Acting abilities

I've been noticing that Melissa seems to have reached her limit on acting ability and is clearly less accomplished than Chyler Leigh (Alex) or especially Odette Annable (Reign). In fact, Odette is the best actor on the show, other than perhaps Calista. My opinion, anyway.

Melissa seems to be in a rut with limited and forced and predictable emotions and expressions, but little dynamic range. Once in a while she surprises and pleases me, when the writing opens up, but certainly not every episode. When you see her acting against Odette, it's really clear.

Kind of a shame given I like Melissa's natural personality. Hopefully, she'll get a chance and encouragement to grow further in the role, but sometimes the role holds actors back. It can be hard to break out of the character boundaries and change the character in interesting ways, given the writers might not want that.

She might be in that hole now.

Anyone else see this, or is it just me?

Shadar

In fact, Odette is the best actor on the show, other than perhaps Calista. My opinion, anyway.

I totally agree. Odette is the best thing in the season for me.

With regards to Melissa's acting, I do think some (maybe a lot) of that is due to the role more then her. I know she was in Glee, but I never really followed it, so my only basis thus far is her as Supergirl.

In which, she is fine imo. Sure, she does have a limited range, but that can just be the character. To contrast her to Reign, Supergirl has no "real" flaws. Whereas Reign/Sam is a conflicted persona, so there is more to play with there (from a writer and actor perspective).

So I wouldn't say she lacks the talent from what I've seen.

Peace.

/K

kikass2014 wrote:

In fact, Odette is the best actor on the show, other than perhaps Calista. My opinion, anyway.

I totally agree. Odette is the best thing in the season for me.

With regards to Melissa's acting, I do think some (maybe a lot) of that is due to the role more then her. I know she was in Glee, but I never really followed it, so my only basis thus far is her as Supergirl.

In which, she is fine imo. Sure, she does have a limited range, but that can just be the character. To contrast her to Reign, Supergirl has no "real" flaws. Whereas Reign/Sam is a conflicted persona, so there is more to play with there (from a writer and actor perspective).

So I wouldn't say she lacks the talent from what I've seen.

Peace.

/K

Could just be the role and the way the writers use her, but great actors expand the role and push boundaries and breathe magic into it.

She’s a decent actress, but I don’t think she’s stretching the role or herself now. That happens in multiseason shows. Who can forget Tom Welling in Smallville, who was eaten by the role and came to work with the same small bag of expressions and mannerisms for one painful season after another, depending on guest stars to keep things going.

Hate to see Melissa shrink this way. I think she can do better.

Unfortunately, Supergirl’s ultimate role is to be unchanging and to maintain a steady center of unflincing character in all the craziness. She’s the rock who remains unchanged, just more experienced. Same problem Superman and his actors have. Only time their actors can let loose is when the character gets to go “off the reservation” and act outside character. Problem goes all the way back to the comic. Easy to get stuck in that. Hope she finds a way out.

Shadar

fats wrote: Has MB reached the limits of her acting ability - yes

Odette has shown her up in her ability to show emotions and Katie has shown her up by being able to act with just subtle facial emotions.

MB is a nice actress but the producers need to look at replacing her at the end of the series as her role as the lead is being shown up by the others.

Fats

I think Melissa is now 'pigeon-holed' in the role of Supergirl. What actress would you get to replace her?
An interesting dynamic would be for the writers to kill her off totally at the hands of Reign and give Odette the switcheroo between Good Girl Superheroine and Bad-ass girl. A major conflict would arise with Alex, the DEO. and the new Supergirl, Reign.
(Just thinking out loud here).

I would love Odette Annabel to get a spin-off series as Reign (even as a limited one). Or maybe have her join the Legion of Superheroes show/Legends of Tommorrow.

Whatever, keep her around lol

Katie McGrath is, as I've mentioned elsewhere, simply awesome. Totally agree Fats, she has a nice subtlety to her expressions that convey a lot.

Maybe they do need to switch up Melissa prominence in the series. I think it would be impossible to replace her though. She, for all her limits, owns the role imo.

Peace.

