Overview
On May 17, 1966, Jonathan and Martha Kent witness the crash-landing of a small spaceship in Shuster's Field outside of Smallville, Kansas. When they investigate the craft, they discover the baby Kal-El. The Kents decide to raise him as their own, naming him "Clark Jerome Kent". Unlike the Silver Age continuity in the comics, Jonathan and Martha (portrayed by Eddie Jones and K Callan) are alive in the TV show, and frequently visit Metropolis. Clark, throughout the series, proudly states his mother (Martha, although he does not tell people exactly who he is mentioning) made his Superman costume for him.
Twenty-seven years later, Clark moves to Metropolis and gets a job at the Daily Planet under the gruff editor Perry White (Lane Smith). Clark also becomes acquainted with co-workers Jimmy Olsen (Michael Landes in Season 1, Justin Whalin thereafter), a photographer, and gossip columnist Cat Grant (Tracy Scoggins). Soon after being hired, Clark is partnered with star reporter Lois Lane (they get put on the same assignment within minutes of Clark getting a job, but do not become formally paired on a regular basis until a few episodes in). Although Clark falls for Lois at first sight, she considers him little more than a pest. When Superman saves her however, Lois instantly becomes infatuated with Clark's alter-ego. Superman's first mission interferes with the illegal dealings of Lex Luthor (John Shea), a benefactor to Metropolis who is secretly evil. Luthor develops an interest in Lois Lane and tries to woo her for the majority of Season one; although Lois is receptive to his romantic advances, she remains infatuated with the Man of Steel. It also comes out at times that Lois has developing feelings for Clark, although she inhibits or denies them most of the time. Luthor eventually proposes marriage, and Lois accepts. As the wedding approaches Lois realizes she really does love Clark, and she says no to Luthor at the altar. Luthor decides to coincide his nuptials with the death of Superman, trapping the hero within a kryptonite cage directly beneath the chapel where the wedding is about to take place. Clark had been working with Perry and Jimmy to expose Luthor before being captured, and they have enough evidence to get the police to barge in on Luthor's wedding to arrest him. Luthor eludes the police, and jumps to his apparent death. Superman has escaped the cage, and as Clark has rejoined Lois. Because his powers have been sapped by Luthor's kryptonite, Clark is unable to stop the villain from killing himself, however Luthor returns from the dead in Season 2.
In Season 2, Clark and Lois begin to date, but are interrupted by Mayson Drake (Farrah Forke), a district attorney who takes a romantic interest in Clark but has a total lack of regard for Superman. Mayson dies in the same episode as Lois and Clark's first official date. In the next episode a federal agent named Dan Scardino (Jim Pirri) becomes a rival to Clark for Lois' affections. Lois eventually decides that she likes Clark over Dan, and so they begin dating even more seriously. In the season finale Clark comes close to telling Lois of his identity, but between his own hesitancy about how she will react and interruptions by people plotting to expose his identity to the world, he fails at the last minute. At the end of the episode Clark proposes to Lois.
In the third season premiere, she replies "Who's asking, Clark or Superman?" It therefore becomes clear that Lois has discovered Superman's secret identity, although apparently only in the course of the last episode of season two. Initially she resents that Clark never confessed it to her. Their tumultuous courtship involves Lois for a time dating a man who is plotting to kill her in a sacrificial ritual, and multiple assignments where they either pose as a married couple or are alone together for an entire weekend. Lois finally accepts Clark's engagement ring, after one episode where she spent most of it with his powers, temporarily becoming a superhero named Ultra Woman. The marriage was supposed to coincide with the corresponding event in the comic books, but coordination snafus resulted in the actual on-screen marriage being postponed for a full season. The third-season marriage ends up not being for real, and to makes things worse Lois spends a few episodes dealing with amnesia. We then get back to Lois and Clark engaged when two other Kryptonians show up, one of whom is Clark's wife from birth, and they insist Clark has to go to save their world of New Krypton from domination by an evil tyrant. The third season closes with Clark leaving Lois but taking her wedding ring as a mark of remembering her and a promise to return as soon as possible.
The fourth season starts with Clark heading toward New Krypton. However the evil tyrant has instead invaded Earth, so Clark gets to come back. He even manages to be around Lois again, and by the end of the second episode they have neutralized the tyrant and convinced the New Kryptonians to let Clark stay on Earth. In the next episode we finally get Lois and Clark actually married, although it takes two wedding ceremonies in one episode to pull it off. For the remaining episodes we have various villains aiming to destroy Lois and Clark, some hoping to use various methods to split them up, often out of a desire to avenge Lex Luthor. We also have the developing question of whether they can have children, which gets answered in the negative, but at the end of the last episode a child mysteriously appears. Originally there was going to be another season, but that never happened, so who the child is and where it came from is never revealed.
Lois & Clark was the second medium (after the much ignored 1988 Superman animated series produced by Ruby-Spears for CBS) outside of comics to break tradition and mirror John Byrne's retcon of Superman, which included making Clark Kent more assertive and less of a clumsy oaf. (George Reeves used to play Clark as competent and strong-willed, but officially he was still described as "mild-mannered". This is actually used to describe Clark Kent in "Lois and Clark" as well.) Dean Cain's Clark gradually becomes a well-regarded and highly competent reporter, even beating out Lois for a Kerth award (much to her consternation). A few episodes directly emphasized that Clark was the unequivocal "dominant" personality, not Superman. Following this theme, an innovation unique to the series was the depiction of Clark Kent and Superman's traditional hairstyles being reversed – here it is Superman whose hair is slicked-back, and Clark whose fringe falls more naturally.
An additional element that reflected the post-Byrne comics was the portrayal of Lex Luthor (at least initially) as a corrupt corporate tycoon, rather than the more traditional mad scientist. In this series, with the exception of Lois, H.G. Wells and four villains (Mister Mxyzptlk, Diana Stride, Jason Mazik and Tempus), everyone who has found out Superman's true identity has either been killed or had his/her memory erased.
Read more about this topic: Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman