Watching Smallville this week, I had a Zod-like epiphany. Read the full post.
Feb 26
2010
11:58 PM ET
The CW's identity crisis: Are 'Supernatural' and 'Smallville' better than 'Gossip Girl' and '90210'?
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If the CW is geared towards females, then Smallville, Supernatural and Vampire Diaries are ‘the’ shows – wish the network would show them the love and renew them now! – + get the rights to Moonlight & ‘Mick St. John’ =)
I MISS MOONLIGHT!! That was an awesome show!!!! =)
“I had a Zod-like epiphany”
Should we kneel before you then?
I totally agree. I have been watching Smallville since it started and it has only gotten better over time. The Vampire Diaries is turning out to be really good and a huge guilty pleasure! As for Supernatural… I only recently started watching it and I have to say it is one AWESOME show and way more interesting than anything else on this channel.
CW keeps trying to play to the teen market but in reality the quality shows are within the Fantasy/SciFi area and its well done family dramas (Gilmore Girls, and the cut-to-short Everwood). They just need to just stick to what they are really good at.
You are completely correct Ken.
Supernatural, with its dynamic writing and incredibly talented cast, and Vampire Diaries, with its fresh storyline, are two of my favorite shows EVER. I don’t know that the network cares about my demographic at all, but the thing is … I’m a professional with discretionary income. You’d think they’d like that, right? And trust, Gossip and 90210 will never make my list.
I think the CW is confused about what young girls in their target demo actually want to watch. They would have never picked up Vampire Diaries if not for Twilight. They seem to think all girls want are vapid shows about rich sexpots. Life Unexpected is a smarter, softer variation. I just don’t see them programming to suit any more than one small niche of Hills-loving tweens. Even in the girls 18-34 demo there are a variety of tastes. Why not take a chance on a smart, different program?
Spot on, Ken. These new versions of 90210 and Melrose Place are some of the worst shows TV has to offer. Both of those shows, along with Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill, are essentially the same show. Young, attractive white people hooking up, breaking up, and stabbing each other in the back. Yawn. TV has been there and done that. And done that much, much better. At least Life Unexpected is trying to be somewhat different.
woah woah woah. what’s this about gossip girl being poor in quality? while i’ll admit that it has taken a misstep every so often, [see: aaron rose, taylor momsen] it boasts the wonderfully written characters of blair, chuck, dorota, and lily.
I tend to agree with you though I don’t watch Smallville (Superman is my least favorite super hero ever) or Supernatural (I just didn’t find out about it until it was too far in). I do love Vampire Diaries and the CW (formerly WB) was home to my favorite show of all time Buffy the Vampire Slayer and another great sci fi series, Roswell. I will always love the network for creating those shows. However, The WB/CW is also the network that gave up on these amazing shows and disappointed so many fans. I am not surprised that the network refuses to be reliant on these types of shows as they have shown they do not have much faith in the staying power of the fantasy genre. However, One Tree Hill, with all of its flaws, is a show with a tremendous amount of heart, and I can’t disagree with some of the comments here more that it is empty and shallow. Can it be trashy? Absolutely! Is the acting mostly bad? Yep! Plots unbelievable? You betcha! Still there have been some great moments and dialogue on that show, and I wouldn’t rank it with Gossip Girl which is almost completely vapid and reliant on materialism and shock value. One Tree Hill may appear on the same night but at its core is a show about friendship, family, and love NOT about clothes, money, drugs, and sex. I hate to defend OTH because of the deterioration in quality but it holds a place in my heart so I must.
You think OTH has deteriorated in quality? I really have to disagree. The acting — particularly from the girls — has been better over the previous seasons since they ‘aged-up’ than it ever had before. I’m think Sophia Bush when Brooke was attacked, Hilarie Burton when Peyton found out her pregnancy might kill her, and Bethany Joy Galeotti most recently in the episode arc about Haley’s mother. I think the show continues to be really good, and were it not for the loss of Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton I really think it could’ve gone on a lot longer.
