Stargate SG-1 fans have been holding their heads high since the show entered the Guiness Book of World Records a few years back (story), boasting the title of the longest-running science fiction show in North America. (Only the original Doctor Who ran longer.)
The series produced 214 hours over ten seasons (1997-2006).
Meanwhile, however, another Vancouver-made genre show has been quietly creeping up on Jack O’Neill and his team. The CW’s young Superman supershow Smallville is currently finishing up its eighth season, and has already been renewed for a ninth (EW.com). That will bring it up to a tie with The X-Files (in the season count), and hot on the heels of SG-1 for the record.
So is Smallville going to tie or beat SG-1‘s record?
Stargate SG-1 produced 22 episodes per year for seven seasons, then 20 per year for its last three. Smallville has stayed at 22 episodes per year, with Season Seven shortened to 20 only because of the writer’s strike.
After Smallville‘s 2009-2010 season, then, the show will have produced 196 episodes. If it continues on to a tenth season, it will tie SG-1 in the season count and surpass it in episodes — 218 if the network orders a full, 22-episode season.
Future prospects for the CW show rely heavily on signing lead actor Tom Welling. The eighth and ninth years have proven that the show can lose major cast members (Michael Rosenbaum and Kristin Kreuk, a.k.a. Lex Luthor and Lana Lang) and even its executive producers and keep going strong.
Smallville airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. (7 Central) on The CW in the United States. Season Nine begins this fall, and future contract negotiations and a tenth season renewal decision should come next spring.
Quality > Quantity imo. When Smallville first came out I was so excited about it, but over the years its just been this ‘when will they get together / who will get in the way this time’ series. I think it’s a feat in itself that Smallville has lasted this long and I congratulate them but I think the writers were just randomly writing in storylines because they were short on ideas. Im a sucker for when the guy gets the girl, but this show has based itself on meteor freaks and Clark getting together with Lois. Let the ninth… Read more »
Smallville is so worthless. I think I’ll cry if it out runs SG-1
This is absolutely ridiculous. A show like Smallville should never be compared to SG-1. How is that show still running? This pisses me off.
It’s not that Smallville is better than SG-1 if it surpasses it. SG-1 could very well have continued much longer had Sci-Fi channel, pardon me, Syfy(lis), not been the bitch that it is, just like with Farscape.
If MGM had their own channel, like WB does, and didn’t have to deal with all the idiots at SciFi channel who somehow thing ECW:Wrestling is somehow sci fi, then Stargate SG-1 would likely still be on TV. Along with Atlantis. And we’d still have Universe on its way.
This is so trivial… what matters is quality… not quantity!
I hope Smallville will beat the record of Stargate SG-1 it’s a great show!
But that record matters nothing. Stargate SG-1 was an awesome show! No matter what.
Nooooo! Please don’t. I want my SG1 to stay in the book of records! xD
forum thread on the topic:-
http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?t=66424
i love smallville i seen every episode i hope that it will contniue but i dont think it will cause latley the series rating was going down and SG1 is a serious that shoudnt ended i love both of them best series ever
I did not think Smallville was Sci-fi!
I think it could. these ruomers about TW signed a 2-year contract when he signed for season 9.
@SG1FAN tho the last few episodes the ratings have gone down a little, season 8’s average is well about the season average for seasons 4-7
I like smallville so quite happy that it’s getting another year.
As for whether it will go beyond the 10 years Stargate SG-1 did, who cares grow up.
Damn you Mark Stern, we could have had fourteen seasons of SG1 man!!!!! On a brighter note, I’m just as much a fan of Smallville, So: Yea!!!!
Smallville and SG-1 are two completely different genres. SG-1 is sci-fi in concept and focus while Smallville is teen drama on focus with the sci-fi aspect of the Superman mythos in the background.
Not to mention that Smallville has utterly distroyed the who Superman ‘verse by coming up with very stupid story-lines and trying to bring in every DC comic character that they can while the show is running, no matter if that character’s time-line fits or not.
EB’s right.
@gatetrek, don’t worry Stargate is not even scifi either.
