I mentioned this a few posts back, but tonight is the start of a four-way crossover on all the CW network’s superhero shows. It starts towards the end of tonight’s Supergirl, continues tomorrow on Flash, then on to Arrow on Wednesday, concluding with Legends of Tomorrow on Thursday.
This is the closest thing we’ve ever seen to a live-action Justice League. It’s already better than next year’s Justice League movie with emo-Flash, Aqua-grunge-man, and Batfleck.
Just look at this line-up! This picture contains Supergirl, Green Arrow, Flash, Firestorm, Atom, Vixen, and a bunch of other people! Honestly, this is the closest we’ve ever come in live action to the Justice League Unlimited cartoon, which was always kind of amazing and wonderful.
I’ve been enjoying the hell out of The Flash ever since his first pre-lightning appearance on Arrow in season two. I love that they leaned into the comic book aspects and showed that not everything has to be darkness and grunge and pain. In this respect, the DC television universe is infinitely better than the DC movie universe, which was so loathe to do Superman as bright and hopeful that they didn’t even call him Superman until the last few minutes of Man of Steel.
At the beginning of this season of Supergirl, they brought Superman onto the show and he was everything that the movie Superman isn’t. He was charming and colorful and true to the original comic vision for the character. He was optimistic and hopeful, which is how Big Blue is supposed to be. I feel like the people behind the movie iteration have forgotten this, if they ever knew it.
On the television side, however, they definitely know it. Superman, Supergirl, and Flash are all characters who inspire hope. That’s part of why Arrow has floundered a bit since the first two seasons- this version of Arrow is heavily Batmanned- full of darkness and broody angst. (And let’s face it- the 1941 first appearance of Green Arrow was obviously trying to cash in on the success of the 1939 first appearance of the Caped Crusader, right down to the Arrow-Car.)
It’s kind of interesting that although Arrow paved the way for the current crop of CW Superhero shows, it’s the one that is the least comfortable with embracing the fantastical nature of comic book heroes. Arrow has, for the most part, tried to keep things grounded. They didn’t do superpowers until after the Flash had premiered, and they waited until season four to bring up the idea of magic, not counting the Lazarus Pit. Even with powered characters like Firestorm and Hawkgirl running around the “Arrowverse,” the show that started it all still prefers to work with non-powered characters.
That’s part of the fun, for me though- one of my favorite parts of bringing the Flash into the Arrowverse was seeing Diggle’s reaction (and stunned disbelief) at what Barry could do. The first time these two had a proper team-up, I was super psyched, even though Oliver is kind of a dick to Barry most of the time.
The cross-network Flash-Supergirl crossover last year was much more satisfying. Barry is way more at home in Kara’s world than in Oliver’s. The entire episode, from start to finish, is just fun as heck. (Kara’s reaction when Barry demonstrated his super-speed by getting everyone in the room ice cream is one of the best moments on television so far this year.) The Legends of Tomorrow, while not the strongest show in the current line-up is still entertaining enough, and it takes its tone cues more from Flash than from Arrow.
Tonight, the whole lot of them start to battle an honest-to-goodness alien invasion. It’s gonna be great.
And I can’t wait to see how Diggle reacts to Supergirl.
Are you a DC or a Marvel? What’s your favorite live-action superhero adaptation?
Editor’s Note: I’m attempting to blog every day in November with CheerPeppers. I don’t expect to succeed because life be crazy, but any blogging in excess of my previous post-free month is a win, right?
At least a third of my readers are in countries that don’t celebrate American Thanksgiving, but that’s happening today in the US and it’s going to keep me pretty busy. Because of that, I’m going to cheat a little bit on today’s post by sharing a selection of my favorite Thanksgiving joke images. Enjoy, and I’ll see you here tomorrow with more actual words!
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
Editor’s Note: I’m attempting to blog every day in November with CheerPeppers. I don’t expect to succeed because life be crazy, but any blogging in excess of my previous post-free month is a win, right?
I’ve had this screen-shot saved to my desktop since March of 2015, and I’ve been meaning to post it to the blog ever since.
In this scene, Spider-Man is fighting with the Green Goblin. (Don’t get me started on when Gobby became some sort of giant troll monster; I’ve completely lost track of all the things that have been changing in comics over the last few years. Get off my lawn!)
