The superheroes have triumphed.
“Supergirl,” probably the most-talked about new show of the fall, arrives on CBS on Oct. 26. And when she gets here, that will put all of the big broadcast networks in the comic-book business.
ABC delivers “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” a series that is a spinoff from “The Avengers” movies, and its summer counterpart, “Marvel’s Agent Carter.” Fox counters with “Gotham,” a prequel story to the Batman saga. NBC offers its homegrown superstory, “Heroes: Reborn.”
The CW serves up two interconnected superhero shows, “Arrow” and “Flash,” and is developing a third, “The Atom.”
And that’s not counting two series based on comic books sans superpowers, the CW’s “iZombie” and the 600-pound gorilla of Sunday nights, “The Walking Dead.”
This is not the first time we’ve seen superheroes in primetime. Over the years, we’ve seen Superman and Batman, Spider-Man and the Hulk, Wonder Woman and an earlier version of the Flash. But those tended to be rare and perform poorly. How did a genre with such a spotty track record suddenly grow to dominate the network schedule?
There are a number of factors.
Foremost is the integration of formerly independent comic-book companies into entertainment conglomerates. The two major publishers, Marvel (Spider-Man, the Avengers) and DC (Batman, Superman) are now owned by Disney and Time Warner, respectively. Disney owns ABC and its TV production arm, while Time Warner owns the Warner Bros. Television studio and half of the CW.
Technology plays a role, too. Computer-generated graphics have made movie-quality special effects available on a television-production budget. And thanks to high-definition broadcasts, viewers can appreciate those effects.
Part of the comic-book trend is simply TV’s copycat nature, where a little bit of success breeds a lot of imitation. In the late 1950s, Westerns dominated primetime; today, they barely exist. The late 1990s was the golden age of sitcoms. And it wasn’t too long ago that “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Desperate Housewives” sent network executives on a soap-opera spree.
Comic book series, too, have found a new maturity, focusing on characters and their struggle to come to terms with their powers — and less on the powers themselves.
“Smallville,” the series about Superman’s early years that ran for 10 years on what is now the CW, gets the credit as the archetype. Successful superhero movies usually built their first act around the character’s “origin story.” With “Smallville,” the origin story was the entire story.
Since then, nearly all superhero series are about the protagonist learning to be a hero.
Greg Berlanti, executive producer of “Supergirl,” “Arrow” and “Flash,” told a group of television critics recently that special effects and fight scenes work best when they are secondary.
“In terms of the superpowers and action set pieces, for me, they’re … worth spending all that money on when they really demonstrate something about the person’s character,” Berlanti said. “So whether it’s the emotional thing they’re kind of struggling with in that episode or whatever it is they have to kind of overcome, so that’s where we try and stay focused on the character.”
In “Supergirl,” this takes the form of a 24-year-old woman struggling to launch her career who finds a personal awakening through her superpowers. In contrast with the darker, more brooding “Arrow” and “Flash,” “Supergirl” is a brightly lit ode to empowerment — one that owes a debt to director Richard Donner’s “Superman” films of the 1970s and ’80s.
“I grew up really worshiping the Donner films and their magic and their wonder and their joy and their fun,” Berlanti said. “When we went in last year to talk to Warner Bros. and DC and they mentioned the possibility of us working on a show like ‘Supergirl,’ our real hope was to bring just a smidgen of that magic that those films had.”
That puts much of the onus for the show’s success on its star, Melissa Benoist, a 27-year-old actress previously known best for her work as Marly Rose on “Glee.”
Despite her lack of name recognition, the show’s producers are high on Benoist.
“She was the first person we saw,” executive producer Ali Adler said, “and we looked at each other and were blown away, and we were like, ‘We have to get a diamond ring for that girl.’ ”
The Superfamily
Supergirl’s cousin has been the main character of at least four TV series.
• “The Adventures of Superman”; 1952-58 syndicated. George Reeves did double duty as Superman and Clark Kent, aided by Jack Larson as Jimmy Olsen and Noel Neill or Phyllis Coates (Season 1) as Lois Lane. Cheaply made and maximally cheesy, “The Adventures of Superman” was nonetheless tremendously popular.
The first seasons were filmed in color, but broadcast in black-and-white. They began airing in color in reruns in 1965.
Reeves died from a gunshot wound in 1959. The death was ruled a suicide, but to this day many believe he was murdered or shot accidentally. The producers considered recasting the role but ultimately decided to end production.
“The Adventures of Superman” currently airs at 6 and 6:30 p.m. Saturdays on Me-TV.
• “Superboy”; 1988-92 syndicated. It may not have had the cultural impact of the other shows in this list, but “Superboy” nonetheless lasted four seasons.
Season 1 starred John Haymes Newton as college-age Clark Kent/Superboy, and Stacy Haiduk played his girlfriend, Lana Lang. In Seasons 3 and 4, the title was changed to “The Adventures of Superboy.”
• “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”; 1993-97, ABC. The romantic “triangle” of Lois Lane, Clark Kent and Superman drew the focus of this primetime network series, starring Teri Hatcher as Lois and Dean Cain as Clark/Superman.
The show was canceled after four seasons.
• “Smallville”; 2001-11 the WB, the CW. Tom Welling played Clark, who began the series as a high school freshman. It ran for so many years that Clark made it all the way through high school and college and had headed off to Metropolis before it was done.
Throughout the series, Clark discovered his various superpowers and learned about his alien heritage.
