Found by wwg23 on LJ. The CW issued a press release extolling its +DVR ratings for the week of September 21-27 (Smallville premiered on September 25). The CW boasts:



Nowhere in the article is there a mention of Smallville. I think that's a pretty clear indication of their feelings about the show and how it's doing in the demos, even adjusted.

Rabid barely beat an episode that was not shown in the largest market in the country, and it is still one of the lowest rated episodes in the history of the show. The demos are still crap. Even the DVR numbers are down.

(RepairmanBob does the dance of joy.)

This is hilarious. Even if the ratings stabilize or go up a bit (which happened last year), spring is going to be insane. I could see the show going below 1.5 real easily.

That said, I have no doubt Smallville will get its entire 9th season. Dawn has nothing else to show Friday night, the negative buzz from cancelling the show could put the entire network under, and IMO the WB want 22 episodes for the DVD sales. Of course, YMMV.

Out of sickbed curiosity today I've been checking out episodes I missed when I ditched this show and...I'd be really surprised if Smallville got a season 10. The newer stuff reeks of desperation, of a past its prime, creatively bankrupt mess. Not that CW cares for quality so you never know. But I think a stinker like this--put out to Friday pasture--is pretty much on its last legs. I don't understand why anyone would even want to see another season of this. I love, love, love my X-Files but it was painfully clear at the end that it should have been put out of its misery with some dignity. I don't like seeing the creative works I enjoy turned into sad old Hollywood whores.

Here is a response by Robert Seidman on that press release.

The ratings press releases we (and others) post, that often become “news” on ours and other sites AREN’T TARGETED AT FANS OF THE SHOWS. They have one singular purpose: to add grease to the cogs of advertising sales. That’s their only purpose in life. So when the CW doesn’t spin the successes of Smallville or Supernatural, it’s because those are shows that don’t fit in with CW’s ad-sales pitch that is targeted at selling ads at a premium for women 18-34.

You can also conclude that especially airing on Fridays that when there are almost always new sci fi or horror movies or new video games aimed at young men, the CW doesn’t have a particularly hard time selling Smallville on the basis of the broader 18-49 demographics and so it doesn’t feel like it needs to spin it. Overall, for fans, that’s a GOOD thing, not a slighting. Now Melrose Place being MIA is another story…


Woohoo, more good news.

So it's somehow good news for a show when it's one of the very few that isn't mentioned in a network press release targeted to advertisers? Somehow I have a hard time swallowing that. But we shall see, I suppose.



I'm inclined to agree with you, Bob. They really don't have much else to put in its place. But next year, I'd be quite surprised if SV were back. Indeed, as I said before, I wouldn't be surprised if the network just quit producing programming for Friday night entirely. It seems like the next step for them.

That seems very in character for the CW and its approach to genre/WB shows to me.

Dont know why being sick with the flu drove me back to posting about this show. Must be a horrifying new strain!

Yikes! That's the scariest Halloween happening ever.

So wait, SV's 3 week 18-49 demo avg of .9 is a good thing? Most times you drop under 1.0 it's a very bad thing. IMO, having 2 out of the 3 weeks being a .9 isn't good, even on a Friday night, even for The CW.

I understand why SPN, SV and MP aren't on the list; they're all doing crappy in that female demo which is what The CW targets in its advertisers. SPN does OK in the 18-49 demo, not great (this week was 1.2/3, compared that to TVD 1.7/5). I suspect (no matter what the spin is) that SPN, SV and MP were deliberately omitted b/c they're doing bad in demos all around. The whole point of the press release is to highlight the positive.

I love SPN, I think it's one of the best shows out there right now and S4/S5 are just amazing to watch, the show is really at its creative peek. However, I don't believe that the ratings are great and it's guarenteed to get a S6.

The ratings aren't great, the only thing saving SPN is that the female demo is up yr 2 yr and that while the show is down, around 17% (as of last week) it's down the least of any CW show...essentially the ratings suck but it's not the suckiest thing on the network. LOL, kind of sad really.

However, I'm also at the point where I'd be OK with SPN ending b/c then I know it will go out on a creative high rather become something to mock.


gdwm - hope you feel better.

