Oracle's Ratings

[Fly by guy]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SmallvilleMan
[B]Rebounds don't last for months and they sure as heck don't last for years. That's why they're rebounds, they don't mean anything and certainly don't last long.

Sorry to disagree. I know of rebounds that ended in marriages that lasted over 10 years because neither side would admit the obvious mistake. People can be married and still not have much of a life together.

Back to the Oracle ratings. Just plain awful. All the regular viewers knew it was the lead-in for the finale and yet the ratings are down 2 million from Cyborg. Heavy mythos and stars usually bring in the ratings, Aqua and Solitude too, but James has been so misused, under promoted with slow methodical air time.
Let the stories flow, open up some kickass for those fans, let all the characters explode on the screen instead of riding the walking escalator.

Kill Lexana, dump Choe's super hacker powers, make Lionel the MB he has always been and make the scenes between Clark and Lex be more powerful, not high school poorboy babies that we keep seeing. Is Lex evil? Can Clark do anything himself? Did Lana have a labotomy?
Qestions that should have been answered in time to save the season, but it's the two minute warning and the coaches haven't come out of the locker room since half time. A golden opportunity this season to score and the quarterback got sacked, again.
I thought last season was frustrating, this tops it easily.

[xrayvision]

I think this season has been much more watchable than last season. Last season was ridiculously filled with 'ships. This season started off well, then tanked, but still wasn't nearly as bad. I could have done without Aqua (more of a ship episode than 1 dealing with a future superhero), Tomb, and Fragile. I liked Fanatic & Lockdown. The best ones were Arrival, Mortal, Hidden, Splinter, Solitude (my favorite), Cyborg, Mercy, and Oracle (so far). I also liked Void, Fade, and Lexmas. Thirst wasn't that bad as a filler, Exposed could have been much better (Wopat was underused). Vengeance could have been much stronger. Hypnotic was good for me since it ended something that we all knew would never be, and something that was really holding the show back. Reckoning was an exciting episode, but had bad results with the death of Jonathan Kent, a character many loved and didn't like seeing killed off. The problem with the episode was that they had the 1st half. As nice as it was to see Clark tell Lana the secret, it should have never happened like that since it wasn't meant to be, and it just pissed off fans even more when they went back to her not being told again. That was just stupid.

But I could watch S5 all over again much easier than I could ever watch S4. Episodes like Ageless, Recruit, Krypto, Lucy, Facade, Gone, and more were just bad and didn't do anything for the show.

[canon]

Originally posted by xrayvision
But I could watch S5 all over again much easier than I could ever watch S4. Episodes like Ageless, Recruit, Krypto, Lucy, Facade, Gone, and more were just bad and didn't do anything for the show.

Yeah I agree. Season 5 for me was great too. Enjoyed all the episodes except for Tomb, Thirst, Hypnotic. Hypnotic was just sleazy storyline for me even though I was glad it finally ended the relationship for good (that is if the writers really mean it).

[dhacker615]

Originally posted by xrayvision
But I could watch S5 all over again much easier than I could ever watch S4. Episodes like Ageless, Recruit, Krypto, Lucy, Facade, Gone, and more were just bad and didn't do anything for the show.

There wasn't anything nearly as bad as 'Ageless', but there wasn't anything nearly as good as 'Crusade' either. I'd take the Top 5 episodes from S4 over the Top 5 from S5. However, I would take a random episode from S5 over a random episode from S4 any day. As bad as it has gotten at times, TPTB have made some strides forward on issues, like continuity and slowly bringing in key elements from the Superman mythos.

Here were the lowlights:
- Hypnotic. Just a slap in the face.
- Fanatic. Interesting premise with a poor execution (i.e. Lois is suddenly a Campaign Manager ???)
- Fragile. The worst FOTW story of the season. More absurd Lois-related stuff. TW had a hard time directing himself.

[CK&CK]

Originally posted by Old Juan
But Lois isn't like Chloe.

Thanks Old Juan......you made me realize that I didn't really explain this well. But then again.....I never said that they were twins. To me....they are the cousins who are really sisters....and they do have moments where they are very much alike (the ones that pop to mind at the moment are the scenes where they're munching on cereal in the dorm, finishing the same deductive sentence "exactly" [from...."Devoted"], or flashing that Journalistic/Investigative side ("Exposed"and "Facade" for example). Although, Lois' skills tend to be buried a litte deep inside her at the moment. But as people go, they are both sweet, caring, and emotional deep down.....Lois' side of this isn't actually buried that deep......it's just her loud side tends to hide it a lot.

I also think I may have been thinking of Chloe in terms of being a lot of what Lois Lane will eventually become. Of course, and despite the fact that they are family, the two main differences (that I see) between the two are that Chloe is more the Deductive/Detective/Reporter orientated type of girl....where as Lois, at the moment, is more the Abrasive.....jump into the thick of things before she looks... type of girl..... at the moment.....ahhh, whom am I kidding....she'll always be jumping into the thick of things.......So just like Chloe insinuated in "Pariah".....LOIS IS NOT SUBTLE. I can see why she will need saving a lot by Supey in the future. Yeah, this side of Lois will logically be her strength and yet weakness at the same time. But the plus side is that it will give Supey a lot to do.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Fly by guy
[B]

Originally posted by SmallvilleMan
Rebounds don't last for months and they sure as heck don't last for years. That's why they're rebounds, they don't mean anything and certainly don't last long.

