Smallville Season 8 For Justin?

As much as I love Justin/Ollie, I hope not. This last season has to be about Clark.

Well, stupid Dawn didn't pick up the pilot he was in (and it was good!), so I wouldn't be surprised if he makes a visit.

Wait, what? I thought the CW had an exclusive contract for him and he had a new show in the works. We know he HAS to make at least ONE appearance, if anything to say good bye.

Okay, I will say it once again. This time next year Smallville will be calling it quits. A Green Arrow spin off starting fall of 2009 could keep the Smallville fans tuned in. They already have the audience. I swear, if I was a stock holder and owned a percentage of the CW I would be demanding some people fired. Ignoring this prospect is just poor business. Always give the people what they want.

Wait, what? I thought the CW had an exclusive contract for him and he had a new show in the works

It wasn't picked up. As far as I know he still has the holding deal. They could either just continue paying him (because I'm sure there's non-compete language where he can't do shows for another network) until the contract runs out or they could plug him into one of the new shows they've picked up. It'd be the height of hilarity if they take Michael Cassidy (Grant Gabriel) off of the "Filthy Rich" show and recast Justin in the role.

This just in

"The CW Passes On Justin Hartley's New Pilot; Smallville Return Imminent?
Since the CW passed on Justin Hartley's new series pilot Austin Golden Hour, TV Guide's Michael Ausiello (him again!) is reporting that producers are keen to bring him back to Smallville ASAP, especially in light of the show losing some of its key players.

More Oliver would always be a good thing, but even better would be to give him his own series already. Sure, Dawn Ostroff wants the network to be aimed at "12-34 year old women" - her words, not ours - but tell me this... what 12-34 year old woman does not think Justin Hartley is hot? I rest my case. The male viewers who want to see some Green Arrow action (and some Black Canary) would be an added bonus."

http://www.kryptonsite.com/

Here's a GREAT list of why the Green Arrow Needs to be a spin off from Smallville. (sorry long post)

Why The CW Needs The Green Arrow
Written by Craig Byrne
KryptonSite Webmaster

Hopefully by the time you are reading this, the months-long writers' strike will have concluded with a good and fair deal to the writers, and that everyone will soon be back to work and producing more television. The writers' strike may have some further affects, however. In addition to shutting down all current production, most networks' "pilot seasons" - when new shows are being created for possible inclusion on their Fall schedules - will be short if not nonexistent.

The CW, however, does have a trick arrow up their sleeves - should they choose to use it. That gimmick is Oliver Queen, better known as the emerald archer, the Green Arrow. The recent success of "Siren" should rekindle this idea.

Some Background

Last year, especially following the huge ratings for the episode "Justice," there had been serious talk about moving Oliver and his "nascent Justice League" into their own series. Many of the folks involved with Smallville already seemed enthusiastic about the idea, and the character of the Green Arrow had quite a following. Unfortunately, there were some stumbling blocks. Getting the individual rights to all of those characters for a team-up show seemed difficult; but also, it seemed The CW was uninterested in another super-hero show. They passed on Aquaman a year before, despite its being a top seller on iTunes. Instead, their debut season included such winners as an 11th season of 7th Heaven and a series called Runaway that lasted less than a month.

In this column, I will list fifteen reasons why The CW should really reconsider the idea of giving G.A. his own show. Here they are....

1. Season 8 will probably be Smallville's last. Now, an eighth season is not yet confirmed at this point, but you've seen the ratings for other CW shows - a Season 8 is pretty inevitable. Some actors - such as Tom Welling, Erica Durance, and John Glover - are said to be contracted for an eighth year should there be one, and it is likely that others will sign new contracts as well to continue. But after that, there is the question of how many years of a series about "a boy becoming a [super]man" can last.

The show seems to be very profitable, so when better than the show's final year to use it as a spring-board to something new and hopefully equally long-lasting? A Smallville/Green Arrow night might also yield very high ratings for the network, priming Green Arrow to take Smallville's slot once the series meets its end.

(Supernatural fans, don't worry - I'm not forgetting you! Read on...)

2. No worries about casting. The CW clearly knows they have a star in Justin Hartley, even though they didn't pick Aquaman up. Justin was cast in a sitcom titled 8 Days A Week which may never air at this point, and The CW also had him lined up for another pilot last year. But Justin's most popular role this side of Fox Crane is that of the Green Arrow - so, right from the onset the show would have its star. Not a bad deal, eh?

3. The Green Arrow is already popular. At the Comic-Con International in San Diego last year, I overheard people saying that they only were watching Smallville in Season Six for the Green Arrow (not to dismiss the work of anyone else, mind you). It seems that most of the reviews for the Green Arrow were overwhelmingly positive, with the only complaints about the character being from fans who did not like that he seemed to be taking away from the show's main character - Clark - in Season Six.

However, with his own show to explore the Green Arrow would not be stepping over someone else's series, and instead the character's rich backstory could be further explored.

4. Some of the sets are already built. Hey, CW - here's another way you can save money - Oliver Queen's penthouse already exists! Now, if the show were to move to Star City, home of the Green Arrow, surely they could just remodel the existing set a little bit.

5. Instant supporting cast. Not only could a Green Arrow series continue to explore the mythology and "world" set out by Smallville... the parent series has also introduced some people who would make great supporting characters or co-stars for his show.

