When (if ever) did you and Smallville part ways?

Gaith · January 1 2009, 11:26 PM

For me, the point of no complete return came in 3.2, when Lana KILLED a guy and it was never mentioned again. Clark accidentally killing is one thing; he has a different perspective on life, but it should have had an effect on Lana.

Some good eps followed, including Memoria (the series' single best, as far as I know), but they had an elegiac quality to them; it was clear to me that the show was no longer interested in reconciling the comic book mythos with reality (we only saw one classroom in the first three years), and without that crucial balancing act, I wasn't interested.

Legacy should have been great, but barely made sense. The S3 finale was decent enough, but though I may watch 4.1 one day just to see how it ends (I've read the spoilers), I wasn't invested enough to continue.

Maybe I'll watch some of the better-reviewed S8s one day, but the emotionally rich and tantalizingly realistic show I'd identified with (I was a high school sophomore during S1, and, like Clark, had an impossible crush) died in 3.2.

Temis the Vorta · January 2 2009, 12:17 AM

Smallville and I parted ways several times over the past few years. I tried and tried to get into it - the teen angst was too much to stomach. I'd check out a season premiere, bail, check out the season finale, come back for the premiere, and repeat the process. But like everyone in the universe, I loved the Luthors and Chloe. I guess I bailed permanently about 2-3 years back.

Takeru · January 2 2009, 12:23 AM

Halfway through every season, my interest fizzles out every February and then I get sucked back in with the season finale.
Season 8 is great so far, this may be the first time I watch the entire season, I love Sam Witwer, his casting is the best thing that could happen to the show, Cassidy Freeman is great too.

Chess Piece Face · January 2 2009, 12:23 AM

Never bailed. It's a tremendous guilty pleasure which has become a lot more about the DCU instead of just Superman, which is great IMO.

Besides, any show about Superman that is on on a weekly basis - I just can't NOT watch that.

Hermiod · January 2 2009, 12:25 AM

I haven't yet, but if the show continues beyond this season but they don't keep Allison Mack on then I would quit.

TemporalFlux · January 2 2009, 12:33 AM

They lost me when it moved from Tuesday nights; I just really don't watch much tv on Thursday night (except ER on occasion). Smallville season five did pull me back in for whatever reason, but I had dropped out again by the end of that season. I still catch an episode of Smallville here and there, but mostly I just forget it's even on the air.

Aragorn · January 2 2009, 12:42 AM

I don't think I've watched every season in its entirety, but I have watched the vast majority of episodes. Didn't bail on the show until this season though. Hot chicks that look great in HD aren't enough to keep me watching, otherwise I'd be tuning into CSI: Miami.

Of course, the second episode of the first season with Wonder Years dad as the first meteor freak of the week, that tipped me off as to how bad the show would be. If every network had their own quality equivalent of Smallville, CBS would be CSI: Miami and NBC would be Knight Rider.

Christopher · January 2 2009, 01:25 AM

I stuck with it much longer that I probably would have if Kristin Kreuk hadn't been in it. The writing got increasingly lame, but she was just so sublimely gorgeous that I couldn't keep away. But in the seventh season, it got so dreadful that even she couldn't keep me watching, and I skipped a number of episodes toward the end. I was expecting to abandon it for good.

But then I gave the eighth season a try, and found to my surprise that it's greatly improved. It's still got some systemic weaknesses, but it's much better than it had been before. The departure of the original showrunners and their restrictions allowed the writing staff to make some long-overdue changes in Clark's life, and that's actually made the show less tedious and more engaging. The writing still isn't great, but it no longer sinks to the depths it reached before.

Samuel T. Cogley · January 2 2009, 02:11 AM

Chess Piece Face wrote:

Never bailed. It's a tremendous guilty pleasure which has become a lot more about the DCU instead of just Superman, which is great IMO.

Besides, any show about Superman that is on on a weekly basis - I just can't NOT watch that.

Agreed.

suarezguy · January 2 2009, 02:21 AM

Well I never watched consistently, but "Reckoning" was my end-the early OTT happiness, then Clark not really considering the bad part of a balance, 2 resets (not going through with Lana dieing or knowing). Already being the 5th season, now without Jonathan and with more back-and-forth Clana, let alone with Lana being with Lex, it seemed like they were just going to stretch the series out.

sidious618 · January 2 2009, 02:47 AM

I bailed after I saw an episode.

