DC's "Naomi" coming to CW from Ava Duvernay

[Morpheus 02]

It pretty clearly is Superman:

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One thing I wonder about this show is they keep emphasizing how awesome in every way Naomi is: super-smart, super-cool, super-stylish, super-popular. Not sure what a good idea it is to set your main character up as being basically perfect. Though there could be a method to the madness -- i.e., it denotes Naomi as more-than-human?

^ I watched Ava Duvernay doing a sales pitch for this show and I can't shake the whole "She's so cool, girls!" out of my head.

I wonder if this is an over-compensation of minorities not being shown in a good light over the decades.

But yeah, this is overkill.

I understand the idea that she has a "perfect" life that is being completely upended by the revvelations of her powers and origin. But this is just going over the top (as opposed to what we see with Yumiko's brother in the Walking Dead).


I am surprised @TREK_GOD_1 hasn't been watching this show. I would love to hear his perspective on this show, and how he perceives it.

It was okay, but I'm not entirely sold yet. They're focusing on establishing the characters and setting and laying groundwork for the mystery slowly, so it's hard to tell where it's going. The lead is reasonably appealing, and the other characters are mostly okay, but the best friend is a bit of a cliched "snarky best friend" type. Also, the guy wanting the Elrond code name in the break-in was kind of a caricature, and I didn't remember seeing him before that sequence, so where did he come from?

Also, really? Teens today don't remember Lord of the Rings? I remember it being popular from the 1960s through well after the movies came out -- hard to believe it's been completely forgotten so quickly.

When Naomi asked her parents about her glasses and her adoption, their answers seemed too carefully rehearsed, and the way her father "reminded" her of her own medical condition that she should've known about all along felt like he was trying to reinforce brainwashing or prevent repressed memories from awakening. It seems pretty clear that her parents know who/what she really is and are her handlers or something like that.

Given all the property damage the fight caused in the town, wouldn't the police have come after Dee once he confessed publicly to being behind the stunt?

Also, Naomi boasts at the beginning that she has one of the most popular Superman websites in the world, and then when she confronts the sinister guy in the woods, she asks, "How do you know about my website?" Huh?

Dude... the teenagers in the story were not even CONCEIVED (let alone born) when the movies came out. There has been plenty of other stuff that came out since then, such as Harry Potter and the MCU (which would be more their age level). There have been a whole bunch of other movies that have come out since then. I thought it was interesting that her first date at a ovie, it was an outdoor showing of the Matrix (a lot more honoring of Laurence Fisbourne in this scene than the entirety of Resurrections).

Don't see why not placing it in the Arrowverse is such a bad decision.

Until the Crisis cross-over and largely afterwards, Black Lighting took the same approach and was in no way worse off for it.

Also saves the bleating about why was X there to help out when shit got bad that we've seen in some of the other threads.

For me, (see below), there is NO Superman on Naomi's current Earth. I , as many believe, is that SUperman is from an alternate earth. I personally am hoping it is a Berlantiverse SUperman (whether Tyler or Brandon or even Tom). I am personally sick of 15 versions of the same character running concurrently at the same time. We don't need yet another version.

With Dee talking about having 'fought a war' with Superman and everyone else seeming to think Superman is a fictional character and not actually real. I wonder if the world they're in had Crisis do something to Superman's "existence/knowledge" or perhaps some type of magical spell/curse so we're in a Spider-man type situation?

Also Dee being there for at least 15 years certainly adds to a longer time period. Could this world's Superman be the Brandon Routh Superman? The older Superman who has been through all the comics villains and wars? Maybe Lex's writing himself in place of him as the Paragon of Truth and replacing that Superman in the Crisis storyline somehow altered the world in a way Oliver didn't foresee when that Superman and his world was restored?

I've seen a lot of folks, here and (especially) elsewhere, who seem really confused by the "Superman thing," and I'm confused by their confusion. To me, it makes perfect sense by comic-book logic that this is an Earth without native superheroes, where Superman exists only as a fictional character, but that a real Superman appeared from a different Earth via some kind of dimensional breach. I imagine Naomi is also from another Earth, as is Dee and whoever else turns out to be an alien and/or have powers.

Could there be another explanation? Sure, it's early days, and it's being played as a mystery. But the setup is not exactly WTF confusing; it's practically Comics 101.

I am with you on this.

One question though, that the last episode broguht up.... is the Phantom Zone is ONE thing, that could actually be accessed by multiple earths (such as Earth Prime, Earth 29, Earth 2)?

No accounting for taste. This is the first one that mostly engaged me, though I still find Naomi's colorful band of friends annoying and cliched, and impatient students resisting their mentors' lectures about the importance of first principles and learning discipline are a cliche too. But the story is finally starting to move forward some, it seems, especially at the end. I'm so glad Naomi and her parents came clean to each other. I'm tired of stories driven by people hiding the truth from their loved ones.
.

