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Opinion: Superman & Lois Is Not Replacing Supergirl

Worries that the Superman & Lois TV series is the reason Supergirl is ending are unfounded.

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As soon as Superman & Lois as a TV series focusing on Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman and Elizabeth Tulloch’s Lois Lane was announced, there was worry that the show would be designed to replace the popular Supergirl series starring Melissa Benoist. In light of the new series premiering in January and the announcement that Supergirl is ending with Season 6, those criticisms have intensified, with some suggesting this is a “bad look” for The CW. The argument is “now that they actually have Superman, they don’t need Supergirl anymore,” usually associated with accusations of the network having sexist intentions.

I don’t believe that is the case, and here are a few reasons why:

Melissa Benoist is a new mother. This might be the biggest reason why Supergirl is ending at this time, beyond the thought that Melissa may have only signed a 5-year contract when the series moved to Vancouver and The CW. Leading a TV show after having a baby is surely going to be hard, especially in a time of COVID and quarantining where hopefully Melissa’s husband Chris Wood can be up there with her. We still expect Supergirl Season 6 to go easy on Melissa, but a major life event like this one may seem like the perfect time to make a change.

Six seasons is a long run for a show — really. It might seem unfathomable in a world where Supernatural goes for 15 seasons and Smallville went for ten, but there was a time when even a 3- or 4-season run seemed like a long time. Lois & Clark ended at four seasons; even a “classic” from my childhood like Knight Rider was capped at four years. In a pre-streaming era, the goal was usually for series to make it to 100 episodes — something Supergirl already did in Season 5. We probably are lucky to have had the series for as long as we did, considering if the show had ended when CBS cancelled it, we would have had only 20 episodes of this great series. 20 episodes, by the way, is all we ever got of Krypton — and it is the full length of the proposed Season 6 of Supergirl.

It’s The CW, not The DC. Right now, we as fans are spoiled with a lot of DC Comics-related content. Even with Arrow over, The CW’s 2020-2021 lineup includes Supergirl, Superman & Lois, The Flash, Stargirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Black Lightning, and a re-airing of Swamp Thing…. and there are only 12 hours in the week for them to program. Eventually, people are going to tire of this stuff, and eventually, they’re going to have to pare it down…. and again, six seasons is a very long run.

The CW is not giving up on women. Stargirl is the kind of “girl power” inspiration to young women that Supergirl has had for so long. Batwoman’s title character is a woman, and that character is surrounded by great female characters. The second name in the title Superman & Lois is the world’s greatest reporter. And that’s not counting such powerful women high up on the call sheets of the other shows, like Candice Patton’s Iris West-Allen and Danielle Panabaker’s Caitlin on The Flash; Sara, Ava, Zari, and Astra on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow; Lynn, Jen, and Anissa on Black Lightning; and Crystal Reed’s Abby Arcane of Swamp Thing.

“It’s only the end if you want it to be.” That’s one of my favorite quotes from Bryan Q. Miller’s Batgirl comic book, and it is a valid point here. We’re going to end this all with around 125 episodes of Supergirl to watch forever, but also, considering that Crisis on Infinite Earths killed off Stephen Amell’s Green Arrow, it’s doubtful they’ll do the “killing the lead” thing a second year in a row, which, agreed, would be a bad look. Melissa is loved by the fan base and seems to be loved by The CW and Greg Berlanti’s production stable… if she ever wants to come back, she will surely be around again. I just hope that characters like Lena, Dreamer, and Alex also have the chance to show up too.

So, don’t blame Superman & Lois for Supergirl ending; all of these circumstances surely had more sway than the notion that another Kryptonian is getting their own TV series. For the next year, remember the phrase “el mayarah” – the shows will be stronger together.

Kaoshuh…

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3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Cassie

    September 27, 2020 at 6:47 pm

    So right, Craig! These same fans who are complaining are likely the same ones who complain that Supergirl has been too political.

  2. DS 616

    September 28, 2020 at 3:52 pm

    Extremely well said as always, Craig.

    Your opinion pieces are always great because they’re simply based around basic logic of how and why things actually happened, which you decisively showcased regarding the reasons for both Supergirl ending and a new Superman show beginning around the same time. Both events are happening for entirely separate and unique reasons and, as you’ve already mentioned, there’s an exceptionally large amount of Supergirl to repeatedly re-watch whenever any fan wishes to, as well as an even larger amount of DC shows/female-driven DC shows still dominating television for the foreseeable future.

