Hot off the heels of the CW’s announcement for their fall line up a thought had occurred to me after watching the sizzle reel for “legends of tomorrow” narrated by the great Victor Garber. Will the center hold on the DC television universe? This coming September were going to have not one not two not three but four DC related television shows on the air. With more already in development and expected not long after.
Monday Fox’s Gotham prime time slot, which granted has not been determined to be connected to any other show but statements have been clearly made that the television division is separate from the film division. So this means Gotham, Arrow and The Flash are not connected to Man of Steel or the forthcoming Dawn Of Justice picture. Tuesday The Flash prime time slot. Wednesday The Arrow prime time slot. Thursday the highly anticipated Supergirl displacing The Big Bang Theory for it’s prime time slot.
https://youtu.be/Lm46-envrHo
That’s four one hour shows all in a very similar vein when it comes down to story and target audience. Even DVR’d that’s quite a commitment to even the most die hard of comic book fans. Me personally I LOVE hot pepper sauce but if I use too much with my lunch then I tend to have none with my dinner. It’s as if when I gorge on this good thing that I love I need a break and to have something totally unrelated.
If only there was some other successful franchise that’s weaved in and out of television and movies with great success? Oh wait There’s Star Trek I forgot about it for a moment because it’s not on TV (CBS that was directed at you). A very successful highly popular scifi show that translated to movies then more television. Yes there was more then one show on at the time and they were on two different networks on different nights on different schedules but make no mistake they and the movies were all still very connected.
I’m not saying I feel cheated by DC in anyway but I feel as if I have or will see Amanda Waller 5 times before I need to replace my shoes. In recent memory She was depicted on Smallville she’s a semi recurring character on Arrow and is a totally different version is a major part of the forthcoming Suicide Squad movie. I’m just saying maybe pick one and stick with it model yourself after Star Trek a little. Please don’t get me wrong I don’t hate you DC I want you to entertain me. You have a direct conduit to your audience coming on four nights a week now and the best part is their inviting you in the hard work is done.
It’s not like anyone else is doing anything even remotely similar and is being widely successful entity telling one grand story like a “universe” if you will instead of pockets of cross talk selling variants of same the thing. #CoulsonLives.
The thought remains will DC be able to hold there core television audience with such a bombastic barrage of comic book related television shows stacked almost on top of each other? We’ll find out in September.