Though the show has officially been renewed for another year, the CW has not had an easy time getting season 8 of Smallville off the ground.  First it was announced that Michael Rosenbaum and Kristin Kreuk would not be returning to the show full-time, leaving many fans worried about the lack of Lex and Lana next year.  Then, in an even bigger blow to the series, creators Al Gough and Miles Millar abruptly announced their departure last week.  The next season of the superhero drama will now be in the hands of four long-time Smallville writers.

With all of these issues plaguing the show's eighth season, we have to ask, should Smallville go on, or is it time to bury the kryptonite?

Nothing is worse than watching a once great show sink into the pit of mediocrity.  In fact, we currently have a thread in our forums devoted to this topic, with readers lamenting how shows like The X-Files and Prison Break plummeted in quality over the years.  Smallville isn't a show that's been mentioned in this thread just yet, and I'd like to keep it that way.

There are a few different things that can cause a series to dip in quality, with major cast changes, behind-the-scenes shake-ups, and a lack of worthwhile story ideas being the worst offenders.  One thing we definitely won't have to worry about on Smallville is a lack of ideas.  With decades of Superman mythology to draw upon, I'm sure the writers won't have any trouble finding content for an eighth season.

However, the major changes among the cast and crew may be a big problem.  Whether you love their characters or not, Lana and Lex are extremely important to the show.  If they can't be in every episode, the writers need to come up with plausible explanations for their absences that won't offend long-time viewers. I'm still bothered by the third season of Veronica Mars, which found important characters disappearing for episodes at a time with lame excuses explaining their departures.  This inability to secure important cast members truly hurt the series, and the same thing could happen to Smallville.

An even bigger concern is the fact that Gough and Millar recently quit the show with little explanation.  We can only guess why the two creative forces behind Smallville would leave after seven years, but what does it mean for the future of the series?  Season 8 may be Smallville's last hurrah, and I hate to see any show come to an end without the involvement of its creators.  However, because veteran Smallville writers are taking over the show, it could be a rather smooth transition.  If the vision that Gough and Millar had was somehow hurting the series, their exits could even be a good thing.

So, would Smallville be better off coming to an end now, with Gough, Millar, Kreuk, and Rosenbaum in place?  It's impossible to say until we see the eighth season.  Maybe all of these changes will make for the best season in years, or maybe the show will devolve into a disaster.  The CW has already agreed to take the risk, so we'll see what happens in the fall.


- Don Williams, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image courtesy of the CW)