I find myself increasingly willing to entertain the notion that SV9 is already in serious danger of being truncated, and that atm, TPTB are considering their alternatives; should this show run to 22 episodes, it'll be by default, and only because (as noted by other posters) no viable exit strategy can be engineered.
Consider the situation: 3 episodes into the new season, the audience remains above that presumably critical 2 million mark - but how long will that state of affairs continue? This is a show that show lost 600K viewers between season 8 finale and season 9 premiere; it's lost 300K viewers between season 9 premiere and episode 3; only another 300K to go...
I'm pretty damn certain that RepairmanBob is dead on the money in envisaging disastrously bad spring viewing figures - but what if the numbers continue to haemorrhage (surely a very real possibility) and the 2 million barrier is broken inside the next few weeks? Could DO accept the show's ratings dropping off the radar quite so early in the season?

Smallville Season Nine is looking worse and worse, Weaux, weaux and thrice weaux, Smallville...

A18-49 Demo growth with DVR added for the week of Sept. 21-27

Vampire Diaries 1.7 went to 2.10
ANTM.............1.3 went to 1.6
Smallville.........1.0 went to 1.5
Gossip Girls......1.1 went to 1.5
Supernatural....1.2 went to 1.5
90210.............1.0 went to 1.4
Melrose Place... .80 went to 1.1
One Tree Hill..... No info given

Smallville looking strong.

You can't compare the season premiere against 3rd week numbers, you have to compare apple to apple.

Also, take a look at the 18-34W demo, which I posted previously for all the other premieres. I already did the comparison for the premieres and you'll see SV is not doing well.

I think TIIC have already lost the ability to sell ad space to their target demo and have probably been lowering the asking price. DVR numbers aren't going to improve that. Anyone know the running time of the episodes this year? I know last year they felt short, wondering if they are selling more cheaper spots,which gives us less show, to try and make up for the bargain basement prices.

Savior 41min 18sec
Metallo 41min 27sec
Rabid 41min 27sec

Do you have the ad rates for Smallville this year?

From TVGuide Magazine Ask Matt about Ratings and a season 10

Question: I was wondering what you thought of the CW's decision to move Smallville to Friday nights and what that might mean for the show. Smallville has always been one of the network's top performers, and though it is in its ninth season, I can't believe the CW thought it would be a good idea to move it to the Friday night death slot and pair it with reruns of Top Model, no less. I thought Smallville and Supernatural made a terrific (and successful) pair on Thursday nights, and ever since the move, both shows have lost a big chunk of their viewers. I very much enjoyed the eighth season of Smallville and the ninth season has impressed me thus far. I was really hoping for a 10th. What do you think the chances of that are at this point?—Carrie

Matt Roush: According to my in-house expert who knows this show much better than I do, you shouldn’t count out a 10th season, regardless of the Friday numbers. The CW doesn’t expect much from any show airing on that night, and moving Smallville (which is still a valuable property in international sales and DVDs, etc.) was more about the network looking to its own future. The goal was not to punish Smallville, which holds its own wherever it airs, but to launch a new genre franchise in The Vampire Diaries, which has been (by CW standards) a major success story on Thursdays. There’s no question Smallville is closer to the end of its run than the beginning, but by all accounts, no one’s projecting an end date yet this season.

Another person in the "biz" saying Smallville is safe and a Season 10 is a strong possibility. The good news keeps on rolling in.

Pointed out by massena on LJ, yet another press release in which the CW extols its lineup's performance: "In a strong showing of audience flow across the week, The CW’s top-rated series are virtually on-par with each other in the network’s target demo of women 18-34, each on a different night." But they neglect to mention they have any programming on Friday night. In fact, the press release mentions all their programming except Smallville. When the CW pretends Smallville doesn't exist in two separate press releases, I don't think that's a terribly good sign.

Yet. Key word, give it time and they will. The problem is, The CW is going to play their standard wait and see shit.

This means that SV gets non-pick up; which means no wrap up. I hate when networks do that. A show (no matter how crappy) should always been given a chance to end on a high note with a well planned finale.

EllyF - It's like The CW is pretending it doesn't have a Friday night. I wonder if they're just getting ready to dump the night next season?

I'll choose this as key.

IMHO, DO and her CW cohorts are relying on the SV final diehard core that in this new TV viewing dynamic it's numbers counts as a viable success in viewer ad dollars - quality, literary logic and artistic values bedamned.

Looking at even old S1-3 numbers at 6-8mil, to me that included the curious and the non-comicbook crowd. Most of that crowd stuck around until S4 hit the silly button with Mulana. The continued 3.5-5mil crowd from S5-7 were shippers plan and simple from my POV who enjoyed the interactions between the CourFour of Lex, Lana, Chloe and Clark that interwove a superhero-fantasy tale somewhat logically. The hanging chad-finger-toenail lingering crowd of hopeful Chlark shippers(me) had their last hurrah in S8 and with them went those who atleast wanted a logical move into a hero status/decent suit or training by Clark which Failsday clearly failed to provide and Savior has clearly not lead into.

