Supergirl TV Series is being work on.

[Mudd]

Why do men's suits include a shirt, vest, and jacket when they could just wear a shirt?

To signal their income, status and social adroitness among other reasons.

Clearly, not everyone who wears suits successfully accomplishes any of those things - which is really the point. It's a kind of test.

 

[davejames]

Not the point. It's problematical because of Superman's age, not Supergirl's. As I said, the trailer shows an adult-sized, caped-and-costumed Superman finding the 12-year-old Kara's capsule and taking her to the Danvers family. So if Clark was already an adult when Kara was 12, then in the series present, he'd have to be in at least his early 30s. So Krypton couldn't have exploded only 24 years before -- not unless it managed to survive 8-10 years beyond Kal-El's departure.

I must still be missing something, because I really doubt the Supergirl writers intend for Superman to be the same basic age as Kara, and early 30s for him sounds about like what it should be. And I don't see anywhere where they stated Krypton exploded 24 years ago.

So I think it simply comes down to either Superman's ship traveled back in time a bit before arriving on Earth, or her's traveled ahead a bit.

 

[Mudd]

Something to the effect that "twenty-four years ago my world was in peril" at the beginning of the long trailer.

It doesn't actually say "destroyed."

It looks as if a young Kara - between nine and twelve years old? - is sent here. She's in her early twenties now, so the flashback probably took place about twelve years ago.

What that means in terms of a "timeline" - who knows? That's what it looks like, though.

Cavill's Clark is in his twenties, so is this Kara.

 

[Christopher]

And I don't see anywhere where they stated Krypton exploded 24 years ago.

It's the second line of the trailer. "My name is Kara Zor-El. Twenty-four years ago, my planet was in peril. My cousin, Kal-El, was sent to a planet called Earth." So Kal-El was sent to Earth 24 years ago, which is what's hard to reconcile with him being an adult when he finds her capsule when she's 12 (although you have to freeze-frame that quick-cut montage in the trailer to see that -- or go here).

And no, I don't buy the "he went back in time" explanation. It's more likely that the narration is inaccurate.

 

[Gojira]

I was getting the impression that Kara's planet was not Krypton.
Anyway, I am really looking forward to this show.

 

[DigificWriter]

I seriously doubt the narration is wrong, so there's bound to be an explanation for how Superman was an adult when her ship arrived on Earth (12 years after it left Krypton, I might add).

 

[JD]

It just seems like such a ridiculous comparison to me. As others are arguing online, Black Widow and Supergirl are two VERY different characters, and a lighter and more "rom-commy" take doesn't seem nearly as inappropriate for Kara as it does for a hardass assassin like Widow.

It's not about them being very different characters it's about the general handling of female characters which the SNL trailer parodied quite well. We're shown these strong, powerful, images of the male Avengers and when BW is introduced we get a pop song and her breaking a heel while walking to work.

It implies that you can't do a female-centered movie without reducing that female character to clichés, and to that extent reducing the entire tone and look of the show to a cliché.

Now, it'd be one thing if "aw, gee, klutzy Kara" was a "disguise" she put on like the one Superman puts on in the Donner Superman movies but the trailer suggests that this more-or-less actually Kara (why she's wearing the glasses is unclear) since she has no need for a "disguise" since she's yet to take on a superhero career.

Then we get other cliches, The Devil Wears Prada-esque workplace dynamics, her acting goofy and unsure of herself around males. It's not-for-note a old, tired, trope that many rom-coms have used for decades and there's no need to do it.

Yes, there are klutzy, awkward, young-women out there struggling to make something of themselves in new workplaces in the city but we've seen this and had it numerous times. How many TV series have been centered around such a thing? (Felicity, Ugly Betty, to name a couple off the top of my head which seem to more-or-less fit under that heading.)

Short of, maybe say, a Spider-Man show could you imagine a male superhero show being presented in such a way? I mean, there *are* awkward, social-misfit men out there trying to carve their way in the world. So, could you see there being a show centered around Superman where as a pre-Superman Clark Kent he's stumbling around with a pop-song playing in the background, gushing, and aw-geeing with awkward smiles?

Or is it more likely we'd see him as more-or-less confident but likely just "invisible" to his co-workers and superiors. Maybe he's a klutz, or a touch awkward but not likely to the extent we see Kara shown here. (I know we don't see her literally being klutzy, breaking a heel, or anything but I think more for her stumbling for words or her awkward, toothy, smiles.)

