I just picked up issue 13 of Chew and beside other cool news (Poyo T-Shirts and Chew winning a bunch of prizes since SDCC) I saw that the comic was picked up to become an TV Series. Stephen Hopkins is also attached to the project as a director. 
 
This is awesome news.

After watching the show for 9 seasons (and a to be honest, "I've been watching it for 9 years I can't stop right now!" has became a huge reason I give to justify watching it week after week) I'm a bit bored with what's going on right now. There's a lot of (too much) drama, not enough high speed action scenes and super people throwing cars at each other. 
  
BUT: 

I feel like the end of season 9 is somehow related to what's been happening in the DCU/Superman books in the past year and a half.  Zod is assembling the Kryptonian army and wants to take over Earth eventually, and this week's episode they said something about the Book of Rao being able to "teleport" all Kryptonians somewhere away from Earth. I really feel like the last couple of episodes could serve as a prelude to New Krypton / Last Stand and eventually War of the Supermen -- but that would take more than a season which I don't think they'll have.
 
I honestly have no idea how they're gonna make season 10 interesting, they're running out of stuff and I feel like this could be an interesting direction for the show, and I personally think that the writing in the whole New Krypton (and on) is brilliant and would really make good TV. 
 
What do you think? Do you think they could twist it so Clark somehow uses the Book of Rao to recreate (new) Krypton and teleport the Kryptonians there? Would that be interesting TV?

So Tom Welling (and other actors as far as I'm aware - except for Allison Mack) agreed for a 10th season of Smallville and although there aren't any announcements from CW yet (hell, the writers don't even know how to end season 9 yet) I feel like chances of this happening are pretty good. Smallville is one of CW's most popular show (I can hear all of you shouting "but that doesn't mean anything!") and they're probably going to try and keep it on the air for as long as possible. I'm not scared to say that I really like the show and I think it's better now than ever, but it's gonna have to end eventually.  
 
I'm pretty sure that the Smallville audience consist of 2 distinct groups of people: 
1. The comic book nerds who watch it because they love Superman, and can't get enough of it by just reading the comics 
2. 15 year old girls who never read a comic book in their life, but think Tom Welling is "omg so hot" 
 
and that's where the problem is. CW has to please these 2 different demographics, and that's not an easy thing to do. I feel like the writers have to constantly try to balance the story lines to appeal to everybody and that's one of the reasons why people in the community (here; comic book community) are disappointed with the show. It gets overly dramatic and can sometimes feel like a The days of our lives  with super powers. There's nothing we can do about this, but I think I have (and from what I've been reading, some people here on CV share this view as well) of what to do with the series. 
 
1. Finish season 9 
Season 9 is pretty awesome so far. We've seen a few new DC characters, Lois and Clark are now an item and it feels like everything seems more epic than ever. They're a bit past half way through season 9 and I think with the 7 or so episodes left they could fix the current issues and go on to point #2. 
 
2. Season 9 Finale puts Clark in tights 
Yup. It's been said before. Last shot of season 9 should be Clark flying away in his suit (or an updated version of it), or him opening his shirt to reveal the S logo underneath in slow motion while epic music is playing. The finale should also hint at new characters coming. It's probably too late to cast permanent roles now (more in point #3) but they should least that introduce new DC characters (maybe Green Arrow could hear about Green Lantern or something...) you know, just a hint. 
 
3. Season 10 - Rename the show and give it a new format. 
It can still be called Smallville if they want to keep the brand name, the merchandise, the magazine, the fan sites, but they should definitely add something to it. I personally think a new name completely would be better but I can see why the CW people would want to keep the name. At this point they should've hired new permanent actors to play DC characters (preferably JLA people) and start writing stories evolving around Clark but with other characters being there every couple of episodes (à la Green Arrow). Get a Flash, a Green Lantern, a Wonder Woman, a Batman... it doesn't really matter. The series just needs something new. The first couple of episodes of Season 10 should be used to introduce these new characters. Keep a similar writing style, a mix of drama and action, interaction between Clark as Superman and Clark as a reporter, but with new people.
 
Result: smooth transition to a completely new series, and while old fans won't be disappointed, people who had lost interest (or never got into the series in the first place for whatever reason) might actually start watching it. Everybody wins. 
 
Thoughts?