Supergirl

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John J. Falco
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The huge disparity between the audience reviews and critics reviews has me a bit perplexed. I don't understand Hollywood's love for this show. Supergirl has arrived on CBS and it's very, very cheesy and way too cute for my taste. Yes that is MY opinion. Yet, it is almost designed to be critically untouchable even though it got online dating entirely wrong!

There are two scenarios:

1. You don't like the show. You are anti-feminist and therefore anti-women. Therefore you don't deserve to not like the show! This of course, ignores all the forced plots and slogans, cheesy dialogue, and should we mention model-type actors who can't act? What's so new and different about that?

2. You like the show (I don't think anyone can love it yet except maybe girls aged 8-12.). That means you are or will become a feminist (Yay?) but ignoring the following questions. Can feminists date men? Would they hold a corporate job as an assistant? Still not sure what this generation's version of feminism is. This is also means that you have no problem with the title, the scanty clothes, and the 1950s anti-feminist dialogue in the form of "women can do whatever men can do, but they have to work harder for it." Are they seriously still pushing this crap???

But hey this is my opinion and my own conclusions after watching the show, are such that I a Young Adult male was obviously not their target audience. Did I get their target audience right? What do you think?
 
Hey, great review. I think you're right. You, being a youngn' are their target audience and they've missed the mark. Really, mate, it's just silly. The show, that is. (y)
 
It’s absolutely unremarkable but a light, fluffy diversion if you’re in the mood and don’t have diabetes. Sadly it also suffers from a bad case of Starship-Troopers-itis in that rather than allow us to determine the theme and subtext for ourselves it feels a need to spell it out for the audience.

It’s great to have a pro feminist slant, but halfway through the pilot episode we have a scene where a character literally states to the audience just how flaming marvellous it is to have a strong positive role model for young girls. Aside from piddling away any vestiges of the fourth wall this heavy handedness left me wondering when He Man and Sergeant Slaughter would emerge from their rook behind the bushes to pontificate the wonders of gender representation (And just why are those two always convientally parked there?).
 
It does have a lot of potential.
 
I was that enthralled that my mind started to wander to such questions as how did she get her ears pierced?
 
I think the show's rather sweet. I've been watching it with my 11-year-old daughter, though, so I'm pretty biased. :)

But then, with so many darker shows like Gotham and Arrow, I think it's nice to have something light and fluffy on at the same time.
 
It's awful. A part of me died slowly inside the more I watched it. However, I couldn't turn it off, it just couldn't be that bad could it? Plot holes, general issues, writing problems, I'd say actors are doing their best with what they have, but some of it is really bad. And a not quite training montage? Really?
 
I thought it was superb. Enthralling first episode, with strong ideas and likeable lead... oops thought this was the Flash thread ;)

Seriously though I can't say that I enjoyed it. From the moment I saw Supergirl in the trailer I felt she was miscast and the episode did nothing to dispel that.

But the core idea is a strong one. Supergirl is a character that has survived a long time, so it is capable of working. But can it translate to TV?

I felt one of the most grating things was tying Superman into it, without actually using his name. He plays such a big part in the episode without actually being there that it seems wrong and hard to believe that it can continue without any length of time without him appearing. Which he won't.

DC have proved they can make their brand work well on TV, although it was not perfect Smallville lasted 10 years, and Arrow and Flash have been remarkable.

I was reading there is a chance Supergirl might crossover with the CW characters - if permissions can be settled between the two networks, but in doing so it would mean the nebulous Superman would get introduced into that continuity...

No, at this stage not for me, but if it cna find it's feet it might turn things around.
 
I'm going to give it some time-if the networks don't kill it. What's ironic is that I've already heard that Minority Report is dead so it saddens me that I a haven't seen a similar death threat on Supergirl.

That much said I seem to see this whole thing differently.

I saw this show as a slap in the face to feminists. And yes it does have potential but somehow it's being handled poorly.

I see great potential in many of the scenes with Kara in disguise (wearing glasses). Many of her seemingly nervous hand movements around those glasses bring to mind previous characterizations of the old superman on screen. I almost sense that's deliberate and it has a certain endearing quality while at the same time adding to the campy feel of the whole thing. They need to stop with that and try less hard to minimize Kara as a character to pretend no one will notice she looks a lot like supergirl. They should just ignore that obvious flaw in the story.

The fight scenes are weak; and in part, that could be the desire to make supergirl look clumsy at first (there is a lot of mention to her being new at this). In the latest episodes her fighting seems to be improving that's what I'm waiting for. Overall I have some empathy for the character and her stepsister and I think there is some potential for great dynamics there. Oddly the two characters or perhaps actresses seem to be swapped out because I keep feeling Chyler Leigh would have made a stronger supergirl.

Maybe they were swapped at birth (did I just say that?).
 
Juliana said:
But then, with so many darker shows like Gotham and Arrow, I think it's nice to have something light and fluffy on at the same time.
Click to expand...

Pretty much my thoughts, too. Three episodes in and I quite like it. When I think about how bad Arrow and Agents of SHIELD were at a similar stage, I'm willing to give it time.
 
AoS was poor when it first hit the screen but was still watchable in a kind of A-Team/Knightrider way and it has rewarded patience since (as was mentioned earlier) it is now a must watch. Arrow is interesting (albeit a little dark for younglings?) and I really like it. Flash was the one that I wasn't sure about after E1 but I thought I'd give it one more epi... boy am I glad I did, it's ggggrrrreat!

So on to SG - got to be honest I thought that it was tripe (being polite!!!) - obviously I'm not the target demographic agewise or sexwise but even so IMO execrable with no redeeming features
 
I think it's alright but not great, but then I've never been a fan of Superman or any other overpowered hero with almost no weakness or vulnerability (except obviously kryptonite) or hugely inconsistent amounts of strength.
 
Going to the CW in season 2 and superman will be making an appearance. :)
 
It's cheesy (and sometimes a little cringe-worthy), but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it.
 
I finally caught up with the end of Season 1. It just kept getting better and better, and that ending... was pretty super:sneaky:
I found Season 2 has started over in UK now (it may be on the same schedule as the US, but there's so much variation between different series and when they air over here, I've given up trying to work it out:() and is up to Ep 4 or 5. Fortunately, catch up TV saved me and I watched the first episode last night... It's even better than series 1 - yay:D
 
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