I like Smallville but for very different reasons than what I liked about Lois & Clark. I think they do better with the drama and plots but they are far, far weaker when it comes to the development of the characters than L&C ever was.

I went into Smallville expecting to adore this Clark and I'm still waiting. I went expecting to enjoy Lana and Clark's bittersweet romance and am still waiting.

What I did not expect was how much I would enjoy the pre-evil Lex Luthor character and the Lois Lane stand-in Chloe Sullivan (although the latter shouldn't have come as such a surprise).

I think this show does it's best work when it remembers that it has a bigger story to tell than just teenage angst and when it produces episodes like the one LabRat mentioned. (It was "Insurgence", btw).

But mostly I think it and L&C are really too different in their approach and style to be compared to one another. So I try to like each on their own merits.

"Let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and trasform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
-- Martin Luther King Jr.