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Melissa Benoist IS Supergirl!
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If the pilot features even 5 minutes of Melissa looking as beautiful as this then I'll be happy
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- mo
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mo wrote: If the pilot features even 5 minutes of Melissa looking as beautiful as this then I'll be happy
Wow....let the fanboy haters see that one!
ElF
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- lfan
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Then I thought through where the script is likely to go given the actors... Kara as Cat Grant's shy, mousy, unconfident, put-upon assistant who everyone dumps on. Melissa can do that. As the little sister of intelligent, dominant Alexa (obviously destined to fill the Lex Luthor role), always put down and constrained by her older sister, always told to hide her abilities. OK. Melissa can do that too.
But as an alien superhuman who emerges to manifest Superman-grade powers? A total, TOTAL fail. No chance in hell of her pulling that off given her physical presence or anything I've seen of her do as an actress.
Laura Vandervoort, looks a bit alien and is believable as a werewolf, a lethal lizard wearing a human suit, or as a Kryptonian who doesn't fit in or even like Earth very much. She was brilliant. You get her at first glance. She has a slightly dangerous look. She's not really one of us.
Melissa has zero of those traits. I think this show only works with Melissa if its 95% about Kara Danvers, the insecure little sister and harried assistant to more powerful characters. Someone nobody respects. The 5% of her in uniform will only work because of the uniform (if they work at all).
If that's where the producers are going, then this show is DOA before it starts, at least for me.
Nearly as bad, we have the alpha-male love-interest James Olsen (not Jimmy, the sidekick). Jimmy is one of the most iconic sidekicks in all of comic history (only Robin did it better). Now he's going to be the hot, confident guy that Kara has this big, secret crush on? Total, absolute BS.
I'm OK spinning Lex into Alexa (want to bet some people call her Lexi?). She'll know just how to slip the knife to Kara, knowing her weaknesses, just like Lex always could.
Bottom line, CBS has always had their head up their butts, and its clear now that hasn't changed. If this show was on CW or even Fox, it might have a chance. But CBS is already heading down its usual path towards mushy formulaic romantic pandering to older female viewers who wish they still had a life.
By the way, congrats to Lfan and Fats who scooped the actress for Kara -- nice work. Just sorry it turned out to be Melissa.
Here's betting they won't even pronounce Kara's name right. It's not Kare-ah, but rather Kah-ra. Soft A. Here's betting the writers and director don't even know that.
Shadar
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- AJF
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I remain optimistic. It's almost surreal that we're analyzing the casting for a Supergirl TV show. That's amazing.
- GeekSeven
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i can't believe a group of people with as niche an interest as us can afford to be this picky.
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- oldHarmonyMotion
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geekseven wrote: The last time I got worked up about casting was when Matt Smith was cast as the Doctor. I just couldn't see it. Then he turned out to be great. The writing was another matter, but anyway. .. My point is that an actor's prior roles are not a good indicator of future results, especially for someone as young as Melissa. If she's a good actor she'll convince us that she IS Supergirl, because that's her job.
I remain optimistic. It's almost surreal that we're analyzing the casting for a Supergirl TV show. That's amazing.
Matt Smith as the doctor....Stephen Amell as Oliver....Grant Gustin as The Flash.....Michael Keaton as Batman....
There are oodles of examples of initial casting that was panned that all worked out pretty good -- dare I even say that the actors are even remembered best for their role. The news is 48 hrs old, let's not log it as a failure or DOA quite yet.....
ElF
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- lfan
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shadar wrote: I went back and looked at some of Melissa's previous roles.
Then I thought through where the script is likely to go given the actors... Kara as Cat Grant's shy, mousy, unconfident, put-upon assistant who everyone dumps on. Melissa can do that. As the little sister of intelligent, dominant Alexa (obviously destined to fill the Lex Luthor role), always put down and constrained by her older sister, always told to hide her abilities. OK. Melissa can do that too.
But as an alien superhuman who emerges to manifest Superman-grade powers? A total, TOTAL fail. No chance in hell of her pulling that off given her physical presence or anything I've seen of her do as an actress.
Shadar
I would say this in her defense.
