This
is the final season 5 ratings analysis update. The last update was
done on February 22, 2006, after 5-15 "Cyborg", and can be found below
on this page. If you scroll down even further than that, you'll
find two
charts that illustrate Smallville's viewership for new episodes,
i.e., the first network airing in the U.S. of the show's 110 episodes to date. The first chart is
continuous showing all seasons in one black line,
while the second is color-coded by season.
The
ratings for the last block of 7 episodes, listed above, can only be
characterized as disappointing. The six-week hiatus of
new episodes between 5-15 "Cyborg" and 5-16
"Hypnotic" explains some of the 23.4% drop for the latter.
"Cyborg" itself also explains some of it, because it had
strong one-look appeal that caused a spike up in viewership.
Smallville's biggest episode-to-episode drop was in season 2, after the
first Christopher Reeve guest spot in "Rosetta". There
was actually a 7 week hiatus after that one, and viewership dropped a
record 32.2%, from 8.7 to 5.9 million. Again, that was partly the
hiatus and partly the fact that "Rosetta" had spiked up about
10% from the previous episode. But "Rosetta" itself was
also to blame. Many expected more substance to the Swann character
played by Reeve, something that was more mysterious and
foreshadowing. When they didn't get it, many lost some interest in
the show.
Some
"Clana" (Clark-Clana relationship fans) have been blaming the
recent ratings drop on the 100th episode "Reckoning".
That was the one where Clark told
Lana his secret the first time through (and proposed as well). But then she died, and after
using the time crystal to reverse things Clark decided not to tell her
the second time through. From the Clana fans' point of view, they felt they'd been
cheated. Fact is, though,
"Cyborg" fully got back up to "Reckoning" levels AND
it was also a very Clana-friendly
episode. It had Clark referring to Lana as his girlfriend, and a
loft scene near the end where he said to her "I've always loved
you. I always will... no matter what happens". There's
just no evidence that,
because of "Cyborg", Clana fans left. Indeed, quite the
opposite. It was those sick to death of Clana,
thinking it had been finally over in "Reckoning" and the
intervening episodes, who would have been most disillusioned by that
"Cyborg" loft scene near the end.
Then
we had "Hypnotic", where in the space of one episode --
imagine how this will play on DVD and in syndication, folks, without the
six-week hiatus -- we had
yet another Clark-Lana loft scene near the end. In this one Clark stared Lana in
the face and said "I don't love you". He said that because he
wanted to end it, for her sake. This one is the ending that would have driven some of the remaining Clana fans away,
and indeed there's some posted evidence of that online. But
additional viewers just sick of this going on and on, back and forth, perhaps not believing
it would ever end, may also have left at this point. And so we see the drop after
"Hypnotic" of another 11.3%, or 540,000 viewers, to "Void".
The
new season low in viewership for the following episode, 5-18
"Fragile", can be forgiven to a large extent. That was
both Holy Thursday and the first day of Passover, and the drop of 7.1% was
more than recovered the following week.
Another
possible factor in Smallville's ratings woes is the state of flux that the
WB and new CW were in during this period, including affiliate agreements still being
signed throughout it. It's possible that some disillusioned
outgoing affiliates didn't really have their heart in it or weren't as
strongly promoting WB programming. That may also explain the failure
of the WB to promote the finale as effectively as they could have,
including the Clark-Chloe kiss, and a clearer promotion of Zod
taking over Lex and the resulting "Zex" having super
powers. They may not have cared to invest great promotion in some
affiliates who won't be back, while some of the new ones won't be coming on board
until the Fall. Better to wait for the Fall and the new CW launch to
have the really big promotional push, including hopefully strong on-screen
content, even stuntish content, to support that.
At
the end of the day, though, the finale was the lowest-rated in five
seasons, bringing in 620,000 fewer viewers, and down 11.3%, from the
previous finale low in season 4. That's even though season 5 (new episodes only) was up an average of 5.7%
in viewership over season 4. So Smallville did rebound in season 5, but
mainly on the strength of its first
two-thirds to about "Cyborg". By the end of the season, it
was as weak as it's ever been just looking at the viewership numbers.
The finale does seem to have been well received though, and offers a lot
of possibilities for a rebound again in season 6. Hopefully it'll be
a sustained rebound this time.
Again,
following is the old analysis of the last block of episodes, and then if you
scroll down you'll see the two viewership graphs.
AMW
(KalElFan)