/K

P.S. I know were are talking about the females actors on the show, but I just wanted to say David Harewood is outstanding as Martian Manhunter (especially when you consider that he sounds NOTHING like he does in the show in real life )

The entire cast of the main characters on this show are all very good actors which is a major reason why I like the show. MB was terrific playing the dual roles in the Nazi episodes.

It seems lately that the writers have put MB in the background and have put Odette in the foreground and I think most of us are loving it. She is very easy on the eyes and her acting is spot on for the role.

I was suprised that they put a needle into Sam. I thought that she was a Kryptonian whose powers were magically enhanced. Now that seems unlikely or the writers have left the reservation.

In season 1, the constant threat was the Kryptonians. In season 2, it was Terry Hatcher. Now in season 3, it is Reign and the witches.

I hate that Kara is always shown to be weak and always walks into every trap. But if that was not the case, the episodes would maybe be 5 minutes long. In the same vein, I rolled my eyes when Reign said, "I thought you were dead." With all her powers she didn't bother to check? But in the real world, she would have snapped SG's neck, ripped out her heart and reduced her body to elemental carbon. But that would end the series.

kikass2014 wrote:
Maybe they do need to switch up Melissa prominence in the series. I think it would be impossible to replace her though. She, for all her limits, owns the role imo.

Peace.

/K

I'm not so sure she "owns" it.

Here's my plan:

1) Have Reign kill SG off. Like for good.

2) Develop Reign further, with her being a principal character with an unpredictable mixture of good and bad traits.

3) Bring the Earth-2 Kara Zor L ( Powergirl) to Earth 1 to help manage Reign and to replace Supergirl as the heavy-hitter of the DEO. Call her Supergirl or whatever to match the show title. I could forgive that. With the right actress and some brilliant writing, they could do wonders with a new kind of Supergirl They could make her stronger and better capable of dealing with the World Killers.

4) Develop the Superman and Powergirl dynamic (she does NOT like his patronizing manner) and use Superman to help with Reign as well, but with the new and very dominant Supergirl being the one calling the shots, as well as showing up Superman by being equally or more powerful.

5) It would be fun to see the rest of the cast at the DEO trying to deal with a "Powergirl" kind of personality.

And please make her look a bit like this (Just kidding. Well, just dreaming! This would never fly in TV)




Shadar

Oh I totally agree, there is a dozen ways you could right a change of the lead actress in a show like this.

The question is, would THE CW do that?

To us, we could probably think of a hundred different women we would like to see as Supergirl, and the stories she would be a part of.

Remember, we are not the demo that the show Supergirl targets (heck I live in the UK so I'm definitely not even in the same country). Think of all the marketing that has gone into building up Melissa as Supergirl; the billboards; the chat show appearances; etc.

Would the CW be willing to risk doing that again and hoping for such a score?

I'm not sure they would.

But like I say, storywise it could be done, rather easily at that.

Peace.

/K

fats wrote: a simple solution to replacing MB would be,

she gets killed
gets put in a chamber to be reanimated
a new actress appears
the cast continues as normal

fats

Agreed... easy. And now that the series has proven its chops, maybe they can get a blonde actress with Odette's acting skills and really give the writers something to write for. Someone who will come in, with the writers cooperating, and define the role differently and maybe more broadly. A fresh approach.

For me, I'd like to see the role a bit more edgy. They've been open about portraying queer relationships, which works with millennials but the show also has a strong showing with families with young girls. But gay is kind of mainstream now, at least outside the socially conservative audience. So is feminism.

If they can do queer, then they can also show a stronger, edgier, more kickass (more feminist) Kara who has some more interesting adult situations to deal with.

(Kara gets drunk, wakes up in a strange place with three guys she doesn't know unconscious on the floor, the bed broken, the room trashed, her street clothes on the floor, her costume hanging from the ceiling fan as it goes around and around, boots here and there, cape hanging from a light fixture, one of the guys is wearing her skirt over his head. Complicated.) OK, I'll stop.


Shadar

I guess I'm going to play the part of the contrarian here.

I like Reign and I think Odette Annable is doing I great job.

