Reaper replacing Smallville? Mid season replacement? hiatus news?

[JAMHEXXX]

Cult drama Reaper has lived to a second season, The CW confirmed Monday.

Low-rated but critically acclaimed, the series had been expected to be axed but was thrown a lifeline as the network prepared to announce its 2008-09 lineup.

The show has been given a 13-episode pickup for midseason, most likely replacing Smallville to partner Supernatural on Thursday nights

[ClarkyBoy14]

I just read that on TFC (http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=7642). TFC is claiming after SV ends its run, but still, if it's at mid-season that probably means only 13 eps. for S8.

Frankly, that's idiotic, IMO. If the CW ends SV early for Reaper then I'm done with the net. :mad:

We should find out for sure tomorrow night when the CW makes its Upfront presentation.

God, I hope those reports are wrong.

[Este]

Early end for SV? Gosh, I hope not. This Clark is nowhere near where he should be. After years of Clana drama and BDA, I was hoping for one full season centered on Clark.

[Karafan1]

Smallville and WWE Smackdown are the only shows I watch on CW. Smackdown will leave CW in september and smallville ends next season so my days of watching CW will most likely be over in may 2009 unless for some dumb reason they cut smallville season 8 short just for that dumb show reaper

[AlwaysRight]

I am guessing that means no smallville repeats(instead we get new episodes of Reaper)

[Atomic girl]

It sounds like it will be a mid-season replacement. So they may show it instead of Smallville reruns. That's still a disappointment......I like Smallville reruns.......

edit: I apparently was composing this at the same time as the poster above me.....

[xrayvision]

Yeah, but 13 episodes is like 3 months. Is Smallville gonna take a 3 month break mid season? I doubt it. Seriously, out of all nights, why do they have to put it Thursday night? Are the other CW shows that successful that they can't be moved? Why not keep it on whatever night it's currently on?

If Smallville ends early, they will surely ruin any chances of other superhero spinoffs they may be planning. They probably already ruined with me since I won't be watching any more shows with such bad writing.

[Karafan1]

Yeah, but 13 episodes is like 3 months. Is Smallville gonna take a 3 month break mid season? I doubt it. Seriously, out of all nights, why do they have to put it Thursday night? Are the other CW shows that successful that they can't be moved? Why not keep it on whatever night it's currently on?

If Smallville ends early, they will surely ruin any chances of other superhero spinoffs they may be planning. They probably already ruined with me since I won't be watching any more shows with such bad writing.

They'll totally ruin the show if they end it early..7 full seasons and only half the number of episodes for the last season?? That's just stupid

[jessef13]

midseason replacement and the possible pairing on thursday nights doesn't quite mean an early end to smallville though. Theyd shown Reaper in place of smallville reruns a few times this season. I'm thinking that in those showings, Reaper probably got a small significant boost in ratings to save its life for a 2nd season, and in case any of their new shows get the axe, bring Reaper into place with Supernatural on Thursdays, and than move Smallville to a different night. I'm thinkin we've jumped the gun a little early on thinking it means Smallville will only have half a season, because if they were only to have half a season I'm thinking it probably would hav been easier to bring back MR, and that there really wouldn't be no point in a new villain for a short season...because come on? They're going to develop Doomsday in half a season and have him and Clark battle so quick? I really doubt that. I'm thinking the plan is, if another new show gets axed, which, come on, this is the cw so you know something will, Reaper comes into play on Thursdays, and Smallville gets a new night. Which kinda would suck, because even though Reaper and Supernatural fit better together, I watch Supernatural too, and its nice having them back to back. Though I guess I'd be able to watch The Office more! I love The Office, but can't bring myself to miss Smallville to watch it, so I wait for the dvds.

[xrayvision]

Why move Smallville to a different night? It's ratings are much higher than Reaper's. Can Reaper compete with other Thursday night shows in the 8PM slot?

[bizzaroboy9]

god, i hope not, maybe smallville is moving to friday night which is less competitive...

[Karafan1]

They've moved smallville before so they might do it again

[minerva73]

Hopefully this isn't true. They can't just clear up Tuesday nights since Beauty and the Geek will end soon anyways? Or wait until Reaper gets a Season 3, so that Smallville will be done?


god, i hope not, maybe smallville is moving to friday night which is less competitive...

Even though it's less competitive, it's the start of the weekend and most people end up going out on Friday nights, so they'd end up missing the new episode. :(

[xrayvision]

Yeah, they moved it twice. Smallville was first on Tuesday nights when I started watching and was moved to Wednesdays in season 3 and remained there for season 4. I think Reaper will get killed in Smallville's slot. Supernatural deserves that slot once Smallville is done.

----- Added 1 Minutes later -----


Hopefully this isn't true. They can't just clear up Tuesday nights since Beauty and the Geek will end soon anyways? Or wait until Reaper gets a Season 3, so that Smallville will be done?



Even though it's less competitive, it's the start of the weekend and most people end up going out on Friday nights, so they'd end up missing the new episode. :(

The Friday night slots are called the slots of doom for that reason.

