We Irresponsibly Speculate on the SMALLVILLE Shake Up

April 3rd, 2008

smallville cast

With todays SUPER Shocking news that SMALLVILLE creators and executive producers Al Gough and Miles Millar will not be guiding the show in what is shaping up to be its eighth and final season, this TV Addict thought he’d take this opportunity to irresponsiblrly speculate on some possible reasons for their departure.

POSSIBILITY #1: PRODUCT PLACEMENT FATIGUE
Apparently, Gough and Millar weren’t thrilled with next season’s plan by the CW marketing ‘gurus’ to turn the iconic Superman ‘S’ into a STRIDE gum logo.

POSSIBILITY #2: METEOR-FREAK-OF-THE-WEEK FATIGUE
Not even Braniac himself could come up 150 different ways for the denizens of Smallville to encounter those shiny green insidious rocks.

POSSIBILTIY #3: SPIN-OFF FATIGUE
Gough and Millar signed on to re-imagine Clark Kent the teenager years. The show after-all is called SMALLVILLE, not GREEN ARROW VILLE, or SUPER GIRL VILLE!

POSSIBILITY #4: CREATIVE DIFFERENCES
Gough and Millar wanted to bow out before the CW forced them to break the one golden rule they’ve kept for seven years, “No tights, no flights.”

POSSIBILITY #5: PRODUCT PLACEMENT FATIGUE (Part II)
We can’t stress this enough, Kryptonite Gum… Seriously?Got your own ideas for the reasons behind Gough and Millar’s departure? Irresponsible commenting is fun. Post away

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 9:00 pm and is filed under Smallville. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

14 Responses to “We Irresponsibly Speculate on the SMALLVILLE Shake Up”

Sheindie Says:

April 3rd, 2008 at 9:07 pm

1. They deserve more $ for the last season and weren’t going to get it
2. Too much attention on Kara/Lois
3. They wanted to feature Cloe and give her a beau, but were told Lois would be the ’star’
4. They actually wanted to refocus on Clark, his powers, his story ..not on other characters
5. They wanted more $ to finish up what they created and were shot down (just like the GG showrunner)
very sad, very bad news

Sarah Says:

April 3rd, 2008 at 9:47 pm

5. They wanted more $ to finish up what they created and were shot down (just like the GG showrunner)

I was pretty much going to say the same exact thing. AS-P all over again. I’m not a Smallville fan, but I feel your pain. It was tough watching GG go out like it did.

Julien Says:

April 4th, 2008 at 12:08 am

Well the huge difference between ASP and those two joke is that ASP is actually talented, i dont think the show will be much more awfull than it is right now because they leave, it might actually be better, and if it’s not well the show should have stopped 2/3 years ago at least so it’s not like it make a big difference, after all it’s not like the show loose a great showrunner like Joss ou Tim

I hope they dont ever get the chance to put anything on tv, but hey im sure they will

Brandy Says:

April 4th, 2008 at 5:03 am

I really do think this has to be related to CW, because during the strike even they were still very dedicated to the show and the stories… I don’t know that it’s about money as much as creative control… CW seems to have a bad habit of sticking their noses where they don’t belong…

Robin Says:

April 4th, 2008 at 5:29 am

The CW does seem to interfere a lot in what happens in the shows they air. It was clearly their interference in the creative process that ruined “Veronica Mars.” That AS-P bolted from her own almost iconic creation, and now Millar and Gough from theirs, tells me that creative, intelligent, talented people have gotten fed up with dealing with morons with dollar signs tattooed on their behinds.

The product place in the shows has gotten so bad, I (and I’m sure everybody in the production companies) cringe and want to turn the show off. I definitely make it a point afterward NEVER to buy those products, though. If advertisers had their way, they’d add their logos to the Mona Lisa and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Robin Says:

April 4th, 2008 at 5:30 am

Placement… product placement…

Common Sense Says:

April 4th, 2008 at 7:18 am

First, I think it’s hilarious how so many “expert posters” seem to know the private, inner-workings of TV productions. How would YOU know if, quote, “The CW” was “interfering” with a show? And even if there was input, do you seriously think other networks don’t dictate, as well? Get real.

Second, with fewer and fewer loyal TV viewers, product placement is necessary to help pay for the shows we want to see. Would you rather have 30-minutes of commercials with only 28-minutes of acting? Don’t get so uptight about trivial matters.