That bolded sentence is why some of us think your are too condescending in some of your posts. While i actually agree with your assessment that the episode that reply was refrring to was "better" than the first 2, i can still respect a difference of opinion on that. Saying stuff like you did will make many of us to overlook any valid thoughts you have in reas where we might actually agree.

 

[Morpheus 02]

Wow.so no one watched the last episode?

We got a glimpse of a functioning STAR labs...but my daughter rolled her eyes, since it had nothing to do with the Flash's STAR labs. (Also Naomi not telling anyone about it.

And we will have to see about D's girlfriend. (OH, and that info being set in a bar similar to what we saw in Supergirl...where otherworldly people hang out)

Next week (well tomorrow/today for you who are reading), we will indeed get a backstory on Zabato.. looks like he might be Naomi's dad...and we see her mom.

Earth 29 looks like it will be "normal"... wonder if it is a budget thing.

 

[Morpheus 02]

Wow, 1 1/2 weeks with no comment, especially with the new episode "I am not a used car salesman"?

Well, to be fair, this was a huge disappointment. It was the Zabato origin episode, and our first glance at Earth 29.

It turns out to NOT be anything special, other than a 2nd moon. But everything all looks the same. The only other difference is that some meteors only gave 29 random people some superpowers.

Now, it's fine that they chose not to have costumes or hero names or anything...but it felt really weak and cheap, at least compared to Barry's visit to Erth 2 back in the day.

Also, i don't get the change between Zabato back then (a normal guy with emotion) and the modern Zabato, who seems to be a disciplined person, but also mysterious.

if they were doing things right, I could see a Teen DC crossover, between Naomi, Stargil and the Super-boys... but not sure if this will make to then.

My youngest daughter wasn't excited either.

 

[Reverend]

Wow, 1 1/2 weeks with no comment, especially with the new episode "I am not a used car salesman"?

Nah, I gave up after three or four episodes due to lack of interest. Too stale. Too bland. Too shallow. It's never a good sign when the mystery aspect of a show is the least interesting part of it.
I just ducked in here to see if there's been any improvement, and apparently not . . .

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

I'm about 3 episodes behind. It's okay. Not great, just okay.
Network shows I am really behind on in general though, Superman and Lois I just finished season 1 last week! For some reason it feels easier to keep up with a weekly streaming show on Disney+ or whatever than something on the network.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I like the show except for the stuff dealing with Naomi’s friends. They’re just not that interesting and there’s too many of them.

they’re really going slow on the mythology. It’s one long origin story so far. It’s time for some superhero action.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

Finally caught up. As a fan of the book, I've been waiting to see how they were going to handle if the parents were alien or not, I suspected the mom was just as a change from the book, but it was cool to see that they both are. (Zumbado being her father would have been too much a stray for me, I'm glad they didn't do that though he's still VERY different. But it works)

But there's something very... 90s about the whole production. It's very jarring. Like everyone filming the show are fresh out of school with little experience yet.

 

[Marc]

Finally caught up. As a fan of the book, I've been waiting to see how they were going to handle if the parents were alien or not, I suspected the mom was just as a change from the book, but it was cool to see that they both are. (Zumbado being her father would have been too much a stray for me, I'm glad they didn't do that though he's still VERY different. But it works)

But there's something very... 90s about the whole production. It's very jarring. Like everyone filming the show are fresh out of school with little experience yet.

I'd read the wiki for the character and thought maybe they weren't going down that path right up until the big reveal at the end.

 

[dupersuper]

This is interesting to me. I don't know that I've ever read a Hawk-person comic in my life, but I always assumed the wings were natural. What, DC figured people with wings were just too unrealistic?

It likely makes the secret identity thing hard, Those are hard to hide under casual clothes.

The most recent episode was not really of the same calibre as the previous ones, but there was still some stuff to discuss.

...Feel free to begin.

 

[theenglish]

I just got caught up this evening. Obviously, I guessed the reveal before we saw it--but I am glad the show is remaining somewhat faithful to the comics. Dee is still my favourite character, but the last couple of episodes are finally starting to do something decent with the supporting cast. Also, now that they are finally to bring some downfall to Naomi I am hopeful the final episodes of the season will have a little more stakes to the story.

 

[Morpheus 02]

Wow. With the official cancellation of Legends and Batwoman....Naomi has got to be next. I mean, we had a new episode, and no one has commented in weeks, even with 2 new episodes? (Well, also, CW having an inexplicable gap between episodes).

My 11 year old, who really likes Stargirl, gave up on Naomi. EVen with the mystery episode which references Agatha CHristie (my daughter really wanted to see Death on the Nile, an AGatha Christie mystery), she refused to see it.