What would have been the problem with showing Kara as being strong and confident? Coming into her new office ready to take the world by storm instead of fumbling to be noticed by her new boss? She doesn't wear thick glasses, maybe some kind of more modern and fashionable eyewear if she "must" for some reason (glasses to give her better close-up vision because her Kryptonian vision makes her way too "far sighted" and she hasn't learned to focus in her eyes yet?) She dresses how a young woman dresses in the 21st century instead of with the awkward-looking ballet flats, draping sweater and long skirt. And she's immediately taken in by her boss as standing out, an example for everyone to take notice of.

The trailer does pick-up when the SG stuff starts, but it's that first bit where it almost precisely tracks with the SNL trailer gives one a lot to be worried about and pretty much proves the point SNL was trying to make. A network/production company "getting women" by presenting them as having all of these clichés. Yeah, women like this exist. But women the exact opposite of this ALSO exist and I'd argue are likely a lot more common.

Again, I'm not writing the show off at all it looks sort-of promising and being a CBS show, I'm just glad Kara isn't working in a freaking crime-lab. (CSI: Metropolis!) but I just hope it's not as full of coming-of-age young-girl cliche-filled stories like it appears to be from the first part of the trailer. (Though, I suspect, I'm also not the target audience for the show.)

If the show can get past these cliches it started off with and show Kara as a strong, independent, woman - in any "secret identity" she may have- who's not always fumbling for words, to get noticed by her boss, flashing awkward smiles, etc. Then it could be a decent show even if it's not my cup of tea.

It just gives one a *lot* of pause when the first part of that trailer was almost note-for-note similar to the SNL parody.

I think part of the reason they might be doing the Kara parts this way is to make the differences between Kara and Supergirl more dramatic. It's makes a much bigger impact when we see the awkward, clutzy Kara turn into the strong, kickass Supergirl, than it would if we saw a strong, kickass Kara turn into a strong, kickass Supergirl.

 

[Christopher]

I was getting the impression that Kara's planet was not Krypton.

That's why I quoted the first three sentences together. "My planet was in peril" is immediately followed by "My cousin, Kal-El, was sent to... Earth." You don't just randomly change subjects between one sentence and the next. They must've been talking about the same thing, cause (planet in peril) and effect (Kal-El sent to Earth).

Besides, the only previous version in which Kara's planet was not Krypton was Superman: The Animated Series, and that was only because DC at the time was insisting on a rule that Superman had to be the only survivor of Krypton, no exceptions. So the producers of S:TAS had to skirt around that arbitrary rule and make Kara a native of a Kryptonian colony, Argo, elsewhere in the system. The standard story is that Kara was also from Krypton, specifically Argo City, and that the city was somehow blown off the planet intact and survived a few years longer than the rest. (I'm not counting the post-Crisis version where Supergirl was an artificially created shapeshifter called Matrix from an alternate universe, because that's pretty clearly not what they're basing this on.)

I think part of the reason they might be doing the Kara parts this way is to make the differences between Kara and Supergirl more dramatic. It's makes a much bigger impact when we see the awkward, clutzy Kara turn into the strong, kickass Supergirl, than it would if we saw a strong, kickass Kara turn into a strong, kickass Supergirl.

Sounds reasonable. Heck, we've certainly seen enough portrayals of Clark Kent as awkward, klutzy, and shy.

Still, she seems kind of awkward and diffident in her Supergirl persona too. But hopefully that's something she'll grow out of as she gets more confident in the role.

 

[JoeZhang]

The more I think about it - it would have been cool if we had some modern age super-dickery and stuck to the first origin she had.

"Wow Kal-El, now I've found you, we'll be a family"

"em.. yeah... I was thinking it would be way cooler if you went to live as a ward of the state... but you can totally facebook me".

 

[Noname Given]

Flash is destroying SHIELD in the ratings on Tuesday. Arrow is such a strong show. Supergirl has the money of CBS. Gotham, it's messy, but fun still and Constantine is being shopped to other places. Plus, Legends of Tomorrow is coming this year. So, yes dominating TV, I think is the right work. A great time to be a geek.

Um, Flash is on at 8 PM - SHIELD at 9 PM on Tuesdays - so they aren't really in competition. I really enjoy Flash myself but I also enjoy SHIELD. Thing is, aside from being based on comic book properties, they're very different in tone an I suspect appeal to different audiences. I think it DOES show that fans want to actually see superheros in action then a group following them around and essentially 'doing cleanup' which unfortunately is what 'Agents of SHIELD' has become in a lot of ways. Still I hope both shows earn enough success to continue as again, I enjoy both for different reasons.