Morfius · January 2 2009, 01:13 PM

1) early in the series, a new female Sherrif announced she was in town and watching Clark. In the next episode, the space ship blew up in the Storm cellar, yet neither the new sherrif nor the FBI showed up to investigate the 'Meth lab' explosion! (things like this show that the producers know nothing at all about Kansas)

2)When they kept showing terrains (like mountains) that don't exist in Kansas. And never showed terrains (like the flint hills) that don't exist in Califia or B.C.

3)When they clearly showed Cloe's death in an explosion, then several episodes later said whoops! she faked her death. (even thos she didn't have time to in the way they showed her death)

4)When I moved somewhere that smallville doesn't air . . . and didn't care!

Skywalker · January 2 2009, 01:19 PM

After the second episode, which, if I recall correctly, was about some kid who got freezing powers after being exposed to kryptonite in the lake created by one of the craters from the meteor shower.

When I realized it was gonna be a lame Kryptonite-fueled Monster of the Week show, I was done.

MeanJoePhaser · January 2 2009, 02:14 PM

I quit and come back. Often I changed to evening shifts at work and don't record it or bother to watch episodes on the net. This season is the first where I tried to keep track of it.

One season, I was like LOIS LANE? When did they add her?

The only reason I ever started watching was because I had no cable for a year, I like John Glover, and Kristin and Allison were nice to look at.

RoJoHen · January 2 2009, 02:16 PM

I watched the first 3 seasons in college and loved them. The show was fun and addictive, even if it wasn't the most well-written thing in the world.

Then my roommate ran out of DVDs, so I never found out what happened.

January 1 2009, 11:26 PM	#1
Gaith Rear Admiral Location: Starfleet Command, The City that Knows How	When (if ever) did you and Smallville part ways? For me, the point of no complete return came in 3.2, when Lana KILLED a guy and it was never mentioned again. Clark accidentally killing is one thing; he has a different perspective on life, but it should have had an effect on Lana. Some good eps followed, including Memoria (the series' single best, as far as I know), but they had an elegiac quality to them; it was clear to me that the show was no longer interested in reconciling the comic book mythos with reality (we only saw one classroom in the first three years), and without that crucial balancing act, I wasn't interested. Legacy should have been great, but barely made sense. The S3 finale was decent enough, but though I may watch 4.1 one day just to see how it ends (I've read the spoilers), I wasn't invested enough to continue. Maybe I'll watch some of the better-reviewed S8s one day, but the emotionally rich and tantalizingly realistic show I'd identified with (I was a high school sophomore during S1, and, like Clark, had an impossible crush) died in 3.2.

January 2 2009, 12:17 AM	#2
Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Location: Tatoinne	Re: When (if ever) did you and Smallville part ways? Smallville and I parted ways several times over the past few years. I tried and tried to get into it - the teen angst was too much to stomach. I'd check out a season premiere, bail, check out the season finale, come back for the premiere, and repeat the process. But like everyone in the universe, I loved the Luthors and Chloe. I guess I bailed permanently about 2-3 years back.

January 2 2009, 12:23 AM	#3
Takeru Captain	Re: When (if ever) did you and Smallville part ways? Halfway through every season, my interest fizzles out every February and then I get sucked back in with the season finale. Season 8 is great so far, this may be the first time I watch the entire season, I love Sam Witwer, his casting is the best thing that could happen to the show, Cassidy Freeman is great too.

January 2 2009, 12:23 AM	#4
Chess Piece Face Commodore Location: Akron, Ohio	Re: When (if ever) did you and Smallville part ways? Never bailed. It's a tremendous guilty pleasure which has become a lot more about the DCU instead of just Superman, which is great IMO. Besides, any show about Superman that is on on a weekly basis - I just can't NOT watch that.

January 2 2009, 12:25 AM	#5
Hermiod Admiral	Re: When (if ever) did you and Smallville part ways? I haven't yet, but if the show continues beyond this season but they don't keep Allison Mack on then I would quit.

