DC Superheroes on TV (CW & HBO Max) (Page 28 of 28)

From a creative standpoint, it's also likely that the Allegra character allowed Wallace a lot more freedom. There are ultimately going to be restrictions on what a TV adaptation is licensed to do with Barry Allen, Iris West, Wally West, Caitlin Snow, Eobard Thawne, etc., whereas DC isn't going to take issue with "Allegra" because barely anyone knows who she is.

Not that Eric Wallace seemed to do very much anyway with anyone. *sigh*

Spoilers from Superman & Lois

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So at the end of the latest episode, Kyle comes to the farm to confront Clark, and Clark ends up having to reveal his identity so he can woosh off and save the day.

...has that really never happened to him?  I would imagine it would happen all the time with other parents at school, commitments at work, or other situations where Clark is one on one with someone who refuses to leave.  I would think Clark would be more prepared for that because I would think most people wouldn't take "we have to deal with this later" as an excuse.

I would think Clark would be able to superspeed and "vulcan neck pinch" someone or something.

It is amusing that Wallace now wants others to do what he wouldn’t do himself:

https://bamsmackpow.com/2023/06/03/the- … -and-lois/

It's baffling to me how Wallace chose to use his resources. Two episodes of Javicia Leslie: she spends them not playing Ryan Wilder except in two scenes. Reduced availability of Grant Gustin: he's wasted in standalones and is absent for half of the series finale arc instead of filming the series finale earlier when Gustin was in fuller availability. Full use of Danielle Panabaker: she spends the season playing a character who isn't Frost and isn't Caitlin. Multiple episodes with limited availability for Grant Gustin: Wallace claims there wasn't enough space to do Arrowverse finale stories and hopes SUPERMAN AND LOIS will do it instead.

I don't get it. I liked the finale, though, having all the speedster villains.

Superman & Lois has been renewed for a ten-episode season four.

I read that the actor that plays General Lane has already been told he's not coming back.  If the budget cuts are severe enough, I don't know if it really benefits the show to come back.  I'd almost rather bring it back for a "special event" - a small handful of episodes that would finish the story.  Maybe the "Superman" effects are really easy to do now for cheap, but the show has been really good in terms of making Superman look and feel real.  If they're going to scale that back that it looks cheap, I'd almost rather it not come back at all.

Maybe they can do 10 episodes that still look good.  I hope so.

If not, here's how I'd pitch it in the writers room:

IDEA ONE - Kandor.  I'd bring the whole family (no Lana, no Lana's family, no other cast) into the bottle city of Kandor.  I don't know if it'd be cheaper to film on an alien-looking set, but Clark wouldn't have any powers and they could explore some of Clark's Krypton side.  Let them out in the finale to wrap up the Smallville storylines, but you'd reduce the cast and take superpowers out of it.

IDEA TWO - Clark is permanently depowered.  Maybe use gold kryptonite.  Maybe use Mister Mxyzptlk.  Make something up.  Doesn't really matter.  Take away his powers (and I guess Jordan loses his powers too) and essentially make this Clark's retirement story.  Jordan has to deal with the fact that he's back to being a normal teenager again (and maybe Jonthan enjoys it a little too much) and Clark has to deal with the fact that he's not Superman anymore.  You could have the main villain of the story be just the concept of aging and not beiing able to do what you used to do.  Maybe the town struggles and Clark has to watch Smallville slowly weaken away too.  Maybe there's a bully in town and Clark can no longer defend himself or his family the way he once did.  Maybe they can save up some budget for a big finale where Clark finds a way to return his powers and uses it on Jordan so he can be the next Superman.  Or maybe they both get their powers back and Jordan gets to be Superboy.  Either way, it would just be a normal family drama for most of the season so that should save most of the CGI budget.

I've seen situations like this before.

CHUCK, a peculiar blend of JAMES BOND and THE IT CROWD, had a serious budget cut for its fourth and fifth seasons. The show lost one cast member and the JAMES BOND style action was reduced in favour of IT CROWD sitcom antics and significantly less action. Characters spent episodes running around their underground bunker base or inside the set of the big box electronics store.

