Spoilers "Superman & Lois" Season 3
- Thread starter The Realist
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The Practice ditched seven of its eleven regulars in its final season, for the same budget-cutting reason. Although it added James Spader and Rhona Mitra, making the whole final season a backdoor pilot for Boston Legal.
There have been some sitcoms that retooled their format between seasons and ditched most or all of the supporting cast. Here's an obscure example I read about recently, where a sitcom dropped its entire first-season cast except Cleavon Little: https://popculturereferences.com/wh...nde-show-was-merged-with-temperatures-rising/ There are some other examples discussed in the recurring feature that article belongs to.
Not really, because in Xena Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor were the only regulars anyway. Really only one major recurring character got dropped
The show did a major time skip, and then killed off Joxer (played by Ted raimi), who was the most recurring character besides the two regulars at 43 episodes (out of 134), but even after the time skip Ares and Aphrodite both appeared in several episodes (both being notable recurring characters in early Seasons), and even Julius caesar (who had several important appearances in early seasons) appeared once. Basically, even post time skip all the major recurring appeared, and only Joxer was killed off a significant amount of time before the end (and even he managed a few season 6 appearances).
That was kinda the reverse. The cast change happened after the first season because the show went from CBS to syndication after being cancelled. So you had 1 year with the original cast, then that family moved away or something and a new family/cast was for the remaining 4 years the show was on tv.
While true, it can be considered a purge, because the original cast--with the exception of Scott Baio and Willie Aames--had failed to connect with audiences, so the syndicated version wiped them off the face of the earth (i.e. moved away) with a couple of original cast members in the 2nd season premiere appearing to explain (to the audience) why the Pembrokes were going bye-bye and replaced by the Powells.
Sorta similar Seaquest. There was turnover/changes between S1 to S2. Stephanie Beacham, Stacy Haiduk, and John D'Aquino all left after S1. So S2 replaced them and added those genetically modified slave labor characters... Then S3 saw Roy Scheider leave, plus another regular from S1 and some of the ones who just joined in S2.
I think from S1's regular cast only 3 remained as regulars in S3.
I'll be interested to see how the show handles him going forward. In this episode, after 17 years in prison, he mostly comes off as a big, mean, scary thug -- effectively so, but not that distinct from a lot of other big, mean, scary thugs. I hope we see more of the qualities that made him a world-class genius, a billionaire giant of industry, and a worthy adversary for Superman.
I do think Jon Cryer's dazzling debut as the character on Supergirl made a stronger initial impression on me, but I'm eager to see what the S&L writers, and Cudlitz, have in store for this version.
All at once? The Practice.
The Facts of Life had a major downsizing between season one and two. Some characters were reduced to recurring, others just vanished, and they brought in one new character.
The Jeff Foxworthy Show got canceled after one season, another network saved it but it was basically season one of a complete different show. Only two actors were brought over and a third character was recast. Everyone else was a new actor in a new role.
Superman was based in Metropolis, a major city with millions of people. Jordan has made it obvious to everyone that he's based in Smallville, a town whose business district consists of like a block, and which apparently has only one restaurant. Much smaller pool to hide in.
Also, Jordan is much less experienced and being much more reckless than Clark. As Sam says, "People see him around town enough, track his flight paths, someone's gonna put two and two together." From the sightings, people know he's a kid, further narrowing the list of suspects. And now he's got a Lois-trained Daily Planet reporter on his trail.
Also, Jordan is much less experienced and being much more reckless than Clark. As Sam says, "People see him around town enough, track his flight paths, someone's gonna put two and two together." From the sightings, people know he's a kid, further narrowing the list of suspects. And now he's got a Lois-trained Daily Planet reporter on his trail.
The opening monologue was spot on. It was heart achingly close to the kinds of things my wife has expressed since her surgery.
Another aspect of the episode also mirrored real life with respect to rebellious attitude from a teenager. The kitchen scene where Jordan is dismissive of his parents could easily have been a moment in my house this past school year—and in countless others, I’m sure (well, minus the superpowers).
“Biker gang leader” Luthor wasn’t what I expected and while I’ll wait for full judgment, I see no hint of brilliance thus far.
Didn’t really like the direction taken with Bizarro Superman.
Overall, some excellent bits but on the lower end of quality for this season (though still higher than much of last year).
