Supergirl - Season One

[Richard Willis]

From Variety.com:

MARCH 6, 2015 | 01:00PM PT
Elizabeth Wagmeister
@EWagmeister

“Supergirl” has finally arrived.

The first photos of Melissa Benoist as Supergirl were released Friday, just as production begins on the CBS pilot, which is based on characters from DC Comics.

The costume (pictured) was designed by three-time Oscar winner Colleen Atwood, who also designed the suits for two other DC Comics television properties, “The Flash” and “Arrow” of the CW.

Atwood, who’s been nominated for Academy Awards an additional eight times, was also the costume designer behind “Into the Woods,” “Snow White and the Huntsman,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Memoirs of a Geisha” and “Chicago,” among others.

“Supergirl,” in contention for the 2015-16 season, follows Kara Danvers/Kara Zor-El (Benoist, “Glee,” “Whiplash”), Superman’s cousin, at age 24, when she decides to embrace her superhuman abilities and be the hero she was always meant to be, after leaving Krypton and hiding her powers.

Other series regulars include Calista Flockhart (“Ally McBeal,” “Brothers & Sisters”), who will play Kara’s tough boss at CatCo, Cat Grant; Mehcad Brooks (“Desparate Housewives,” “True Blood”), who will co-star as Kara’s love interest, Jimmy Olsen; Chyler Leigh (“Grey’s Anatomy”), who’s been cast as Kara’s doctor sister, Alex Danvers; and David Harewood (“Homeland”), as supervillain Hank Henshaw, better known as Cyborg Superman in the DC Comics world.

Laura Benanti will appear in a major recurring arc, playing Kara’s birth mother, Alura Zor-El.

Helen Slater, who starred in the 1984 “Supergirl” feature, and Superman vet Dean Cain (“Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”) are set for secret roles.

The project hails from exec producers and writers Greg Berlanti (“The Flash,” “Arrow”), Ali Adler and Andrew Kreisberg. Sarah Schechter will also serve as an exec producer, and Glen Winter will direct the pilot. Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television will produce.

[Doctor Hmmm?]

Since my wife and I aren't giving up on The Voice, this one is bumping Gotham to "view online" status.  I'll TiVo a show it looks like Action Lad could probably watch for one he definitely can't.

[Richard Willis]

It's interesting that Melissa Benoist, who plays Supergirl, and Grant Gustin, who plays The Flash, are both alumni of the Glee TV show.

By the way, this week the hour-long Supergirl starts following The Big Bang Theory. Next week it starts off prime time on CBS with TBBT moving to Thursdays.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Glad to hear that. Monday was becoming packed with too much TV to watch in a single night: Gotham and Supergirl, plus recordings of Last Week Tonight, Comic Book Men, and (sometimes) The Talking Dead from the night before.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Anybody watch this last night? It's off to a pretty good start!

Finally a super-hero show has dispensed with the lengthy origin everybody knows anyway and got right to the good stuff. After 10 years of Smallville, we finally get flights and tights in the very first episode. the casting of the new new Jimmy Olsen is different (and I don't mean just because he's black). Kara confides her secret to her best friend right off the bat, which is a logical move many of us have called for in other stories over the years. Judging from the previews, Jimmy and the other guy are going to learn that each knows the secret, avoiding an awkward triangle going forward. Good to see Dean Cain as Mr. Danvers. (Was that Helen Slater as his wife?) Cat Grant was different, too, but that character is fluid from version to version, anyway. If I have one complaint (and it's only a quibble), I wish Supergirl's costume were a lighter, brighter blue and her hair were blonde.

[Mr. Silver Age]

It's interesting that Melissa Benoist, who plays Supergirl, and Grant Gustin, who plays The Flash, are both alumni of the Glee TV show.

It does make sense in that, through its many seasons, Glee had a lot of people come through who could pass for high-school kids. When new shows are looking for a young star, they probably showed up there at some point.

Grant did get to sing karaoke in one episode of Flash, but I can see why they don't want to show how great his singing voice is. Actually, the guy playing Joe West, Jesse Martin, also has a Broadway musical background (Rent), so maybe the Flash-Supergirl crossover episode will be an all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza! 