However,I do not seem to be so totally over the top with Reign as everyone else here is. Nor do I think Odette is really that much more talented than Melissa. She's being tasked with doing a different character with more range to show. She gets to regularly do diametric opposites Sam (the mother, CEO, and friend) and Regin. She has a meatier (and NEW) role, so grabs the eye more. Evil is attractive.

Melissa does a great job when tasked with being evil-Supergirl in Earth X and when she plays Martian Manhunter doing Kara. Melissa has credible comedy chops, and we've not seen that range from Odette or Katie McGrath on Supergirl. (I know Odette's been in Comedies, so she should have the skills, we've just not seen them on Supergirl yet.)

Sure Melissa could be pushing Supergirl/Kara more, but we only get to say that because she's on the third season and we take what she does for granted now.

(As a side note, Tom Welling is on Lucifer this season, and I went from "OH NO" to thinking he's doing a pretty good job. So perhaps Melissa needs to do some push back so she gets some better range to SG, and can make her more interesting.)

I don't understand this fantasy of killing off Supergirl. I mean I get liking Reign. I get wanting to see Power Girl. I just don't get it this multiple post run of killing her off. We seemed to have drifted into some bizzaro land of hating MB and Supergirl.

Right now I'm enjoying Reign, but I've seen nothing that makes me think that we'd do better with Odette playing the main character. To do that she'd have to stop being evil, and then Reign == Sam, and suddenly we have one character and flash forward a season and we'd be right where we are with Melissa and SG. Arrow starting having problems in S3 for about the same reason.

I'd MUCH rather make suggestions to give MB some more options to show more range than to fantasize about killing Supergirl off. (James Olson on the other hand...)

And pitching other shows. I'd LOVE a few episode arc where Supergirl is swapped out for Power Girl, and have everyone try to deal with PG. GREAT IDEA. We just don't need to kill off SG to get there. (In modern parlance PG would be played by MB, but I don't like PG being a direct dimensional doppelganger of SG, so I'd like another actress.) If that worked we could spin off a PG show.

TwiceOnThursdays wrote: I guess I'm going to play the part of the contrarian here.

I like Reign and I think Odette Annable is doing I great job.

However,I do not seem to be so totally over the top with Reign as everyone else here is. Nor do I think Odette is really that much more talented than Melissa. She's being tasked with doing a different character with more range to show. She gets to regularly do diametric opposites Sam (the mother, CEO, and friend) and Regin. She has a meatier (and NEW) role, so grabs the eye more. Evil is attractive.

Melissa does a great job when tasked with being evil-Supergirl in Earth X and when she plays Martian Manhunter doing Kara. Melissa has credible comedy chops, and we've not seen that range from Odette or Katie McGrath on Supergirl. (I know Odette's been in Comedies, so she should have the skills, we've just not seen them on Supergirl yet.)

Sure Melissa could be pushing Supergirl/Kara more, but we only get to say that because she's on the third season and we take what she does for granted now.

(As a side note, Tom Welling is on Lucifer this season, and I went from "OH NO" to thinking he's doing a pretty good job. So perhaps Melissa needs to do some push back so she gets some better range to SG, and can make her more interesting.)

I don't understand this fantasy of killing off Supergirl. I mean I get liking Reign. I get wanting to see Power Girl. I just don't get it this multiple post run of killing her off. We seemed to have drifted into some bizzaro land of hating MB and Supergirl.

Right now I'm enjoying Reign, but I've seen nothing that makes me think that we'd do better with Odette playing the main character. To do that she'd have to stop being evil, and then Reign == Sam, and suddenly we have one character and flash forward a season and we'd be right where we are with Melissa and SG. Arrow starting having problems in S3 for about the same reason.

I'd MUCH rather make suggestions to give MB some more options to show more range than to fantasize about killing Supergirl off. (James Olson on the other hand...)

And pitching other shows. I'd LOVE a few episode arc where Supergirl is swapped out for Power Girl, and have everyone try to deal with PG. GREAT IDEA. We just don't need to kill off SG to get there. (In modern parlance PG would be played by MB, but I don't like PG being a direct dimensional doppelganger of SG, so I'd like another actress.) If that worked we could spin off a PG show.

