I fucking hate Ostroff with the fire of a thousand suns. Damn her.

The more and more I think about Smallville next to a Top Model show, the funnier it gets.

The blame should be on PS, they destroyed SV with their Iconic crap.

For renewing it or moving it? Any other show I watch, I'd probably be angry about the move but for Smallville all I can think is "fuck it."

Ahem? Top Model rerun. Yeah, it is pretty damned funny.

A rerun? Bwah! Haaaa! Haaa! *breaths deeply*

Where was I? Oh yes. Haaa! Haaa! Haaa!

I agree with anyone who said that those are the best news we got about SV in a long time.

When this doesn't adjust the producers minds about season 9 being the last then I don't know what will. Now lets hope that Ms. Neener Neener deems herself to important to be on a show on the CW in the friday death slot.

I think it's all about putting things in perspective. I think we need to sit back and just think about the context of this slot. Just really, enjoy it for what it is. SV went from contending against Bones, Survivor, and NBC's comedy block to now, I kid you not:

Law and Order (the original version, on for 20 years)
Brothers/Til Death (the most hated show Fox has and critics have no idea how it survived)
The Ghost Whisperer
And, my favorite, the TOP RATINGS WINNER OF THE NIGHT - ABC's Supernanny

Ooh, not to mention Sci-Fi's block of reruns and its traditional block of geek friendly programming.

This isn't a death slot, it's more than that. It's an insult to put SV up to die against Supernanny and, lest I seem confusing, I could not be happier for the demotion. It's a beautiful, dare I even say ICONIC thing!

Ugly Betty was moved to Friday so it'll have that as competition too.

Not until January. The Fall 2009 schedule has Supernanny at that slot. UB is scheduled for spring as of yesterday.

Well, we were all upset at the way the Doomsday arc went down. Maybe Dawn was too. Perhaps this is the "death of Superman" that we were supposed to get last season. And since SV is an Elseworlds and likes to do things in their own "unique" way, maybe Dawn thought this was a unique way of bringing about that death that we were cheated out of. I think it's ICONIC as well. Ha-ha-ha-ha...

I think that's exactly what Dawn is giving us ---- The final death of this piece of shit show. It's a beautiful thing. Souders and Peterson pissed all over the show's history for the first seven seasons, forced actors and ships we don't like down our throats, and then ruined the death of Superman arc and pissed off the entire fanbase and media sources. They earned this slot they got and I cannot wait for the show to get like 1.5 million. I just am on pins and needles for it!

Can I hope for midseason cancellation or is that just too much???

Heck no! At least not in my book. That's what I'm hoping for too.

Well even Everybody Hates Chris and The Game got to languish for a season as did Privileged. I'd love to believe that the budget of SV and the negative press and age could do the impossible and even let the CW sink it mid-season. That would be so much fun ;)

Smallville has been moved to Fridays at 8 pm? God this is awesome news. The end of the show is finally in sight.

It's fantastic AND hilarious.

How come we went from loving this show to bits to wishing it the most painful death we could think off?...Oh yeah they fucked it.



Doesn't this means we won't see how the heck did they planned to end it? Isn't this worst than having at least a whole last (finally!) season?

Beast redeemed this show in many people's eyes in terms of the writing, but then Doomsday basically reminded us just how fucked up the writing really is. Doomsday has literally doomed SV, and I have to just laugh, it looks like there is only going to be 1 season left, S10, unless CW is smoking some strong shit, will end with S9 and I find it funny they spent all this money for a 2 year contract with TW, and possibly money for ED's return with hope of S10 instead of saving money for FX and stuff, so it's fun for me that the show got shafted.

Well technically the budget is alotted by the network. The CW goes "Here, SV production offices. You get 2 million or ___/episode, deal." If Souders and Peterson wanted to retain TW and have the rest of the cast be played by sock puppets in order to make budget, that's really their problem and not Dawn's. Clearly that woman doesn't give a shit (neither do we). It's sad they put all this effort into signing TW and ED on some asinine gamble for a season ten and have especially Ms. Neener Neener eating into their piddling FX budget now when season ten and her starring role is so much far flung fantasy. It's really quite pathetic. Although, if there is no season ten, neither TW or ED get paid for that, just the eps they actually star in. Can't help it if the network cancels their sorry asses.