Another aspect of the episode also mirrored real life with respect to rebellious attitude from a teenager. The kitchen scene where Jordan is dismissive of his parents could easily have been a moment in my house this past school year—and in countless others, I’m sure (well, minus the superpowers).
“Biker gang leader” Luthor wasn’t what I expected and while I’ll wait for full judgment, I see no hint of brilliance thus far.
Didn’t really like the direction taken with Bizarro Superman.
Overall, some excellent bits but on the lower end of quality for this season (though still higher than much of last year).
The all stick, no carrot thing reminds me of the Kingpin in the first season of Daredevil (and, in retrospect, my reaction to him is probably a big reason why I still haven't gotten around to the rest of the Marvel/Netflix shows); I don't see how you get to the top of anything if your only move is terrifying ultra-violence or threatening the same. It's a hostage scenario, and that's a bad model, because you only have leverage so long as you don't use your leverage, so you're slowly losing strength from one end or losing it all at once from the other. You have to make people believe you'll kill the hostage, but you can't actually kill the hostage, because then there's nothing protecting you. If Lex Luthor is only offering protection from Lex Luthor, that's not going to get him very far in the long run. The show is usually smarter than this.
On the other hand, if the Lex Luthor plot was entirely a red herring and he really was just eaten alive by Bizarro, that'd certainly play to type with this series.
Okay, first off, I'm furious that this show repeated the same dangerous myth as Man of Steel about tornadoes and overpasses. Overpasses concentrate the wind and make it faster, so they're a terrible place to be in a tornado. They're going to get people killed perpetuating this crap. https://community.fema.gov/Protecti...icle-Do-Not-Use-Overpass-Underpass-as-Shelter
Also, the whole tornado sequence was stupid. I can only surmise that the writers and producers have never lived in a tornado-prone part of the country. How the hell was there no warning? There would've been a tornado watch in effect as soon as the weather conditions created a risk of tornadoes. And while tornadoes can form and touch down quickly, it usually takes 5-10 minutes, so there would've been more time to get to safety. Also, how the hell does flying around the funnel blowing cold breath on it do anything? Tornadoes form when warm, humid air at ground level meets cold, dry air higher up and creates a wind shear. Blowing cold air on the upper part of the tornado would probably make it worse.
So... we meet Lex Luthor, and he's basically a meaner Jamie Hyneman. Stories showing Luthor using his influence to take over a prison from within have been done plenty of times, but this is a more brutal take on it that didn't do much for me. The part that lost me was Luthor "adjusting his chair" -- that kind of took it to the level of camp.
Luthor having a daughter is a twist. The only comics version of Luthor who had a daughter was the post-Crisis, pre-New 52 version, who had a daughter named Lena (as well as a sister by that name).
I kind of liked Kyle here. I'd been thinking how weird it is that everyone just seemed to take it in stride that they were friends with Superman -- I thought they'd just be boggled by that on a continuing basis, and wouldn't be able to act normal around Clark. And now we're finally seeing that with Kyle. It's fun.
Also, the whole tornado sequence was stupid. I can only surmise that the writers and producers have never lived in a tornado-prone part of the country. How the hell was there no warning? There would've been a tornado watch in effect as soon as the weather conditions created a risk of tornadoes. And while tornadoes can form and touch down quickly, it usually takes 5-10 minutes, so there would've been more time to get to safety. Also, how the hell does flying around the funnel blowing cold breath on it do anything? Tornadoes form when warm, humid air at ground level meets cold, dry air higher up and creates a wind shear. Blowing cold air on the upper part of the tornado would probably make it worse.
So... we meet Lex Luthor, and he's basically a meaner Jamie Hyneman. Stories showing Luthor using his influence to take over a prison from within have been done plenty of times, but this is a more brutal take on it that didn't do much for me. The part that lost me was Luthor "adjusting his chair" -- that kind of took it to the level of camp.
Luthor having a daughter is a twist. The only comics version of Luthor who had a daughter was the post-Crisis, pre-New 52 version, who had a daughter named Lena (as well as a sister by that name).
I kind of liked Kyle here. I'd been thinking how weird it is that everyone just seemed to take it in stride that they were friends with Superman -- I thought they'd just be boggled by that on a continuing basis, and wouldn't be able to act normal around Clark. And now we're finally seeing that with Kyle. It's fun.
Can't be, he's been announced as a series regular next season. I assume Otis was the offscreen casualty, though how Luthor survived ...? (Maybe Bizarro just got full.)
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