Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Supergirl TV show (was CBS, now CW)

When Marty McFly travelled into the future to October 21st, 2015, did he know that the Supergirl premiere was STILL five days away?

Tonight on CBS at 8:30...tick tock, tick tock...losing patience...oh, the anticipation...

I'm so excited, I just can't hide it!

I've already watched the leaked pilot but I'm curious to see what you all think.

I really wanted to like it, but I just was not that impressed. I'm pleased with most of the casting, especially Melissa Benoit -- only Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant rang false to me. But the whole DEO/Phantom Zone Criminals thing felt very forced and by-the-numbers, the latter term also describing a lot of the key scenes, like the heart-to-heart between Kara and Alex.

I like Supergirl a lot more than I like Barry Allen, so I will give her show a few episodes to change my mind.

I felt the same way for the most part, Fanfie. The plotting felt fairly boilerplate, even for a pilot that's supposed to setup most of the characters for the series. It felt like they were doing too much, too fast and in the end it felt very forced at times.

Well said, Stalgie. I think that if it had been an hour-and-a-half or two hours, it would have been better, but I probably still would've found a lot of the same faults.

At least we can take solace in the fact that it has one of the best comic to screen costume translations ever?

Good point.

It definitely felt like it was trying to tell a story that really should've used a two-hour episode.

It's got a lot of same problems that Flash/Arrow have, but Melissa Benoist was so great that I'm willing to forgive a lot of the forced bits of it. I really empathized with the joy of watching Kara use her powers for the first time.

I'm not too big on the whole DEO setup, and the Fort Raz bit is obviously just an excuse to provide her with a random super-powered foe of the week. *yawn*

Anyway, it's definitely nice to see Kara on tv, thirty years after TPTB at DC not only killed her off but wiped her from existence. So, yeah, there's that.

Glad you mentioned how what DC did 30 years ago ended up not sticking, EDE.

And, yes, Melissa Benoist really is great.

I actually liked it.

Their rationalization of Super"girl" seemed a stretch that's getting a free pass. Why the show isn't about a Super GIRL or called Superwoman seems odd on the first count and cowardly on the second. I suppose they could have avoided the problem by going the "Smallville" route?

I enjoyed the show premiere for a few reason:
#1) The lead is solid in the role. Most of the major superpowered characters are hard to pull off well, and I thought the lead actor was able to do a whole I'm-strong-enough-to-survive-this-I-think thing in her interactions with everyone.

#2) Mehcad Brooks as Jimmy Olsen is delightful (and Mr. Brooks is always stunning on screen).

#3) I really liked her hair and costume. The hair moved in crazy ways while she was flying and the costume was SO much better than it's been in the comics.

What fell flat:
#1) Lack of development. The sister rivalry thing between her and the Danvers woman, as well as between Kara's mom and aunt, really could have been better fleshed out. I hate when they tell you what they felt as a kid rather than show us (it IS tv).

#2) Fort Raz (or however you spell it) - Yawn. The idea of following a Buffy model shows a stunning lack of originality

#3) Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant was BAD

I'm hoping some of these issues are solved in the first season, and the crazy prison storyline is resolved completely so that they can do something different for Season 2

Naturally, I have already seen the pilot, and I was thinking of waiting until episode 2 before making any comments.

Because while I adore the show, I hope that episode 1 is the worst they ever make.

Still, watching it again, I do want to say a couple of things.

Many online reviews extol Calista Flockhart as the best thing on the show. To me, she is just annoying. Cat Grant seems underdeveloped, and Ms. Flockhart seems to be uninvested in the character, merely going through the motions of a performance. IMHO.

Also, I notice that Melissa has a beautiful but distinctive chicken pox scar just above her left eyebrow. This makes her immediately and definitely recognizable to anyone who sees her face-to-face. But we imagine that her mostly secret identity still remains mostly secret.

I mention this because I, myself, have a very similar scar in nearly the exact location.

Finally, the original Supergirl was, of course, a teen-aged girl. This Kara begins her career ten years older, so, yeah, why not Superwoman? Name recognition, branding, and intellectual property considerations, I suppose.

