certainly haven't been watching Smallville for the possibility of seeing the Green Arrow or Supergirl.

As to your second question, I think the ratings will go up temporarily. But those fans that are watching for the original premise of the show aren't going to be happy if it turns into Karaville

As far as SuperGirl helping the ratings, I think it will be more of Laura Vandervoort will be a bigger reason for any spike in ratings and/or quality. I really think they hit a Home run with her casting, mainly because, at first, I hated the idea of them bringing in Kara after the complete screw up came from the events of "Covenant". Now though, everything i've seen from LV has actually given me hope for Season 7. I really think she's going to be a welcomed addition to the cast, and exceed expectations.

On another note, does anyone know if they will be re-running the episodes that they've skipped during the summer set of re-runs? I was really looking forward to seeing Hydro, Justice and Labyrinth again in HD, now that i've just gotten a brand new TV.

Try ABCFamily on Sunday nights, KRehnberg. :)

Well, as to the first question, I don't think it was the lack of Ollie/GreenArrow that caused the ratings drop. And I'm speaking for myself and friends that have watched the show from the first episode.

The second question, I don't think Supergirl will hurt the ratings. I too think she will draw in some viewers at first. Later in the season, IMO, depends on how she is ultimately used in the story. The people I know who watch, including myself, watch for the story of Clark and Lex, and to some extent Lois and Chloe. But mainly Clark and Lex.

I know several people who were only watching Smallville for Green Arrow, but they were all fans of the comic book character. I'm not really sure that Green Arrow has enough fans to make that huge an impact to the ratings. I think that Justin Hartley carry over fans from Passions might, but that, if I'm not mistaken, was TV's lowest rated soap before it was cancelled, so I'm not sure. Also, you were at Comic Con, so that supports the watching for Green Arrow theory more than the watching for Justin Hartley theory.

Also, was there really that much of a significant spike at the beginning of the season to say that Green Arrow brought in a ton of new viewers? I think it's probably likely that while Green Arrow was around, people thought the show was going to be focused on more superhero stuff, so they watched. When he left, the show descended back into melodrama and that turned people off.

In general, I do think the Green Arrow stuff was more well received by the general public than it was on-line. I think it would have been received much better on these boards if there was a better balance. Die hards of any show aren't going to be happy to see the characters they've been following for years get sidelined. Casual viewers don't mind, because they obviously don't care as much about the main characters if they don't care to watch every episode. Surely there's a balance there that can appease most, though obviously not all, of both camps. TPTB don't seem to know how to do that though.

Are they going to start running Season 6 yet? On Sundays? as far as I knew, around here at least, they're still on the beginning of season 5 and they've been running them at Midnight EST 3 nights a week. Aqua is tonight.

Well, that's what I heard. Subterranean supposedly aired this last Sunday, so you'd expect that Hydro, Justice, and Labyrinth would follow. I just checked the schedule on their website, but they're having a Fallen marathon this Sunday, and they'll be airing Exposed next Sunday.

So, shruggers. :\

Pretty much. I mean, one episode, we have "Justice," which is fun and full of action. And is also the ep in which GA happens to leave. Next episode, the show dives head-first right back into the pit of angsty melodrama we'd just started to believe we'd escaped from.



I didn't mind Green Arrow being a focus (and don't think he was as much of a focus as comments on the boards can lead one to believe). Thing is, I have the feeling that, had GA not been around, two things would've happen.

1. Clark would've reverted to being "all about Lana" sooner than he did.

2. Most of the early season would've been about Clark and Lex fighting over who loved Lana bestest.

I can just see it. If nothing else, GA kept the writers from jumping whole-heartedly into the Clark/Lana/Lex fiasco for a while.

Of course, maybe I didn't mind GA because neither Lex nor Clark were exactly my favorite characters at the start of season 6. (Although Clark was rising in my estimation...until the suckitude that was the end of "Labyrinth.")

I think thats it exactly. I also think GA had the benefit of coming in early in the season, when numbers are traditionally higher. But if I'm not mistaken, "Arrow" was the lowest rated of all the other superhero intro eps (meaning, "Run", "Aqua" and "Cyborg"). So, if people were tuning in specifically for GA, they didn't seem to do it in the same way as they did for Aquaman or Cyborg. I honestly don't know if Run had a spike.

Also, wasn't one of the highest rated early eps "Fallout"? An episode that didn't have Ollie in it at all? And "Labyrinth" and "Crimson" did a decent job of maintaining the number from "Justice", but I think a lot of people probably started to tune out when the show took a sharp turn towards soap opera melodrama.

I expect SG will get some early attention. Will it maintain? Depends on how they write the eps. I think Karaville is likely to alienate as many as it appeals to. I don't think the show can survive on gimmicks, and I can't think of any show that had some crazy S7 revitalization because they brought on a showy guest star. I guess there could be a first time for everything.



I think so too, but I think you could say the same for almost all the elements of the show. On-liners seem to be on the more extreme end of fandom. Most offliners that I know that watch SV have their likes and dislikes, but don't seem all that passionate about it. Its entertaining to them, and thats really all they seem to care about. JMHO

The Big Drop happened after "Promise" & Ollie had been gone for a while then. However, I do think revisits from the JL will always be good for ratings.

