News Superman & Lois Ordered to Series at The CW

I seriously doubt this--or any other CW-DC series will approach the layered relevancy of Black Lightning. That's just not in the creative DNA of the other series at all.

The trailer was ho-hum. This better have real meat on its bones to make up for what the trailer suggests will be the tone of the series. Regarding the series being unwatchable, well that remains to be seen. I will say if SM is reduced to dried-up,1950s camp counselor behavior which would make him an irrelevant bore in the world of today (instead of being interested in justice, but has his limits), or a pushover to any degree the show would get old fast.

All you have to go on at this point is the track record of Berlanti's DC shows to predict quality.

 

I watched Man of Steel today for the first time since the theatrical release in 2013 and I have to say, it was better than I remembered. And I thought it was pretty good the first time. Henry Cavill cemented himself in Superman lore with that one, despite the missteps with BvS and JL.

Which leads me to the point, that I'll give this new show a chance. Superman was my first hero, going back to George Reeves.

We'll see.

 

I'm undecided as to whether I'm going to watch this, largely because I haven't watched LIVE broadcast TV in months, but the trailer looks good and the synopsis sounds really interesting.

 

DVR it and keep your streak going.

 

The impression I get from the trailer is this show is going to be about fading fame in terms of the parents as their glory days are moving more into the past, with Superman being less active and both no longer being famous reporters with the kids sort of dealing with the fact that they are dealing with issues of having their lives uprooted to basically to come and live in this small unremarkable town and also pressure to reach the height of success their parents had.

I also think it will touch on things facing small towns like unemployment due to jobs being shipped out of country and automation and drug addiction and racism and alt right stuff and how even the Kent Farm can't make it in a world with Factory Farming.


Jason

 

It's pretty good timing for them to do a story like this what with newspapers cutting staff IRL. I assume L & C get laid off from the Daily Planet but seems like Lois would be a big enough name to want to keep around (I assume she's won the Pulitzer in this continuity). Maybe she's too expensive to keep? Maybe she quits in protest of Clark's firing? Of course, this is all just speculation.

 

The synopsis for the premiere implies that the second-gen Kent clan moves to Smallville because of the Kent farm.

 

Without question.

 

I was a little surprised the trailer didn't give us any hits about what Wole Parks' The Stranger is up to, to give us a look at the overarching superhero plot. We do have time for at least a couple more trailers, so maybe we'll get another focused more on that side of things.

 

I wonder who will be the first crossover character on the show. Supergirl makes perfect sense and I wonder if they bring back James Olson for a episode. Also I would bet good money before the show ends that Superman and The Flash end up having a race on the show.


Jason

 

Supergirl is faster and stronger than Superman so it would just be a race for second.

 

I'd love to see Jimmy turn up. (Remember, he re-embraced the nickname in his final Supergirl episode? Plus, he said Clark always called him that anyway.) I don't know that Mehcad Brooks would be up for it, but Jimmy Olsen is a key figure in the Superman family of characters, and it'd be great if he could appear.

 

Hopefully the Crisis storyline will have changed Olson a little bit so now he wears a bow tie and is more nerdy. Hard to make Mehcad Brooks nerdy of course because he is a hunk but I think badly tailored suit and some glasses can get the job done. Or t-shirt with a pop culture reference on it.

Jason

 

To continue to tokenize him as in his entire association with CW-DC? Pass.

 

Maybe they will have different writers? Maybe they can Salvage something ..maybe a flashback from the beginning (with a younger Jimmy).

They have some more definite and less awkward parameters to work with...and with the right writer, can make it work

 

The new writers would help. Better writers can elevate characters if they want who haven't been used much or well before.

Jason

 

A great new look at the suit (and at Hoechlin in it, for those so inclined):

 

The cape attachment looks better

 

Also, the collar doesn't look as high as in the previous image. More like the Reeve suit than the Routh suit.

 

Would not surprise me if they are making modifications to the suit as they learning what works early on. On Lois & Clark we saw the suit change multiple times in the early episodes. The original Pilot had a different suit than the rest of the series. Than you could see cape attachment and height of the collar being modified in the first regular episodes while the overall design stay the same for whole series. It was obvious because in the 2 or 3 episode they must used a take of shot from earlier episode because his collar is very low in just one scene and does not match rest of the episode.

The Flash was notable in the observable design changes in the early episodes. The cowl and mask Grant wore in that first episode looked too small. They quickly replaced it without any on camera acknowledgement by the characters.

It’s really clear that if they had the time and money for Tyler’s guest appearances on Supergirl they would have made changes to that first suit long ago. But he was just a guest back than and had to make due with what they had. But now as a regular and main lead they have a whole season to tinker with these things.