However, it's not like they knew they'd get that spot on the network I marvel that it has been spun around as "testing" SV or putting faith in the show when it's clearly like Raid for this cockroach show.

I don't think so. If it ends midseason without resolution, then we can all wank for the rest of our lives. That's better than some lame ICONIC ending pulled out of their arses, IMHO, which is a distinct possibility if the show has a full season.

You mean like we had to do either way because this freaking show is so damn ambiguos?


Seriously I would still see what the heck would they pull to "align with the mythos" so I can at least know how fucked up this people are on the head and laugh till the next century. If I get a good laugh I can at least say that I didn't wasted so much time for nothing: I did it for a bad joke at least, YMMV.

Hell I think this time slot is the perfect excuse for Dawn to axe a S10. She can't be blame for putting it in the death time zone by saying "We'll the show has a hardcore loyal fanbase. They should have had no problem tuning in on Fridays."

Plus, if the Vampire Diaries doesn't do well and they put SV back on Thursdays, whose to say any of those viewers are going to come back anyway. This move to Friday allows those viewers to get hooked on the new and old shows on the other networks and they might not want to come back to SV if that means giving up having to watch those shows live.

I'd rather have it fold miserably in about February and never be able to have ICONS ICONS ICONS shoved down my throat. Since I see "aligning with that Hallowed mythos" as the same as "killing Chloe Sullivan after her personality-ectomy in season eight," I'd just rather they didn't. As it stands, if they canceled mid-mythos fest, I can at least wank Chloe goes off to Gotham or Lawrence and gets her spine back. I'd rather not have Martyr!Chloe die for Clois's eternal love or some bullshit.

And it would be even funnier if after nine years the show ended without any resolution at all, so symbolic of their stall stall stall and fuck over sans payoff motiff.



Exactly!

I mean, they lost about 300,000 viewers just from Bones's move. If you add in people trying out the new SNL weekend update Thursday as well as a new Sci-Fi show overlapping with SV's same demo...well, it's odds-on likely people will get used to their new schedule and not come back. However, honestly, a show about a girl caught in dark!emo vamp drama in a post Twilight world is like shooting fish in a barrel for the CW. Look at True Blood or Twilight---vamps are in right now. I really think this show is gonna make it and it fits in better with SPN's paranormal/hot guys bent than SV's comic book B.S.

In more then one new source they are reporting this as SV's final season anyway.

While I don't want a season 10, I definitely don't want it to be cancelled mid season. I've been with this show since day one, I want them to TRY and end it properly. We may not get Chlois and I may have to sit through Nois's weekly adventures, but Damn it, I want to see this final fucking arc.

Now as far as Fridays....The more I think about it the more we may be jumping the gun a bit here. Remember when they moved to Thursday. EVERYBODY, including the show runners, thought that was the death knell for the show and planned accordingly. What came about was some of the strongest stories they had done in years and the ratings began to reflect that. So, if they believe the same thing, I'm hoping that history repeats itself.

I don't think that the ending we got is what was originally planned for this episode. I think they may have had more in mind but altered it to align the Doomsday story with the comics. In the comics Doomsday comes from under ground and they have their big showdown.

I just DO NOT want this to end on a cliff hanger or on an episode that is not meant to be the ending. That, no matter what you may believe, IMO, is a disservice to all of us long time fans that are still sticking with it.

Unfortunately, I fear that was is meant to be the ending will be more terrible than what I can make up in my head. So...I'll take mid-season axing, please.

I've been with the show since Hothead. I've been in this for over eight years now and they broke their goodwill with me with the Chimmy resurrection in Doomsday. I don't think they have a plan. They had one mission this season---Kill Clark PHYSICALLY/have doomsday win the fight. They had 12 months and two weeks to plan, write, and create that quintessential comics moment and to deliver on the most famous storyline in comics. One solid year as well as about three months to retool after the renewal (they were ruined a month earlier than Angel learned in season five it was dead and that show got a FINALE). They had time, source material, and a chance.

They BLEW it so badly they got a demotion.

These people aren't any good. There's most likely not a final arc, and whatever they cobble together will come sometime after about January when Dawn tells them "No more stall, you are dead." Hell, they were told to "prepare a series ender" back in like December and they still churned out stall crap like Hex and Stiletto, hoping that they'd get a pick up. Lex is gone, Lana is gone (yay but boo for her superpowers), not!jimmy died and on and on. The good stuff or even the stuff that had been part of the show long term is just not there anymore.

