Michael Rosenbaum talks about why he decided to walk away from Smallville

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Originally published at: Michael Rosenbaum talks about why he decided to walk away from Smallville | Boing Boing

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I always thought the show itself was a terribly gutless portrayal of Superman, kind of a mix between the network execs wanting to create/cash in on part of the Superman phenomenon without, you know, actually doing a superhero show with all the weird visuals and expensive costumes and effects that might make advertisers shy. Like Gotham after it, it was a soap opera about the possibility of a superhero without having to actually do a superhero show. And having Lex Luthor go to the same high school as Clark in Smallville was just a lazy way to include a villain in the show; it makes Lex look pretty dumb if he never recognizes Superman as Clark once he grows up. I think the recent Supergirl show was a much more successful adaptation of comic book adventures and enjoyed Superman’s appearances there. But I also know people who quite enjoyed Smallville, I’m just not among them.

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minor nitpick. lex was older, and never went to smallville high. lionel moved the family there because that’s where the meteor shower happened ( and, retroactively included, where all the earlier kryptonian visits happened; hence all the hieroglyphs, hence lionel, christopher reeves, et al, waiting for the visitor to appear. )

you have to enjoy the teen drama part; which has a limited age range of viability i think. ( eta: also, it’s an extremely white show. they never did any of the very few actors and characters of color any justice. it can make watching it seem very… off. )

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I can deal with it if not every character is, or acts like, a teenager … which means I can watch some CW shows but not others :grimacing:

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i was really enjoying the new cw superman for that reason. it seemed to give a good mix of the teens and the adults, and the bizzaro story was pretty good.

after they cancelled supergirl, batwoman, and legends ( why!? ) - cw kind of fell off my radar. i keep meaning to see if there’s a new season…

( one of my minor gripes was supes muscle suit. the man doesn’t need fake abs. he’s unreasonably strong, and can fly. it’s fine. )

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The show went 4-5 seasons too long. But it had some bright spots:

  1. It was a dry run for the Berlantiverse for introducing DC characters on a minor network live action budget.
  2. Erica Durance is still one of my favorite Lois Lanes.
  3. Some inspired stunt casting for the adults. Especially Annette OToole, Mike McKean and Bo Duke.
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I love the lived in relationship of the Kent Family. Clark and Lois act like a couple who have been together a while. The siblings don’t have a ridiculous level of soap opera drama between them.

Plus the “found family” part in every CW superhero show has been an endearing way to add B-plots.

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for your trivia of the day: wikipedia tells me michael mckean and annette o’toole are married irl, and remined me that o’toole was lana lang in another life.

( john glover could eat scenery for breakfast and still be hungry for more. he was a great, completely over the top villainous father figure )

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As others have pointed out in the show Lex was older but in the comics, depending on the continuity, Lex did grow up in Smallville with Clark and Superboy accidentally caused Lex’s hair to fall out which is what started Lex hating Superboy/man.

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