 

[JD]

^Yeah. When wasn't working Tuesday nights, I would watch Flash and then AoS, so it really isn't an either or thing.

 

[davejames]

It's the second line of the trailer. "My name is Kara Zor-El. Twenty-four years ago, my planet was in peril. My cousin, Kal-El, was sent to a planet called Earth." So Kal-El was sent to Earth 24 years ago, which is what's hard to reconcile with him being an adult when he finds her capsule when she's 12 (although you have to freeze-frame that quick-cut montage in the trailer to see that -- or go here).

And no, I don't buy the "he went back in time" explanation. It's more likely that the narration is inaccurate.

Well it could simply be that's it's been 24 years from her perspective, and that she might have no idea how much time had actually passed.

In any case, with the obvious discrepancy between their ages and the "24 years" thing, I'm sure we'll get some kind of explanation from Berlanti. The script does say he was an infant when he left, so clearly something had to have happened along the way for him to suddenly be a lot older than her on Earth (and apparently already established as Superman for quite a while).

I think part of the reason they might be doing the Kara parts this way is to make the differences between Kara and Supergirl more dramatic. It's makes a much bigger impact when we see the awkward, clutzy Kara turn into the strong, kickass Supergirl, than it would if we saw a strong, kickass Kara turn into a strong, kickass Supergirl.

Yeah, that too. We obviously need to see some kind of growth and development in her character as she goes along, and her starting out a bit awkward and uncertain (like Oliver and Barry both did) is the most obvious way to go about it.

Although personally I hope she doesn't lose too much of that goofy and awkward side as the show continues. Because the actress just makes it look so dang adorable.

 

[DigificWriter]

The script does say he was an infant when he left, so clearly something had to have happened along the way for him to suddenly be a lot older than her on Earth (and apparently already established as Superman for quite a while).

Yep... especially since, as I noted, Kara's only been on Earth for 12 years herself, having arrived here at age 12 (which is exactly how old she was when Krypton exploded).

 

[Enterpriserules]

Loved getting to talk about this trailer in The 602 Club.

 

[sojourner]

Good for you!

 

[Enterpriserules]

Thanks! Love that we have so much geek joy to share right now. We even touched on Legends of Tomorrow as well.

 

[Christopher]

The script does say he was an infant when he left, so clearly something had to have happened along the way for him to suddenly be a lot older than her on Earth (and apparently already established as Superman for quite a while).

Maybe they're going with his 1940 radio-series origin. The first radio episode ended with baby Kal-El rocketing away from Krypton as the planet exploded... and the second episode opened with the rocket arriving at Earth and an adult Superman bursting out and flying down to the surface, already in costume and speaking fluent American English. He rescues a professor and his son and asks them where he can get a job that will keep him alert to potential crises. They suggest he go to work at a major metropolitan newspaper, and the kid suggests he call himself Clark Kent. And then he flies off and they're never heard from again!

 

[davejames]

Ha, that would definitely be one way to go!

 

[Morpheus 02]

Okay, so "Starling City" has a nice, evocative ring to it, and "Central City" is pleasantly alliterative and has a charming kind of retro sound despite being a bit bland, but "National City" just sounds stupid.

My two cents.

At one point DC Comics was called National Comics. It's probably a nod to that. Plus it fits in with DC cities named Central, Midway and Coast. All pretty goofy names.

I think it's fine -- especially how it honors DC's heritage...but i *am* sick of everything ending with "City"...it's like so many Chicago SUburbs with "park" or "forest" .

I watched the trailer again as well as the SNL BW one and it's just embarrassing how similar they are. I mean you get a cold, hard, introduction to the show/movie (SG -Kara speaking of her past, BW -MCU intro) a break, cue cliched pop song over cityscape and enter our hero dealing with mundane life in "the big city" why being sorta cutesy/klutzy. Workplace encounters with the "big boss" who's sort of a B, encounters with co-workers/peers while gushing and being shy/fumbling for words, venting frustrations with a peer/social connection. God, it's almost like a Mobius Strip of parodies as they each seem like a parody of the other!