BLINDSPOT, a high action procedural featuring Jaimie Alexander (Sif from THOR) fighting crime, had a serious budget cut for its fifth and final season of 11 episodes. The show lost a cast member. The regular hand-to-hand combat scenes with Jaimie Alexander were lost. Eight of the 11 episodes had no location shooting and few guest stars and were filmed in an enclosed studio space (a bunker, a basement) or the FBI office.

However, both CHUCK and BLINDSPOT saved so much money on bottle episodes that the series finales were lavish productions filled with returning guest stars, exorbitant stunts, extensive location filming, extended action sequences, and where the episodes leading up to the finale felt like low budget web series tie-ins, the series finales themselves felt like big budget feature films.

In both cases, CHUCK and BLINDSPOT elected to keep as much of the cast as they could afford and accepted a loss of scale, special effects, action and location filming. It looks like SUPERMAN AND LOIS has made the opposite choice and chosen to maintain production value (special effects) at the expense of its cast. There seems to be some chance of the departing regulars staying on as guest-stars. However, given the costliness of SUPERMAN AND LOIS' special effects, it's likely that the visuals will also be taking a downgrade.

We might see something like that with SUPERMAN AND LOIS: the season premiere two parter featuring the usual Smallville cast only for Clark, Lois, Jonathan, Jordan and Lex to be shunted into the Phantom Zone or the city of Kandor or wherever requires few guest-stars and limited location filming. Then they escape at the end of Episode 8 and the two part series finale features the full cast and all the savings of Episodes 3 - 8 being put into the series finale.

I haven't watched SUPERMAN AND LOIS' third season yet. I've been too tired to watch something that I want to enjoy with full attention, so I put on the fourth season of TITANS while doing various chores. It's a baffling series to me, using a grab bag of leftover copyrights after other licensors took Batman, Superman and the rest.

It's still up to its old habits of overpromising and underdelivering: it teases an appearance from Superman but they don't have the license, so we just get a note; Bruce Wayne corresponds via unheard phone calls; Lex Luthor is only permitted a brief appearance. Season 3 wasted a year trying to tell the story of BATMAN: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY and BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD without using Batman and Season 4 seems to nod at this bizarre trait before going into a story that, despite its flaws, actually pertains to the Titans.

The story this year seems to have an inciting antagonist and then it sparks very separate plotlines for all the characters as each episode splits them up for something else. I continue to be unsure as to how these arcs are thematically linked by anything more than moody lighting and severe cinematography and high-stress performances. I would say that for the previous three seasons too.

The series continues to emphasize bombast and moody visual spectacle for superhumans. TITANS' protagonists spend most of their time fighting their grudge matches and enmities with old enemies and very little time protecting innocents and saving people. There seems to be some congitive dissonance where Nightwing and Tim Drake kill at least one henchman in the heat of combat but Nightwing later declares that the Titans don't kill.

In previous seasons, the Titans killed various people in combat and were eager to abandon people in trouble and also let Jason Todd murder various victims and wander off freely. Raven has a lot of lines and some lip service to helping people, but for the most part, these superheroes do nothing heroic. Season 3 continues with more of the same and seems to think that these depressed, dour people have won the audience's loyalty.

I really don't get it. I don't understand why all these characters are in the show, and TITANS is using a grimdark aesthetic to make the shallow and thin seem deep and complicated. The show is well-cast, visually compelling, technically proficient and not exactly terrible, but I don't know why anyone would make a superhero show where they're never really heroes or why they would do it with the TEEN TITANS copyright. But it's inoffensive while I'm refilling Sodastream bottles and folding socks and doing other such tasks.

Yeah I thought it was bizarre and something Clark should be more prepared for.

Superman & Lois is back for its final season with two new episodes.  I liked both of them.  I think Tyler Hoechlin is a really good Clark Kent.  I still feel like he's a little small for Superman, but like Tom Welling, I think he has an innocent hopefulness that I feel like Clark should have.  I think he comes across as someone fearless but gentle which I appreciate.

It's an abbreviated final season so it's already 20% done.  And the producers said they'll do something to honor the legacy of the Arrowverse.  Which, of course, we've heard before

I gotta think, with only ten episodes, Superman comes back in some form pretty soon.  Eradicator or Cyborg Superman or whatever version of Death of Superman they're doing.

But I agree.  I don't think "Lois and Sons" is going to be as compelling vs Brainiac even if one has powers.