So as I'm seeing as the new TV viewing landscape as barely Live audience and marginal pick-up taped viewers, DO and CWcrew expected this from retaining similar numbers as the CourFour and shippers fans (1-2mil each) to be left watching to overcome the somewhat reduced production costs. To me that means little over 1mil for hardcore Supes/comics fans(fanboys) and near 1mil allforCLoisNomatterwhat fans. DVR/DVD/iPodders are cherry on top represent from mPOV the still curious 200-500K needing a fantasy show to watch but don't add to live advertising income numbers.

What I'm saying is that I think DO+CWcrew were aware the dump of final CoreFour and Chlark fans disliking the reboot to unrelated to pre S1-8 SV story and character arcs and scripts would happen, ending up in low ratings. But considering current season rating aveges, they trusted it would still float like the annoying turd that never goes down with continued flushing.

I'm NOT happy at this nor pleased but observations seem to correlate with numbers and results, which is why I've thrown in the towel, consider it cancelled and don't watch. I cannot believe there could be a S10 but Krypike talking about doing a whole new seasonal arc after S5 like a reboot scares me in thinking SV PTB could think they could come up with non-stop drivel too eek out another season and base nominal S9 numbers as justification.

I truly believe that after the winter hiatus, Smallville will be lucky to pull in 1.7million and I believe that those numbers could very well mean a whole lot to DO regardless of what they have said. Right now they are still spinning that they didn't send Smallville to the death slot.

Actually, that's not what he says. He says not to count out a S10 yet. This is not at all the same thing as saying that S10 is a "strong possibility."

Either way, Roush is usually never reliable, so I'd take anything he offers with a tiny grain of salt.

While the numbers are clearly not low enough to give me any encouragement that SV will get canned by mid-season (darn it!), I really can't see anything in these stats that would make me think a 10th season is a sure thing. At this point I agree with others that there's a good chance we'll be seeing less than 2 million by episode nine or ten. And if that's where we are at by winter hiatus I just can't see Dawn renewing the series. If I were a betting person I'd have to lay my money on this being the last season. Of course that's all just speculation at this point. But the CW failing to mention SV in these two latest press releases just can't be considered a good sign.

I wonder what FOX means by this? Are they going to pull Dollhouse on Friday night for sweeps? If so will they pull Brothers as well? I wonder what they'd put in their place, reruns or a movie?

That's what they are saying. If Dollhouse continues with bad ratings they will replace it with something else during sweeps so they don't continue bleeding even more money.

This is not strictly about scheduling, but it does, I think, emphasize that what the CW is most interested in is that young female demo. Here and here are a list of the series the CW has in development (one listed is TW's project, "Cheer"). It seems like most of them are aimed at the W18-34 demo. Lots of young people and sex:-). And boy, they have a LOT in development. How many typically make it through to the next season, I wonder?

My guess would be 2-3 would get a pick up. I don't think the CW has ever launched more than 3 pilots in the fall.

I had marginal involvement in a docu-reality series that is (or was, as I don't see it mentioned in either article) being developed by the CW and I think it has the potential for success, if they get it off the ground. It wouldn't work for a Friday night slot...maybe something early in the week, near GG. That said, the experience that I had with the network was very negative and I hope that the entire operation goes down in flames.

Ha! A dear friend of mine also worked on a reality series for the CW and had a very negative experience. She shares your sentiments about their future.

The CW has a future? Not unless advertisers start paying for Live +7 day DVR ratings. Even then, the numbers aren't that great. If they insist upon focusing on young women, that's how younger women watch television. Not live viewing. Launching a new broadcast network in an age of increasingly splintered viewing between cable, online viewing options, and whatnot is insane IMO. It can't be done. The network has lost how many millions? It's costing someone money. No one's pockets are bottomless. The only show I ever watched on the network back in the day was Smallville because it was a WB holdover that I'd watched, which I rarely see anymore. If I hadn't discovered Supernatural recently I'd never give the network a glance. Once Supernatural is over I'll never give it a glance and I'm in the CW's target demo for 2 more years.

Live Feed lists Smallville as endangered, defined as "the show's producers should duck any network phone calls." As far as I know, it (like OTH) has a full season order, so I'm not quite sure what they're basing this on.

I checked that "Endangered" link and saw one poster brilliantly summing up just WHY Smallville is in the red:



Normally, I support helping endangered species, but in this case, I think I'll just sit by and cheer.

