I walked into Goodwill a few weeks ago to look at the vinyl and found seasons 5 and 6 of Smallville for $6 each. I couldn't pass that up so I grabbed them. I picked up the first two seasons last week to give the show a try. I finished season 1 last night. Overall, I like the show but I think the villian of the week thing will get old quick. Do they move away from this formula and go into multi episode story arcs?

Smallville has pretty much always been the same. The first 30 minutes of the show is the villain / problem of the week and the last 11 - 12 minutes is about the overall arc of the season & whatnot. Its a great show up until season 7, but season 8 is back up to par imo.

I could see myself watching an episode a week with no problems but watching back to back seasons several episodes at a time will get old quick. I'll watch season 2 and see how I feel about watching more.

The show is essentially what you've seen in the first season. There will be a few great episodes a season with just as many horrible ones, the rest are just some where in the middle. Not a show I could do a marathon of.

Watch the season premiere and the next episode. Then read episode summaries. Then watch the episode before the season finale and then season finale. That works for a few seasons.

I actually liked last season, but the two season before are stinkers.

I'm like you, OP. I picked up the first two seasons a while back. Enjoyed them both but the freak of the week does get old quick. I always planned on getting season 3 but I never really got a chance to. Maybe I'll pick it up sometime soon.

It seems like the freak of the week thing died down as it went on, but maybe it just didn't bother me as much as others. I'm watching season 7 right now and I'd honestly like to see more Freaks and less Lex.

Prepare to be more frustrated with a show than you've ever been.

Moments of brilliance, followed by the stupidest thing you've ever seen on television. Repeat for 8 seasons.

Season 1 had the most Freak of The Weeks. Season 2 developed more arcs. Personally I like season 2 and season 5 the most.

Season 2 deals more with Clarks's orgins. He finds out a little more about him and where he came from. I believe Rush and Fever might be "filler" episodes but they are better than Freak of the Week Episodes. Also throughout the series look for cameos to previous Superman people (People from the Superman Movies and some others related to Superman make some cameos throughout the series)

Let me know as you go along. It is always nice to see some show I like that someone is restarting. A New perspective. Its my #2 favorite show and it ties close to the storyline of I think comics. Chole and Whitney are made up characters for the series and they were not in the comics before Smallville. I think after Smallville aired they included Chole in some of the comics because fans grow to like her.

Man Smallville is my guilty pleasure. I love the show. I take it for what its worth and don't expect perfection. Its just fun.

I made it through season 4 or 5, I think. I just couldn't bring myself to care anymore. I heard it got better after I quit. I'm sort of going through the same thing with Heroes. Still have the last 4 of that show on the DVR with no desire.

The cliffhanger on Season 2 is bigger packed. I think more loose cliffhanger they leave you one.

Season 1 only had a couple (Will Clark save Lana? Will Jonathon be sucked up in the Tornado? Will he get what's his name? Will Whitney come back? Will Lex save his dad?

I think the season 2 finale leaves you hanging more. Also there are I think eithier one or two more extra episodes this season. Season 2 has 23 or 24. I can't remember.

To me, season 4 started the decline for Smallville, with episodes like Krypto. Season 5 descended even further with episodes like Thirst. I watched the show with one of my roommates and each week we'd point out all the flaws. He stopped watching late in Season 7- despite having seen every episode up to the point. He just couldn't take it anymore. Season 8 is on a rebound, but I still want the show to just end! Looks like Season 9 is happening, though.

You're correct. It has 23.

NOO!!!
I have been with this show from day 1 and I am sooo ready for it to end. I thought season 7 was it. Then they add 8. A season 9 coming can't be a good thing.
Though, season 8 is better than recent history.

You'll have fun until episode 100. Then run, my friend...run like the wind!

I heard if they get Tom Welling and ED (not spoiling the name for the OP)or the character she plays. But if they get the to both sign then season 9 is more of a possibility. However I would still like to see MR in a few episodes maybe before the end before the show ends. I believe a Season 9 can explore more stories that bring it just closer like a certain power of Clark's he hasn't gained yet. *cough*

It's a fairly good show when you look back at it, unfortunately there are many times while you will just cringe while watching. The best part is the fact that you liked season 1, since that was one of the weaker runs it stands to reason that you will enjoy the rest. And no, they don't really stray from monster-of-the-week. Nor do they stray away from doing anything new. Each season has a "can't control power" episode, Clark finds red krytonite episode, one of the gang gets super-powers, ect...

I stopped watching a few years ago when every episode the plot was pretty much stolen from every movie the writers could think of. You're like "hey, it's the Saw episode" or something like that.

The first 5 seasons were really good, IMO. It's also the best drinking game TV show in the history of television. The current season has been great and slowly made me come back to watching the show on a weekly basis.

Four definitely started the decline, but five was better and started a long uphill climb. Six was amazing, up there with 2-3. Seven took another dip due to the writers strike and I don't have any complaints about the current season.

This is a long running joke, but definitely do this for season 4. Do not even think you like the show enough to watch all of season 4. Take our collective word for it. I came in late to the party and watched the first three seasons rather quickly and fell in love with the show. I read all the negative stuff about four and thought I'd brave it anyway. I mean, "it can't be that bad can it?" I thought at the time. Not only is it that bad, it's 10x worse than what you can imagine. I even started a thread about it way back when. Potential spoilers though. I posted basically which episodes to skip so that the whole season wasn't a wash.

Exactly. It never pretends to be anything else. Just harmless entertainment. I just wish they would avoid the shameless advertising (Stride gum anyone?) and the constant movie knockoffs(how many Saw episodes have there been now?)

I read a few days ago that Tom Welling is close to signing up for a 9th season.

My thoughts exactly. I enjoy it each week. Yeah, sometimes it annoys me but its Superman. I like seeing, especially this year, how they are going to get from smallville to the superman that we know from the movies. I also like seeing the epsiodes with some of the past actors that were in other versions of superman.

I'm going to start on season 2 tonight. I was laid off from my job so I've got a lot of free time on my hands for watching television. I think I'll probably watch another season or two and then move on to another show for a while. I've been wanting to try Buffy but I went for Smallville because of the 2 seasons I found at the Goodwill.

There were some times in the first season where I would love the show and then it would be what the hell were the writers thinking.

Yeah, I'm in the guilty pleasure camp too. I realized just how awesome the show was last night when I was catching my wife up to what was going on in the show in Season 7. It was an oddly gratifying moment even though I also felt like a complete moron.

Spoilers for Season 7:

agree...