I don't see why they opted to go this route with Kara, especially considering the pretty active feminism mindset that's around today with the more middle-of-the-road "just treat women equally!" feminists becoming more and more equal over the "man-hater" extreme. Why make Kara such a sheepish klutz? Why not make her the powerful, strong, girl who knows no bounds with her powers as she wasn't raised as a human? (Though, I guess, in this take of the character she did instead of being found/thawed as a teenager when Kal was an adult.)

I mean, why not make her a strong, confident, adult who has already carved her way in the world in some manner and is independent enough to take-on the challenge of living in the city and then something happens that compels her to use her powers to do good?

But, no, it's much better to go with the decades-old trope of her being a klutzy girl in glasses who's job consists of grabbing coffees for her boss and fighting to make her way in the world as stereotypically as possible.

Supergirl or "Kara Wears Prada"?

I'll certainly give the show a chance when it comes out but I'm not hopeful at all, again, simply because of how cliched that trailer is in the light of the perfectly on-point SNL BW trailer.

I know I've said this before, but DC should just stop their movies, and focus all of their energy and money on the TV series. It would also give Berlanti and co. free reign over the whole DCU without having to worry about stepping to much on the movies' toes.

Why can't they do both?

Because the shows have had a way better handle on the DCU than any of the movies. I love the Nolan movies and I did enjoy MoS, but the shows are way better adaptations of the characters. I would rather just see one well adapted version of the characters than a bunch of versions of there characters where only some of them are actually recognizably those characters.

Eh, as others are arguing online, Black Widow and Supergirl are two VERY different characters, and a lighter and more "rom-commy" take doesn't seem nearly as inappropriate for Kara as it does for a hardass assassin like Widow.

Hell, on the old Superman Animated series, Kara was a complete spoiled brat who misused her powers like crazy before deciding to become more responsible under Superman's tutelage. I'd say this show is depicting her in a much more favorable light than that, since she does at least want to do good and help people.

And since when can't a female superhero in her early-20s be a bit clutzy or "girly" in her downtime? It doesn't demean her, it just makes her seem like more of a normal human being. And it's not like we've had a ton of live-action female superheroes in the past to judge her against.

Eh, as others are arguing online, Black Widow and Supergirl are two VERY different characters, and a lighter and more "rom-commy" take doesn't seem nearly as inappropriate for Kara as it does for a hardass assassin like Widow.

Excellent point. The goal of feminists in comics is not to see all female characters portrayed as identically tough or whatever; it's to see them treated the same way as male characters are, as diverse and complicated and filling every conceivable niche. There's as much room for fun, giggly, girly female characters as there is for tough, no-nonsense female assassins. After all, if we can have a male character as grim and tormented and violent as Arrow coexisting with a male character as upbeat and nice and compassionate as the Flash, why should female characters be allowed any less range? Feminists -- a category in which I proudly include myself -- don't mind "girly" characters as long as they're just one out of many types of female character. There are all kinds of ways to be female -- or male -- and there should be room for all of them, rather than a single limiting gender archetype.

I hear the arguments, and they make sense. But also consider who they are aiming for.

To me, i think one primary audience are tweens, especially those raised on Disney Channel sitcoms & movies.

Which makes sense, i think, given a character named SuperGIRL.

CNS is a network known for having an older demographic -- this is their opportunity to expand that base.

Also, if Flash is PG, this one might rate closer to G. WHich i think is fine -- we need diversity in styles.

This show could help perpetuate the audience for comics & comic-related media into the future.

I'll give it more than the mini-preview to figure out what is Kara's story (not Linda??) . Though I do see how it mirrors the SNL parody!


And just for the record, and have a 10 year old & 4 year old daughters (with the 4 year old the biggest fan). So i look forward to a show i can watch with them.


And for ages, and the 24 years...i wonder if the intro is mixing things up for the sake of brevity. It might have been 30+ years since Krypton exploded, but only 24 for Argo City. She might have been born or raised in Argo City since she was little, so that truly was her world.

But as an intro, we don't need to know about Argo City -- especially if people only know the basics of Krypton & Superman (if even that).


And for Jimmy Olsen...i wonder if he'll have been known as a hotshot intern back in the day...and the Superman photo was his huge break. It clearly seems like Superman has been around for a while in this universe.

 

[Enterpriserules]

^ I think your response about your daughters is exactly what CBS wants, they want that younger audience. I love that they are looking for those younger kids and especially girls. I hope it leads to a lot more fans of comics and comic book shows that are younger.