There was a lot to like and a lot to roll my eyes at in the Supergirl pilot. I'm biased in favor, because Superman/boy is/are my favorite character. I can never see that first use of super-powers enough! So yeah, flights and tights, baby! I'm automatically biased toward liking that show.

I would have been happier if she'd just arrived on Earth, having aged 10 years in 20 years and gone to live with the Danvers. They could help counsel her and her sister could have gotten a job at the DEO to protect/advise Kara as she became visible. That would have made her Kara's protector immediately rather than a kind of Orphan Black-like secret minder for so many years.

That would eliminate all the hide-your-powers, sudden-reveal secrets and avoided all the problems of Superman not training his cousin and her letting many other people die while she hid. And wouldn't it have been cool to see their version of the Action #252 cover in real time, the way they did Flash #123?

OTOH, her background is a perfect fit into the current Super movie family, in which the Kents kept advising Clark to hide his powers and let people die rather than risk a reveal. I'm ignoring the movie Kents and hoping to get past this background on the new show.Those are not the real Kents.

Yes, Cat Grant is over the top, but that's the tone they want. I do like that Kara immediately has confidantes--something comics never think is important but TV shows always do.

I thought James Olsen was a nice touch and helps to get around the huge problem of not showing Superman. (That dumping her at the orphanage never sat well with me even back when I was a Superman-loving little kid). Hopefully, he'll find ways to send encouragement. It does make it clear what a busy guy he is. It's okay with me if he spends a lot of time on "space missions." It's tradition!

I wasn't impressed with how Vartox gave up once his ax was gone (he should've gotten pelted with a lot of shrapnel to weaken or kill him, making it his only option, if it didn't do it alone), and I'm not thrilled that the Head Evil Lady is a previously unknown close relative. But in the Silver Age, I put up with everyone on Krypton looking like Kal-El, so I'll wait to see how important that is.

But I did like that they acknowledged the problems and justified the code name, which had to be the name they used. It'd be fun if she could put up some resistance, as in the Ant-Man trailers, and correct people that she's "Superwoman" for awhile before just giving up. I think they made a strong enough case both at CatCo and the DEO, but then I'm a guy.

Even so, there are a LOT of women on this show in key positions, from the women watching the monitors up to the Big Bad, so I think it's going to get a lot of publicity in that regard. (It already has.)

I just hope all the people in the prison (which is an okay way to suddenly have Freaks of the Week available but would also be better if they'd just gotten here rather than conveniently starting up just now) aren't Kryptonians. That will be boring.

BTW, for me, it's Tuesday that's really full: Flash, IZombie, NCIS, and SHIELD (not counting Muppets or Grinder) Monday is second busiest (Supergirl, Blindspot and Fargo). Fortunately, I have On Demand, which is how I watch most of them, to the point that I sometimes don't remember what night a show is actually on. But throw in Arrow, Heroes Reborn, Grimm and Doctor Who, and my superhero week is pretty full. And no, the absence of Gotham is not a typo.

-- MSA

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Another quibble is that the "kryptonite bullet" shouldn't have been able to pierce her skin because she's invulnerable (which I'm sure Adam Benson would point out if he watched the show, which I doubt).

Superman saving a jet is an iconic image and I'm glad they borrowed it.

They even mentioned that Superman saved a jet for his debut appearance, too (a nod to John Byrne's Man of Steel... after a fashion). The "choosing a costume" scene echoed a simiar scene from the New Adventures of Superman. I'm glad they rejected the bare midriff model.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Mr. Silver Age said:

Yes, Cat Grant is over the top, but that's the tone they want. I do like that Kara immediately has confidantes--something comics never think is important but TV shows always do.

I think the reason for that is thought balloons (or, in modern comics, narrative captions). You can't get inside a character's head that way in TV without voice-over, which often comes off as clunky. So give them someone to bounce ideas off of!

I really liked the show, with some reservations. Cat Grant is awful, but I can take that -- she's like old-days Perry White, before he got cuddly: the boss who shouted at everyone and couldn't believe how flaky Kent was. I just hope Kara gets more responsibility in the workplace soon; fetching coffee, etc, is going to get old quick.

I don't mind there being a DEO, and don't mind that Kara's sister* is on the team. But man, I can't stand that they knew her secret from Day 1.

I understand them wanting to articulate the girl-power theme, but some of it felt really heavy-handed. ("You're underestimating her because she's a girl."/"A female superhero that my daughter can look up to!") Hopefully there'll be more subtlety as time goes on.

Also, Vartox without a space-diaper just isn't Vartox.

*Kara's sister being named Alex doesn't bode well for their longstanding relationship. Kryptonians and Lexes don't mix!

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

BTW, DC's having a Supergirl sale on Comixology to celebrate the new show. There's a lot of classic stuff in the mix!

[Richard Willis]

Mr. Silver Age said:

I thought James Olsen was a nice touch and helps to get around the huge problem of not showing Superman. (That dumping her at the orphanage never sat well with me even back when I was a Superman-loving little kid).

The writing and acting really sold the Olsen character. I like that Superman was directly involved in her adoption by the Danvers, unlike the dumping in the comics. I also like that she is called Kara. There was never a reason to change her name or slap that brown, pigtailed wig on her head.

But I did like that they acknowledged the problems and justified the code name, which had to be the name they used. It'd be fun if she could put up some resistance, as in the Ant-Man trailers, and correct people that she's "Superwoman" for awhile before just giving up. I think they made a strong enough case both at CatCo and the DEO, but then I'm a guy.

Since they chose to have her not be a teenager I think they did the best they could with the name. Kara has a lot to deal with without worrying about the name.

I just hope all the people in the prison (which is an okay way to suddenly have Freaks of the Week available but would also be better if they'd just gotten here rather than conveniently starting up just now) aren't Kryptonians. That will be boring.

I also liked that the prison that was dumped out of the Phantom Zone contained a variety of races, not just Kryptonians. Vartox wasn't a Kryptonian. This is more interesting than what the movies have done with endless, repetitive Kryptonian criminals/conquerors. I think they said that the escaped convicts were waiting for Kara to surface while staying underground. They probably want to take her out first, followed by Superman.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

What's with the DEO laying the blame of the criminals escaping from the Phantom Zone at Supergirl's feet? How do they know the prison ship followed Kara's ship through the rift. In sequence, maybe, but how do they know Kara's ship caused it? Do they even know how/why Kara's ship was drawn intio the rift? Maybe whatever caused it drew them both simultaneously. If I were Supergirl I'd've used my heat vision to give Hank Henshaw a super-hotfoot!

[Richard Willis]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

Good to see Dean Cain as Mr. Danvers. (Was that Helen Slater as his wife?)

Yes, it was.

For those of you who think Helen Slater only did the movie Supergirl, you should watch her perform in two of my favorite movies:

The Legend of Billie Jean (as the lead)
Ruthless People (as a hapless kidnapper)

She has done a lot of work over the years, including voicing Talia Al-Ghul in Batman The Animated Series.

[Mr. Silver Age]

Vartox wasn't a Kryptonian.

After I wrote my message, I realized it didn't need to be the case. The fact that he was super-strong, invulnerable and seemed to fly (or possibly just leap tall buildings) led me in that direction, after he came out of the Phantom Zone. But I realized the PZ may not actually be Krypton-related in this version, and both ships just got stuck there.

Given that, I think a faceful of heat vision would always be my first weapon of choice before I went in close and started slugging an alien. That looked pretty cool.

What's with the DEO laying the blame of the criminals escaping from the Phantom Zone at Supergirl's feet?

I would guess the logic is that Kara's ship broke out and continued on its original flight path, and the prison ship found the same opening and followed Kara's ship. Otherwise, it might have crashed in another galaxy.

A prison "ship" implies some kind of crew, both to steer and to maintain the prisoners (not to mention releasing or taking them in as needed). Maybe all that was automated and it just honed in on a ship with an actual flight plan after it's own navigation system broke. A prison ship as an incarceration vehicle for the worst criminals is something it's best probably not to think about too much.

The DEO laying the blame is tenuous; Kara *accepting* the blame is a bit much. I realize she's not confident and feels guilty about various things, but that's a stretch. She was comatose and along for the ride--as a 13 year old! What has the DEO been doing since the ship landed many years ago? *That's* where the blame belongs. I suppose it makes sense that they'd try to lay it somewhere else and sneak out of the room.

Of course, why didn't Superman see the prison ship crash, or the DEO alert him to it? As usual with individual heroes who take on world-destroying villains in the comics, it's hard to justify why other super-heroes don't help out.

-- MSA