Season five was different. They still had AlMiles there and running some things. They still had Greg Beeman directing and working on eps. They had a decent writing staff that included cast offs like Greenberg and DeKnight from Buffy. They had a superb cast with Rosenbaum, Glover, Mack, and O'Toole and solid supporting actors. They had a budget for actual effects and budgets. They had a new storyline that was fresh with Zod and Brainiac coming for teh first time. They could hire actors like marsters to bring in other fan groups to the show. THey had music and on and on. It's very different now, IMHO.

Even Slavkin and Swimmer jumped this sinking ship.

All that remains are Souders and Peterson who wrote Promise and Doomsday and mismanaged this entire past season, BQM and his mythos hard-on (and ED one), and a cast that consists of ED, an ex-soap opera hack, and the two original cast members and, I love TW, I do, but of the original cast, he's just not the caliber of a Glover or a Rosenbaum; he's not, IMHO.

They're out of writing, acting and god knows musical talent. They're out of FX budget, and they are out of anything approaching new stuff. League and Legion are old. Zod is a retread of a plot from four years ago, and after they botched Doomsday so badly, why would I want to see them build up to a Zod fight that takes 45 seconds and looks like an old Power Ranger episode in terms of FX caliber?

I personally just don't.

Nope, it's the death slot of doom and it's been gifted to SV because Dawn realized a bit too late what a liability it is.

There's no glory days to get back to.

It's just gonna keep dying by degrees.

The CW won't pull it mid-season. Well, unless it's hitting the 1 million mark or something equally horrible, which it won't. And even if by some bizarre twist they did, the production will still have been paid for 22 episodes, which they will still film and release on DVD.

One way or another you'll get your ending, but my guess is they'll play the entire season, but a ratings slump will be the final nail in the coffin.

Seriously, they should go into this promoting it as the final season?

Why are they keeping Supernatural on Thurdays? Isn't that show done as of next season?

If you cancel a contract midseason the rest of the eps don't get filmed or written. What's left can be burned off on DVD, but once it is cancelled, it's done.

I am willing to bet that in Peterson and Souder's minds, a 10th season is not out of the question. But what's the point really? So we can get to 200 episodes? Dawn has put Smallville on Fridays for her own reasons. She might want to dump it there. She might think that it could solve her problem for that night. But Smallville is on life support at the moment. You even think about a 10th season and it's like you pull the plug. The only hope the show has of bowing out with some dignity left, is to bill and promote the 9th season as the last one. No more games. No more "there are plenty of stories to tell". You don't have any more. You have brought in most villains that Clark is supposed to face as Superman and you have destroyed them all. Just end it. Look at what you had 4 years ago and maybe you will get sensitive and realise what kind of butcher job you did this year. End of rant.

Oh, until Dawn issues them into her office and hands them a big old pink slip and a cardboard box to pack up their offices, I don't doubt either, that Souders and Peterson will keep trying to milk for a season ten. That's why I just don't care. It'll be STALL STALL STALL until about episode maybe 16 and then rush to a crappy Zod v Clark fight and some Clois loving. Big deal, read a comic, at least they have fight scenes. S and P will stall for time cause it's all they know to do, so, per always, we'll get retcons, nonsense plots, and stories that go nowhere (see seasons 6-8). They'll keep pushing and drag it down worse.

If they at least admitted this was the end and planned a real arc, it might be something, but they won't. They are so delusional I bet they thought their finale rocked, "Chloe fans" were happy, the Jenry twist was cool, and the Dooms fight was ICONICALLY amazing. So they will definitely be going "Season ten? No problem!"

Shudders/.

Exactly! I want this show to tank mid-season if for no other reason than I don't want to see what their plans are for Chloe. I'm almost positive it's some type of death, and even if it's not I really don't want to see Nois & Clark making googly eyes at the end of the series. Frankly, I might keep Seasons 1-5 and just fanwank everything after that. The rest goes in the fire for sure. For all intents and purposes the Chloe Sullivan I know and loved died after "Vessel" anyhow, so I couldn't care less what Peterson and Souder's ending vision is. I know it will be crap, so I hope they get the shaft half-way through. It would just be so poetic.

