Smallville is still the best live action Superman related show by a mile in my opinion, not that its competition makes that very hard. It had the best TV cast, the best TV Superman (well, Clark technically), best live action tV (or movie) Lois, and once it was out of its admittedly mediocre High School years it had the best TV versions of a lot of the DC Universe, doing stuff like the JSA and Legion of Superheroes so well the Arrowverse should be ashamed of how badly it fucked them up compared to a show much older then them.
It didn't do everything better (Supergirl has a better Martian Manhunter, Arrow and Flash have a better, well Green Arrow and Flash), but it did a lot pretty well as it went on, and it did a lot well that Supergirl and the other Arrowverse shows have done really badly. Hell, it even did romance better then Supergirl, which is saying something because I watched all 10 seasons of Smallville and never once gave a shit about Lana Lang, even though the show really did.
One thing I think it tied with the Arrowverse is Supergirl herself. I like the "arrives on Earth as an adult/older teen Supergirl who is supposed to protect Clark" version that Smallville had, and her actress was pretty good, and Benoist's Supergirl, taken outside of the overall lack of quality of her show, is different but also good. The Jimmy's of both shows are also good, for completely different reasons. Lex was also great, but Supergirl doesn't really have an equivalent (although comparing Luthors, Lex in Smallville is much better then Lena).
Smallville had its problems (like a lot of the early years, the show being idiots about him flying, etc) but it did a lot of stuff right as the show went on, and generally had a higher level of writing quality (at least in the second half of the show).