Swapping out Melissa for another actor was the subject. Killing SG only came up as a way to do it. Then she's either revived or swapped with her Earth-2 version, but either way, she comes back as a different person (and actress). And then we got fired up with thinking about PG.

But giving another actress a chance at the role (and Melissa a chance to grow as an actress in some other role) was where we started. Too easy to get stuck in a role and lose range.

What you can't do is keep the role the same and change actresses. When Calista left the show, they couldn't cast someone else as Cat Grant. Calista is too strong and unique an actress. They changed the role by putting James in there (ugh!) and now Lena and likely someone else before they are done.

But admittedly, this would be much harder given Kara is such a unique person, one of two surviving members of the House of El. That's why I though thought of her Earth-2 quasi-equivalent PG. They could do that with a dimensional-swap time-warpy thingy without killing anyone off.

Anyway, it was just a brainstorm, for what its worth.

Shadar

MB is a fine actress.
She is a team player and has done everything the producers have asked her to do.
If you want her to stretch or grow give her better scripts and better direction.

shadar wrote:

kikass2014 wrote:
Maybe they do need to switch up Melissa prominence in the series. I think it would be impossible to replace her though. She, for all her limits, owns the role imo.

Peace.

/K

5) It would be fun to see the rest of the cast at the DEO trying to deal with a "Powergirl" kind of personality.

And please make her look a bit like this (Just kidding. Well, just dreaming! This would never fly in TV)




Shadar

Gemma Atkinson, your role in Hollywood awaits you (she is stunningly gorgeous with a great English accent which would provide a nice kilter to her character.)

ETA (Ok, I meant Vancouver or where-ever, but she really is stunningly gorgeous all the same .)

Markiehoe wrote: MB is a fine actress.
She is a team player and has done everything the producers have asked her to do.
If you want her to stretch or grow give her better scripts and better direction.

I was thinking pretty much the same thing. The problem with this show has never been the acting. It's always been the writing and sometimes the production values.

shadar wrote:
Swapping out Melissa for another actor was the subject. Killing SG only came up as a way to do it. Then she's either revived or swapped with her Earth-2 version, but either way, she comes back as a different person (and actress). And then we got fired up with thinking about PG.

But giving another actress a chance at the role (and Melissa a chance to grow as an actress in some other role) was where we started. Too easy to get stuck in a role and lose range.

I guess you can put me down for "I disagree with the premise". I do think they could do more with MB. Keep improving the writing, and focus on giving her more to do and I think we'll get more back. But there were some examples this year (I gave two) where they did give her some opportunities to do more and she did an admirable job. She's been showing the problems Kara has coping with Mon-el pretty well too. The versions of that in S1/S2 I just wanted to fast-forward through. The change isn't MB -- it's the writing/direction they're giving her. That's where the focus needs to be.

shadar wrote: What you can't do is keep the role the same and change actresses. When Calista left the show, they couldn't cast someone else as Cat Grant. Calista is too strong and unique an actress. They changed the role by putting James in there (ugh!) and now Lena and likely someone else before they are done.

I think the longest running science fiction show begs to differ. Admittedly they don't really "keep the role the same", the Doctor changes but usually keeps a sub-set of characteristics.

Admittedly, I can't think of any other show where they swapped out the lead and the show lasted. You can swap out a Darren or a Becky Conner (back and forth, etc), but the lead is a bit harder to do.

But a once time fix on a sci fi show isn't that hard to accomplish IF it's really warranted. I don't think it is. If they thought that, they'd cancel Supergirl and make a spin-off first, re-using some of the characters.

To make an obvious point

Benost was in an Oscar Winning movie, and really held her own-her part in Whiplash wasn't huge-but it was a really good moment, and there is a reason that probably got attention. I remember corectly they played her scene when Miles Teller was up in the Oscar ceremony-but its her scene.

When shes not in Supergirl, she tends to be in Very Highly Regraded Indie Dramas-i haven't scene Waco her mini series, but have heard good things about it.

She is a great actress, and i suspect after Supergirl she is going to have a fine career-probably not in roles like this, but a fine career.

