Supergirl, the new CBS drama that will debut this Fall in the same timeslot as Gotham (8 pm on Mondays), got its first trailer at CBS’ Upfronts presentation today as well as a new synopsis. Melissa Benoist (Glee, Whiplash) Stars as Superman’s cousin, Kara.
Twelve-year-old Kara escaped the doomed planet Krypton with her parents’ help at the same time as the infant Kal-El. Protected and raised on Earth by her foster family, the Danvers, Kara grew up in the shadow of her foster sister, Alex (Chyler Leigh), and learned to conceal the phenomenal powers she shares with her famous cousin in order to keep her identity a secret. Years later at 24, Kara lives in National City assisting media mogul and fierce taskmaster Cat Grant (Golden Globe Award winner Calista Flockhart), who just hired the Daily Planet’s former photographer, James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks), as her new art director. However, Kara’s days of keeping her talents a secret are over when Hank Henshaw (David Harewood), head of a super-secret agency where her sister also works, enlists her to help them protect the citizens of National City from sinister threats.
While Gotham isn’t quite a ratings juggernaut for FOX, it does very well in its timeslot, so I’ll be curious to see if this splits the audience at all. Either way, this is a whole new kind of Batman vs Superman showdown.
1) Is there such thing as a secret identity anymore?
2) What’s with the House of El and the sheer amount of planes with engine trouble?
I think it looks fantastic and it is going to be a huge hit for DC. Amanda and I were happy to see it being such a positive show and having characters that look interesting and a bit of a budget as well. Amanda said she sees a lot of mother and daughters watching this weekly…and i agree.
Jimmy,
Amanda may really be onto something there, and that would delight me to no end. I’m thinking this is going to end up being the show that I wished Smallville was.
Did everybody see the same trailer as me? This show looks terrible in my opinion. I thought this trailer was fake and was a parody like the SNL Black Widow skit. I guess I’m not the demographic but geez, it looks like a bad romantic comedy sitcom.
I just watched this and I agree with Jimmy. Melissa Benoist was incredibly charming and likable in this footage, and it looks like a lighthearted, age appropriate story.
Did you want Supergirl to be Daredevil? I don’t think so.
One problem: DC doesn’t have any material even vaguely like this tone in print. I’d urge them to get “Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade” back in print as a stopgap!
-B
Jimmy and Kyle, It seems like we were watching two different previews.
Right off the bat, I must say I am probably still bitter that CBS is truncating Person of Interest’s next (and what is rumored to be its’ final) season to only 13 episodes. Now *that’s* a show with interesting, strong, smart, original women characters — Shaw, Root, Control, Zoe and the late, lamented Carter. So my following judgements are especially compromised:
I really did want to like this preview, but —- this version of Supergirl looks *so* derivative and boring. It’s Smallville-*lite* (and a lite copy of the weaker seasons at that — after it moved to Metropolis). Every beat of the preview seemed like something I’ve seen many times before. I think I am finally over watching someone learn how to use their superpowers for the first time. It use to be fun. Now it seems to be part of the mandatory TV and movie superhero checklist.
Were there surprises in any of this? I didn’t see one. I know there has to be conflict in the workplace, but does it have to be with the cliche bitch boss? Yawn! And then there’s the ‘coming up with the costume’ scene. And the ‘secret government organization’ scene. And the “I’ve got to tell you who I really am” scene.
And then they’re placing this in a world that has a full-on, public Superman? From what’s here, it only reminds me that I’d rather watch the real thing instead of a copy. But I guess that makes it true to its’ source material. Comic book Supergirl was never a very good character. The stories drawn by the talented Jim Mooney had some charm (along with some twisted Mort Weisinger gender politics) and Supergirl Adventures was a fun comic. But in the end, she was only a cipher created to market another ‘Super’ book.
On the other hand, the women on Person of Interest …
I think this looks GREAT. A family friendly superhero show that anybody could watch but could be incredibly influential young girls! Long overdue.
Consider this another big thumbs up from another Beat contributor. The trailer went over very well at the shop too. We… we were showing customers. Very excited to see this on the airwaves in the fall.
Hmmm. Two thoughts:
1) I had zero interest in this show before the trailer, but now I’m going to give it a chance.
2) I think giving it a chance will probably prove it’s not a show for me.
I’m really glad it has the tone it does; it’s a huge, huge welcome after Man of Steel and the trailer for whatever the Batman/Superman movie is. But I detect plenty of traces of what I think of as “CBS bland” in there already. The Cliff’s Notes is not the novel, however, so I’ll be glad to be proven wrong.
My God this looks amazing! I can’t believe that we might be getting a superhero TV show like this at all – if they can keep the production values high this could be better than the Flash (the current champion for “best superhero show on TV” right now among many contenders).
I wasn’t excited at all for this show – I was resigned to it being a dreary procedural based on Man of Steel – but this looks like it has the potential to be amazing. I hope the network supports it and it can find an audience.
Are you people watching the same trailer? It seemed a satire of a 1980s show…..but, by accident. The music was horrid. She seems an unsexy Supergirl as well. It was actually the most unoriginal trailer I’ve ever seen. And race change? No.
I wish that the secret identity was protected a wee bit better. That said, I think this series will rise or fall on the strength of Benoist’s personality. I think she’s up to the challenge. (That said, take a STRONG look at the Flash series for guidance. I hope they live in the same universe.)
What better way to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Crisis on Infinite Earths? A fun Supergirl that young girls can actually watch. Great.
