Seasons one and two, yes. After that, don't bother with it. It's a terrible show now.
Smallville - is it worth watching
- Thread starter Pindar
- Start date
It might get better now that Mary Sue is gone for good. (Though the trailer for S9 contains the rest of the usual sins)
I was watching the show from TV but stopped watching it around after season 4. Its not a bad show
I liked Lex Luthor the most, especially the relationship he had with his father was interesting and fun to watch.
Clark was fine and Kents where well potraited.
I didint like Lana much, Chloe was much interesting and more three dimensional character. Pete Ross was quite useless person in the show.
I have the 1st season on DVD but im not sure if I will buy the rest of the sets ever, especially since the boxes where I am at never been very cheap
Maybe on bluray later or maybe some mega box with all seasons
I liked Lex Luthor the most, especially the relationship he had with his father was interesting and fun to watch.
Clark was fine and Kents where well potraited.
I didint like Lana much, Chloe was much interesting and more three dimensional character. Pete Ross was quite useless person in the show.
I have the 1st season on DVD but im not sure if I will buy the rest of the sets ever, especially since the boxes where I am at never been very cheap
Maybe on bluray later or maybe some mega box with all seasons
Maybe if they got Lex back and got rid of Clark. 
From what I understand, he's thoroughly unlikable these days, but that isn't acknowledged in the script. He can do no wrong like usual, though he does plenty of crappy things. Bottom line, the expiration for any plausible "pre-Superman" days has passed and Welling is too long in the tooth to play a young boy afraid of his destiny. He's 32 years old as of last April. Time to be Superman.
From what I understand, he's thoroughly unlikable these days, but that isn't acknowledged in the script. He can do no wrong like usual, though he does plenty of crappy things. Bottom line, the expiration for any plausible "pre-Superman" days has passed and Welling is too long in the tooth to play a young boy afraid of his destiny. He's 32 years old as of last April. Time to be Superman.
Really?
I think Welling and Durance's chemistry is one of the few things that actually WORKS on the show these days.
He's not Superman. He's the red blue blur. Smallville is past its expiration date.
Maybe if they got Lex back and got rid of Clark.
Welling is unlikeable, but Clark isn't really. When the show stops pandering to the CW demographic for five minutes (i.e. when Justin Hartley is not in the episode at all, or is at least fully clothed for a change), it's not so bad.
The show spends a lot of time debating the rights and wrongs of Clark's actions. Unfortunately, they then have the person who disagrees with him bring out the Kryptonite to get their way.
I wouldn't say Welling is unlikable. There's nothing particularly wrong with him, per se, except for the fact that he seems--for a leading man--to be incredibly bland. Rosenbaum overshadowed him at every possible opportunity, and to this day I can't fathom how he beat out Jensen Ackles for the lead role. Having seen Ackles' work on the other Thursday show, I'm glad it worked out the way it did, but it's still hard to understand how it happened. Ackles must have had a hell of a lousy audition. He's charisma on a stick.
Ackles doesn't look the slightest bit like Superman, that's the problem.
Dying his hair wouldn't do any good. Men with dyed black hair just look like something out of a Just For Men commercial.
I don't disagree about Rosenbaum, though.
Rosenbaum acted rings around the man. Something's wrong when you want to see Lex and don't give a fig about Clark. No wonder the show is shit now that Rosenbaum's gone and he isn't coming back. I don't think they could back up a Brinks truck large enough to contain all the money it would take to get him back.
As for Ackles not looking like Superman, that's a matter of opinion--or your definition of Superman.
He's eleven months younger than Welling, but I'll concede that these days there's no way Ackles could pass for 22 year old, boyish Clark Kent. 
As for Ackles not looking like Superman, that's a matter of opinion--or your definition of Superman.
He's eleven months younger than Welling, but I'll concede that these days there's no way Ackles could pass for 22 year old, boyish Clark Kent.
^I'm not going to sit here and dispute that Ackles is a good looking guy. He's under 40 and in a CW show, the good looking part is mandatory or the key demo might just watch Twilight with a bucket of chocolate ice cream for the nine millionth time instead.
He just doesn't look like Superman - a 22 year old Superman or a 40 year old Superman.
He just doesn't look like Superman - a 22 year old Superman or a 40 year old Superman.
No, I suppose he doesn't, but that's okay. Neither does Rosenbaum, but he's got that sexy thing going on, too. Poor Welling doesn't. Also, Rosenbaum and Ackles can act. Alas, poor Welling...
Neither does Rosenbaum, but he's got that sexy thing going on, too. Poor Welling doesn't. Also, Rosenbaum and Ackles can act. Alas, poor Welling...
I tried to start watching again after two years away, but I have no idea where the plot line is now. I need a special catch-up show I guess. The wonder twins, is that two charactors, or just one female charactor with .....
The Wonder Twins. Not who I would have gone for if I was scouring DC's history for characters to use.
Smallville can be a good show, if you focus on the right characters.
Anything involving Clark and Lex is important and worth watching (and as an added bonus, Michael Rosenbaum is easily the best actor who ever stepped foot on the set of Smallville). Anything involving Lex and his own father is important and worth watching. The stuff involving Clark's evolving powers and different colors of kryptonite, the fortress of solitude, etc, etc. is worth watching (ie, the mythos). And the stuff involving the relationship between Clark and his parents is okay, if a bit 'golly gee, dad!" at times.