Smallville is a great show. I love the hypocrites on this site that bash it, but yet cried when that craptastic fest called Atlantis was cancelled. Sorry. Atlantis was a bad show. The original Stargate and Smallville are great shows. AND YES BONEHEADS it is consider Science Fiction.
That would be brilliant if my two fav shows tied with 10 seasons each. However, they shouldn’t be compared to each other as they are entirely different shows. The thing with Smallville is that it gets better every season, where as SG-1 started to go down hill after season 7 when Rick (O’Neill) was cut down, Teryl (Fraiser) killed off and Don (Hammond) was reduced to a reccurring character. I think beyond 10 seasons might be pushing it though for Smallville because of the becoming Superman aspect. Anybody that badmouths Smallville should be shot and to say it’s not Sci-Fi… Read more »
I like Smallville, though, I feel like it’s running out of air lately. I think this next 9th season may be it’s last.
I’ve been a Smallville fan since my roomates got my hooked on it around season 5. Its had good and bad moments, and I’ve been enjoying this season, even without Lex Luthor. I think it helped that Lana Lang left so we don’t have the stupid on again off again Clark/Lana relationship. I hope they sign Erica Durance on for a full (or close to full) 22 episodes next season because this season proved that its not as good when Lois isn’t around. I will say though that I’m surprised the show has lasted this long, by all rights and… Read more »
Smallville, much as I once loved it, hasn’t been worth watching since the Luthors made their respective exits. I wish they’d just let it die already.
Just goes to show they should’ve let SG-1 run for another 2 seasons.
I like Smallville almost as I like Stargate. One thing bugs me about it lately tho and has been bugging me for a while… “Would he ever get over his damn fear of heights and learn to freakin well fly already!!”… Talk about dragging it out! lol.
Yes it probably will. Not sure why so many people would care though, it’s not like SG-1 was the longest running scifi anyway.
@Jenks True, when Guinness made that claim they had to keep changing it to keep it true, it ending up being called “The longest consecutive running US Science Fiction show” or something like that. Although I wouldn’t say either Doctor Who or Smallville are sci fi come to think of it neither is Heroes. They never explain anything with science, both Heroes and Smallville are superhero shows plane and simple (still good though) and Doctor Who is just fantasy just because it has time travel and aliens doesn’t make it sci fi, I thought it had to have Science as… Read more »
Smallville and SG are tops for me.
Both excellent shows.
Now dont get me wrong i like superman an all but smallville is just making fun of superman they should have just cancelled after the first season.
SG1 is one of the best shows that has ever been made!!!
Smallville is still on the air?
The last two seasons of SG-1 don’t really count anyway.
Not that Smallville deserves the title.
How is it possible that every thread on this site ends up being a bash-fest is beyond me. Why can’t people like SG-1, SGA and SV too? Sheesh.
And yes, the ratings for SV dropped awfully lately – before it was a 4 mil. show, not it even flirted with the 3 mil. threshold!
@katikatnik you honestly can’t except everyone to like every story.
There will always be some people who hate an aspect of every story and they are the people who are most likely to post, duh!
You can’t force people to like SV, they either do or they don’t you should belittle them for hating it.
The fact of the matter is every story will have haters posting about it either get used to it or go, don’t except everyone to play nice it’s the Internet not pre-school.
Haters will live on.
i still enjoy smallville. they retooled it, and unlike stargate’s attempts in s9, it worked!
but even with how much i like smallville, i don’t want it to beat stargate’s record. i LOVE stargate.
The only reason Smallville is still alive is ’cause of the Superman fan base like me. I watched every episode and still do… but do I like it !? No… I thought it went down the crapper since season 7. BUT… Quality and Quantity never were proportionate. Personally, I’d like to see how long they can drag this show without turning him into Superman. I mean he’s already in his late 20s. [the character]. So what does that mean ? If it went on for another 5 seasons he still won’t be Superman? So what, Clark becomes Supes at the… Read more »
@Bapman I think they said that he never will, for all intensive purposes he is Superman no I just doesn’t fly or wear a cape, he works at he Daily Planet, he changes outfit when he is saving people and he has a secrete identity, the red blue blur.
But I remember an interview a while ago were they said they would never make him superman, in the series anyway.