@Amy–get Supernatural on DVD, you won’t be disappointed! It’s great!
I’m CW’s target female demo and the only reason I watch the CW network is for Tom Welling. Watching bitchy girls doesn’t do it for me, Dawn! Tom does!! As importantly, I saw amen to Ken Tucker’s assessment. It is pretty moot for Smallville after (probably) season 10 coming our way. CW should have been developing shows like Smallville and Supernatural all along – inside of insulting us with the endless parade of TV sluttyannas. Smallville is finally coming into its own – think of what would it have been if CW had supported it – it’s most popular show – all along.
I’ll second your assessment of Tom Welling. He’s amazing.
The CW has been doing this for a while now. Remember when they were The WB and they decided to cancel a little show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A year later, they canceled Angel. Those were great shows, the type that would fit in with the cult faves like Supernatural and Smallville, but they canceled them because they didn’t fit with this certain image and demographic they wanted. Their loss.
Which was very stupid of them because Buffy and Angel were (and still are) awesome shows!! =)
Just an FYI, the WB did NOT cancel Buffy. Whedon justifiably felt that he should get more money to produce the show with. WB didn’t agree and Whedon shopped the show around with the end result being Buffy (along with Roswell) moved to UPN. Angel, now that really was cancelled because WB had a Dark Shadows pilot that they like more.
I have one thing to say… SUPERNATURAL ROCKS!!!!
Oh and I think that the CW should get rid of Melrose Place and all those other stupid high school dramarama shows. (Even though Melrose Place has ex-Supernatural star Katie Cassidy.)
your article is exactly my thoughts as i see the endless amount of commercials for gossip girl & 90210 during “smallville” every week – its nothing new for the cw network to promote nothing but those shows that one is watching (other than vampire diaries ratings wise) but really i think a slide toward more sci-fi/fantasy would be the way to go as evidenced by the vampire diaries ratings and how supernatural & smallville have continued to do even without proper advertising to help
Is Smallville honestly better than Gossip Girl? Maybe in its early days, but the stuff I’ve been hearing about recent seasons, I don’t think so. Supernatural, perhaps, as it does have a rabid fanbase and a self-aware humour unlike many of The CW’s other shows, but I am an admitted Gossip Girl fan and though it can be utterly silly and hasn’t been quite top notch this season, I’d much rather watch Blair Waldorf than Clark Kent.
Don’t comment if you do not know what you are talking about. Smallville is in the midst of a rebirth in quality while Gossip Girl seems to be going back to the well way to many times to the point where there are only drops left.
I’ve watched an episode of two of Smallville recently and it’s nothing like what got me initiated in the early days (I watched the first four seasons, but dropped off during the fifth because it was so dull). Maybe I’ve just caught the bad episodes, but regardless, this is my opinion and I’m entitled to it. It’s not baseless, although I suppose those who did stay loyal to Smallville all this time are finding something worthwhile now. Doesn’t mean The CW should ditch Gossip Girl and its knock-offs in favour of more True Blood wannabes.
It’s strange. I felt Smallvlle in it’s early days was truly for the teen demographic because of all the drama soap opera plots. It’s probably why you liked it so much.
This season though? Far from anything soap opera. It’s actually coming into it’s own and the plot itself is going somewhere. All the sub plots are a run off of the main plot which I completely love.
It is so much better than GG. This is coming from someone who actually watched GG in the past until it got completely redundant and quality was terrible.
So yeah, I totally disagree with what you said. GG is a horrible show as well as 90210 & Melrose place. I don’t watch OTH anymore, but from the clips I’ve seen, it still stays true to it’s ‘heart’ felt plots.
Yes I totally agree with you. I have seen a lot of types of series comedy(sit-coms) cop shows, sci-fic, etc but no one its as good as Supernatural, really that show is awesome.