Thanks, laurelnola. That quote is from the Live Feed itself. So basically, he's saying he thinks the show will limp through the rest of the season, but will be cancelled with no season ten. That makes more sense, and is pretty much what I would have figured, too.

I totally think they will screw it up whether they get warning ahead or not, YMMV.

The Wrap also has a grim forecast for Smallville (posted by Tobiwolf on LJ):

Run for your lives, it's Bizarro Massena1!

Remember when this show traumatised me so much I split into two personalities because I was blocking out the trauma? I believe Committed was the culprit. Well Smallville, you've done it again.

Smallville: Substantially damaging fans since 2004.

It only took 3 episodes for the grim predictions to begin. Not surprised really. The DVR rating finally put things in perspective and proved what many people have come to suspect. The show has lost viewers and it hasn't been very productive in Dawn's desired demo. Whether it's due to the Season 8 finale or the fact that it has turned into Clois(ex)ville, is anybody's guess. Peterson and Souders should stop fooling around and put in motion an arc to end it this season. While it still has some dignity left.

Tonight will be the premiere of Ugly Betty.

"So here we...go!" - The Joker

I'm not sure how much competition UB will provide, I don't know if there is an overlap in the viewing audience. However, I suspect that if anything, it will drop that 18-34W demo down a bit.

morrigan I think you're right that UB will not take that many viewers from SV, as I think those who have left are migrating from SV not to anything else. I'll be watching UB (at least tonight), but I haven't watched SV at all this season, so having another show on just means I'll have something else to watch that isn't SV.

They pimped UB on GMA this morning and it's looks really good. I used to watch it but I got tired of the stagnation. I like that they've given Betty a makeover while still staying true to the fact that she's an outsider in the fashion community.

I'll be tuning in, in between innings, Game 1 of the Yank/Angels ALCS playoff is tonight.

You are so very kind to the show...I think we passed that point last season. Is a matter of putting it on the ground because the morgue doesn't want it to stink the place anymore...YMMV.

from twitter

MattMtvguy: Ratings peek: #Smallville (2.62 mil) was up, and versus stiffer competition (Ugly Betty and baseball)..

Woohoo, Smallville increased from last week. Actually, best ratings of the year.

Toyman delivers the goods I suppose, but that number 2.6 has to be the highest number CW has gotten in awhile no?

Well, as we all know, it's only going to matter if the 18-34 female demo starts to go up.

No, many TV insiders have said that Smallville isn't dependent on the W18-34 demo.

Echo has better number then every show on the CW beside VD and ANTM! On FRIDAY!

Wow, that's almost impossible for me to believe. I would have thought 1.6 before 2.6. It's not April 1st, is it?

Look at everything that came out last week, all of the CW press releases to their advertisers talked about the female demo. You can't dismiss the fact that the PR praised every single show (including SPN and MP) for going up in the female demos and pretended like SV didn't even exist.


SPN beat it in the overnights as well with a 2.63. Which actually doesn't mean that much. Since the only thing that matters is the demos.

The finals for Supernatural was 2.58.


Supernatural
- 2.582 million viewers
- 1.6/2 HH
- 1.2/3 A18-49
- 1.3/4 A18-34
- 1.4/4 W18-34

This is more of a statement on the CW's overall lineup then Smallville's success. 2.6 million total viewers is a decent number for a friday night, but as everyone else has stated..It's about AD money. The CW can not continue a show unless it brings them a profit. The show's costs are rising and the ad revenue is shrinking. Not a recipe for renewal.

I am impressed that it's managing to go up in total viewers, but unless the CW has NOTHING to replace it with next year then I think it's a goner no matter what. And, it needs to go. It's nearing it's end point and to go another year is just ridiculous unless you put him in the suit and make it a full on Superman show and call it a different name.



Where are you getting this? I thought the finals don't come out until monday's.

And? You're looking at the overnights for SV not the finals. So my point was valid, in the overnights, SPN beat SV (in both viewership and 18-49 demo).

SteveWright - Finals for shows always come out the same day except for Friday-Sunday then they're released late Monday or sometimes Tuesday afternoon.

TV By The Numbers



Hardly anything to create a press release over -- but then again, this is the CW where anything remotely positive receives a parade.

With the general viewing audience up 25% I could see discounting the results. OTOH, there WAS stiff competition so I could see the remaining fans being relieved with the results.

Personally, I think the die is cast by late October and the crew will either be writing for a S10 or not.

Really. The ratings aren't even in the 3.0 millions like last season. If it gets that high again, I will be very surprised.