[4Clana]

I don't think it means a shortened season 8, I think it just means there is no season 9, which we already know. They'll use Reaper instead of Smallville repeats to help build up Reaper's ratings, so that it can take Smallville's place after season8.

see:

http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/sepinwall/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/12106533067840.xml&coll=1
The CW: The network has already subcontracted out its Sunday night schedule to an independent company, leaving them only five nights a week to program. That's bad news for any comedies on the bubble ("Aliens in America" is reportedly kaput already). "Reaper" looked like it might be a victim of the network's sudden glut of teen soaps ("Gossip Girl," a "Beverly Hills 90210" remake), but it could survive as part of a Thursday sci-fi rotation with "Smallville" and "Supernatural."

http://blog.nj.com/alltv/2008/05/reaper_greg_schmeg_play_your_c.html
The upswing continues, and I may have been premature in throwing dirt on the show's renewal chances last week. Now it looks like the CW might renew it to be part of a minimal repeats Thursday skiffy rotation with "Supernatural" and the final season of "Smallville."

http://tv.ign.com/articles/871/871649p1.html
While Reaper's ratings are very low, it has two positive things going for it – With Smallville almost certainly ending after next season, Reaper is positioned as a good possibility to be paired with Supernatural on Thursday nights, if the show's audience can be expanded.

[curiosity]

That's crazy. Won't people think Smallville's no longer on if another show airs in it's spot, even if it's just to replace reruns?

I don't think they should be replacing Smallville reruns with anything.

[ClarkyBoy14]

Here's some clearer information from Sitcoms Online.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=225052

Still don't think it's smart to take SV off for 13 weeks.

[skully]

Do these fool network Execs have a deathwish towards SV??

[you_smell_terrific]

Good god, what the hell.

[LoveHurts38]

I don't even like Reaper.

[6-Super-Man -5]

It saddens me, one of my favorite show is replacing my all-time favorite show, looks like there is no more hope for me, SV should get at least a full season, are they (CW) crazy?

[mistaguitarmasta]

I hope to God we're interpreting this wrong. Maybe they're just moving SV to a different night mid-season in hopes of tricking SV viewers into watching Reaper? I'd love it if they would show all of S8 without any hiatuses or other gaps. If they did that, starting in late September, they would reach episode 22 by mid-February. That would leave them time to show 13 episodes of Reaper, ending in May. But I highly doubt they'll do that, as much as I'd like them to. Not because I want Reaper. I've never watched it and don't intend to start. But I'm just so tired of waiting a month for an episode, as we had to do so many times this season due to the WGA strike.

[sherban1988]

Oh ****. I foresee another "O.C." disaster.
If they cut SV short, this season is going to be so rushed...

[jimmyolsenblues]

smallville is the on show on the cw I watch. so after season 8 , I doubt I will be dvring anything on cw.
House, CSI, Lost, Heroes, Rescue Me, NipTuck, Terminator SCC, The Shield, Doctor Who, Southpark, Robot Chicken, and smallville currently max out my dvr hard drive.

[Dor el]

SV is the ONLY show I watch on CW.

[morrigan01]

To me, this also sounds like a contingency plan in case the SAG strike goes on longer than the WGA strike did. Smallville was only able to get 15 episodes done before the strike hit, and the SAG strike is set to start at the end of June IIRC (thought it could be mid-July, I'm not sure).

If Smallville resumes production this month, they'll barely get 13 episodes done before the strike starts. Meaning, they wont have many episodes to re-run anyway. Especially if production doesn't resume until fall.

(For those who don't know, a normal 22 episode season begins filming in late June and ends around the beginning of April. But because of the writer's strike, a lot of tv productions are going back to work in May this year to make up for it as well as a way to get some production done before the actors strike).

[Dor el]

Oh no!! Another strike? People have been so disgruntled with the WGA strike that it seems many viewers just went out and found something else to do. If the entertainment folks keep on striking, it seems very plausible that people will grow tired of feeing like they are being abused and do something other than watch tv. I know that I lost interest in most every other tv program during the last strike. Except for SV that is. Seems like TPTB at SV had a better contingency plan than did most of the "major network program PTBs". Tennis anyone?

[6-Super-Man -5]

Unless they move Smallville to a new day, or Smallville goes on a long hiatus.

[stenochick]

Supposedly CW is supposed to announce the schedule today, Tuesday, May 13. Does anyone know when? Or have they already done so and we are not going to get any more detail on when Reaper and Smallville will be on? I am dying to know if Smallville will get less than 22 episodes for season 8.

[Atomic girl]

I'm quoting myself because I kind of gave my take in another thread....


There's only 52 weeks in a year. 22 of those would be for Smallville, then instead of repeats after the show's finale, they will air Reaper to try to lure some of us to watch that....so 22 + 13 = 35, which gives us 52 - 35 = 17 weeks of possible repeats.....

I hope that helps....they could just do the 13 weeks in the summer, since they aren't trying to keep an audience in place for Smallville anymore after that. If they started in May, then they have plenty of time to show all 13 episodes before the traditional season begins.And not showing the finale and the shows leading into it in reruns should help DVD sales.....