Overall, I really doubt it's getting canceled midseason, because...what else does the CW have going on? If they had anything else going on at all, SV and OTH wouldn't be limping on. And wanting to finish it out for the DVD sales is probably a good enough reason to keep it going all year anyway.

But it's pretty amazing that it went from Thursdays at 8 as basically the flagship drama of the network, to shuffled off to the Death Slot within the space of a single year. After hearing that at least one actor was not happy, we are not happy, and now getting proof that the network is not happy... It's nice to see everyone's in agreement on something for once.

Though this makes it pretty clear that the Lana demo ratings bump was what got the renewal. Oh, Lana. Just one more thing wrong in the world we can pin on you.

Will we get an official press release tomorrow saying it's the last season, I wonder? I know people are saying it, but I really want to see the official text that says it's OVER. I wanna print it out, draw hearts and stick sparkle stickers on it, and put it up on the fridge to cheer me up when I'm feeling blue.

Well, the CW does already have two midseason shows lined up, according to TV Guide.

Also, it cracks me up that the above article leads off by saying, "The CW's schedule for the 2009-10 TV season is about natural pairings..." Except, apparently, for poor old SV, which is paired with something totally unrelated.

That's where I am too. The entire CW incarnation of this show has been crap and it plummeted to unfathomable levels of suck in season eight. It really did. I don't even care, there were the first five seasons that were decent and then the other freaking HALF of hte show that's not even watchable. Peterson and Souders's ending is Clois Clois Clois, SuperReporter!Nois, Clark the Justice Lord, and Chloe dead dead dead. I already wrote it. Give me royalties.



Oh, IA. Still doesn't mean that I won't HOPE for cancellation because it's funny to me. Nah, they'll let her run cause they paid and they have FUCK ALL else.



It would be lovely.

Hey, I want a slice of that too. LOL

Seriously, it probably won't get canceled midway through the season, but I'd laugh my head off if it did. No tears from me at this point.

Not for me. I've been following this show before the damn thing even aired back in the spring of 2001 when they first aired this promo announcing the show about Superman's origins on the WB. They had no footage, just a simple camera shot focusing on a corn field and the Smallville sign. Anyone else remember that??? And no, I'm not referring to the later actual first promos showing the cast with the track, "A Song Yet to be Sung". Man, nostalgia is kicking in just thinking about how much promise this show once had... :(



Ditto.

With a mid season cancellation, I personally have no qualms over fan wanking what happened after the fact. Ever since Vessell, I've pretty much been prepared to do just that. They did a real number on Chloe this year and regressed Clark like there was no tomorrow (and don't get me started on Nois). After this season, and in particular Failsday, the heads of this show have proven to me they can't write worth a damn and enjoy pissing on their core audience. It will be more of the same shit times ten next year. So, with my frail little heart, and what remains of my dignity, I say, fuck them. They deserve a cancellation. They've done enough damage to the name Clark Kent and his ties with the Superman lore in my eyes.

Here's the actual press release, according to Futon Critic. In part:



Notice SV's exclusion from "returning hits." It is later mentioned: "Fan-Favorite "Smallville" Moves to Friday Night." Dawn is quoted as saying "Moving Smallville' to Fridays gives us a major player with a loyal fan base to kick off the night."



Official description:

There wasn't much of a battle in the first place...


Funny, the only thing that emerged last season was his RBB persona, and Lois's feelings for Clark/RBB. God the Iconic Bullshit...


They really need to stop using the word Reinterpreting after what they did to Jimmy.

Exactly. And I'll go one further and say that I'm hoping that there will be no Season 9 at all, that by some miracle Dawn will decide to pull the plug on the whole thing over the summer. Because not only do I believe that whatever PS come up with will be the worst, most horrific kind of insult imaginable, Doomsday at least left an ending that has 1) Chimmy dead forever 2) Nois lost in time 3) Chloe alive and well and still Clark's most intimate partner.

I'd rather quit while I'm ahead than see what Clois-loving PS could do even with a few episodes in S9. Even the desire to see TW running down the street opening his shirt with the tights underneath doesn't tempt me enough to want to give one more second of the Superman story to these idiots. I'll fanwank the ending in my head, thanks. I hope SV is dead by September.

And marenh, word to your entire post.

[Sorry, too slow, Elly posted it.]

Nice for them to mention Lex, Davis, and the nonexistent Doomsday battle, and yet not say word one about their lead actress.