Actors have range-often bigger then what they have People Love Bennedict Cumbebatch these days as an example of the great british villian type guy....and he spent the first half of his career playing slightly dumb comedy guys on TV and Radio. Becuse he is very good at playing a fool he can play a genius. Its in someway the same skill-its just confidence.
I could See Benoist able to yes play the put upon girl and do it well-as i have said before i suspect a lot of the show is going to be that-but part of that is release its catharsis-she maybe this mousy little nothing but she can also lift tanks etc.
Now she doesn't have to actually lift the tanks of course -thats Special effects . But what she does have to do is do the catharis. Show the joy,maybe the fear the sence of release. If you look at things like Christoher Reeve-hes never tough. Hes not really trying to be. Hes is the most powerful man in the universe and just does it calmly for 90 percent of it and the rage and fear at the momments hes tested. In someways thats being a boyscout thats being a gooy to shoes.. and i think she can do it. I think she can be confident. Thats the key.
even if Benoist has never done the big action movies she doesn't need to. . She could maybe spend a little more time at the gym but i do think shes going to be fine. Wonder Woman does martial arts. Supergirl doesn't.
So will see. This isn't a guarantee-a lot is on the supporting roles, the script and direction-but will see. i am confident that this will be intresting if nothing else.
Castor
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As far as making premature judgements about actors and TV shows... that's just form of modern geek-sport, and it's FAR less serious affair than making premature judgements about the Super Bowl. (Obviously, the Seahawks will win.)
Shadar (who makes his predictions while blowing smoke rings with Old Toby, "the finest weed in the Southfarthing" -- for you Tolkien fans)
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- GeekSeven
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geekseven wrote: Superb Owl? Is that a sportsy thing with the hand eggs?
Golden eggs, maybe. A strange game that uses a distorted ball that can't really roll properly which is infrequently kicked with the feet, unlike that running around kicking game that the rest of the world calls football. But it does involve throwing bombs and involves very, very big people hitting other really big people as hard as they can -- deliberately. Repeatedly. Unmercifully. Wearing armor -- kind of.
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Here is my take on it. Alcohol may be a factor in what spews forth.
"...She’s a crime solver, so she’s going to have to solve a crime. She’s going to get a bad guy.” = typical CBS tried and true stuff. Meh, I don't care. I'll still watch it if she was just going to review different fish in Lake Michigan as the main storyline. I want to see some action, special effects, a great costume, attitude, and flying.
"We’re big feminists. It’s her intellect, it’s her skill, it’s her smarts." Uh oh, feminists. Now I am starting to think unshaved arm pits and perpetual victimized entitled Gen whatever attitudes. Does that mean men are trying to oppress her? Good, let her weld a guys zipper shut if he gives her the wolf whistle.
“She’s got to be an every woman,” Grabs bottle of Jack Daniels honey whiskey, bathes two ice cubes, takes sip. She has to be SUPERGIRL. She is sexy, she has an attitude, she doesn't fit in quite right but she sorta wants to. She loves using her power at times and can kick ass on demand.
“We have seen the costume,” she said. “Awesome costume.” Takes sip. Good God please don't let it be a feminist costume. Please let it show her toned mid riff and have nice sexy heeled boots. No BPA/PVC/nothing was harmed certified shit. Let it be silky and tight. Yeah, yeah, this is for mainstream and not some knuckle draggin Supergirl fetishist drinking Jack and blathering on about how sexy the main character needs to be. But if you want a lot of boy-men to watch it then do what they did with Buffy and make her hot. The choice of actress isn't that hot in my opinion. Laura V = nuclear hot. Whats her face = we shall hold judgement once it airs and you can get a good gander at the costume.
Tassler said. “There’s a humanity. They’re flawed." Again, she is SUPERGIRL. Not a quivering mess that has to Twitblog her feelings every ten minutes while checking Facething for what her bros are doing or saying. Sure, she can do that as a bit of an act and disguise but when the cape is on...back the F*&* up.
possibility of a crossover.... meh, fine. It is working for Marvel and their movies. Cross away. I want 15 seasons of Supergirl.
Supergirl has a series commitment but no premiere date yet, but next fall is a good bet. I want it right after the Superbowl g-dammit.
Rant complete. Grabs bottle.