Jimmy Woo: “She seems an unsexy Supergirl as well.”
So therefore she has no reason to be on television, and certainly no reason to live. I mean, if men don’t get turned on watching her, what’s the point?
Film
I find it interesting (but not surprising) that people online are so divided about this. People either love it (or generally positive with some reservations, like me), or they hate it. JIMMY WOO’s complaints (about her not being sexy and Jimmy Olsen not being white) tell you something about the kind of people who hate it. People who are not the target audience, for one thing. I’m just glad I reached middle-aged-white-guy status without becoming like that.
The trailer reminds me a bit of the Lois & Clark series, not taking the superhero genre too seriously (the whole business with the costume and cape) but also not treating it as a joke (her struggle to save the plane had real tension to it). I got tired of L&C after a while, and I don’t know if this is going to be something I make a habit of watching, but it looks like it could be a hit with people who like earnestness in their heroes, and some color in their lives.
A lot of the complaining about this trailer reminds me of the hue and cry about Teen Titans Go and how it’s not serious enough — even though my kids, my nieces and my nephews all LOVE it. Not every superhero show has to be aimed at the same audience, and for my money, Supergirl looks like it could be another Flash-esque winner — something superheroic that I can watch with my kids every week, with the added bonus that this time it’s a female in the lead.
My only complaint: It starts October 30. (Remember when the new season started after Labor Day?)
Now, I don’t expect there to be much merchandise for a new show like this, but it would have been nice to get some bleed into Halloween. A few weeks of Supergirl on TV would increase the number of little girls trickertreating on Halloween. (And cosplaying, but I suspect people are already sewing all of the variants seen in this preview.)
As for characterization, we’ll see… Cat Grant probably has an interesting backstory. (At least, I hope she does.) That is what will make this series interesting… the characters. The fight scenes, the Big Bad of the Week AKA MacGuffin-Man, that can happen on any show. Christopher Reeves might have played Superman, but he also played Clark Kent, and that role was more interesting.
What a wasted opportunity. Finally we could have gotten the female super hero show a lot of us have been craving. Instead, it looks like we will be getting Grey’s Anatomy or Devil Wears Prada with superpowers.
The second part of the trailer looks fun. But why does the first part of the trailer look like the paint-by-numbers-this-is-what-we-need-to-do-to-cater-to-women template that SO many shows and movies do?
– The best friend is really in love with the girl, but she doesn’t see it
– She is in a job she hates and want something more
– She has a bitchy boss that might at some point show some redeeming qualities
– Men tells her to go back and fetch coffee
– She meets Mr. Right and is rendered speechless
– She lives in an interior decorator’s dream of an apartment that there’s no way she could afford
– Because she has glasses and a pony tail she’s a plain girl
I really, really wanted to like this show. We need some female superheroes out there soon. Give us a Black Widow movie, give us a Wonder Woman movie, but please: Make a movie where the woman doesn’t define herself by her self worth like they do on these other lame TV shows, where they define themselves by their relationships. Make them like Black Widow was in Captain America: Winter Soldier: A woman who completely stands on her own.
It can be done. Hermoine in Harry Potter is another example. It thrilled me to see all those girls dressed up like her last time I went to Disney.
Sorry for ranting. It’s a pet peeve of mine. This show could be great, but this trailer wasn’t.
I’ll stick with show that at least try to be good, ala Daredevil.
You can’t be serious, this almost a beat for beat remake of that Black Widow sketch from SNL a couple weeks back. I think it could be great if we got a strong female character like in the Hunter Games. Instead what’s presented is the Devil Wears Prada with superpowers.
I liked the concept of an older Kara coming in search of her cousin. Her powers are already in place. Maybe she sets up the Fortress of Solitude and resides there. Brainiac or (I know he’s overused) Zod could have been the big bad. Jesus, this is already off the top of my head. This version takes it’s cue from every crappy rom-com known to man. I expected more from the producers of The Flash. Guess I should have figured out why CBS is carrying this garbage. I give it a year. Maybe two seasons because I have to factor in that CBS’s audience likes NCIS and the Big Bang Theory.
I’m not knocking this show, but I just reminded myself that I wish they’d do a Mary Marvel solo series on TV.
If you do not like what is presented in the trailer, you are probably not the audience they are looking for. I always have to explain to people that , in all entertainment, what is presented may be that audiences first time seeing a character and having what others called a cliche is an easy introduction tool to get people watching and the real storytelling happens after that point. Story development, building up supporting characters and going in other directions only happens when a show can grab a big audience and this trailer casts a wide net that I think will pay off for them. Sure, those who have read and watched superhero material for the past 20 years seen it all, but those who haven’t, who are just starting in a workplace , who have conflicting love interests or dream of a big job in a big city…well, this trailr delivers. It also delivers for people like my neighbor with a teen girl where both of them looked at the trailer and said they are sooooo gonna watch that. I am too old for the material, but I can appreicate them trying to get this kind of bright and uplifting story to a new audience, one that might then give comics a try . All of you saying there should be a better strong female character…well, showing a young woman trying to make it in the world of business in the big city , deal with love interests and duel identities and also the fact that she has the responsibility of superpowers and chooses to fight for the good of others, well, if that isnt a strong female character, i am not sure what you are looking for.
We need some lighthearted shows, to counter the grim and humorless DC movies.
Just watched the trailer. Looks like it borrows every cliché from every “chick flick” made in the last 15 years. I probably won’t watch it, but I’m not the target audience. If it appeals to girls and young women, that’s great.
Comments are closed.