Sorry to disagree. I know of rebounds that ended in marriages that lasted over 10 years because neither side would admit the obvious mistake. People can be married and still not have much of a life together.

I've seen what you say....and I've seen the opposite (people happily in love).....so it only proves to me that anything is possible as far as rebounds go.......but I still would prefer it to be a slow developing process between Chloe & Clark.....the slower it proceeds....the less of a "rebound" debate it will become. After all, if we think about it......Clark couldn't stand Lois for most of seasons 4 & 5....but we all know how that will turn out. As in life.....things change.....( Clark will always care about Lana...especially on this show).....but things do and will change. If some fans prefer for it not to happen....that's cool......but I don't think it's a good idea for anyone to assume that it will automatically be a rebound.....otherwise.....technically and years into the future....Lois is simply a rebound to.


As far as the ratings, why does everyone talk like 6 million is the norm......like as soon as the show hits 6.2 or 6.4 million it's got to stay there or the ratings are going bad. There's really a lot of things to consider as far as the ratings.....but firstly....I don't judge it by 6 million. It's like running the 100 yard dash and expecting to do your "All Time Best" or better every single time. It's just not realistic. For some reason (and this is not scientific) I keep thinking that anything around or near 5 million is great. I do think that some people did jump ship because the Smallville Love Boat sailed against their wishes. I also find it interesting that the more (Hero/Mythos) based episodes are what push Smallville over 6 million. It's also funny that for the most part (from Ratings in millions from "Devoted to Smallville" site)...the up/down "pattern" for the ratings from episode to episode as compared to last year.....seems to be about the same (with the exception of a few key episodes like the 100th episode).

[Fly by guy]

^^^^^
And last years numbers were DOWN!! That is why everyone was so excited early on that numbers were back up.
To see how far they have fallen. Compare Rossetta 7.8 million(#17 episode) to season 4 (#17) Onyx 3.9 million, and then season 5 (#17) Void 4.2 million. The .3 raise from seaon 4 to 5 is nothing but the fall of nearly 4 million is huge. Of course, Rosetta was a landmark episode, but what about Slumber 6.9 season 3 highest episode?Season 4 highest Devoted 6.2, Season 5 so far Aqua 6.4.

So if Aqua, Reckoning, and Cyborg can get over the 6 million hump, why do they have so many episodes in the last half of season 5 in the low 4 million range?
Hypnotic, Fragile, Mercy, and Fade had NOTHING going for them to bring back fans after Reckoning. Oracle as the Vessel leadin should have done in the mid to high five million range.
If Vessel doesn't break the 6.0 number, it bodes poorly for hope that SV fans can expect next season to recapture those fans lost AGAIN with absolutely no excuse but writing that couldn't care less about the characters or fans.

[dhacker615]

Originally posted by Fly by guy
^^^^^
And last years numbers were DOWN!! That is why everyone was so excited early on that numbers were back up.
To see how far they have fallen. Compare Rossetta 7.8 million(#17 episode) to season 4 (#17) Onyx 3.9 million, and then season 5 (#17) Void 4.2 million. The .3 raise from seaon 4 to 5 is nothing but the fall of nearly 4 million is huge. Of course, Rosetta was a landmark episode, but what about Slumber 6.9 season 3 highest episode?

I think "Slumber" is a telling example of why the ratings fall has happened, actually.

It was the fourth episode of season 3 and the first three had all been pretty good (Exile, Phoenix and Extinction). Clark and Lana had finally gotten together at the end of Season 2. Clark broke up with her in 'Phoenix' in an attempt to keep her safe, but everyone knew that it wouldn't last. The episode was heavily promoted with one of the series iconic images, Lana and Clark skinny-dipping in the lake. The ads also implied that maybe there was some kind of X-Files style menace related to the lake.

Sure enough, the episode opened with a great flirty scene at the lake, but then the problems started. You see, the big scene in the lake never really happened .... it was all a dream.

It would've been annoying had it happened just once, but it happened over and over in Season 3. Lex saw Clark use his powers, but in the next episode he had his memory erased, etc. TPTB looked at the slide in the ratings from Season 2 to Season 3 and drew the conclusion that the tone was too dark, but I think it was that fans of the show felt robbed by tuning in to episodes that they thought were going to change the status quo (and in the case of 'Slumber' only slightly), but were really fake-outs.

Season 4 highest Devoted 6.2, Season 5 so far Aqua 6.4.

Devoted followed 'Crusade' and 'Gone', which were exciting episodes. The trailer was a little more honest by making the K-torade part of the promo, but it also featured Chloe wearing nothing but Clark's football jersey in the loft. There was an implication that something was going to happen between them. That might be a hint of where TPTB might want to go to get fan interest going again.

'Aqua' was promoted with a lot of skin from ED and the promise of a very bad Lex. Again, the promise of a sexy episode was the big draw for the season.

Clearly, this isn't rocket science.

Viewers want the ships to focus on the pretty cast members in sexy scenes. They don't want anyone's memory erased, nor any dreams, nor anyone travelling through time to undo anything that just happened. Oh ... and I'm just guessing that a little better continuity would be welcome. Heck, refering to events and returning characters from earlier seasons might even spur DVD sales.

The good news is that none of this is very hard to fix.