  3. Marc L

    September 29, 2020 at 7:07 pm

    I am in complete agreement. Becoming a mother is a big thing and to me that would seem a major reason to not continue past season 6. It’d be great to have Melissa back on Superman & Lois, visit and bring her vibrant attitude as Supergirl when her cousin needs her. A Team-up can be a great ratings booster like Barry and Kara should also teamup at least once more

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Opinion

Who Are the Surprise Guests in the Superman & Lois Finale?

KryptonSite looks at the speculation of who could be guest starring in the Superman & Lois finale.

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Last summer at the Comic-Con International in San Diego, it was hinted that some surprise guests would be showing up in the series finale of Superman & Lois which airs tonight (December 2) on The CW. While this post isn’t meant to confirm or deny any fan speculation, there has been a lot of it in the past week, and this post is a way in which we can share what’s been talked about… you know, in case one of these actually does happen.

We can tell you that almost all of the former series regulars for Superman & Lois are confirmed to return — a list that includes Emmanuelle Chriqui as Lana, Erik Valdez as Kyle, Inde Navarrette as Sarah, Wolé Parks as John Henry, Tayler Buck as Nat, Sofia Hasmik as Chrissy, and possibly more.

For what it’s worth, though, here’s some of the speculation, in no particular order, plus a few extras we threw in for this post. Enjoy:

Barry Allen/The Flash (Grant Gustin) or Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Stephen Amell): Since the finale of Superman & Lois is the effective end of the Arrowverse (even if it’s not on Earth-Prime), what if the show revisits one or both of the heroes who started it all? Barry could surely find a way to travel Earths and Oliver is still the Spectre last we checked, so… maybe? Though they might not be as likely as….

Kara Danvers/Supergirl (Melissa Benoist): It was her show that first introduced us to Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman. Is there a Supergirl on this show’s Earth? Now is as good of a time as any to find out.

John Diggle (David Ramsey): He was there at the start of the Arrowverse ever since the first episode of Arrow, and unlike those folks up above, he has appeared on Superman & Lois. If he does show up, though, he better have a green ring!

The Justice League: Peacemaker ended with a Justice League we’ve had to say goodbye to; what if Superman & Lois does the same thing, either with established characters, or folks just cast as a special one-shot treat?

Bruce Wayne (David Giuntoli?): Bitsie Tulloch has hinted that Grimm fans should be sure to tune in, so we’re assuming a Grimm cast member, most likely her real-life husband David Giuntoli might be appearing in the finale. Popular speculation has him playing Bruce Wayne if he was to show up.

Lucy Lane (Jenna Dewan): Jenna Dewan is super busy with The Rookie but since she missed Sam’s funeral, maybe she’ll be back for the show’s last hurrah at least?

Tom Welling: Because why not.

Jon-El (Jordan Elsass?): The Bizarro World version of Jonathan Kent is still out there, as far as we know, and that storyline was revisited as recently as the penultimate episode. What if this other Jonathan still looks like the first actor to play this role, Jordan Elsass? Or could we see Michael Bishop donning the 1990s-inspired suit and red pants?

Tom Cavanagh (Again): We saw Tom Cavanagh as recently as episode 7 this season, playing Gordon Godfrey, but considering how many characters he played on The Flash, surely there’s one more in the tank before all is said and done? A Wells, a Thawne, a Pariah…. there are lots of possibilities out there.

What do you think? Are any of these speculations correct or are we BS-ing you this whole time? Leave your speculation in the comments below and ENJOY THE FINALE tonight at 8PM ET/PT on The CW!

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Opinion

Review: Rosenbaum & Welling’s Live TalkVille Show Is A Success

The first live Smallville TalkVille Podcast event from Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum was a fantastic experience.

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Several weeks ago, Smallville stars Michael Rosenbaum and Tom Welling took their “TalkVille” podcast and made it a live performance combined with their exclusive “Smallville Nights” that they’ve had on the convention circuit. Their first stop — extended to two shows after the first sold out — was at the Bourbon Room in Hollywood.

I’ve long said that for fans of the show, it’s costly but you need to do “Smallville Nights” at least once. It’s an interactive thing where fans get to re-enact scenes with the actors themselves, and all get the chance to offer the perfect delivery for “I am the villain of the story!” At the live TalkVille event, this was especially cool because each and every attendee got the chance to do the thing.