Third, most GG fans were unhappy with ASP’s own creative direction…and now you use her departure as an example to bolster your weak SV argument? And hey, VM whiners, the show lost more money than it had viewers. It never even deserved the 3rd season….why can’t you get basic TV Economics 101. No viewers = no show. People were too dumb to “get it,” just like with Arrested. They’d rather watch 5th Graders and Lie-Detector tests.

Last, why do people have such a “love affair” with the two letters “WB,” and have an unjustified built-in hatred toward “CW?” Look for the “WB” in the “CW” shows and attitude. Your bitterness isn’t helping any of the shows you want to keep, that’s for sure.

Adam Says:

April 4th, 2008 at 8:57 am

Personally I watch the show to see how much they change the myth that is superman… but really…

its gone off the deep end in the last two years… and its time for a total reboot…

Kill Lana…

Kill Lionel…

have Martha move back home…

send Chloe on her way to Gotham to investigate some Bat like hero (and stop in every now or then)

Jimmy becomes that annoying friend of clarks

lex turns serious bad ass business man (no more freaks but robotics and government weapons - closing farms and killing small villages without a care) but with that change no more pop ins from Clark - they could bump into each other… but they shouldnt allow clark to just show up whenever and whereever he wants…

have Clark move to off the farm and start saving people in the city…

have kid flash come back for a quick visit… cause another race scene around the world would be pretty cool…

So what have I just done? all new women… all new action fights… time for freaks of the week to begone… and time for us to wrap this great show up with a fitting ending.

For the big finale which is a 4 eps long arch of which a cross over of Clark and Bruce fighting together… at which point clark gets a costume too… and also could lead to a spin-off Gotham type series…

Bruce being a rich 20-something who can fix up lex’s bad business and get introduced into the series as a fling with Chloe after a fund raiser that Chloe confronts Lex and Bruce notices her and helps her by coming to her aid after lex pushes her out of his way… Bruce already fixes the some of the bad business byproducts Lex leaves behind with alot of charity and then they introduce Clark to Bruce and its like insta-friendship…

ewanspotter Says:

April 4th, 2008 at 11:14 am

What? How can you not want to watch Strideville? It sounds fantastic. And longlasting.

bean Says:

April 4th, 2008 at 12:53 pm

The creators were dissapointed that their season 8 proposal regarding the apotheosis of Lana as queen of the entire freaking universe was not acceptable to DC comics. Which is saying something, considering DC’s history includes ‘crisis on infinite earths’ and they have vast experience in handwaving away canon discrepancies with varying degrees of crackiness.

There is no explanation for Lana. There will never be any explanation for Lana. Or that stupid gum thing. Yeesh.

Fiona Says:

April 4th, 2008 at 3:27 pm

I’m with bean.

Mohammad Says:

April 4th, 2008 at 9:01 pm

I honestly think that it’s #4.

The CW was probably forcing them to do something creatively with the show that they didn’t want to do.

I just hope they introduce some new characters next season, or bring back old ones like the justice league, because season 8 will have 3 less characters than the rest of the seasons

Adam Says:

April 4th, 2008 at 11:10 pm

@Common Sense - is your first name Dawn?

KaeDee Says:

April 6th, 2008 at 8:14 pm

I don’t agree with the “CW interfering” scenario. All networks have input into the shows on their network; its part of being in the TV business, and Gough and Miller know that and have accommodated that for 7 seasons.

Second, I didn’t mind the Stride gum product placement. It brought my world into the Smallville world, and I thought it was funny. (Though I will say I thought the idea of Kryptonite gum was silly.)

I also don’t think Gough and Miller thought the series would last this long. They were stuck in the Clark growing up with his childhood crush scenario. You can’t have Smallville on the air for 7 seasons with Clark always running away from his destiny and pining after Lana when everyone knows he ends up with Lois, his true love. I don’t think G&M thought of how to let Clark grow up; that wasn’t the premise for their initially-proposed show. The series was getting stale with all the super-visitors and everyone under the sun being Kryptonite infected.

Solution? Have Clark go back to college to get his journalism degree! Have him work with Chloe and Lois on assignments for the Daily Planet, maybe eventually have him intern at the daily planet and start dealing with some regular criminal types. This would still be exciting and bring the series a little of the reality if had in the first couple of seasons. It would also create some Chloe/Jimmy tension and some Lois proximity. The show would have more grounding and less extreme plot devices like Kryptonite gum! Maybe the show needs new showrunners to achieve this. I

The TV Addict

We Irresponsibly Speculate on the SMALLVILLE Shake Up

14 Responses to “We Irresponsibly Speculate on the SMALLVILLE Shake Up”

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