I thought it was decent, but mostly by the numbers. My kids, however, LOVED it (despite some continuity nitpicks). So I'm pretty pleased.

Dave, I know what you mean about continuity. The writhers keep saying twenty-four. I do not think it means what they think it means.

This is the continuity-chronology I assume:
1979: Baby Kal-El arrives on Earth
2003: 12-year-old Kara arrives on Earth; Kal-El is twenty-four years old, and has been Superman for several years now.
2015: Kara, now twenty-four herself, begins her career as Supergirl.

Ummmm.


Okay, I guess i'll follow a tried and true.

The Good:

Pretty people.
Nice special effects.
Pretty set design.
Nice outdoor shots.

The Bad:

Simplistic acting and dialog. NO WOMAN talks the way the two sisters did, I am assured of this by my wife who listened and was less than impressed.

The dialog was not only written down, but a bit condescending towards the audience. Yes, it's Supergirl, but if you are going for a tweenie audience, it's still stilted and unnatural. Much the same problem I had with Flash. Yes, I know the first few eps are exposition heavy and set up. But, television is many many many decades old now. Do better.

That cheesy fucking music. "Okay, now, lets tell the audience that action is about to happen. I know, grab some fifty year old shit off the shelf, slap it in there and it'll evoke memories of Chris Reeve as Superman. That'll grab'em." Hey crew that maketh supergirl, that shit was old then, Indiana Jones should be looking for the lost tapes now.

Tooooooooo many kryptonians. Allready reminding me of Smallville.



Relatively few upskirt shots, but still a few to many.

Supercheesy villian dialog and acting. The aunt is already over the top villian-ey and she had less than three mins screen time.



Like I said, lots of pretty, not much depth. Need more fast.

Well my daughter's a purist, and on top of that a Silver-age purist, so she has no time for a Danvers surname or an adopted sister, but she couldn't hide her excitement at a lot of the scenes, so I think all is forgiven.

She hasn't caught on yet that "Winn" is short for Winslow. She'll flip out over that one.

Sue, I agree about Calista Flockhart. I've never been a fan of hers, but on this show she's just...grotesque.

She hasn't caught on yet that "Winn" is short for Winslow. She'll flip out ove

i freaking love reading she's a silver age purist! AWESOME, however I'm glad she enjoyed!!!!!!!!

that crisis hppened aT all was dc having lack of faith in their fans and in their creator's abilities to sell comicbooks. the deaths of characters and worlds in that event was DC having lack of faith in their own history.

so anytime something hAppens that tells that notion to fuck off even indirectly, I CHEER.

GO SUPERGIRL GO!!!!!

I generally enjoyed it despite some minor quibbles.

I agree it could of used another hour for better pacing.

I didn't care for Calista as Cat but that's unsurprising as I've never been a fan of hers.

Basically Melissa Benoist's portrayal of Kara sold me on the series.

I had the very lowest expectations (considering its a network, and CBS at that) but was pleasantly surprised. There are a lot of things to iron out, but Benoist as Supergirl was a pleasure to watch. The show felt fun and full of energy. I'm pleased.

Any fears I had about Jimmy are gone. His scenes were terrific.

Ps - I agree that Flockhart was the worst actor on the show. It almost felt like a parody of the "confident, beautiful woman in a position of power".

This is from NPR / Fresh Air’s review:

“Long before she starred in Berlanti's Brothers and Sisters, Flockhart was the controversial face of new feminism on David E. Kelley's Fox comedy series Ally McBeal. And in Supergirl, essentially playing the Meryl Streep part from The Devil Wears Prada, Flockhart injects the show with some very welcome energy and fun.”

“It's OK for supervillains to be more interesting than the comic book heroes — that's been true, especially in DC Comics, ever since the first appearances of The Joker and Catwoman. But Supergirl shouldn't be less interesting than her boss at work. It's like watching Perry White steal every scene from Clark Kent.”

I feel like we were watching two different shows.