When Arrow came out in 2012, it was a breath of fresh air. After years of blue balls from Smallville and a "kinda-sorta" superhero show in the form of "Heroes," here we finally had a show that embraced superheroics. There was no BS, right from the pilot, this was a show about a guy dressing up in a costume and fighting crime and it was done well. Oliver Queen was a compelling character with a mysterious past and was much grittier than his comic book counterpart. The best part about the show was that it seemed like it was a window to a larger DC Universe with the introduction of characters like Deathstroke, Deadshot, The Suicide Squad, The Huntress and of course, Barry Allen, The Flash. The show was fun and had a compelling story to hook you.
Now, we have four different tv shows set in this universe running concurrently with each other and over the course of this past television season I found myself becoming a little tired of them. I loved the Flash's first season but found myself kind of bored with season 2. Legends of Tomorrow started off strong and then kind of lost me. And Arrow....that show seems to be lost altogether. This Fall is the first time I find myself not invested in watching these shows anymore when it used to be the thing I looked forward to on tv. And now, we're getting news that another Berlanti show, Black Lightning is coming.
Now, maybe its just me and I'm alone in this, but I realized the issue I have with these shows is the "Berlanti formula." These shows, while different in tone, all follow a similar formula and format. While the shows all have overarching story archs, they all have this episodic format where the hero or heroine fights one off villains that has some tangental tie to a morality lesson that they're going to learn in that particular episode. Not only that, we're forced to watch the heroes go after the season villain for 22 episodes and by the time the final confrontation happens, you just want to get it over with. Legends of Tomorrow had a simple concept: Find Vandall Savage and take him down. But because the season is 16 episodes, they have to find contrived ways of stretching it out with filler episodes. LoT shouldn't have been more than 8 episodes, imo.
I mean, I get it, network tv is a different beast from HBO, Showtime, AMC, or Netflix but I feel like these shows could strive to be better and doesn't have to be so formulaic. Right now, Gotham is my favorite DC show on tv and quite possibly the only one I'll be following from now on. It started very rough but in season two it found its footing and identity and found a way make each episode compelling and serialized so that you felt compelled to watch the next episode to see whats going to happen next. I feel like the CW DC shows should take note from this. Why do we have to have these corny one off supervillains who do nothing but cackle and act as a foil to the hero? Take the Batman TAS approach. Build them up, give them arcs, show their descent into villainy, that way when they do become a villain there is gravitas and tragic emotional weight behind it. Flash, in particular is a big offender in this area. I just got so tired of the corny, flat one dimensional villains so fast. And it looks like Supergirl has that same problem.
Anyway, I have much more to say on this but I want to open the floor to you guys to see what you think? Am I just outgrowing those types of shows? Can they be better? Is there a problem at all? What are your thoughts?
Now, we have four different tv shows set in this universe running concurrently with each other and over the course of this past television season I found myself becoming a little tired of them. I loved the Flash's first season but found myself kind of bored with season 2. Legends of Tomorrow started off strong and then kind of lost me. And Arrow....that show seems to be lost altogether. This Fall is the first time I find myself not invested in watching these shows anymore when it used to be the thing I looked forward to on tv. And now, we're getting news that another Berlanti show, Black Lightning is coming.
Now, maybe its just me and I'm alone in this, but I realized the issue I have with these shows is the "Berlanti formula." These shows, while different in tone, all follow a similar formula and format. While the shows all have overarching story archs, they all have this episodic format where the hero or heroine fights one off villains that has some tangental tie to a morality lesson that they're going to learn in that particular episode. Not only that, we're forced to watch the heroes go after the season villain for 22 episodes and by the time the final confrontation happens, you just want to get it over with. Legends of Tomorrow had a simple concept: Find Vandall Savage and take him down. But because the season is 16 episodes, they have to find contrived ways of stretching it out with filler episodes. LoT shouldn't have been more than 8 episodes, imo.
I mean, I get it, network tv is a different beast from HBO, Showtime, AMC, or Netflix but I feel like these shows could strive to be better and doesn't have to be so formulaic. Right now, Gotham is my favorite DC show on tv and quite possibly the only one I'll be following from now on. It started very rough but in season two it found its footing and identity and found a way make each episode compelling and serialized so that you felt compelled to watch the next episode to see whats going to happen next. I feel like the CW DC shows should take note from this. Why do we have to have these corny one off supervillains who do nothing but cackle and act as a foil to the hero? Take the Batman TAS approach. Build them up, give them arcs, show their descent into villainy, that way when they do become a villain there is gravitas and tragic emotional weight behind it. Flash, in particular is a big offender in this area. I just got so tired of the corny, flat one dimensional villains so fast. And it looks like Supergirl has that same problem.
Anyway, I have much more to say on this but I want to open the floor to you guys to see what you think? Am I just outgrowing those types of shows? Can they be better? Is there a problem at all? What are your thoughts?
Is Anyone Else Getting a Little Tired of The Berlanti DC Shows?
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