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January 2 2009, 12:33 AM	#6
TemporalFlux Quantum Mechanic Location: The End of Time	Re: When (if ever) did you and Smallville part ways? They lost me when it moved from Tuesday nights; I just really don't watch much tv on Thursday night (except ER on occasion). Smallville season five did pull me back in for whatever reason, but I had dropped out again by the end of that season. I still catch an episode of Smallville here and there, but mostly I just forget it's even on the air. __________________ Sliders - The Dimension of Continuity

January 2 2009, 12:42 AM	#7
Aragorn Admiral	Re: When (if ever) did you and Smallville part ways? I don't think I've watched every season in its entirety, but I have watched the vast majority of episodes. Didn't bail on the show until this season though. Hot chicks that look great in HD aren't enough to keep me watching, otherwise I'd be tuning into CSI: Miami. Of course, the second episode of the first season with Wonder Years dad as the first meteor freak of the week, that tipped me off as to how bad the show would be. If every network had their own quality equivalent of Smallville, CBS would be CSI: Miami and NBC would be Knight Rider.

January 2 2009, 01:25 AM	#8
Christopher Writer	Re: When (if ever) did you and Smallville part ways? I stuck with it much longer that I probably would have if Kristin Kreuk hadn't been in it. The writing got increasingly lame, but she was just so sublimely gorgeous that I couldn't keep away. But in the seventh season, it got so dreadful that even she couldn't keep me watching, and I skipped a number of episodes toward the end. I was expecting to abandon it for good. But then I gave the eighth season a try, and found to my surprise that it's greatly improved. It's still got some systemic weaknesses, but it's much better than it had been before. The departure of the original showrunners and their restrictions allowed the writing staff to make some long-overdue changes in Clark's life, and that's actually made the show less tedious and more engaging. The writing still isn't great, but it no longer sinks to the depths it reached before. __________________ Christopher L. Bennett Homepage -- Includes purchasing links for Only Superhuman, on sale now! Updated 12/30/12 with annotations for the novel. Written Worlds -- My blog

January 2 2009, 02:21 AM	#10
suarezguy Commodore Location: Albuquerque, NM, USA	Re: When (if ever) did you and Smallville part ways? Well I never watched consistently, but "Reckoning" was my end-the early OTT happiness, then Clark not really considering the bad part of a balance, 2 resets (not going through with Lana dieing or knowing). Already being the 5th season, now without Jonathan and with more back-and-forth Clana, let alone with Lana being with Lex, it seemed like they were just going to stretch the series out. __________________ "[T]hey still crave what we all crave: Our country back! Our democracy back! Our good name back!"-Michael Moore http://suarezguy.blogspot.com/

January 2 2009, 02:47 AM	#11
sidious618 Admiral Location: New York, US	Re: When (if ever) did you and Smallville part ways? I bailed after I saw an episode. __________________ We've met before, haven't we?

January 2 2009, 01:13 PM	#12
Morfius Lieutenant Commander	Re: When (if ever) did you and Smallville part ways? 1) early in the series, a new female Sherrif announced she was in town and watching Clark. In the next episode, the space ship blew up in the Storm cellar, yet neither the new sherrif nor the FBI showed up to investigate the 'Meth lab' explosion! (things like this show that the producers know nothing at all about Kansas) 2)When they kept showing terrains (like mountains) that don't exist in Kansas. And never showed terrains (like the flint hills) that don't exist in Califia or B.C. 3)When they clearly showed Cloe's death in an explosion, then several episodes later said whoops! she faked her death. (even thos she didn't have time to in the way they showed her death) 4)When I moved somewhere that smallville doesn't air . . . and didn't care!

January 2 2009, 01:19 PM	#13
Skywalker Admiral	Re: When (if ever) did you and Smallville part ways? After the second episode, which, if I recall correctly, was about some kid who got freezing powers after being exposed to kryptonite in the lake created by one of the craters from the meteor shower. When I realized it was gonna be a lame Kryptonite-fueled Monster of the Week show, I was done.

January 2 2009, 02:14 PM	#14
MeanJoePhaser Admiral Location: Missile Command	Re: When (if ever) did you and Smallville part ways? I quit and come back. Often I changed to evening shifts at work and don't record it or bother to watch episodes on the net. This season is the first where I tried to keep track of it. One season, I was like LOIS LANE? When did they add her? The only reason I ever started watching was because I had no cable for a year, I like John Glover, and Kristin and Allison were nice to look at.

January 2 2009, 02:16 PM	#15
RoJoHen Awesome Location: Wherever life takes me	Re: When (if ever) did you and Smallville part ways? I watched the first 3 seasons in college and loved them. The show was fun and addictive, even if it wasn't the most well-written thing in the world. Then my roommate ran out of DVDs, so I never found out what happened. __________________ I am the Quintessential Admiral. Get ready to grow your EQUINOX BEARD!