Is This 'The End' for Smallville?

Contrary to what some morons think, I don't hate Smallville nor do I have any "bias" against its Man of Steel (to be) Tom Welling. He's fine in the role, but what episodes I caught were very "Meh!" That, and I think a character as iconic as Superman belongs on the silver screen. But maybe that's just me.

With last week's season finale being quiet un-popular amongst the fanbase (two friends of mine who regularly watch the series hated it), all eyes are on the forthcoming ninth season to see if the damage can be repaired. And it's become increasingly apparent that it's now or never to do so.

The Hollywood Reporter previously heard rumors that the CW was planning on placing Kevin Williamson's Vampire Diaries in their prime Thursday night slot next to Supernatural. That would result in Smallville being dumped on Friday nights - aka "where shows go to die."

And now they have confirmed (along with Entertainment Weekly's TV-Insider Guru Michael Aussiello via his Twitter account and Deadline Hollywood Daily's Nikki Finke here) that Smallville is indeed headed in that direction.

There's flat out no way of (effectively) spinning this. If this schedule sticks (and to be fair, the network won't officially make announcements until tomorrow), it's done after this season. No network in their right-mind would dump a consistently-performing series on Friday nights if they knew there was a realistic chance it could survive.

Let's hope the current executive producers/show-runners will give Smallville the proper finale (and final season overall) its fans are hoping for...