Post by sefi on May 20, 2006 6:13:38 GMT -5
from here.
The season finale of "Smallville" last week ended with Clark Kent and his compatriots in dire circumstances. Lois Lane and Clark's mother had been kidnapped by the archvillain Brainiac; his friend Chloe was surrounded by a mob; and Clark himself was zapped into a space purgatory called the Phantom Zone. Meanwhile, Clark's enemy Lex Luthor and Clark's bitter ex-girlfriend, Lana Lang, calmly watched Metropolis consume itself in rioting and fiery chaos.
Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, the "Smallville" creators and executive producers, say they have no idea how they will resolve these problems when Season 6 begins in the fall. In an interview in Los Angeles Mr. Millar — British and tempered in speech — grimaced and said, "Getting out of the finales is always tricky." Mr. Gough, the more exuberant of the two, laughed and said, "We always go, 'Well, that's a problem for June.' "
A year ago Mr. Millar and Mr. Gough did not think that conceiving a sixth season of their young Superman series was a problem they would face. When WB announced its fall schedule in May 2005, "Smallville" had been moved from Wednesdays at 8 p.m., Eastern and Pacific times and 7 p.m., Central time, to Thursdays at the same hour. As far as the producers were concerned, the move was a death sentence for the show.
Mr. Gough said, "Looking at what we were up against on that night — 'The O.C.' and 'Alias' and 'Survivor' — it was like, 'Oh, my God.' "
But rather than being crushed by those three shows, which directly compete for a similar group of young adult viewers, "Smallville" experienced a resurgence. For the season it was No. 1 in its time period among men 18 to 34, a hard-to-reach audience that would often rather play video games than watch television. (Over all it averaged 5.3 million viewers for new episodes, a slight increase over last year.) In the middle of the season Fox moved the "O.C." time slot back an hour; ABC's "Alias" moved to Wednesdays.
When the sixth season of "Smallville" begins in September, it will be on the new CW network, created by the merger of UPN and WB. Laura Caraccioli-Davis, executive vice president of Starcom Entertainment, who advises companies on product placement, said "Smallville" was one of CW's most valuable shows.
"To get young men to the screen, it takes a lot," she said. As for why "Smallville" experienced a ratings renaissance and caused its competitors to move, she said: "You just go back to the tortoise and the hare story. It's been a really strong, solid property that had good characters, good narrative."
Dawn Ostroff is now the president of entertainment at CW and held the same position at UPN. On Thursday at the fledgling network's first "upfront" presentation to advertisers, she announced the schedule, and "Smallville" is to stay on Thursdays at 8 p.m. In a telephone interview Ms. Ostroff said, "It would be hard to mess with that success." She added: "Creatively, the show had one of its strongest seasons. There's nothing better than word of mouth and the buzz factor for our young audience."
Looking back on the past season, Mr. Gough called the assumption that "Smallville" would soon be canceled "freeing."
He said: "We figured: 'We have nothing to lose. We have these arrows in our quiver. What are we waiting for?' "
Mr. Millar said that other strictures were lifted in Season 5 because the characters were older. DC Comics, the publisher of the "Superman" comics, is old-fashioned, and Clark's sex life on "Smallville" had been quite restricted. "We waited five years for him to lose his virginity," Mr. Millar said. "Most shows do it in Episode 12."
Mr. Gough added: "How many shows have to wait five seasons before they can play their key love triangle, which is Clark, Lana and Lex? We had to wait, quite frankly, until everybody was legal."
In writing Superman's back story, they had always been miserly in introducing the significant landmarks of Clark's evolution as a superhero. Last summer Mr. Millar and Mr. Gough flew to Australia to meet with Bryan Singer, the film director, on the set of his "Superman Returns," which is to be released next month. "What we were trying to avoid were egregious mythology clashes," Mr. Gough said.
With Mr. Singer's blessing, over the course of the season they wrote milestones that would be familiar even to casual fans of Superman. The Daily Planet newspaper became Clark's home base; Jonathan Kent, his adoptive father, died; and Clark began visiting the Fortress of Solitude, the ornamental ice structure where he can communicate with the spirit of Jor-El, his Kryptonian biological father.
An October episode introduced the character Aquaman, and was the season's most-watched episode, with 6.4 million viewers. It was meant to be a one-off goof on the HBO comedy "Entourage," in which the lead character got the part of a superhero swimmer in a movie called "Aquaman." But because the ratings were so high, Mr. Gough and Mr. Millar quickly developed an Aquaman series idea for WB.
When the announcement of the creation of CW was made in January, Mr. Gough said, "It was like switching schools in the middle of the school year." The "Aquaman" pilot production continued, but it was not on the schedule that Ms. Ostroff announced on Thursday. (CW picked up only three new series for next season, which were all under development under Ms. Ostroff at UPN.)
Mr. Millar and Mr. Gough said they thought "Smallville" would run for two more years — if it continues to do well — as the actors are signed through seven seasons. Mr. Gough said, "After that is when 'Smallville' and 'Superman' will sync up."
And how will it end? "Badly!" Mr. Gough said cheerfully. "It's a tragedy — he doesn't end up with Lana, and he and Lex are mortal enemies. How is that good?"
****
I bolded what I thought was interesting and important. It's really interesting how the people up top see their show.