[Bulleteer]

It is possible though that they might start up filming again much sooner (in May for example) than normal, with all the hard work they are putting into finishing the big city set outside the studios. They are still working on it as we speak.

[Este]

Here's some clearer information from Sitcoms Online.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=225052

Still don't think it's smart to take SV off for 13 weeks.

LOL. I see it from here. Doomsday kills Clark in the mid-season cliffhanger and the show goes on hiatus for 13 weeks.:rotfl:

Then something comes up and Smallville doesn't return. :lol:

[stenochick]

LOL. I see it from here. Doomsday kills Clark in the mid-season cliffhanger and the show goes on hiatus for 13 weeks.:rotfl:

Then something comes up and Smallville doesn't return. :lol:

Yeah. I think that was Al/Miles plan for ending the series all along. Doomsday kills everyone who knows Clark's secret, too.

[Karafan1]

13 week hiatus is way to long...The usual breaks in the winter are way to long and that's just maybe a month

[ClarkyBoy14]

Supposedly CW is supposed to announce the schedule today, Tuesday, May 13. Does anyone know when? Or have they already done so and we are not going to get any more detail on when Reaper and Smallville will be on? I am dying to know if Smallville will get less than 22 episodes for season 8.

Sometime this evening. Might be going on right now.

[triplet]

To me, this also sounds like a contingency plan in case the SAG strike goes on longer than the WGA strike did. Smallville was only able to get 15 episodes done before the strike hit, and the SAG strike is set to start at the end of June IIRC (thought it could be mid-July, I'm not sure).

If Smallville resumes production this month, they'll barely get 13 episodes done before the strike starts. Meaning, they wont have many episodes to re-run anyway. Especially if production doesn't resume until fall.

(For those who don't know, a normal 22 episode season begins filming in late June and ends around the beginning of April. But because of the writer's strike, a lot of tv productions are going back to work in May this year to make up for it as well as a way to get some production done before the actors strike).

Actually, they shoot starting in July, not June.

The actors may strike starting before then (their contract expires on June 30th) so they wouldn't be able to film any before the strike might start...

[Dor el]

Great!:rolleyes:

[Este]

Yeah. I think that was Al/Miles plan for ending the series all along. Doomsday kills everyone who knows Clark's secret, too.

Reinterpreting the Superman mythology from its roots : Smallville - the rise of the villain and the death of the hero. As developped for television by Bizarro (Gough) and Brainiac (Millar). :D

[ClarkKent30]

You have to be kidding me, that smoldering pile of crap known as Reaper ( yes its funny sometimes if you have nothing left to watch) is going to be offered up as an alternative to Smallville??

Imagine for a second if NBC decided to pick up Smallville, give it the money it needed. CW seems to hire people on Welfare and Simian creatures to do their decision making.

[RedKRules]

I don't even like Reaper.

Second that

[Spirit Detective]

If they are taking Smallville off for 13 weeks, we better get 24 episodes.

[ClarkyBoy14]

Second that

The pilot was amazing, but after that it became horrible.

And according to Dawn, she's going to try to turn it into more of a romantic comedy. So even more reason to avoid it.

[Karafan1]

Holy crap! No way will I watch a romantic comedy!

[maryjanewatson]

To replace Smallville with reaper is such an insult to Smallville. That show is a steaming pile of crap.

[triplet]

Actually, Dawn Ostroff clarified this... the show got a full season order and reaper won't necessarily be on Thursdays.

The thinking I think is that Reaper will only replace Smallville when it would normally be on hiatus... So, they won't have as many repeats for the show since new Reaper episodes will air instead.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3if3fffea889ebf866dfcefe41059097cf

Oh, and she's not counting out another season for Smallville...

I think she's dreaming there. They somehow convinced Tom to sign for 8, I wouldn't count on him signing for another.

[you_smell_terrific]

http://www.kryptonsite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3786747#post3786747

Check that thread for news on the reaper/season 8 situation.

----- Added 46 Seconds later -----

bah! I posted before I saw your post LOL

[stenochick]

Has there been any more news on the mid-season break between Bride and Legion? It is only two episodes away. Will they really take 13 weeks off to show the new mini-season of Reaper? I know that are taking a break but I am really hoping it is not that long. That would be more tortorous than the wait between season 7 and season 8!

[DontCha]

they'd be a bit stupid to. Smallville is suddenly on the rise for the CW..its doing well and is being noticed again.

To stop it mid season would be a huge mistake IMO.

if this new show is crap then they bring back Smallville people may have lost interest in it by that point and the ratings will drop.

[Demien]

OMG!!!they cant make that much break......it will be big MISTAKE!!!

[stenochick]

I don't think it will be a full 13 weeks to show the full season of Reaper, but we have not heard anything definitive. They may be planning on airing Reaper on a different night, but again, I have not heard anything and since it is just around the corner, wanted to see if anyone knew anything that was not rumor.

[Demien]

yes i hope that it was juast a rumor or i'll die

[bizzaroboy9]

maybe they will use reaper to replace priveleged