Gossip Girl...yes, really. Also, confusion regarding Smallville's ratings.

[fangirl_says]

I watched most of an episode of "Gossip Girl" last night, and I'm perplexed and not a little humiliated to say that I didn't completely hate it. I'm clearly not the show's intended audience, but since when has that stopped me from watching anything? *g* There were some interesting moments and some sharp dialog.

I'm not saying I'm a fan, but...I might watch again next week.

I'm also annoyed (but not at all suprised) to say that the CW promoted Reaper and Smallville during Gossip Girl, but there was no love for Supernatural. I've decided that the CW thinks Supernatural fans will tune in to the show even if they completely abandon it, and they're probably right. And I do understand that they're desperately trying to nurture their new shows, so they can justify their own existance, or something along those lines. I suppose it makes sense to spend nothing on the show, knowing the fans have been busting ass to promote the show themselves.

It's interesting to me that Smallville does so much better ratings-wise than Supernatural. Yes, we face all the biggest dramas on television, but still. Smallville doesn't, to my knowledge, have fan conventions (or Creation cons, for that matter). Do they have tie-in novels? Comics? A magazine? I don't know, but I doubt it. So, if there's this much fan interest in the show, why is it that our audience is still so much smaller than Smallville's?

I've watched Smallville any number of times and honestly, it doesn't have the quality storytelling that Supernatural has. Or even that Reaper or Gossip Girl have. How the hell is it doing so well?

Comments

[momebie.livejournal.com]

I think with Smallville it has the boost of coming with a built in fan base. My boyfriend, who never watches shows like that, will occasionally catch an episode of Smallville simply for the Superman factor. AND it gets all of the new fans that a teen drama will simply by being a teen drama. At least, that's what I see it as.

I saw an episode of Gossip Girl at my friends apartment the other night, and I don't think I'd be opposed to seeing another one either. Then again, sometimes I watch the Disney channel, so there's no accounting for taste. ;)

[bitterbird.livejournal.com]

I like Gossip Girl, its a good guilty pleasure show. Chuck rocks my socks
yeah I think the CW take advantage of our love for the show a little..not much we can do but that sadly I think
Smallville has a mag and novels, Im not sure about the rest, I dont watch the show. I suspect their ratings will go down next season since they are loosing Michael and he is a big deal on that show from what I gather

[eponin10.livejournal.com]

Smallville does actually have tie-in novels and a magazine. No idea about the rest of it, though.

[onecheekyhobbit.livejournal.com]

Don't feel too bad, I've heard some REALLY good things about Gossip Girl. Granted they haven't been good enough for me to get into it, but there are many out there who have found it to be worth their time. I've not seen it.

[lilbabiangel888.livejournal.com]

I started watching Smallville just because I love comic book superheroes so I figure lots of others do the same. Superman definitely has a built-in fanbase in addition to those who just like the show for itself. Our show unfortunately doesn't have that luxury so it has to stand alone on its own merits, which I might add are excellent.

[singeaddams.livejournal.com]

How the hell is it doing so well?

Damn pretty boys. I don't watch it myself (teenie soap operas make me vomit) but the eye candy is superb if I click on it in passing.

[mrstinkles.livejournal.com]

Do not be ashamed. I actually watched Gossip Girl a couple times when it first came on, and I'm even older than you! *L* But I missed a week or something and didn't go back to it.

The ratings for last week were very disappointing. Reaper actually did better than Supernatural. I guess the CW's marketing strategy worked, but I think it kind of back-fired for Supernatural. I think people got used to not tuning in on Thursday nights and didn't pick it up again when the show returned with new eps.

"It's interesting to me that Smallville does so much better ratings-wise than Supernatural. "

Yeah, that always baffles me since Smallville is so... you know... /bad/.

Well, at least we know Supernatural will be back next season. Personally, I think the writer's really fucked over Supernatural.

[shannenb.livejournal.com]

Do they have tie-in novels?
Yes, although they haven't had any for a while. But they also have the series of companion books, which are written by the guy who runs Kryptonsite (http://www.kryptonsite.com), which I thought was pretty cool (since his fan site pre-dates the companion books, so they essentially hired him to write the books.)

Comics?
Yes, Smallville did have a comic series (and their comic series also included interviews with the show actors, writers, etc in it as well.)

Plus, you know...they also have 50 years of Superman comics in their corner too. ;)

A magazine?
Yes, they also have had a magazine for a few years now (at least since season 3, I think) which is published by Titan, same as the Supernatural magazine (Titan also publishes the companion books for both series.)

The reason Smallville does so well is it already had a built in audience before the first episode ever aired--Superman fans. And that audience probably tunes out when the show goes the endless boring Clark/Lana route, but for some reason they always seem to time it exactly right to know when to pull it back to the comic story when the show needs bigger ratings. So no matter what, they'll always be able to drop episodes bringing on major comic characters and be able to pull the Superman fans back in. Even though I don't think it's quality by any stretch, I will admit they do know how to string together a season finale/season premiere combo.

And, for the non-comic related eps, they're able to draw in the female audience who enjoys looking at Tom Welling and having fantasies about the dopey sweet Clark/Lana love(even though that storyline puts me to sleep.)

Next season will be interesting to see how it does in the ratings--I figure it *has* to be the last season, so I think it's possible that people will tune in just to see if some of the more iconic things happen, like Clark getting the suit, learning to fly, etc. But, on the other hand, the main fanboy draw of the show has always been retelling the story of Lex and Clark, and since Michael Rosenbaum is leaving the show, I wonder if that will cause the ratings to falter. But, on the other hand (I have a lot of hands, apparently) they're bringing in some big comic book baddies so people will probably tune in to see that.

However, I do expect the season finale of Smallville to get good numbers. One, their finales are always pretty good and rate pretty high, and two, it's the last episode for Rosenbaum. So will SPN be able to capitalize on that? I dunno....I think SPN's storytelling is a bit more nuanced than SV's, so that could explain why people tune out. It does sometimes present itself as a show where you need to have seen previous episodes to fully appreciate it (which I love as a viewer, but if I wasn't a regular viewer, I guess it could turn me off.) Meanwhile, SV's storytelling strokes are really broad--I mean, I went two seasons only watching the finale and the season premiere and the story was still quite easy to follow even though I'd seen nothing leading up to it. As long as you know the basic story of Superman (which I think most people do) then you can follow along.

[smolder.livejournal.com]

Smallville, from what I understand, struggled very hard to find an audience.

Supernatural's problem with ratings is a frustrating situation for me, because I know why it's suffering. It doesn't have the angsty love affair that "Buffy" had, which is the only reason I can see that the Buffy fans aren't behind it. And it doesn't have a hot, tough chick, which is what the Nascar fans tune in for. My BF showed it to one such person, a coworker, and he commented to Jer that one of the reasons he didn't care for SPN was because it was all fo the girls, with the hot guys, and had nothing for him to enjoy.

American TV audeiences suck the big one.