The “TalkVille” element of the show was different from I at least hda originally expected — it was more of a freeform discussion between Rosenbaum and Welling, discussing some of their favorite memories of the show, and answering questions from the audience. It would have been fun to see them do an actual show from the podcast in front of the audience, but realistically, that could be a recipe for disaster in case any cuts are needed or anything like that.

One strong thing I felt when watching Tom and Michael on stage is that the source of one of the criticisms of the podcast seems to be identified: Sometimes it has been noted that Michael would interrupt or speak over Tom, when it appears the actual problem is that when recording the podcast, there’s a slight video delay so Michael might not even realize he is talking. So, it’s not a matter of being rude, but perhaps a technical difficulty that might be solved in a future show or two where Tom actually recorded in person at the studio. Both guys (and Ryan!) got time to talk at this event, and there wasn’t any such interruption.

There were some stories told at the event that I didn’t even know or realize — for example, how Kristin Kreuk helped Tom with his audition. Both had a gratitude for the show and I think events like these really make them see it first hand. Tom joked more than once that he tried to cancel the event, but he seemed to do really well with it when it happened. I was touched and surprised that I got a few shoutouts in person… and even hugs when the guys realized I was there! Sadly, there weren’t any individual photo ops or anything, but the memories will remain very strong, and there was a very cool “poster” given to all attendees with awesome artwork by Mickael Journou (MikePosters on Instgram). You can see that artwork up above; hopefully it’s okay that it was used for this post. Apparently, this art was also being sold on a T-shirt, but I didn’t see one!

Beyond getting to see two of the leads of Smallville, a great part of the night was a 45 minute to an hour intermission between Smallville Nights and the TalkVille presentation, and that was also a lot of fun because it gave the opportunity to meet other fans and talk. So many of us started watching the show at different times and it was so much fun to share those experiences with one another. After all, we were all there because of loving Smallville! It was just a lot of positivity and fun, and I met some cool people and hopefully made some cool new friends.

As someone who has covered the show since the beginning, it is also really fun to see Tom being joyful about talking about the show. It really highlights how overwhelmed he must have been when the show was on the air. I still can tell when fans are recreating scenes from Smallville that he still thinks like a director, which is so cool. He’s also such a dad now. His shoes were sticky so he took them off to reveal neon socks, which were actually not as uncool as he thought because…. maybe it was kryptonite. Haha. Still, all in all a good time!

Any negative feedback? A venue with easier parking and a less expensive menu would be nice, but as for the show itself, it was a great time. If and when the TalkVille guys do this again, I highly recommend that you check it out.

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Opinion

Is Superman & Lois Starting Season 4 with “The Death of Superman?”

Bitsie Tulloch may have hinted at “The Death of Superman” to kick off Superman & Lois Season 4 this Fall.

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Season 3 of Superman & Lois ended with what looked like a fatal showdown between Superman and Doomsday, reminiscent of the events of the legendary Superman #75 comic book by Dan Jurgens over 30 years ago. Now, some new comments from Bitsie Tulloch combined with some analysis from our good friend Ben Rolph of the Ben’s Take YouTube channel (formerly TheDCTVShow) begs the question: Is Superman & Lois adapting “The Death of Superman” in Season 4?

In the original comics, the Death of Superman was followed by an acclaimed storyline called “Funeral for a Friend” as the folks in Superman’s orbit as well as the people of the Daily Planet deal with the loss of Metropolis’ greatest hero. That led months later to a “Reign of the Supermen” story where four folks – including John Henry Irons, making his first comic book appearances – tried to become Metropolis’ new hero, with some including the Cyborg Superman claiming to the the real steel deal.

So what made Ben think they’re going full force into “Death of Superman” territory, and why do we agree with him?

Bitsie Tulloch recently appeared at the Metropolis Celebration in Illinois this past weekend, and she made a certain major tease:

“You guys are not going to believe the first episode,” she teased. “It’s bananas. It’s emotional. What they did was based on one of the comics. It was a very bold decision on their part to do to do this and to pull it off for the first episode of Season 4.”

Bold decision? Based on the comics? Killing Superman would be pretty darned bold, yeah?

You can watch video of Bitsie’s panel below, courtesy of the Superman Homepage, and then leave some thoughts in the comments! Superman & Lois Season 4 – the show’s final season – is scheduled to premiere this Fall on The CW.

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