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- Sarge395
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Remember the scene in Smallville where Kara (who was admittedly controlled by Braniac) poses as a ridiculously hot flight attendant on a private jet that is carrying the bad guy beyond the reach of American law in some South American country, and she slams him against the fuselage wall hard enough throw him halfway through it as she gets him to talk. And then, because everyone on board including the crew are leaches sucking the life from decent people, she blasts out the tail cone to watch the plane disintegrate in mid-air. The rotten scoundrels live long enough to realize it was the hot blonde who did them in.
OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. But on Smallville, Kara could kick ass. We won't see anything remotely like that on politically correct CBS.
Nor will we see her rescuing someone from a volcano or extracting a bunch of soldiers from harms way who were trying to save some kids, or dragging some suicidal terrorists into a bunker to let their bombs explode harmlessly (and then walking back out with only her hair messed up) or rescuing the crew of a submarine that has sunk in waters too deep for rescue. Total Kryptonian-grade stuff.
Instead, she'll most solve crimes with her brain (like everyone else on CBS) while Twittering and fetching lattes for her boss. And once in a while she'll tear a door off a car or stop a bullet. Oh boy.
My one shred of hope is the scenario they used in the auditions where she rescues a train full of people. But audition scenarios are often more dramatic than the eventual show given they are testing the actors ranges and so forth.
But lifting a locomotive back on the tracks... that's Kryptonian-grade. We can only hope.
Shadar
Sarge395 wrote: time.com/3664533/cbs-supergirl/
Here is my take on it. Alcohol may be a factor in what spews forth.
"...She’s a crime solver, so she’s going to have to solve a crime. She’s going to get a bad guy.” = typical CBS tried and true stuff. Meh, I don't care. I'll still watch it if she was just going to review different fish in Lake Michigan as the main storyline. I want to see some action, special effects, a great costume, attitude, and flying.
"We’re big feminists. It’s her intellect, it’s her skill, it’s her smarts." Uh oh, feminists. Now I am starting to think unshaved arm pits and perpetual victimized entitled Gen whatever attitudes. Does that mean men are trying to oppress her? Good, let her weld a guys zipper shut if he gives her the wolf whistle.
“She’s got to be an every woman,” Grabs bottle of Jack Daniels honey whiskey, bathes two ice cubes, takes sip. She has to be SUPERGIRL. She is sexy, she has an attitude, she doesn't fit in quite right but she sorta wants to. She loves using her power at times and can kick ass on demand.
“We have seen the costume,” she said. “Awesome costume.” Takes sip. Good God please don't let it be a feminist costume. Please let it show her toned mid riff and have nice sexy heeled boots. No BPA/PVC/nothing was harmed certified shit. Let it be silky and tight. Yeah, yeah, this is for mainstream and not some knuckle draggin Supergirl fetishist drinking Jack and blathering on about how sexy the main character needs to be. But if you want a lot of boy-men to watch it then do what they did with Buffy and make her hot. The choice of actress isn't that hot in my opinion. Laura V = nuclear hot. Whats her face = we shall hold judgement once it airs and you can get a good gander at the costume.
Tassler said. “There’s a humanity. They’re flawed." Again, she is SUPERGIRL. Not a quivering mess that has to Twitblog her feelings every ten minutes while checking Facething for what her bros are doing or saying. Sure, she can do that as a bit of an act and disguise but when the cape is on...back the F*&* up.
possibility of a crossover.... meh, fine. It is working for Marvel and their movies. Cross away. I want 15 seasons of Supergirl.
Supergirl has a series commitment but no premiere date yet, but next fall is a good bet. I want it right after the Superbowl g-dammit.
Rant complete. Grabs bottle.
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- shadar
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There is no way the show will be about Supergirl being a superhuman detective.
Both WBTV and CBS would have to be insane to think they can sel show like that to audiences who are going to expect superhero action/adventure.
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AJF wrote: I don't think the show will be about her just solving crimes. She doe not work for any law enforcement agency. Tassler is just talking out her butt.
There is no way the show will be about Supergirl being a superhuman detective.
Both WBTV and CBS would have to be insane to think they can sel show like that to audiences who are going to expect superhero action/adventure.
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Instead of focusing on terrorism and militarism, the new “Bionic” will explore the role of professional women in contemporary society and how they juggle their various roles.
“It’s using the idea of artificial technology as a metaphor for what contemporary women sometimes feel is necessary to do everything that needs to be done,” Eick said.