The scripts-yeah they don't always give her a lot to do, and the need to be the hero limits her in points-but i think shes good. Especially when they give her comedy-she is funny. She isn't amazing at TV action but she can do it. The dramatic scene-she does as well as the material gives her.

She is also the hero

And the old rule of acting is-well Odette as the villian has the better part.

Monty wrote:

shadar wrote:

kikass2014 wrote:
Maybe they do need to switch up Melissa prominence in the series. I think it would be impossible to replace her though. She, for all her limits, owns the role imo.

Peace.

/K

5) It would be fun to see the rest of the cast at the DEO trying to deal with a "Powergirl" kind of personality.

And please make her look a bit like this (Just kidding. Well, just dreaming! This would never fly in TV)




Shadar

Gemma Atkinson, your role in Hollywood awaits you (she is stunningly gorgeous with a great English accent which would provide a nice kilter to her character.)

ETA (Ok, I meant Vancouver or where-ever, but she really is stunningly gorgeous all the same .)

Monty wrote:

Monty wrote:

shadar wrote:

kikass2014 wrote:
Maybe they do need to switch up Melissa prominence in the series. I think it would be impossible to replace her though. She, for all her limits, owns the role imo.

Peace.

/K

5) It would be fun to see the rest of the cast at the DEO trying to deal with a "Powergirl" kind of personality.

And please make her look a bit like this (Just kidding. Well, just dreaming! This would never fly in TV)




Shadar

Gemma Atkinson, your role in Hollywood awaits you (she is stunningly gorgeous with a great English accent which would provide a nice kilter to her character.)

ETA (Ok, I meant Vancouver or where-ever, but she really is stunningly gorgeous all the same .)

On my version, I lifted her boobs to look closer to the comic portrayal. Kryptonians are supposed to be uber-firm and defy gravity, more or less. Gemma might be near the top of the human pyramid, but she’s not even at the base of the Krypt pyramid.

Shadar

Ok folks, I think we have gotten a little spoiled this season and some are starting to get a bit too hypercritical.

Number 1. TV shows don't exist to please our little community. They exist to make money for the networks and producers by selling advertising.

Number 2. CBS and the CW have invested a ton of money in promoting MB as SG. She has done her part as well by hitting the talk show circuit. Google her name and Supergirl and you get 257,000 results in 0.61 seconds. Hit MB and you get 307,000 in 0.60 seconds.

Number 3. We are not the demographic for this show! MB has been a near perfect role model thus far both on and off the screen.

Number 4 IMO MB is the perfect cute, kind girl next type that every guy would want to take to the prom and later marry. I think she is also looked upon favorably as a good role model for little girls.
Why would anyone want to throw all of that away.

Never lose site of the big picture!

I have waited all my life for a show like this, and I hope that MB and SG can hang in there for 5 seasons.
I am a big Baseball fan, and in Baseball, a star hitter only gets a hit 3/10 times at the plate. Team Supergirl is doing way better than that this season!

I think you hit the nail right on the head Ace.

I would also like to add that Melissa (if memory serves) introduced the word "Adorkable" into pop culture.

She is fine as Supergirl/Kara. This isn't Shakespeare so to speak. And her acting chops for the role are more then fine.

The rest is down to the writing, which so far this season, has been an almost perfect streak.

Sure, Reign atm is getting a lot of the limelight. But as someone mentioned, villians are always better roles in the main then heroes.

Could they add more depth to the Kara/Supergirl role? Sure. But like I said, thats not really Melissa's job, more the writing team.

Peace.

/K

I agree completely.

castor wrote: And the old rule of acting is-well Odette as the [villain] has the better part.

I think you're spot on Castor. I think Ace makes some good points as well.

MB was great as Ubergirl and did well on RedK. She portrays by far the best Kara ever in my opinion - from SG 1984 to Smallville to any fan production in between. As Supergirl she also has great moments. Is she what this community would "fan-cast" - maybe not. Does some of the writing and photography not help SG's range and presence - I do think so. The Flash suffers from a bit of the same for me - I love(d*) it but it missed the "ta-da" a bit.

*I just stopped having time to watch. #priorities