First and most important, of course, is Black Canary. Alaina Huffman did a great job in her debut in that role, and a Green Arrow series could focus a bit on the formation of their relationship. There's also someone else that I'd recommend for such a show, should it prove popular, and that is....

6. Erica Durance as Lois Lane. Assuming that Clark goes off on his journey to see the world at Smallville's end.... what would Lois Lane do? It's simple... once Smallville is over, she could hop on to a Green Arrow show for its second season, and cause some waves in any possible Green Arrow/Black Canary romance. As a bonus, she and Justin Hartley have incredible chemistry; the creators have considered spinning her off before; and Oliver/Dinah/Lois would feed into the whole "love triangles" thing that the CW (and the Smallville creators) seem to love oh so much.

Appearances from other Smallville characters, or crossing over, really wouldn't hurt, either. Surely Oliver wouldn't forget his perky blonde "watchtower" sidekick, now would he? The Luthors would also make for a welcome presence. There's also the matter of Smallville's newest character, Kara aka Supergirl... surely anyone who's seen the Green Arrow/Supergirl team-ups in Justice League Unlimited would agree that would make for a great live-action pairing.

7. The Heroes Factor. Heroes has been a big hit for NBC by giving us heroic characters with super powers but no costumes or anything like that. To keep itself different, Green Arrow could not only be giving us costumes and super-heroic action, but it'd be populated with characters you've actually heard of! Admit it, seeing Cyborg and Impulse in live action cooler than Maya and Alejandro ANY day. That wouldn't be without its challenges, however: Not only would there be rights/legal issues to sort out with individual characters... there would also be the challenge of creating villains on par with Smallville's Lex or Heroes' Sylar.

(This is in no way knocking Heroes... I'm just saying that a show with established characters should do very well considering that original characters on that show have been so popular.)

There is the counter-argument that a show like Birds of Prey failed. Birds failed because, frankly, the show had no consistent "vision" and a lot of it was played for camp... even though there were some writers on staff who went on to do better things, and the cast was pretty good... whereas the Green Arrow as presented on Smallville already has a rich backstory.

Heroes has proven that people could really warm up to on-screen heroes, as has Smallville for years before that even premiered - and the success of films such as Spider-Man, X-Men and Batman Begins also shows that people will watch this stuff if it's well done.

Also take into account that those who have driven the Smallville ship have managed to create something that has been popular for seven years.If anyone could definitely create something that could sustain its popularity for a few years, it's them, provided the network itself lasts that long.

8. He matches the color scheme. If the CW insists on keeping that ugly-ugly green logo thing, at least here's a character who wears clothing that matches that stuff.

9. Ratings. "Justice" was one of the highest-rated episodes on The CW, EVER. When "Siren" aired, it was in the middle of everyone thinking that all shows were on strike, AND there wasn't even a trailer aired after the previous Smallville episode; yet, it still improved by hundreds of thousands of viewers over the previous week.

Here's what the CW had to say about the ratings for "Siren," in a press release: "SMALLVILLE (1.8/5) achieved double-digit growth over last week among Persons and Males 18-34, 18-49 and 12-34 and Households (2.7/4, +13%), including a +24% gain in M18-34 (2.1/7). Plus, the drama ranked #2 in the competitive 8pm hour and #4 (tied) for the night overall with M18-34." These are the kinds of numbers the network should crave every week.

10. A weekly action/adventure series would be a lot of fun. An action/adventure hero like the Green Arrow would be appealing to the guys watching, and then the casting of Justin Hartley would be eye candy for the ladies. It'd be a win-win situation.

11. The Smackdown factor. It has been recently announced that WWE Smackdown! and The CW will be parting ways. So what will that do to the hit-deprived CW schedule, as they'll now have yet another night to fill with programming and no real pilots in development for the Fall?


So, have a Smallville/Green Arrow night, and let Supernatural share a different night of the week with its logical companion show, Reaper. Supernatural seems to have a loyal following that will go anywhere with it; Reaper has seriously suffered from being paired with bad reality shows. They'd go together well!

12. DVD sales. If The CW were to order even six episodes of a Green Arrow series to try it out, those would sell well on DVD, no matter how successful the show is on the air. One needs to only point to the success of Aquaman on iTunes to know there's demand for this sort of thing.

13. A loyal fanbase. If this show could keep the millions of viewers Smallville gets every week, they'd be in very good shape. Fortunately, Justin Hartley's Green Arrow should be up to the challenge.

14. It would save us from that "Green Arrow in Prison" movie. Hopefully a successful Green Arrow TV series would make cooler heads prevail at the Warner Bros. movie studio so they'll spare us from Super Max.

15. What else could they put on? A second season of Life is Wild, to see if they can top their record-breaking lows? More CW Now? Crowned II? I think this might just be what the CW needs.

And there you have it - fifteen reasons why I think the CW needs the Green Arrow now more than ever. Agree? Disagree? Talk about it on the KryptonSite Forums!

Note: The views of Craig Byrne don't necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite.

What do you think would happen if they added Justin as a series regular for season 8

VERY LIKELY. What do I think will happen? I think the show will get much better and the ratings will be even bigger. The Green Arrow episodes from last season were the highest rated ones of season 6.I say make Justin a regular in season 8 and in September 2009 give him his own Green Arrow show.

I agree, since Austin Golden Hour is passed, the CW should make him a regular in Season 8. A Green Arrow show would be so nice.