As the ‘90s ended with the success of gripping teenage dramas that amassed hordes of devoted audiences such as Dawson’s Creek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, television executives had their noses to the ground in pursuit of the next big thing for the coveted 18-34 age demographic. At the same time, Warner Bros. was attempting to figure out a way to revitalize their most popular superhero properties in the wake of the successes Marvel was achieving with their Blade and X-Men films. In came Alfred Gough and Miles Millar with their pitch that changed the landscape of television.
“No flights, no tights” was their idea for a show about Superman, a controversial refrain to say the least given that these two aspects are what the character was most known for. But Gough and Millar wanted to tell the story of how Superman came to be, stripped down to his bare essence of who he is as a person. And with that in mind, 25 years ago, Smallville arrived on television screens.
