Television series

Smallville

Name: Smallville
Genre: Drama, Adventure, Science Fiction
Released: 2001
Cast: Tom Welling, Allison Mack, Michael Rosenbaum, Kristin Kreuk, Annette O'Toole

Smallville is the CW's decade-long Superman prequel: teenage Clark Kent hides his powers in Kansas, falls for Lana Lang, watches his friendship with Lex Luthor curdle into rivalry, and fights a new meteor-mutated freak most weeks. Earnest, soapy, gloriously melodramatic — comfort TV that takes its mythology seriously even while wearing its hair gel proudly.

TVMaze rating

8.1

If you liked this

Superman1978

The template Smallville spent ten seasons riffing on — Christopher Reeve's decent, earnest Clark invented this tone, right down to the Kansas cornfields and the doomed Kryptonian father.

But The effects are charmingly dated and the pacing is stately by modern standards — don't expect action-hero momentum.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer1997

Same DNA: small-town teenager, secret identity, monster of the week, and a supporting cast who matter as much as the hero. Buffy just does the metaphor with more wit and more bite.

But Early seasons' effects and fashion have aged; give it time to earn your patience before it clicks.

Arrow2012

The CW's other decade-defining superhero soap, built from secret identity, doomed romance and a hero torn between two lives — and it kicked off an entire shared universe.

But Gets bogged down in flashback structure and increasingly tangled mythology as seasons pile up.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Brightburn2019

It takes the literal Kent-family origin and asks the question Smallville never dared: what if the good farm boy grew up rotten instead?

Nearly the same premise beat for beat — a mysterious boy found by a childless Kansas couple, raised on a farm, discovering terrifying powers — except this time it's a horror movie.

But Genuinely unsettling and violent; if you love the warmth of Smallville's found-family Kents, this curdles that exact dynamic into dread.

The Flash2014

Lighter and faster than Smallville but from the same CW playbook — young hero, found family, weekly threats, and a genuine, uncynical love of comic-book optimism.

But Tone swings wildly season to season, and the multiverse plotting can exhaust if you want something contained.

Roswell1999no page yet

A near-identical premise from the same WB era: small-town teens hiding alien secrets, forbidden romance, a conspiracy closing in. It's Smallville's sibling show in every mood.

But More teen-soap, less superhero action — if you came for fights and powers, this leans hard into romance instead.

Man of Steel2013

A darker, more brooding version of the isolated-Kansas-farm-boy origin, wrestling seriously with what it would actually cost to hide godlike power from the world.

But Trades warmth for grimness and spectacle — fans of Smallville's soapy heart may find it cold and joyless.

Justice League Unlimited2004no page yet

Superman voiced with real gravity, deep DC lore, and tight half-hour episodes that deliver more satisfying superhero storytelling per minute than most live-action has managed since.

But Animated and episodic rather than serialized, so you lose Smallville's slow-burn relationship arcs.

Friday Night Lights2006

No capes, but the same aching small-town Americana — a close-knit community, a golden-boy hero, and the sense everyone's fate is tangled together.

But It's a football drama with zero sci-fi — if the alien mythology was the draw, this won't scratch that itch.

Dawson's Creek1998

The WB teen soap that paved the way for Smallville's love triangles and heart-on-sleeve monologuing — same network DNA, same earnest romantic agonizing, minus the meteor rocks.

But Pure teen melodrama with no genre hook at all — patience required if superpowers are what keep you watching.

Adventures of Superman1952

It's the direct ancestor of every ordinary-life-secret-power Superman story since, and watching it shows exactly how old and durable Smallville's whole format really is.

George Reeves' black-and-white Superman was doing secret-identity, small-city storytelling decades before Smallville, with the same earnest moral simplicity and surprising charm.

But Ultra-low-budget 1950s TV with fistfights that look exactly as fake as they are — pure nostalgia value, not spectacle.

My So-Called Life1994

Strip away the superpowers and Smallville is fundamentally about hiding who you really are; this plays the same emotional engine completely straight, without a cape in sight.

No aliens, no meteor freaks — just a painfully honest teenage girl navigating identity, first love and distant parents with a quiet emotional truth Smallville's melodrama only gestures toward.

But Slow, unresolved after one season, and entirely grounded — if you need plot momentum or genre elements, it will feel like a different show.