The pace has been off for me. Zumbado, for example. With Walking Dead, we had a few seasons to help us see Carol go from meek and abused to deadly warrior. I just don't see how he went from factory worker to seemingly plotting and dangerous anti-hero. i don;t think it's the actor as much as writing/directing.

ANd yeah, Naomi having 3 different people liking her...waaaaay too much in one season. In high school, it is might be realistic to have that many friends to share adventures with....but for a new show, it's just too much.


The problem with Naomi being this superimportant person is that it won't come off very good on such a low budget scale.

We will see if it survives (so that CW/Discovery doesn't come off as racist)...but based on our lack of discussion here...probably not.

 

[Marc]

Wow. With the official cancellation of Legends and Batwoman....Naomi has got to be next. I mean, we had a new episode, and no one has commented in weeks, even with 2 new episodes? (Well, also, CW having an inexplicable gap between episodes).

My 11 year old, who really likes Stargirl, gave up on Naomi. EVen with the mystery episode which references Agatha CHristie (my daughter really wanted to see Death on the Nile, an AGatha Christie mystery), she refused to see it.

The pace has been off for me. Zumbado, for example. With Walking Dead, we had a few seasons to help us see Carol go from meek and abused to deadly warrior. I just don't see how he went from factory worker to seemingly plotting and dangerous anti-hero. i don;t think it's the actor as much as writing/directing.

ANd yeah, Naomi having 3 different people liking her...waaaaay too much in one season. In high school, it is might be realistic to have that many friends to share adventures with....but for a new show, it's just too much.


The problem with Naomi being this superimportant person is that it won't come off very good on such a low budget scale.

We will see if it survives (so that CW/Discovery doesn't come off as racist)...but based on our lack of discussion here...probably not.

Lourdes having the hots for Niaomi has been there from pretty much the first ep when her mum mentions it.

Their pacing has been the big issue. Things were dripped out, probably with the intention of a big event at the end of the season to set things up for the next.

All the pieces are pretty much in place, we know about her parents, Dee, Zumbado, Akira (who from reading the wiki is very different from the character in the series) so they could kick it up but probably too little too late.

 

[Morpheus 02]

Lourdes having the hots for Niaomi has been there from pretty much the first ep when her mum mentions it.

Yeah, i know they did do that at the start...but they also had the potnetial boyfriend who got friendzoned (a somewhat similar development his character had the Walking Dead World Beyond), which is just too much for one season. If they didn't have him, Lourdes might have made sense. BUt with her... so she dropped out of school, but is she running her store as a 17 year old? Or is she 18? Which just adds another problematic thing....

Their pacing has been the big issue. Things were dripped out, probably with the intention of a big event at the end of the season to set things up for the next.

All the pieces are pretty much in place, we know about her parents, Dee, Zumbado, Akira (who from reading the wiki is very different from the character in the series) so they could kick it up but probably too little too late.

i would agree -- waay to late, and i would need to check the ratings...but i think they lost a lot of people early on.[/QUOTE]

 

[crookeddy]

Ratings: started with a not impressive 0.8 million. Last episode 0.45 million. Definitely under cancellation threat.

 

[DigificWriter]

If this show isn't renewed, the reason is as likely to be related to uncertainty about The CW's future as it is ratings.

 

[Nerys Myk]

They might be "cleaning house".

 

[StCoop]

https://deadline.com/2022/05/ava-duvernay-naomi-cancelled-cw-kaci-walfall-1235013349/

Anybody surprised? Anyone? Bewler? Bewler?

(Also cancelled: Charmed, The 4400 and Roswell.)

 

[Marc]

https://deadline.com/2022/05/ava-duvernay-naomi-cancelled-cw-kaci-walfall-1235013349/

Anybody surprised? Anyone? Bewler? Bewler?

(Also cancelled: Charmed, The 4400 and Roswell.)

not really.

At least Lois and Superman had an established audience before they started with all the pre-emptions and the glacial pace.

though I'm not sure what's going through the head of CW management. If you don't have any shows on air the new buyer would have to spin stuff up from scratch and miss out on premiers until very late this year or into next year and wait for them to establish and then keep an audience.

 

[StCoop]

though I'm not sure what's going through the head of CW management. If you don't have any shows on air the new buyer would have to spin stuff up from scratch and miss out on premiers until very late this year or into next year and wait for them to establish and then keep an audience.

Aren't the front-runners for buying it a bunch of right-wingers? Probably why they're getting rid of all the shows with non-white, non-hetrosexual leads.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

The CW just ordered Gotham Knights to series which has non-white, non-heterosexual characters. So I guess not.

https://tvline.com/2022/05/12/supernatural-the-winchesters-prequel-spinoff-series-order-cw/