The moment that I paused this video was accidental, but in that moment, the very violent and fast-moving fight suddenly became a tiny instant where the Goblin is just reassuring his little Spider-friend. Without the frames before and after this one, it looks less like a battle and more like the prelude to a warm and squishy hug.
It makes me wonder- how many of my disagreements really aren’t all that disagreeable? Maybe some of the people I dislike really aren’t all that bad.
What do you think?
Editor’s Note: I’m attempting to blog every day in November with CheerPeppers. I don’t expect to succeed because life be crazy, but any blogging in excess of my previous post-free month is a win, right?
Next week, the television networks have their Upfront presentations where they detail their new fall line-ups. NBC and FOX will present on Monday, ABC on Tuesday, CBS on Wednesday, and the CW will close it out on Thursday. For many years, going all the way back to my time on LiveJournal, I did a series of posts during the week of the television network Upfronts to talk about all the new shows.
As the landscape of television and the shape of the Internet have changed, those posts have become entirely redundant. Most of the show renewal and cancellation announcements are out weeks or months before the Upfronts, and the new show announcements hit earlier and earlier as each network releases their loglines. The various entertainment blogs pick up the details from there, and then Facebook makes sure that everyone hears about everything. Last year, I gave up the idea of talking about each network in separate posts, and I did one combined post that talked mostly about the new shows that interested me.
This year is no different than last year- the announcements have been coming for several months already, and although we won’t know the new fall schedule until the announcements next week, we do know what shows have been kept, canceled, or ordered as new. The shows that interest me are few and far between, because it’s more of the same- more procedurals, more Shondaland, more fish-out-of-water family dramas. Several of the new show loglines sound like they’re copy-pasted off each other.
Moving on, then. Let’s start with ABC. Remember, I’m not listing every show, just the stuff I watch and some of the more popular ones. If your favorite show isn’t listed here, you’ll need to check elsewhere to find out if it’s coming back.
ABC:
Renewed: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fresh Off The Boat, Dr. Ken, Once Upon A Time, Black-Ish, the Middle, How I Met Your Murderer, The Goldbergs, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Modern Family.
Canceled: Galavant, Agent Carter, The Muppets, The Family, Nashville, and Castle.
I’m kind of glad to see Nashville and Castle getting cut, because I feel like they’ve both lost a lot of steam. I’m sad to see Galavant, Agent Carter, and The Muppets go.
Of the new shows the network has ordered, these three caught my attention. I will probably only watch the first one, and only until it gets canceled:
Time After Time – Based loosely on the novel and 1979 movie (which I loved,) this story starts when science-fiction writer H.G. Wells is transported to modern day Manhattan in pursuit of Jack the Ripper.
Imaginary Mary – Jenna Elfman plays opposite her childhood imaginary friend (CGI’d, and voiced by SNL vet Rachel Dratch)
Designated Survivor – Kiefer Sutherland is the President of the US! He’s like seventh in line for the Presidency and a big attack knocks off everyone above him.
Still Star-Crossed – The newest Shonda Rhimes show is a sequel to Romeo & Juliet that picks up after the double suicide. This looks like it could be fantastic and horrible and ridiculous. Plus it’s got Anthony Head as a Capulet! I always like seeing Giles in a doublet.
CBS:
Renewed: Elementary, Hawaii 5.0, a bunch of NCISes, Blue Bloods, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Madam Secretary, 2 Broke Girls, Mom, Scorpion, and The Big Bang Theory.
Canceled: CBS hasn’t announced many cancellations, but they did announce that Supergirl is moving to the CW, so I’m pretty happy about that.
Of the new shows that CBS has ordered, these two have my attention:
Macgyver – An entirely unnecessary reboot of the original show, this version follows a 20-something MacGyver (Lucas Till) as he “creates a clandestine organization where he uses his knack for solving problems in unconventional ways to help prevent disasters from happening.” In other words, it’s “Macgyver Begins.” I bet Liam Neeson trains him and everything.
The Great Indoors – Joel McHale plays an adventure reporter who has to take over the digital department of a magazine, where he’s the boss to a bunch of entitled millennials. I love Joel McHale, so this could be hilarious.
