Supergirl is officially greenlit for season 2 on the CW, and along with it comes the light and the darkness of Kara Danvers existence. Rather than cancel the show outright, CBS is letting The CW take over the producing, and airing of the show to give it a second chance at life, as well as give audiences a chance to catch the Supergirl fever. There are pro’s and con’s abound for the show changing networks, and I for one have seen what happens to shows that follow this script. We’re talking about Supergirl, Superman, and DC as a franchise working together so let’s get started!
Moving networks creates crossovers, saves money, and creates new audiences
Supergirl moving to The CW creates a plethora of new opportunities for both the show and the audience in a lot of ways. For one, it bursts open the door for crossovers with her brother shows: Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash, and Arrow. Speaking on crossovers, we only got to see the gist of The Flash crossover when Barry tried on the Tachyon Device, and asked how long he was gone on his show. He went to Supergirl’s world in one of her episodes in an ill-fated attempt to drum up ratings.
Bringing Supergirl to The CW would add a new day to The CW show calendar—which could begin as early as Monday, or finish the week on Friday. Relocating Supergirl onto The CW also means cheaper production costs, as most of the shooting for Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow takes place in Vancouver vs. Los Angeles.
Saving money in turn means the show runners can spend money on more important things, like hiring a better special effects team, more writers, and a broader cast to expand its diversity. It also helps the producers, choreographers and stunt team to breathe a sigh of relief. If a writer pens that Supergirl blows up an asteroid with her heat vision, but the production cost is too high—that scene gets axed, and we won’t see it. Alternatively, if they want a fight scene for her to parkour through a guard rail and knock an enemy into a building—same formula.
Crossovers help brings ratings, and creates bigger audiences
Speaking from the perspective of a DC Comics fan I can tell you the truth: Supergirl did not (at any time) belong on CBS. From the very beginning, it never made an ounce of sense to me. When the show was introduced it seemed centric to heroinism—which is fine—but it seemed to approach the story wrong. What I mean is that they tried to use Dean Cain, and Helen Slater in the same vein as John Wesley Ship for The Flash (thus paying tribute to the older stars to boost the new generation). However, instead of focusing on developing her stories from the comics, the show runners tossed diversity, girl power, and even the Supergirl name into a salad and tried to serve it.
Audiences didn’t bite, and the show’s ratings reflected the same feelings. By introducing proper crossovers and new stories it will keep Supergirl on the network—well into a Supergirl season 3-4. Supergirl receiving a renewal for season 2 is good for one main reason: Krypton on SYFY. With a prequel show coming centered on Superman’s home world, we can see flashbacks incorporated into the show from The Martian manhunter, or other Kryptonian’s that may be introduced throughout its duration.
Supergirl is a truly unique show that’s teetering on a razor-thin ledge. On the one hand, we need a strong female lead character to give inspiration to a new generation of female comic fans. Looking the other way, fans deserve canonized stories, and great special effects in their shows. The Flash, and Arrow have done a spectacular job in these fields due to their drawing original, and comic influence into the fold. It’s not about Supergirl competing with her brother shows, being like Agent Carter, or serving as a platform for young girls to be inspired by her on the silverscreen at all.
It’s about Kara Danvers being Supergirl with our support and admiration for the sake of her doing it the best. Whether she fails or flies at this point is completely up to the showrunners, writers, and producers of The CW. If The CW wants the ratings, and crossover stardom like we all know they do they’ll have to make Supergirl soar and swell within her new time slot next season.
For now let’s look forward to The Flash’s last two episodes introducing Kate Cassidy as Black siren, and other Metahuman’s Zoom is using to defeat Barry.
Kenay Peterson
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheDark_Mage
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Tags: CBS, DC comics, Supergirl, Superheroes, The CW, The Flash, TV-shows