Wednesday, October 28, 2015

What did you think of the Supergirl Pilot?

Monday, the new Supergirl show premiered on CBS to what seems to be the highest ratings every achieved by a DC Superhero show.

On one hand, that's not too surprising as the build up to this show has been very strong on the internet (good job CBS/Time Warner - whoever was responsible for the excellent promo videos up to this point.) Also contributing to the high ratings is the fact that this is the first DC property to air on one of the big three networks in a long time. (Was the original Flash series from the 90's the last such show?) Also, the show got a weird bit of advanced promotion from GOP Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush.

With that said, the real challenge will be can the series maintain ratings to survive the season? I really don't know how to answer that. In my household, both my wife and daughter enjoyed the show. I enjoyed the pilot, but as I'm sort of losing my passion for superhero shows in general, I think I was less enthusiastic about it than they were. I did find the Ally McBeal vibe interesting in a "This is different" sort of way.  Melissa Benoist did an admirable job as Kara, and the supporting cast all seem like they can grow into their roles pretty well. I think, outside of my general superhero malaise, my biggest complaint was it felt a little like they were relying overly much on 1990's television story telling techniques. For instance, shouldn't her sister's role in the DEO have been kept more of mystery for a few shows? Seems like that plot point got revealed and resolved a bit quickly.

Overall, I enjoyed it enough to watch more episodes.

How about you?

- Jim


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6 comments:

  1. TreyOctober 28, 2015 at 8:13 AM

    It definitely has a CBS throwback feel to it. The pacing is really quick compared to most 2000s shows--and probably quick for superhero shows in general (which is not necessarily a bad thing). Still, I felt like the pilot could have used 2 hours or at least an hour and a half to give relationships and character development more room.

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  2. John on the Sunset CoastOctober 28, 2015 at 11:31 AM

    I liked the feel of the show; less frantic, cutaway action, lower noise level. But then, I'm way out of the demographic for this show...but a kid at heart.
    Lately I've been watching a lot of 50s-6os show and anthology series on local tv sub-carriers, almost all of which is in the original glorious black and white.

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  3. RenoOctober 29, 2015 at 2:23 AM

    My 11-year old daughter liked it, so that's good enough for me.

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  4. Jim ShelleyOctober 29, 2015 at 6:59 AM

    @Trey - yeah, the pacing on that pilot felt a little rushed. I'm inclined to say it was probably written as a two hour pilot or as two separate episodes with the first hour ending with the plane rescue. (That seems like a more natural pacing to me.) Or perhaps that's just how CBS wanted the first episode. Their shows are focused on a different demographic, so that sort of pacing might be exactly how NCIS, et al flow.

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  5. Jim ShelleyOctober 29, 2015 at 7:03 AM

    @John on the Sunset Coast - I think the "Kid at heart" demographic is definitely part of the target audience. My wife said the show had a "Greatest American Hero" vibe to it. I could totally see it after she pointed it out.

    Hey, if you like 50's-60's shows, check out my post on the Star Trek Riverboat connection. You can find it here: http://flashbackuniverse.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-secret-origin-of-star-trek.html

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  6. Jim ShelleyOctober 29, 2015 at 7:04 AM

    @Reno - Yep! My daughter liked it too, which means we are definitely signed up for more episodes. :)

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