FOX:
Renewed: Lucifer, Scream Queens, Bob’s Burgers, Bones, The Last Man On Earth, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Gotham, The Simpsons, Empire, Sleepy Hollow
Cancelled: The Grinder, Grandfathered, Cooper Barrett, Bordertown
I’m astonished that Lucifer was renewed. It’s a great show, and it’s very funny, but I didn’t think for a second that this one would make it through season one. I’m sad to see Cooper Barrett and Bordertown go, but I’m not surprised at either one. Cooper Barrett was light goofy fun, and Bordertown has gotten progressively weirder and more hilarious with every episode.
Fox is doing a show based on the Exorcist. For real. Other things they’ve ordered include a Lethal Weapon show and a reboot of 24. So far, I’m not really interested in any of their newly announced programs.
NBC:
Renewed: The Blacklist, Superstore, all the Chicago emergency services, Blindspot, Law & Order: SVU
Canceled: Heroes Reborn, Undateable
NBC has the highest count of interesting new shows ordered this year, even if they did jump on the time-travel bandwagon that this season seems to be all about. There are four that have my interest this year:
Powerless – The first comedy series set in the universe of DC Comics, Powerless is about an insurance agency specializing in regular-people coverage against damage caused by the crime-fighting superheroes. The ensemble cast also includes Alan Tudyk and Danny Pudi. I think this is going to be hilarious.
The Good Place – “When Eleanor (Kristen Bell) has a brush with the afterlife, she realizes she hasn’t been a very good person. So she works to fix that, aided by an “afterlife mentor” played by Ted Danson. I’ll give this one episode to hook me- the tone of the show could be very light or it could be very “Highway to Heaven.”
Midnight, Texas – From the books by True Blood author Charlaine Harris, this show is about a town in Texas with vampires and witches to psychics and hit men. I want to see at least a commercial before I decide whether to watch or pass on this one.
Timeless – From Eric Kripke and Shawn Ryan, Timeless is described as an action-adventure series in which a mysterious criminal steals a secret state-of-the-art time machine, intent on destroying America as we know it by changing the past. The team that tries to stop him includes a scientist (Better Off Ted‘s Malcolm Barrett!!!), a soldier, and a history professor who use the machine’s prototype to travel back in time to critical events. Honestly, I wouldn’t even bother giving this a shot, except that Kripke does interesting television and Malcolm Barrett is fun to watch.
The CW:
Renewed: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Reign , Jane the Virgin, The Vampire Diaries, iZombie, The 100, Legends of Tomorrow,The Originals, Supernatural,Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl (coming over from CBS.)
Canceled: Almost nothing. They only cancel shows that nobody watches.
Five of the shows on the CW this fall will be comic book shows. I hereby dub them the DC Comics Network. (And incidentally, I wish that DC comics would stick to television where they get it right, instead of making terrible movies. Let Marvel rule the box office; DC is much better at episodic television.)
The CW has so many renewals that they didn’t order many new shows. They announced three pickup orders, and I’m not really interested in any of them. These two are the more interestong ones:
Frequency – “In this reimagining of the New Line Cinema film, a female police detective in 2016 discovers she is able to speak via a ham radio with her estranged father (also a detective) who died in 1996. They forge a new relationship while working together on an unresolved murder case, but unintended consequences of the ‘butterfly effect’ wreak havoc in the present day.”
Riverdale – Archie Comics characters are set in the present day. The network says it’s “a surprising and subversive take on Archie, Betty, Veronica, and their friends, exploring the surrealism of small town life — the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome facade.”
What do you think about all the new shows, reboots, and time-travel adventures?
For the last few months, it’s been increasingly more difficult to find the words for the little blank box of blogdom. The painful truth is that this blog has always been primarily a travel blog, and I’m not really traveling any more. Once I finish my photo sorting from Japan and I start those posts, I’m out of steam. I took nearly 2500 photos while I was in Japan, and I foolishly didn’t sort them as I went. Stupid, stupid Steven. I’m nearly through them now, but it’s been crazy.
I have about three Minnesota posts to get out, and a dozen or so Japan posts, and then I’m done. I have no travel planned in the near or distant future. For me, that’s almost unheard of, but I needed time to re-balance my life and fix the financial burn that traveling like a fiend for the last few years has caused.
The blog needs a retooling, and I’m still not really sure what to do with it. The people who came here for pretty pictures of faraway places won’t much enjoy me talking about the day to day grind of work-a-day life in South Florida. If I blogged more like an old LiveJournal and started to talk about things like my terrible sleep habits, South Florida traffic, and regular day to day fluff, would anyone still want to read it?
