Today's TV viewers have a metaphorical buffet of superhero shows to spend hours with, but things were vastly different even as recent as 2001, when Smallville hit The WB. But while it's easy to hop onto Netflix to find seasons of Daredevil and The Flash, Smallville's teen-to-adult drama has largely been kept away from the world of subscription streaming. (Probably because of that bastard Lex Luthor.) That travesty will be no more, though, as all ten seasons of Smallville will be available to stream for the first time on Hulu. And it won't be long before you can watch.
Everyone who has been wanting to get ready for Supergirl's Man of Steel with a look back at Tom Welling's time in the role will get to binge on Smallville for a potential 160-hour marathon when it hits Hulu on Saturday, October 1. Granted, you might not want to stick around for that entire time, since Smallville definitely had its flaws as the series moved on, but the point is that you'll be able to watch it if and when you want to, which wasn't happening before.
Smallville was first announced to be making its way to Hulu earlier this year, though the actual release date remained undisclosed until only recently. It's the perfect time for the WB/CW drama to hit streaming, too, as all of the CW's DC dramas will be starting up in the first half of October. And even though Superman is going to appear on Supergirl officially when the season begins, he won't be around all that often, and viewers can almost pretend that this is a spiritual follow-up, since Smallville was more about Clark Kent than Superman anyway. I mean, there are tons of differences, and Smallville's Supergirl Laura Vandervoort actually was on Supergirl already, but hey, Luthor's company has the same name. so that's something.
While Netflix has been the king of streaming, both in terms of acquiring licensed programming and producing original programming, Hulu has come a long way in the past year or so, swooping in to pick up shows that Netflix lost while building up its own quality slate of shows. And while the company did lose its contract with The Flash and the other currently airing CW shows, Hulu picked up Marvel's Runaways for an adaptation a few months ago, and Seth Rogen's upcoming comedy Future Man sounds like it came from a comic book. So there's no lack of high-concept fare coming.
The world sort of has Smallville to thank for the upcoming abundance of costumed heroes saving the world on the small screen, since its demise in 2011 gave way to Greg Berlanti's Arrow, which changed everything. And now younger viewers can relive the drama's glory days in their entirety without the need for DVDs and digital rentals, thanks to Hulu. Get your capes washed and ironed and ready to go for Saturday, October 1.
And for everything else coming to Hulu, Netflix, cable and beyond, check out our fall premiere schedule.