It's nice of them to keep telling us "Lois" is Clark's fated love. Otherwise we might not notice.

Sorry, too slow, Elly posted it

Fastest keyboard in the East!



On the up side, it's good that they listed her ahead of ED. That's something.

Oh, and in the interest of not getting too long I edited out something I shouldn't have. Despite spec, TW is apparently NOT an executive producer: "Kelly Souders & Brian Peterson serve as executive producers, along with James Marshall, Mike Tollin, Brian Robbins and Joe Davola."

I'm sorry for people to lose their jobs, but I'd like to see Smallville go out with dignity and for the story to come close to reaching its potential. At least if it ends next season there is a chance it will still be a show with which they can be pleased to be associated.

The indefinite status of the end date of show and the stalling has hurt it a LOT. The budget cuts are showing in the show's quality and before they pull out shadow puppets, they should close up shop.

Smallville was in jeopardy for a death slot move once the CW developed Vampire Diaries. The CW was obviously going to put VD on their Scifi Thursday nights hoping it could retain the scifi fans and bring in more young women as per Dawn's business model for the CW. The only real question has been whether Supernatural or Smallville would move to Friday. Supernatural had 2 things going for it: younger show and compatibility with VD's content. Smallville had 1 advantage - stronger ratings to help launch VD as either lead in or lead out. However, lately, SPN's audience and media feedback has been very positive and I do think the negative ratings for Smallville's finale coupled with the negative media/fan reaction to the finale sealed the choice to move it to Fridays. Smallville would have had to maintain much higher ratings to have kept its time slot.

The move to Fridays makes sense for the CW. Even if Smallville's ratings take a hit, they will still, without a doubt, be a big improvement for the network for the time slot. It is *VERY* unlikely that Smallville will be canceled mid season. I'd say there is even a chance that SV would get a S10 except I think the budget is going to become too big an issue. On Thursday nights, Smallville could earn more ad money for the CW (advertising rates are highest for Thursday nights) to offset their licensing fee. The ad rates on Fridays will be lower just due to the day being less desired by advertisers hampering Smallville's revenue potential for the CW. So even if SV does much better in the time slot than before and it helps the CW's financial picture next season, the show itself will likely not bring in as much revenue for the CW at the end of S9 as it did at the end of s8, meaning the only way it would make sense for the CW to renew it would be to reduce the licensing fee to air SV yet again.

Meaning, the CW will likely offer less money to air the show requiring WB to cough up more money on their end to cover the production costs which will increase due to standard industry contract raises. As DVD sales decline year to year, WB will be less likely to see the profit margin in DVD sales as worth it. The show's syndication appeal is no longer an issue because having already passed 100 episodes, additional episodes won't dramatically improve its situation so it's all about the DVD sales.

I don't know the figures but MR and SDK have mentioned the show use to have a production budget of 3 million per episode. I think that budget has been slashed down closer to 2 million. So just totally speculating, I was thinking the CW may only pay 1.5 million per episode now and WB has to pick up the $500,000 + difference to produce the show. If that's anything close to accurate, then WB would lose at least $11 million in DVD sales profits just from covering the production costs of the show that are no longer covered by the CW. The production costs go up every year and the DVD profits likely go down. I think that will be the problem that will cause the show to end with S9 even if TW is signed for S10.

I think the press release tells us a lot-- Smallville isn't even mentioned as a returning hit. It's still their best-rated show, yet they don't bother to mention it in their leading paragraph. Combine that with the shift to Friday, and it's clear they are not really behind the show any more. I agree it's unlikely to get a midseason cancellation, but like you, I'd be very surprised if it made it to season ten.

Aw, crap. I don't want to spend my Friday nights moderating! Stupid CW.

Oh, poor Tennison! Don't worry-- we'll just promise to be on our best behavior, and then you can go out and party and leave us alone for the evening. We'll be very, very good and we won't even THINK of misbehaving. We swear.

(This is the same line my thirteen-year-old feeds me, by the way.)

Can't you just get a substitute Mod?

Eh. How much trouble can three people actually get into?

You might be surprised.

LOL. I was thinking the exact same thing before I read your post. I swear I was.



LOL, again. I'm sure you're right, Tennison. With this show the number of people discussing it doesn't matter. It's bound to aggravate someone and the sparks almost always fly.