Smallville season 7
The seventh season of Smallville, an American television series, began airing on September 27, 2007. The series recounts the early adventures of Kryptonian Clark Kent as he adjusts to life in the fictional town of Smallville, Kansas, during the years before he becomes Superman. The seventh season comprises 20 episodes and concluded its initial airing on May 15, 2008,[1] marking the second season to air on The CW television network. Regular cast members during season seven include Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Kristin Kreuk, Allison Mack, Erica Durance, Aaron Ashmore, Laura Vandervoort, and John Glover. In addition to bringing in new regular cast members this season, the Smallville team brought in familiar faces from the Superman media history, old villains from the show's past, as well as new DC Comics characters Kara Zor-El and Dinah Lance.
Smallville
20
September 27, 2007 –
May 15, 2008
This season focuses on Clark Kent meeting his biological cousin Kara (Vandervoort), and teaching her how to control her abilities in public; Lana Lang's behavior toward her friends, Lex Luthor, and after it is discovered that she faked her own death; Chloe coming to terms with her newly discovered kryptonite-induced ability; and the secret of the Daily Planet's new editor Grant Gabriel. Towards the end of the season, Clark faces the dual threat from returning villain Brainiac (James Marsters), and Lex's discovery of his father's secret society who possess the means to control Clark. The season culminates with a showdown between Lex and Clark at the Fortress of Solitude, wherein the fortress is brought down, setting the series up for the following season.
Smallville's season seven, along with many other American television shows, was caught in the middle of a contract dispute between the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), Writers Guild of America, west (WGAw) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The dispute led to a strike by the writers, which has caused this season to end prematurely with only twenty episodes being produced, instead of the standard twenty-two episodes. The strike also forced The CW to push back airdates on several episodes, and cost Allison Mack her directorial debut.[2] Smallville's Season seven slipped in the ratings, averaging 3.7 million viewers weekly, and the series ranked as the 175th most-watched television series, out of 220, for the 2007–08 television year.
Tie-ins[edit]
In 2008, The CW entered into a partnership with the makers of Stride brand chewing-gum to give viewers the opportunity to create their own Smallville digital comic, titled Smallville: Visions. The writers and producers developed the comic's beginning and end, but allowed viewers to provide the middle. The CW began this tie-in campaign with the March 13 episode "Hero", where Pete develops superhuman elasticity after chewing some kryptonite-infused Stride gum. Going to The CW's website, viewers vote on one of two options—each adding four pages to the comic—every Tuesday and Thursday until the campaign ended on April 7.[41] For season seven, Smallville again worked with Sprint, bringing its customers "mobisodes" featuring Clark's cousin Kara, titled Smallville Legends: Kara and the Chronicles of Krypton.[42]
Reception[edit]
The season premiere, "Bizarro", was watched by 5.18 million viewers, marking an increase from the previous season finale, "Phantom", which was viewed by 4.14 million.[4][43] "Bizarro" and "Cure" were also the highest-rated episodes of the season, both being seen by 5.18 million viewers and scoring a 1.8 in the Nielsen rating in the 2 year old and up demographic.[4][7] Nielsen ratings are audience measurement systems that determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States. This means that the episodes were seen by 1.8 percent of all viewers in the United States watching television at the time of the episode's airing that were older than 2 years old. The season hit a low with the fourteenth episode, "Traveler", which was watched by only 3.44 million viewers.[17] The season finale, "Arctic", was viewed by 3.85, marking a decrease from both the season premiere, and the sixth-season finale.[4][23][43] Smallville's season seven slipped in the ratings, averaging 3.7 million viewers weekly.[44][45] Smallville ranked as the 175th most-watched television series, out of 220, for the 2007–08 television year.[46]
Awards[edit]
"Bizarro" was nominated for a VES award in Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program or Commercial, specifically for the flood scene;[47] it was also nominated for, and won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series.[48] In 2009, the season received five Teen Choice Awards nominations. The nominations include Choice TV Show: Action Adventure, Choice TV Actor: Action Adventure for Tom Welling, Choice TV Actress: Action Adventure for Kristen Kreuk, Choice TV: Villain for Michael Rosenbaum, and Choice TV: Sidekick for Allison Mack.[49]
Home media release[edit]
The complete seventh season of Smallville was released on September 9, 2008, in North America in both DVD and Blu-ray format.[50][51] The DVD and Blu-ray box set were also released in region 2 and region 4 on October 13, 2008, and March 3, 2009, respectively.[52][53][54][55] The box set included various special features, including episode commentary, a documentary on the Supergirl character, a featurette on the different actors to portray Jimmy Olsen, as well as mobisodes for Smallville Legends.[56]