Smallville went sharply downhill the past few seasons. I was a loyal viewer but started to just get sick of the soap opera, angsty plot. I recently watched a new episode out of curiosity. Unfortunately, it was the ‘Stiletto’ episode, I left the room half way through, for fear of losing my lunch on the floor.
@kzap333: I don’t expect everybody to like everything, believe me, I don’t. But it’s one thing to say “I don’t like it because a), b), c)…”, it’s another to spout “it’s a cheap, worthless crap that only idiots watch” or something like that.
I absoloutly love both shows! Keep in mind, smallville is on regular programing as Stargate is on cable/DTV. It took me up until season 4 of Atlantis to even watch Stargate when it aired. I’ve never had that problem with Smallville. If Stargate hadn’t been a Cable/DTV show it probably would have lasted longer. Plus Smallville is the only good show on the WB/CW. (Supernatural is O.K.!) They would loose all their viewers if they cut it. It is like comparing apples to oranges. If they had the same factors then maybe, Plus everyone knows the superman mythos, where as… Read more »
Without Lana or Lex, the Smallville has dipped to 3 million viewers in first run shows. This from a high of 9 million plus in the 2nd season.
When Lana left this season the show began to drop even further according to mediaweek.
People please stop calling a smallville a superman show did anybody seen smallville i seen it and i noticed a lot of different the storyline is the same but the character and the way they do it is way more thatn different than Superman stuff he doesnt wear the superman suit that,s the best think about it please watch smallville u going to love i===========
season 8 has gone bad because lex luther is gone best actor in the show what a shame that he didnt sign season 8 contract
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SG1 no kidding best show mankind ever made
I love both shows, and I would be happy if Smallville continued on for two more seasons. It’s not without its flaws, but it has created some great episodes and it’s better than some other incarnations of Superman. Also, it is science fiction. Yeah it has a focus on drama, but that doesn’t mean it’s not sci-fi. Someone also said that Doctor Who isn’t sci-fi? Excuse me? Are you just trying to say that so SG-1 is the longest running sci-fi show ever? Smallville and Doctor Who don’t bother with highly detailed pseudo-science explanations for what goes on in the… Read more »
is this a joke? smallville is about superman right? that’s not scifi, it’s just stupid comic book crap. it’s hard enough to sit through a movie about comic book stuff, but a tv series??? yeah right.
As it turns out, “stupid comic book crap” isn’t a real genre. Also, I think it would be hard to argue that the SPACESHIP that brought Clark to Earth, other Kryptonian technology like Brianiac, or any of the high-end technology created by LutherCorp aren’t science fiction.
Maybe if you sat through an episode of the show, you’d realize that it has strong sci-fi elements. Moreso than other superhero shows like Heroes.
oh god please no dont let this show surpass Sg-1
SMALLVILLE AND STARGATE ARE THE REASONS I WATCH TV!! I WISH SMALLVILLE WRITERS COULD DO BETTER!! BUT THE CAST AND CHARACTERS ARE STRONG!! SMALLVILLE REALLY GOT INTRESTING AFTER THEY GOT RID OF LEX AND LANA!! IM SUPRISED THEY GOT THIS FAR!! I PRAISE THEM!! IM GLAD THERE HAVING ANOTHER YEAR!! I CAN’T WAIT!! AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST…. I MISS ATLANTIS!!!!!!! DAMN U SYFY!!!
Meh, they don’t even have the Lex Luthor actor on the show anymore.
believe it or not looks like smallville going for season 10 too
becuase tom welling who plays clark kent just signe a two year contract
that what chloe sullivan character who played by allison mack said
sweeeet long live smallville and stargate ^_^
Who really cares – if a show has a story to tell and continues to grow like Smallville does give it all the time it needs. It is apparent that the show is leading up to the eventual when Clark becomes Superman – but the journey leading up to that continues to get better with each season. Certain shows don’t know when the story is over – Stargate went on two seasons too long the initial story was finished. X-files went on two seasons too long – the movies were a logical way to tie up the story. M*A*S*H knew… Read more »
I would like to see
Tom Welling
Sam Jones III
Justin Hartley
Allison Mack
Laura Vandervoort
Sam Witwer
appear on Stargate Universe or SG-1 movies