Lois is a great character and worth watching, even if her storylines are sometimes a bit dumb and pointless. Chloe is about the same, only less so - most of the time she is good, but sometimes she can be such an annoying snoop and hypocritical buttinsky that it drives me nuts. Lana is almost completely without any redeeming qualities whatever (it baffles me that Clark could be in love with this annoying, nagging, all-about-me, self-involved, hypocritical whiner) and my suggestion is that you fast forward through pretty much every single one of her scenes...with the possible exception of a few involving her and Lex.
Watch the first season, and then think about the sorts of scenes you can fast forward through in future seasons which will improve the show. And then fast forward through them. You might not ever see Lana again....but the show will be alot better, and you won't find yourself wishing later that you had all of those hours back that you spent listening to Lana whine.
EDIT: As for the above discussion about Tom Welling, Jason Eckles and Michael Rosenbaum, my take:
Michael Rosenbaum is clearly the superior actor - to BOTH of the other two. Absolutely no contest. Rosenbaum is simply brilliant.
Tom Welling is actually not a bad actor at all - I think he's fine. I think the WRITING for Clark can be kinda bland....especially since they continue to frame the character as a perpetually naive farm bumpkin. But that is not Welling's fault. And since we ARE talking about Superman here, Welling definitely looks the part. He has that powerful size...but yet is one of the most breathtakingly BEAUTIFUL men I've seen on TV. No gettin' around it...Welling is beautiful.
Jason Eckles? Meh. I didn't think he was so great during his stint on the show. He's okay on The Supernatural...but I would never have bought him as the wide-eyed naive farm bumpkin the writers insist upon writing Clark as. Welling, to his credit, has the eyes to pull off the naive bumpkin thing without looking like a complete moron.
I've only watched though season 5 (watched this entire show on DVD - never in 'real time')...but from what I've read in Smallville threads, it doesn't sound like much has changed in terms of Welling.
I think Welling gets a bad rap too much of the time. I don't think it's his acting that is the problem. I think it is the writing for his character, in the vast majority of cases.
Anything involving Clark and Lex is important and worth watching (and as an added bonus, Michael Rosenbaum is easily the best actor who ever stepped foot on the set of Smallville). Anything involving Lex and his own father is important and worth watching. The stuff involving Clark's evolving powers and different colors of kryptonite, the fortress of solitude, etc, etc. is worth watching (ie, the mythos). And the stuff involving the relationship between Clark and his parents is okay, if a bit 'golly gee, dad!" at times.
Lois is a great character and worth watching, even if her storylines are sometimes a bit dumb and pointless. Chloe is about the same, only less so - most of the time she is good, but sometimes she can be such an annoying snoop and hypocritical buttinsky that it drives me nuts. Lana is almost completely without any redeeming qualities whatever (it baffles me that Clark could be in love with this annoying, nagging, all-about-me, self-involved, hypocritical whiner) and my suggestion is that you fast forward through pretty much every single one of her scenes...with the possible exception of a few involving her and Lex.
Watch the first season, and then think about the sorts of scenes you can fast forward through in future seasons which will improve the show. And then fast forward through them. You might not ever see Lana again....but the show will be alot better, and you won't find yourself wishing later that you had all of those hours back that you spent listening to Lana whine.
EDIT: As for the above discussion about Tom Welling, Jason Eckles and Michael Rosenbaum, my take:
Michael Rosenbaum is clearly the superior actor - to BOTH of the other two. Absolutely no contest. Rosenbaum is simply brilliant.
Tom Welling is actually not a bad actor at all - I think he's fine. I think the WRITING for Clark can be kinda bland....especially since they continue to frame the character as a perpetually naive farm bumpkin. But that is not Welling's fault. And since we ARE talking about Superman here, Welling definitely looks the part. He has that powerful size...but yet is one of the most breathtakingly BEAUTIFUL men I've seen on TV. No gettin' around it...Welling is beautiful.
Jason Eckles? Meh. I didn't think he was so great during his stint on the show. He's okay on The Supernatural...but I would never have bought him as the wide-eyed naive farm bumpkin the writers insist upon writing Clark as. Welling, to his credit, has the eyes to pull off the naive bumpkin thing without looking like a complete moron.
I've only watched though season 5 (watched this entire show on DVD - never in 'real time')...but from what I've read in Smallville threads, it doesn't sound like much has changed in terms of Welling.
I think Welling gets a bad rap too much of the time. I don't think it's his acting that is the problem. I think it is the writing for his character, in the vast majority of cases.
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I shall keep this in my mind. I can picture now trying to explain to my wife why I bought a box set to fast forward through.
This has cheered me up as I feel crap this morning.
I shall keep this in my mind. I can picture now trying to explain to my wife why I bought a box set to fast forward through.
This has cheered me up as I feel crap this morning.
Well, we can always take suggestions from the floor here for specific whine-er-ific Lana scenes to show your wife in marathon format. 15 minutes in and she will COMPLETELY understand why this self-involved little twit is so fast-forwardable.
Trust me, she will be on board quicker than you will be. I mean, the actress is fairly good looking, so I suspect she might take longer to grate on men. But we women? Show your wife the right 15 minutes of Smallville footage and she will be perfectly happy to never see that character again.
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