Yesterday, fans of one of DC’s & CW’s best shows got the news that the series has officially been renewed for a 4th round. Today, which has been reported by many is that actor Dylan Walsh (Sam Lane) will not be returning due to budget cuts. But that’s not all!
The massive budget cut has caused 7 of the series regulars to make their way out. This includes:
Of course the budget cut may also cause the visual effects to drop in quality, and who knows what else will be affected. As of now the remaining characters of the series are Clark Kent/Superman, Lois Lane, Jordan and Jonathan Kent, and already declared as series regular character, Lex Luthor (Michael Cudlitz).
Pretty disappointing news, and I would hate to see Superman & Lois become The Flash in terms of quality. What do y’all think think of this news? How much do you think this will change the show?
One thing to keep in mind is that it doesn’t say specifically that the characters won’t show up, they’re just no longer series regulars – i.e. main cast that is guaranteed to be in every episode. So these characters might still show up, they’ll just be guest stars instead.
I am curious about what this means for the show. Now, I’m woefully behind on the current season, but I wonder if this means they are no longer in Smallville for the forth season.
You’re the second person I know of to say that about the Kents, that maybe the way they’re getting rid of basically everyone is by having the Kents move back to Metropolis.
They say “budget cuts”, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Christian Troy lured Mr. Walsh back for a Nip/Tuck or two…especially if they should occur in the Congo, as that was a favorite place of Mr. Walsh’s in the summer of 1995 (and, one week before Batman Forever’s theatrical debut, no less).
As for the show, I’ll agree with @Jay_Kay in that we’ll likely see the folks cut from the main rotation pop-in as guest stars.
Yeah, this is disappointing, but from what the trades are reporting, it was either come back less expensive, by way of a smaller regular cast, fewer episodes and (I’m assuming) less SFX, or it wasn’t going to get renewed.
We’ll have to see how it all looks. If they do stay in Smallville, I suspect we’ll still be seeing a fair amount of the Lang-Cushings and of Chrissy Beppo. Maybe John Henry and Nat as well, but they seem like they’d be potentially easier to write out.
Good Rao, this piece of s*** show is renewed? Shouldn’t have continued after two or I guess three. I swear it better end. This underman sucks, Lois sucks, Lana sucks, all suck
There were rumors the set for Downtown Smallville’s lease was up, and the lease on the farm they use as the Kent farm also. Apparently getting rid of them and moving the show to Metropolis where Downtown Toronto would stand in for Metropolis would be cheaper (not a HUGE cost, but cheaper) so that plus the fact all the supporting cast is gone as regulars but Lex is a series regular does make it seem likely they are going to have the Kents move back to Metropolis.
As for how I personally feel. I do think losting the supporting cast as regulars is a bad thing, part of what made this show work was the great supporting cast and the Cushings in particular will be missed (Also as a fan of Steel seeing him as a regular was also great). But at the same time it was clear the alternative was no fourth season, so even if seaosn 4 isn’t good not like we lost out on a better season 4, as they weren’t going to give us one with the whole cast and bigger budget anyway.
And while not really my “responsibility” while 7 of the supporting cast are now gone, hundreds would have lost their jobs if the show has not been renewed. And don’t consider people keeping their job a bad thing.
I do think it is possible the quality will slip, but I am glad we will continue to get a Superman fix, and this is one of the best Superman adaptions so I am willing to give it a chance. If nothing else, it was better than nothing which was what it looked very likely was what we are getting. So I consider this good news, if not bitter sweet.
I would think filming Metropolis - no matter what city is used for it - would be more expensive than a farm.
Good news - if they need a cheap place to film, the Superman IV locations are all set to go
We saw with some of the other DCW shows (Legends is a good example) where are larger cast kept EFX and CGI costs down simply by not using it. Did they always plot this well, or use a script or story concept to explain it reasonably - certainly not. Although at other times, they could slide it by.
Not necessarily. What is expensive is that they have interior sets built, so even if the exterior set (e.g. the Kent’s Smallville Farm is too expensive, or not available, or some such, they still built the sets for the interior of the house and they would be rendered useless by deciding to move them from Smallville. They may do some hybrid stuff, where they do not show the TOWN of Smallville much or may shoot a lot of stuff in one month and hope to be able to match what is necessary, etc. There are certainly tricks that you can see in low budget and independent film making that would be utilized.
It’s all a matter of good story-telling and competent scripting.
i agree. besides the kent’s not all of these characters have been in every episode. but the billing still states them so it’s credit only. i’m assuming now that when their not in an episode they just won’t be credited like they were before.
I just wanted to say I think Elizabeth Tulloch bares a resemblance ( Not a ringer ) to Margot Kidder.
Second, I am still waiting on Season 3 to hit DC Max. So Good Luck Season 4 where ever you are.
An I hope the series keeps going for a solid 10 cause Tyler Hoechlin is also doing a great job as Superman, the super sons I aint that interested in but they are interesting characters.