While No Ordinary Family (Adler) wasn't that great, it DID feature a good amount of SFX that I thought were pretty good for the time. Furthermore, Berlanti is supposedly running the bus and Arrow and Flash have proven that he respects the comic mythos -- especially with Flash. I think the Kryptonian powers are gonna be constrained due to budget more than storyline which is why CBS (vs CW) is better off for us.
I have a feeling its gonna have a "crime drama" element to it, but with superpowers behind solving it -- kinda like a ramped up Bionic Woman (or the CBS version of Wonder Woman). A superheroine as an "agent" or "solving crimes" isn't new and has somewhat of a track record of success in the past. -- though granted, it was 40 years ago!
ElF
P.S. I loved the "stewardess" scene in Smallville too, Shadar. Of course, she was "evil" at that time which makes for more superness cause the "safeties are off"
shadar wrote: As far as Tassler talking out her butt -- her butt is the one sitting in the big chair while making this thing. Isn't she producing the show?
AJF wrote: I don't think the show will be about her just solving crimes. She doe not work for any law enforcement agency. Tassler is just talking out her butt.
There is no way the show will be about Supergirl being a superhuman detective.
Both WBTV and CBS would have to be insane to think they can sel show like that to audiences who are going to expect superhero action/adventure.
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- lfan
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Shadar, I'm in your camp in agreeing that Holt certainly had the look for Supergirl. Maybe someone will do artwork of Melissa doing that (i.e., changing into a Holt-Supergirl).
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algae2k wrote: The fist thing that I thought was, "It looks like they cast for the normal identity." I know someone brought this idea up late last year.
Shadar, I'm in your camp in agreeing that Holt certainly had the look for Supergirl. Maybe someone will do artwork of Melissa doing that (i.e., changing into a Holt-Supergirl).
How's this:
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- lfan
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is it going to involve a lot of quad copters drones?.
cause Early last year a video came out
Which reminds me a lot of the often basic Arrow style action sequences. A lot of shaking cams of people moving around. I could see this combined with some CGi and a little affter effects to make something on a TV Budget, cause this video had a budget much smaller then TV Does.
Which is of going to the conversation of today . cause randomly today This morning i watched a version of John Williams Superman theme(as you do) on youtube. What struck me was.
A) pretty much in it special effects could be done pretty easy with affer effects today.
B ) there is a lot of scenes of superman stuff-flying rescuing planes, fighting criminals, rescuing kittens.
C) very little of it until the very end has much to do with the plot as such. Luthor doesn't enter the plot as such until the last 20 or so minutes.
I also have seen Person of Interest, the CBS procedural done as a bit of an action thriller. It follows the model of a lot of "action" shows on tv going back to the 50s, with a big action beat every...15 minutes or so. Which in a 42 minute show means about 2.5 action scenes. Usuaully there plot related, however they don't always advance the plot. There is a big emphasis on that show on the Twist.-of misdirections and feints leading to the heroes using there brains, to finally crack it even if they have punched people out earlier.
I could see that a lot working all together. In any case i don't think its going to have less action then POI
So Ever 15 or so minutes we get something-and i could see her stoping a train derailment or stoping a submarine in that, or just rescuing a kitten. Then plot characters etc...and more action. Maybe these all work as part of the villians plot..or maybe not even related or related to a subplot. Overall we get maybe 5 10 minutes of her in costume. I suspect the classic "Superpower punch battle" we get very rarely(Man of Steel had a budget probabbly a 100 times the episode budget and thats climax was kind of disapointing) but a lot of ticking time bombs, and figuring out how to use her power effectivley.
I am kind of hopeful for the show. it could be intresting as a character study. Benoist has the chops to do something fun. As Action show...its going to be there.
As i once told a college professor : There is suprisingly little diffrence between a cop show and A superhero show story wise...so just go with it:)
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- castor
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castor wrote: Lfan you seem to have a connection to the production, so i have a question for you.
is it going to involve a lot of quad copters drones?.
Sorry, no tangible connection to the production -- at least not one where I'd know that type of info.....
ElF
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That was followed with Frankenstein Jr and the Impossibles, Atom Ant, Space Ghost, Dino Boy on CBS.
Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor, Young Sampson and Goliath, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio on NBC.
Even a version of the Fantastic Four appeared on ABC.
With the exception of Batman and Robin and the Fantastic Four, the shows mostly used minor or unique characters with little or no comic book presence.
Then everything crashed in 1968 as superheroes went out of vogue. Other than a long run of Wonder Woman, we didn't get many enduring superhero shows after that. A smattering here and there.
Now we're awash in them again. The big difference this time is that we are getting a heavy hitter like Supergirl. In fact, most of the shows involve first or second level characters with strong comic book runs.
So if the 66-68 period was the first golden age of TV superheroes, this round might be even more gilded. For all of my concerns, its nice to see such major characters hitting the screen. For a while before something else comes along.
As fans, we need to let the studios know what we like and don't like in the hope that we can influence things our way, at least a bit. To be supportive of the shows even while we are critical of decisions we don't think are appropriate. I truly believe that fans influenced Smallville over its long run. We also got the best version of Kara to ever appear on the screen, by far, (thank you Laura V), but also many disappointments.
Maybe I'll be proclaiming that CBS's Supergirl beats Smallville's Supergirl someday. I really, REALLY hope so, despite my concerns for the current trajectory.
By the way, digging deeper into Whiplash as opposed to Glee (which I absolutely detest), I found a clip of Melissa that makes me rethink things a bit. The breakup scene from Whiplash. Maybe she does have the range for the Kara side of the role at least, given she's likely to be someone everyone dumps on. In this case, she handles this breakup scene with a total and complete asshole better than most:
Shadar
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1) Greg Berlanti is the Producer and showrunner, the same producer and showrunner for Arrow and The Flash
2) CBS owns the CW (the C is for CBS, the W is for Warner Brothers)
3) Alexandria Danvers being the genius sister hints at her being 'Team Kara', in the same vein as Team Arrow and Team Flash
4) I don't think Alexandria is going to be the villain because
a) if she hates Kara that much, why wait however many years before turning on her (Alex could have provided proof to the government at anytime and they would have swooped in to nab Kara)
b) if the rumblings are true and Kaitlin is going to go villain after getting her powers, I don't think they'd do the same story (former friend/confidant turns on hero) again in Supergirl, since it was also done in Arrow with Deathstroke and the theme might be running a bit thin now.
c) If there is a cross-universe like I suspect, then we already have Lex Luthor in the Arrow-verse via Big Belly Burgers (a subsidiary of LexCorp). No real need for 'Lexi' if the real deal exists.
Of course, a great deal of this hinges on the three shows sharing the same universe, which I think is a better than average chance of being true. Batman already exists in the Arrow-verse, Lex now exists, Superman is a logical step further for existing as well. Remember that the set-up for Kara's show is that Superman just appearing boosts Kara into revealing herself and becoming a hero as well. I have a sneaking suspicion that at the end of this season of Arrow and Flash, there's going to be big happenings in Metropolis and a certain 'strange visitor' revealing himself.
Some folks would say: if that's true, why not show Batman and Superman? But that's missing the whole point of the Arrow-verse. Berlanti is taking lesser known characters from DC and putting the spotlight on them. Everyone knows all about Batman and Superman already; there's not many stories that could be told with them that the general public doesn't already know. But, ask the general public about Green Arrow? He's the archer with the boxing glove arrow. The Flash? He runs real fast. Supergirl? She's a female Superman. That's what people generally think about those characters. They can be fleshed out more and have stories told that may be familiar to us, but are totally fresh and exciting for the general public. Also, look at what a fantastic job the Arrow-verse has done at taking B, C, and even D list villains and making them shine. When Arrow started, who would have thought that Meryln would turn out to be such a deep villain, given his treatment in the comics as basically 'evil Green Arrow'? Heck, who would have thought Rainbow Raider would have been as awesome as he turned out on Flash?
The pieces are all still in the air, let's let a few of them settle and see what picture starts to form.
P.S. Shadar, actually the last CBS superhero show was the Bill Bixby 'Incredible Hulk' series (NBC got the post-series movies), which turned out fine. Yes, it was going on 40 years ago, but they can put out something of quality when they put their minds to it. And I think given how Marvel is kicking DC around like a government mule, they want quality to cash in on some of the success of Marvel's formula.
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