Other things have been happening which have kept me away from the blogosphere- On the bad side, things are happening with Mr. Company that make me more than a little uneasy. On the good side, I’ve been spending oodles of time with my Amelie, and there’s nothing that makes me blog less than having a lot of happy stuff to do away from power outlets and Internet connections. On the mixed side, my family is splintering again. After six or eight months being close to all my siblings, my sister has relocated to Orlando for a new job. Orlando is only a few hours away, but that really makes it difficult to continue our tradition of all four siblings getting together for dinner every few weeks. This picture from about two weeks ago was the last time that all of us were together:
That’s enough focus on the question of bloggery for right now, because I have lots of entertaining pictures! The weekend before last, Amelie and I were in Tampa for the Tampa Bay Comic Con. We just did one soggy day of the three-day event, choosing to visit only on Saturday. We suited up in the traditional questing garb of our people (translation: geeky t-shirts and jeans) and set out to enjoy the convention.
Here’s some of the neat stuff we saw! On our way in, we saw some great DC comics costumes, but it was a long line of people waiting to get into the building. As a result, this is more a sneaky candid than a good prepped and posed shot. I’m not sure whether this chap was Speedy or Red Arrow, but does it really matter? The weather was gorgeous for this part of the day, but it became an incredibly large monsoon-level storm system about an hour after this photo.
I cannot get away from Frozen. It’s everywhere.
A very good Cap. He loses points for using boot shams, though. For sham, sir, for sham! A real pair of boots would totally bring the whole costume together!
I want this jacket. I totally want this jacket.
More DC characters- Red Arrow, Black Canary, Green Arrow, and The Nefarious Frat Boy. It’s almost like there’s a hit show on the CW with these characters or something.
Miles Morales is a good father to his little princess.
Optimus Prime’s got hairy knees. This must be his summer look. Not pictured: The ridiculous Bermuda shorts visible from the back of the Autobot. If you’re going to wear a full body costume, would it kill you to wear something that covers your knee-pits?
Now this is what conventions are really for: wizard-on-wizard violence.
This was the first line-up for Carrie Fisher. Everyone in this photo was in a very long folding single-file line.
Carrie Fisher’s very short panel was great fun. Not pictured: Her little dog that goes everywhere with her now. Including, apparently, the set of Star Wars: Episode VII.
This girl’s Effie Trinket costume was kind of brilliantly done.
The cast of Inside Out: Sadness, Anger, Fear, Joy, and Homicidal Xenophobic Hatred.
What would happen if the Venom symbiote latched onto Tony Stark? Something like this, I guess.
Russell from Up! (Nice detail on the buttons, dude!)
The Freema Agyeman panel was interesting, but not as interesting as Carrie Fisher’s panel. On the bright side, I finally learned how to pronounce “Freema Agyeman.” On a side note, the dude at the podium was an insufferable twit who made me want to kick him in the shins.
I call this photo “Break room On The Watchtower.”
We kept seeing this Avenger couple in lines for various panels. I’m very impressed with their getup. Bonus points: not a boot sham in sight!
Every convention has its contingent of bizarre Deadpool costumes, but this one had a Dogpool puppet! (Yes, Dogpool is a real thing in Marvel continuity. Really.)
They spook easily, but they’ll soon be back, and in greater numbers.
This is one of the most interesting and innovative group costumes I’ve ever seen. Amelie and I both especially dug these intrepid post-apocalyptic Muppet hunters.
Agent Venom and probably-Scream. They’re getting a lot of mileage with the original black costume these days
Captain Spider-merica? Spider-Cap? American Spider? Red White And Blue Bug? What do you even call this mash-up? (Cool reflective silver eyes, though. And nice job on the shield.)
There were surprisingly few Harley Quinns at Tampa Bay Comic Con. Megacon in Orlando was just lousywith ’em.
I didn’t have the good camera with me for the Jena Malone panel.
After the day’s geekiness, Amelie and I ate dinner at Columbia House, and then walked around a bit. We did manage to find the fabled Tampa Bay Lightning. Shocking!
Have you been to a convention recently? What were your favorite costumes?
Whimsy. Tacos. The DMV. 