body swapping

Smallville, which started out well this year, but fumbled badly after mid-season in the ratings, has been sent to the minors. It will be on Friday nights next fall. Apparently CW’s advertising and/or art department, decided they needed a quick emergency poster advertising the night change.  With the cast gone for the summer hiatus, they couldn’t shoot a quick promo, so it’s understandable they had to use old promo photos. The problem is, they used real old promo photos — with a twist.

The above promo poster is composed of separate photos that are photo-shopped together, but for reasons unknown the photos they chose are nearly three years old.  That means Erica Durance (Lois) has blonde hair again instead of her natural brunette hair (right-hand inset), which she sported this year. More bizarre still, the ad/art person put Erica’s head on Kristin Kreuk’s (Lana) body  (left-hand inset) .

It just seems symptomatic of what’s wrong with Smallville’s promotional photos in general and their lack of creativity and care. Smallville’s photo shoots look like they’re promoting a show about a gritty law firm. There is nothing in their static approach that gives an inkling of what the show is about. While it’s true it would be hard to promote the image of a young Superman and his budding romance with Lois Lane without the costume, there are creative ways around that.

Lois & Clark The New Adventures of Superman ran a series of what were dubbed the “tattoo” promo pictures. They were used before the series debuted to make it clear that the series was not going to be just another superhero show.

The Superman emblem was prominent and the romantic connection was obvious. There is nothing that hints at this type of intimacy in the Smallville promos even though Clark and Lois became flirtatious this season.

Since it’s a good bet that will continue, or even deepen next season, they seriously need a promo shoot to convey that.

Unfortunately it seems the star of the show is not heavily into promoting his show. I won’t try to second guess his reasons, but since the group photos tend to appear piecemeal anyway and then photo-shopped together, there are alternatives.

It’s difficult to convey a romance with only one party in the picture, but here is a photo that launched a million downloads back in the day. Lois Lane wearing nothing but Superman’s cape. It told a simple, but sexy story with one photo and yet showed very little skin. The imagination filled in the details.

Again, it’s possible to be creative and evoke Superman without having to show the costume, which doesn’t exist on Smallville yet anyway. However, it reminds potential viewers what the show is about and that is what Smallville’s current promos sorely lack.

A promo has to grab attention and be memorable if it hopes to fulfill its function. Smallville’s promotions are flat and uninspired. They’re just pretty pictures of pretty people.

Next year is probably Smallville’s last. The exile to Friday night is a big hint that they’re being rotated out of the lineup, but that can work to a show’s advantage. It is always better to officially announce you are ending a series instead of the network announcing that you’ve been canceled. They should advertise next season as the last season and people who haven’t watched it in years may come back just to see how it ends, especially if clever promos are used to let them know what they’re missing.