See, now this description of Clark & The Fortress? That would actually interest me, and the way you describe it makes me think "so there was something worthwhile in there after all". Why on earth didn't they promote THAT?
Instead it was promoted as "oh noes! Chloe lost her memory!" Results? It BOMBED. Bloodline's rating ~ 4.5 million viewers, season high, highest in nearly a year. And that was with ZERO viewers from the Denver CW affiliate preempted for football (viewers of the football game in Denver - 351,000). Abyss's rating ~ 3.6 million viewers, season low by a mile, lowest ratings since...oh what a coincidence, Sleeper. Yes, that was with ZERO viewers from the New York CW affiliate preempted for football (viewers of game in NY - 824,000). Even if Smallville got half that audience normally and you counted them? 3.968 million, still under 4 million for the first time all season and still the worst ratings all season. Even when you counted all the football viewers to skew it? It still couldn't beat last week's episode with zero viewers from Denver (4.38 to Bloodline's 4.46). They followed up the season high rating on a generally well-liked to loved episode and did a nose dive.
Note to promo department: Clark must be in your trailers. Promotion focused around your main character, around Superman mythic elements (Clois, DP, canon villains, canon heroes) = win. Promotion focused solely on a supporting character = lose.
The Clark section you described Boppy admittedly sounded pretty awesome. The problem I think for myself why I didn't watch, and why a number of others judging by the numbers followed suit, is that the important core elements that appeal to S8's audience that you described were wrapped up and hidden in between a story complete focused on Chloe Sullivan and from what I heard, one that focused on her worshiping of Clark Kent and making it the center of the universe for this episode. Miss "I love Jimmy" apparently had every important memory not secret related involving her throwing herself at Clark. That's productive. To me the whole thing sounded like one big consolation prize to the Chlarkers to love and cherish, because the producers new they had to finally take Old Yeller out back and put it out of its misery. I would rather watch CSPAN than an ode to Chloe Sullivan, so I wanted absolutely nothing to do with this, despite it apparently ending up with some intriguing elements in Clark's story.
The good thing out of all this? I foresee perhaps two. First ratings wise. Maybe now the showrunners will realize that despite sections of the internet's protests? The general audience does not care about The Chloe Show and has no interest in watching it. They care about Clark. They care about his journey to Superman and the elements important to it. That's why Instinct's trailer worked, Committed's trailer worked, Identity's trailer worked and Bloodline's trailer worked. Superman-esque. And the facts are that Lois is an important part of that. And it's why the Toxic and Abyss trailers failed, it wasn't centered on Clark & the mythos, which is what this audience wants in S8.
Two? IF they don't cheat and undo it, Chloe being out as Clark sidekick/search engine/secret keeper = EPIC WIN. I actually liked her in Season 4. Pretty much disliked her before, hated her starting in Season 5, but actually liked her in 4 before Clark knew she was in the loop. I think the decision to let her know the secret ended up being one of the worst decisions ever on the show. It had negative effects on EVERYONE in some shape or form and heavily contributed to Clark's character not progressing. It was the ultimate crutch for the writers and they lazily used it to get out of EVERYTHING. In Season 7 it was bordering on parody. I get the concern for Clark making a choice like that being wrong. BUT, on the list of tough, possibly questionable choices they've had Clark make? There's been more questionable IMO. And the flipside? Clark never TOLD Chloe the secret, Alicia showed her without Clark's knowledge. Clark had no choice when he lost his privacy, and while two wrongs don't make a right? This, IF they don't back out of it, was correcting a BIG wrong IMO.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-11-15 02:10 am (UTC)Instead it was promoted as "oh noes! Chloe lost her memory!" Results? It BOMBED. Bloodline's rating ~ 4.5 million viewers, season high, highest in nearly a year. And that was with ZERO viewers from the Denver CW affiliate preempted for football (viewers of the football game in Denver - 351,000). Abyss's rating ~ 3.6 million viewers, season low by a mile, lowest ratings since...oh what a coincidence, Sleeper. Yes, that was with ZERO viewers from the New York CW affiliate preempted for football (viewers of game in NY - 824,000). Even if Smallville got half that audience normally and you counted them? 3.968 million, still under 4 million for the first time all season and still the worst ratings all season. Even when you counted all the football viewers to skew it? It still couldn't beat last week's episode with zero viewers from Denver (4.38 to Bloodline's 4.46). They followed up the season high rating on a generally well-liked to loved episode and did a nose dive.
Note to promo department: Clark must be in your trailers. Promotion focused around your main character, around Superman mythic elements (Clois, DP, canon villains, canon heroes) = win. Promotion focused solely on a supporting character = lose.
The Clark section you described Boppy admittedly sounded pretty awesome. The problem I think for myself why I didn't watch, and why a number of others judging by the numbers followed suit, is that the important core elements that appeal to S8's audience that you described were wrapped up and hidden in between a story complete focused on Chloe Sullivan and from what I heard, one that focused on her worshiping of Clark Kent and making it the center of the universe for this episode. Miss "I love Jimmy" apparently had every important memory not secret related involving her throwing herself at Clark. That's productive. To me the whole thing sounded like one big consolation prize to the Chlarkers to love and cherish, because the producers new they had to finally take Old Yeller out back and put it out of its misery. I would rather watch CSPAN than an ode to Chloe Sullivan, so I wanted absolutely nothing to do with this, despite it apparently ending up with some intriguing elements in Clark's story.
The good thing out of all this? I foresee perhaps two. First ratings wise. Maybe now the showrunners will realize that despite sections of the internet's protests? The general audience does not care about The Chloe Show and has no interest in watching it. They care about Clark. They care about his journey to Superman and the elements important to it. That's why Instinct's trailer worked, Committed's trailer worked, Identity's trailer worked and Bloodline's trailer worked. Superman-esque. And the facts are that Lois is an important part of that. And it's why the Toxic and Abyss trailers failed, it wasn't centered on Clark & the mythos, which is what this audience wants in S8.
Two? IF they don't cheat and undo it, Chloe being out as Clark sidekick/search engine/secret keeper = EPIC WIN. I actually liked her in Season 4. Pretty much disliked her before, hated her starting in Season 5, but actually liked her in 4 before Clark knew she was in the loop. I think the decision to let her know the secret ended up being one of the worst decisions ever on the show. It had negative effects on EVERYONE in some shape or form and heavily contributed to Clark's character not progressing. It was the ultimate crutch for the writers and they lazily used it to get out of EVERYTHING. In Season 7 it was bordering on parody. I get the concern for Clark making a choice like that being wrong. BUT, on the list of tough, possibly questionable choices they've had Clark make? There's been more questionable IMO. And the flipside? Clark never TOLD Chloe the secret, Alicia showed her without Clark's knowledge. Clark had no choice when he lost his privacy, and while two wrongs don't make a right? This, IF they don't back out of it, was correcting a BIG wrong IMO.