Yes, but I don't think it was on purpose. Smallville lasted far longer, than anyone could've imagined. AlMiles left the show after seven seasons, after 152 episodes. These were unheard of numbers for a superhero show. Before Smallville, the longest was the old George Reeves series at 6 seasons and 104 episodes. More recent shows:
Wonder Woman: 3 seasons, 59 episodes.
The Incredible Hulk: 5 seasons, 82 episodes.
Superboy: 4 seasons, 100 episodes.
Lois & Clark: 4 seasons (almost got a fifth), 88 episodes.
If you had told them (or anyone else), in 2001, that the show would last a decade and consist of nearly 220 episodes, they would've laughed right in your face. At the most, they could hope for 4-5 seasons. But, the show kept getting renewed and renewed. No surprise, by the time they got to the 7th, they were out of ideas. They introduce Kara/Supergirl, only to quickly realize: "we have no idea what to do with her". AlMiles also seemed afraid of changing the status quo. They never wanted to get rid of Lex and Lana, even when the latter clearly had overstayed her welcome. Surely, both actors had announced their intent to leave the show, before S7 went into production. However, instead of writing them out, they started the whole Veritas mess with Lex and then have Lex exit as a cliffhanger (where he knows Clark's secret).
And that is what they left to the new management. Having missed the last five S7 episodes, Lana was going to be in five S8 episodes (leaving the conclusion of Clana to the new guys). The new guys also had to deal with the Lex cliffhanger and him knowing Clark's secret (they couldn't just sit there with the unresolved cliffhanger and hope MR would one day return (even if they had. The events of the finale would remain largely the same: he shows up for a few minutes and gets his whole memory erased by Tess, as Lex isn't supposed to know). And recasting seemed unthinkable). And had to live with the introduction of Kara, whom they didn't have any idea either what to do with (and since she's Supergirl, she can't develop her costumed identity before Clark).
It does seem like many of the bad things about S8-10 could've been avoided, had AlMiles made the right/better choices. If they would've had S3 been the exit for Lana (where she moved away to France), we wouldn't have had "Requiem". Had they simply have Lex move away to a private island or something in S7, we wouldn't have had him seemingly die in "Requiem", then brought back in the finale, only to have his whole memory wiped (so he won't know Clark's secret). Had they not introduced Kara, we wouldn't have had "Supergirl" (and Kara's bad departure in "Prophecy"). Even "Henry James Olsen" could've been avoided, by better choices from AlMiles (they could've introduced a different Superman character. Why not Steve Lombard or Ron Troupe (just to name two)?).
Wonder Woman: 3 seasons, 59 episodes.
The Incredible Hulk: 5 seasons, 82 episodes.
Superboy: 4 seasons, 100 episodes.
Lois & Clark: 4 seasons (almost got a fifth), 88 episodes.
If you had told them (or anyone else), in 2001, that the show would last a decade and consist of nearly 220 episodes, they would've laughed right in your face. At the most, they could hope for 4-5 seasons. But, the show kept getting renewed and renewed. No surprise, by the time they got to the 7th, they were out of ideas. They introduce Kara/Supergirl, only to quickly realize: "we have no idea what to do with her". AlMiles also seemed afraid of changing the status quo. They never wanted to get rid of Lex and Lana, even when the latter clearly had overstayed her welcome. Surely, both actors had announced their intent to leave the show, before S7 went into production. However, instead of writing them out, they started the whole Veritas mess with Lex and then have Lex exit as a cliffhanger (where he knows Clark's secret).
And that is what they left to the new management. Having missed the last five S7 episodes, Lana was going to be in five S8 episodes (leaving the conclusion of Clana to the new guys). The new guys also had to deal with the Lex cliffhanger and him knowing Clark's secret (they couldn't just sit there with the unresolved cliffhanger and hope MR would one day return (even if they had. The events of the finale would remain largely the same: he shows up for a few minutes and gets his whole memory erased by Tess, as Lex isn't supposed to know). And recasting seemed unthinkable). And had to live with the introduction of Kara, whom they didn't have any idea either what to do with (and since she's Supergirl, she can't develop her costumed identity before Clark).
It does seem like many of the bad things about S8-10 could've been avoided, had AlMiles made the right/better choices. If they would've had S3 been the exit for Lana (where she moved away to France), we wouldn't have had "Requiem". Had they simply have Lex move away to a private island or something in S7, we wouldn't have had him seemingly die in "Requiem", then brought back in the finale, only to have his whole memory wiped (so he won't know Clark's secret). Had they not introduced Kara, we wouldn't have had "Supergirl" (and Kara's bad departure in "Prophecy"). Even "Henry James Olsen" could've been avoided, by better choices from AlMiles (they could've introduced a different Superman character. Why not Steve Lombard or Ron Troupe (just to name two)?).
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