Life > February 20, 2003

By Ryan Eanes

Old Gold and Black Reporter

If any of you are like me, you probably have middle or high school aged younger siblings, and their taste in television is more than likely a little … “different” from your own. I know that around my house, I can’t typically watch TV when it’s being monopolized by my younger sister (and that’s pretty much the majority of the time), and when she’s in charge of the remote, the tube stays on either The WB or the Disney Channel.

Now, since today I’d prefer not to give my treatise on why the Disney Channel is corrupting the souls of today’s youth, I’d like to point out that for once, The WB (which seemed destined to be a failure originally) has done something right and has created a program that is not only watchable, but also enjoyable. I never thought I’d see the day that I’d say those words, but I speak the truth.

The show that seems to have been carrying the network ever since the popularity of Dawson’s Creek deflated is Smallville, which is the “pre-story” of Superman — that is, his awkward high school years, his early romances, his developing powers, and so forth.

While on paper it may not sound all that compelling, watching Clark Kent (played by Tom Welling with such conviction that you almost forget that he isn’t really Superman) interact with his high school crush Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), his later-in-life archrival Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) and his Earth parents Martha and Jonathan Kent (Annette O’Toole and John Schneider) is fascinating from week to week.

The stories are simple but compelling, and with a little imagination you see that Clark is struggling to discover who he is and what he wants out of life, simply by trying to make it through high school. And as most of us can attest — that’s easier said than done.

The program, which airs on The WB on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. and then again on Sundays at 5 p.m., has seen its ups and downs. For a while the show’s executive producers were accused of making the series focus too much on science fiction, producing programs that even the show’s cast and crew refer to as “freak of the week shows.”

Understandably, these particular episodes didn’t do as well in the ratings. The viewing audience tunes in to see the ongoing struggle that is teenage life in average, ordinary Smallville