News Superman & Lois Ordered to Series at The CW

https://tvline.com/2020/01/14/superman-and-lois-series-order-cw

 

Cool, I really like their versions of the characters. I wonder if it's a bad sign for Green Arrow and the Canaries that this is being picked up so quick without a pilot, and yet that one has a pilot but didn't get a series order. Obviously it could still happen for GAaTC, but I do find it a bit surprising that they'd go for the one without a pilot before the one with one.
Counting down to Kirk Prime rant in
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This is great, though hardly unexpected news. I figured a series order was a lock, even if they did a pilot as a formality.

If some very plausible speculation I've heard proves out, we may have a better picture of the show's central setup after tonight's "Crisis" conclusion.

 

I do wonder how they're going to handle a Superman series in the Supergirl continuity. I mean, this is a world where Superman has been around for a couple of decades, yet has never battled most of his traditional villains aside from Luthor and Zod, since most of the Superman villains we've gotten were introduced as adversaries unique to Supergirl. Yet at the same time, it's a setting that should be a dozen or so years beyond the traditional Daily Planet situation, since both Cat Grant and Jimmy Olsen have done their time at the Planet and moved on to become media moguls in their own right. So this is a Superman who has been around a lot longer than most screen Supermen, but faced far fewer recognizable foes in that time than any since George Reeves. What's he been doing all that time? And who will he face in his own show, with so many of the core villains already used up by Supergirl?

Well, hopefully we'll get Jon Cryer's Lex as a recurring presence. Even though he and Superman-38 are both in Crisis, we haven't gotten to see them play off each other much.

 

I suspect the resounding success of Cryer's Lex was part of what made this happen. They cast the show's key characters one by one over the past several years, until somebody went, "So, like, we've basically already got our 'Superman' show, right? We just have to shoot it."

 

I wonder if we'll finally get an Arrowverse Perry White? He's one of the last major Superman characters we've gotten references to but haven't seen on screen yet.

 

There's still a bunch of major villains like Chemo, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Brainiac, The Ultra-Humanite and Darkseid, Domsday and others who haven't shown up on Supergirl, plus a raft of minor villains over the decades not to mention villians who've fought the Justice League to draw from. And sure he does have maybe 15 years or so of backstory as a character, but the comics have 80 years to draw from, so I expect there will be plenty of interesting takes on villains he's had to fight, probably as many of interest as we got to see in Smallville and more than Lois and Clark dealt with during that run in terms of potential.

 

What concerns me is whether they'll remember how old he is. Cat Grant started as Perry's assistant (same as Kara was to Cat in season 1) and is now a media mogul in her mid-50s. So Perry should be at least mid-70s and probably close to retirement. If it were up to me, I'd give the Planet a new editor and have Perry just show up occasionally as the publisher or something.

Mxy has appeared on Supergirl, played by Peter Gadiot, and is due back soon in a recurring capacity, now played by Thomas Lennon.

 

Ed Asner would be perfect an older Perry White. He has a Doom Patrol episode in his credits for last year, so DC and Berlanti are already familiar with him.

 

Its likely that things aren't going to be exactly as in the comics. After all, Elizabeth Tulloch isn't playing a Lois in her mid-50s. Jimmy Olsen in only in his 30s. Perry could be in his 60s.

 

I think 90 is a bit old all things considered for Perry in this universe. That would put him 70 when this world's Lois Lane got started.

 

Genius. I love it.

 

This is what Deadline said about that:

 

It does depend on whether or not they plan on full or short seasons for the shows. Should Superman and Lois be planned for short leasons a la Black Lightning and Legends, there might be room for both.

 

I doubt Superman & Lois would be relegated to the half season thing.

 

I'm not talking about the comics, I'm talking about the show's version of Cat Grant and what we know about her history as Perry's assistant. My concern is whether the Arrowverse will stay consistent with its own continuity. (Although Crisis could give them an excuse to revise it.)

 

It's comic book time - and yes, this example is from Marvel, but hell, Aunt May and J. Jonah Jameson have been in their 60ies/40ies respectively since 1965.

 

But there's nothing to say how old Perry was when she became his assistant. Could have been in his 30s for all we know.

 

Calista Flockhart was in her 50s, but that doesn't mean anything when it comes to the age of the Cat Grant character.

 

Just as long as they don't cast someone younger than Calista Flockhart, is all I'm saying. It's not a matter of absolute certainty, just a matter of common sense.

More importantly, I don't want them to forget that this is later in Clark's life than the usual Superman show. That's what makes it interesting. Of the four prior live-action TV series about Clark Kent, we've had two set during his initial years at the Planet (Adventures and Lois and Clark) and two set in his youth before that stage (Superboy and Smallville) -- plus we've had one set two generations earlier (Krypton). Now we have one set at a later stage in his life, something we haven't seen before, and I don't want them to squander that potential and fall back into the same old tropes as past Superman shows. I want them to use the passage of time, not gloss over it.