10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Smallville

4. Record Ratings

Smallville Supernatural Crossover
The CW

While the ratings for Smallville admittedly weren't the greatest by the time the series came to a close after ten seasons, what most people don't realise is that the series initially set record ratings for The WB upon its debut.

For the October 16, 2001 premiere of the show, Smallville pulled in an incredible 8.4 million viewers. That premiere was record numbers for The WB in the famed 18-34 demographic and the also sought-after 12-34 bracket.

To go further, many Warner Bros. higher-ups have credited Smallville with bringing fresh life to the network's Tuesday nights and for making The WB a must-see location for viewers. Even better for the show, Smallville's second season spun even greater figures - with the Season Two premiere pulling in 8.7 million viewers, and with show highs for the season finale (7.5 million) and the average season viewing figures (6.3 million).

In contrast, the final season of Smallville would premiere with just shy of 3 million viewers, with a similar figure for the show's final episode, and a final season average viewership of 3.2 million viewers for each episode. But despite those low numbers, it's easy to forget just how hot Smallville's beginnings were when it came to cold, hard figures.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.