The season finale of "Smallville" last week ended with Clark Kent and his compatriots in dire circumstances. Lois Lane and Clark's mother had been kidnapped by the archvillain Brainiac; his friend Chloe was surrounded by a mob; and Clark himself was zapped into a space purgatory called the Phantom Zone. Meanwhile, Clark's enemy Lex Luthor and Clark's bitter ex-girlfriend, Lana Lang, calmly watched Metropolis consume itself in rioting and fiery chaos.
Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, the "Smallville" creators and executive producers, say they have no idea how they will resolve these problems when Season 6 begins in the fall. In an interview in Los Angeles Mr. Millar — British and tempered in speech — grimaced and said, "Getting out of the finales is always tricky." Mr. Gough, the more exuberant of the two, laughed and said, "We always go, 'Well, that's a problem for June.' "
A year ago Mr. Millar and Mr. Gough did not think that conceiving a sixth season of their young Superman series was a problem they would face. When WB announced its fall schedule in May 2005, "Smallville" had been moved from Wednesdays at 8 p.m., Eastern and Pacific times and 7 p.m., Central time, to Thursdays at the same hour. As far as the producers were concerned, the move was a death sentence for the show.
Mr. Gough said, "Looking at what we were up against on that night — 'The O.C.' and 'Alias' and 'Survivor' — it was like, 'Oh, my God.' "
But rather than being crushed by those three shows, which directly compete for a similar group of young adult viewers, "Smallville" experienced a resurgence. For the season it was No. 1 in its time period among men 18 to 34, a hard-to-reach audience that would often rather play video games than watch television. (Over all it averaged 5.3 million viewers for new episodes, a slight increase over last year.) In the middle of the season Fox moved the "O.C." time slot back an hour; ABC's "Alias" moved to Wednesdays.
When the sixth season of "Smallville" begins in September, it will be on the new CW network, created by the merger of UPN and WB. Laura Caraccioli-Davis, executive vice president of Starcom Entertainment, who advises companies on product placement, said "Smallville" was one of CW's most valuable shows.
"To get young men to the screen, it takes a lot," she said. As for why "Smallville" experienced a ratings renaissance and caused its competitors to move, she said: "You just go back to the tortoise and the hare story. It's been a really strong, solid property that had good characters, good narrative."
Dawn Ostroff is now the president of entertainment at CW and held the same position at UPN. On Thursday at the fledgling network's first "upfront" presentation to advertisers, she announced the schedule, and "Smallville" is to stay on Thursdays at 8 p.m. In a telephone interview Ms. Ostroff said, "It would be hard to mess with that success." She added: "Creatively, the show had one of its strongest seasons. There's nothing better than word of mouth and the buzz factor for our young audience."
Looking back on the past season, Mr. Gough called the assumption that "Smallville" would soon be canceled "freeing."
He said: "We figured: 'We have nothing to lose. We have these arrows in our quiver. What are we waiting for?' "
Mr. Millar said that other strictures were lifted in Season 5 because the characters were older. DC Comics, the publisher of the "Superman" comics, is old-fashioned, and Clark's sex life on "Smallville" had been quite restricted. "We waited five years for him to lose his virginity," Mr. Millar said. "Most shows do it in Episode 12."
Mr. Gough added: "How many shows have to wait five seasons before they can play their key love triangle, which is Clark, Lana and Lex? We had to wait, quite frankly, until everybody was legal."
In writing Superman's back story, they had always been miserly in introducing the significant landmarks of Clark's evolution as a superhero. Last summer Mr. Millar and Mr. Gough flew to Australia to meet with Bryan Singer, the film director, on the set of his "Superman Returns," which is to be released next month. "What we were trying to avoid were egregious mythology clashes," Mr. Gough said.
With Mr. Singer's blessing, over the course of the season they wrote milestones that would be familiar even to casual fans of Superman. The Daily Planet newspaper became Clark's home base; Jonathan Kent, his adoptive father, died; and Clark began visiting the Fortress of Solitude, the ornamental ice structure where he can communicate with the spirit of Jor-El, his Kryptonian biological father.
An October episode introduced the character Aquaman, and was the season's most-watched episode, with 6.4 million viewers. It was meant to be a one-off goof on the HBO comedy "Entourage," in which the lead character got the part of a superhero swimmer in a movie called "Aquaman." But because the ratings were so high, Mr. Gough and Mr. Millar quickly developed an Aquaman series idea for WB.
When the announcement of the creation of CW was made in January, Mr. Gough said, "It was like switching schools in the middle of the school year." The "Aquaman" pilot production continued, but it was not on the schedule that Ms. Ostroff announced on Thursday. (CW picked up only three new series for next season, which were all under development under Ms. Ostroff at UPN.)
Mr. Millar and Mr. Gough said they thought "Smallville" would run for two more years — if it continues to do well — as the actors are signed through seven seasons. Mr. Gough said, "After that is when 'Smallville' and 'Superman' will sync up."
And how will it end? "Badly!" Mr. Gough said cheerfully. "It's a tragedy — he doesn't end up with Lana, and he and Lex are mortal enemies. How is that good?"
****
I bolded what I thought was interesting and important. It's really interesting how the people up top see their show.
