as for IASWAA being more like Teri's life instead of Lois's, i don't think so. the episode Operation Blackout confirms that while Lois always made straight-A's, she was also best friends with the the people who ruled the school.
This is actually incorrect. Molly was Lois' best friend/roommate in college, not high school. Her best friend in high school, according to IASWAA, was Julie, the head cheerleader. Ironic that Teri's best friend in high school was ALSO a cheerleader named Julie.
What we knew of Lois' high-school existence prior to that episode, was that she got straight A's, was student-body president, and never once skipped school. She also was in the chess club and math club. Not exactly meshing with the Lois we saw in IASWAA, who was definitely A List. Honestly, at least at my high school, the girls like Julie and Peggy would have picked on the girls like the Lois that was depicted in Season 1.
And a side note on Molly: She certainly didn't seem like the type who ruled the school, more like an activst/alternative girl who was headstrong and passionate about her causes, much like Lois. That is probably the basis on which their friendship was forged -- and once Molly became distracted by a guy, they drifted apart.
As for the ratings, Lois and Clark became a ratings winner in Season 3, once the secret was revealed. It was a new concept to have Lois not only know the Man of Steel's secret -- but be dating him! The show regularly made the top 20 in the Nielsens, and even reruns were beating first-run episodes of the competition. The show didn't decline once the writers gave the fans what they wanted -- the first time. The fans had wanted Lois and Clark together from the get-go, and the writers decided to go ahead and throw caution to the wind when the ratings were down in Season 2 (largely because the focus was too heavy on Superman and A-Plots). Ironically, what they figured would be the show's swan song turned it into a bona fide hit.
The show did, however, begin to decline after Lois and Clark got married. There was a HUGE dropoff between the end of Season 3 and the beginning of Season 4. Why? Simply put, the sexual tension was gone. The dance between Clark and Lois was sone of the show's selling points -- would they or wouldn't they; how close would they get to the fire ... their sexual chemistry was off the charts. Once they were married -- and Superman now had a wife like any other guy -- the honeymoon was over for a lot of viewers, and the show went into a steep decline. Couple that with ABC wanting to get rid of the show, and Teri and Dean's lack of promotion of the show during Season 4, and, well, that's why we never found out what happened with the baby in their kitchen!