Some people I know who watch regularly, didn't even watch the entire episode of Promise. The soap opera stories or I guess I should call them the "triangles" are not what draw people to the show. IMO

I think the death knell rang in "Labyrinth." At the end of the episode, a lot of viewers got the unpleasant feeling we were heading back into Clanaville territory. "Promise" just confirmed it, and many people just gave up after that.

I have seen people at some message boards actually say that SV started really sucking again after GA left. But I think that's more about timing than anything else.

Oh, and I'll take Green Arrowville over Clanaville any day.

I know several people that started watching at the beginning of last season, and DID disappear after Green Arrow/Justin Hartley did.

I think it was probably a combination of factors. Yes, some people will only watch because there is a guest star they like. The shows job is to give those people entertaining episodes, so that once that guest stars leaves, they stick around.

I don't think that happened after Justice. Just the opposite. There were three, in my opinion, average episodes after that that turned my friends off watching.

I've only recently been able to get one of them to watch Freak. Her comment? 'Why aren't they all like this?'.

As for Supergirl? Same thing. The people I've told about this are interested enough to give it another go. But if the episodes suck, I doubt they'll stick around.

Interesting note: Space up here in Canada just had a SV promo for S7 (no footage, just snippits of interviews from Comic-Con) and they advertised the premiere as being at 8pm on Sept 23, which is four days before the CW airs it. So, heads up Canadian fans - looks like we'll be ahead of everyone else, for a while.

Woo-hoo!

Alright!

*g* Gosh, aren't we special. Grey's last season, now this ...what are the odds of SPN being next? *hopes*

Yay!

Well that sucks! :( *hisses*

I very much doubt that Green Arrow is going to make Superman more popular. Green Arrow has fans, sure, and a comic-book convention is one of the places you're most likely to find them, since the character has never been able to break out into any other medium, at least not in any significant way. And the truth is that Green Arrow has often had trouble sustaining his own comic series. So no, I don't think Green Arrow brought in any significant number of new viewers, nor do I think his absence caused the subsequent ratings drop. I do think that having other superheroes as guest stars tends to signal that the episode in question is likely to feature action and adventure, that is, that it will be a superhero show for that episode, not a (bad) soap opera, and I do think that brings people in. As such, I think that it works best when it's a one-shot guest appearance. Bringing in Green Arrow for multiple episodes lets them use him in love triangles and other romantic nonsense, so I think they lose that effect.

As for Cousin Karaver, no, I don't think she's going to help the ratings. The fact is that Supergirl is not a popular character, and hasn't been since the sixties. They killed her off in the Crisis on Infinite Earths in no small part because they figured that she wasn't that popular a character anymore. They tried reinventing the character as Matrix and then as Linda Danvers in the Iron Age, but that wasn't particularly successful either, and her series got cancelled after only a short run. Now they've brought back Kara Zor-El in the comics and given her her own series, but that series has been performing poorly as well, although they are now trying to revitalize it with a new creative team. And let's not forget that the Supergirl movie bombed rather badly. So I don't think there are lots of Supergirl fans out there who are going to start watching Smallville now. To the extent that she upstages Clark Kent, I think she may drive fans away.

Moreover, it's just bad storytelling in principle to introduce new major characters in what is probably the story's ultimate or penultimate chapter, or indeed at any time after the first couple of chapters.

If Smallville has better ratings early on, I won't credit Kara entirely. Instead, I'd credit the much better spoilers we have...particularly episode 3 & 4. Season 6 spoilers did nothing for me, I could care less for the beginning of the season unlike the excitement of Season 5 spoilers. Season 7 spoilers have that Season 5 feel.

Richard you hit the nail right on the head. Being hot is not enough to raise the viewship, especially for a character who wasn't that popular in the comics to begin with. As Ms. Sulivan said, only a well written compelling story will bring increase ratings. The eye candy may bring them in, but the story is what will keep them as fans. They better be real confident of an 8th season to waste so much of the story on a guest star otherwise the entire 2nd half better be all about the main characters or the show would really go out in with a whimper.

Arrrrghhh! Theyre skipping Justice on the sunday re-runs! Lame.

Why would someone want to re-watch Justice? There is no Lana there.

Seriously and for real. ;D

But, on a nonsarcastic note, "Justice" is one of the few episodes of the season I'm interested in rewatching, and I find it amusing (in a frustrating way) that they are skipping all around it on both Thursday and Sunday nights.

lksdjfalskdjfa;lksdjfla.

this sucks.

smallville is down to 2 nights a week on ABC Family.

probably so they can burn off the season 5 episodes to coincide with the start of them showing the season 6 episodes right when season 7 premieres. I think? Maybe? hopefully?

Could be, maybe. Or maybe it's because they show Kyle XY all the time and some other stuff Saturday - Wednesday nights. There's waaay to many shows on that station. I liked when it was five days a week, 7 o'clock.

At this rate though, it's gonna take about 6 weeks for the rest of season 5 to air (Lockdown - Vessel). That's about a week or 2 off (after) the season premiere.

I hope they show season 6, I've only seen *looks through list of S6 eppy descriptions* Zod, Reunion, Fallout, Crimson (reruns) and all the episodes that came after Promise (I watched those weekly). I wanna be able to catch up.