But seriously, could these two be any more adorable?
Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist, from the “Flash” and “Supergirl” series, photographed for a Variety article about producer Greg Berlanti.
When did winter finales and midseason finales begin? And what did we ever do before they existed?
I ponder this question after having watched the last episodes of “Arrow” and “The Flash” and “Agents of SHIELD” and “The Walking Dead” until January or February – some of them a couple of times now – and thinking about when this trend began.
If you’re not sure what trend I’m talking about: Sometime in the past few years, TV shows, which normally do not air fresh episodes in much of December or January, began calling their last episode before taking a break for a few weeks a “winter finale” or “midseason finale.”
Shows take breaks from new episodes for a few reasons. There’s apparently an ingrained belief that viewers aren’t watching during several weeks before and after Christmas, so there’s no point in burning off new episodes. I question this thinking and point to “Doctor Who,” which gets a new episode on Christmas Day itself each season. But those Brits are different all the way around.
So rather than just limping off our screens for a few weeks, after a Christmas-themed episode that aired just after Thanksgiving, series began airing a climactic episode – well, as climactic as an ongoing TV series ever is, given the need for an ongoing storyline that can run for several seasons – with a dramatic cliffhanger. (Almost literally, in the recent case of “Arrow.”)
And they began calling it a winter finale or midseason finale. So it feels important, you know.
I believe AMC and the producers of “The Walking Dead” might have started this trend. But “Arrow” and a lot of other shows have embraced it whole-heartedly.
So that’s why we see characters die or “die,” why villains are sometimes dispatched, why secrets are exposed.
And why we’re left wondering not only what happens next but how they’re going to top this in the spring, when their regular old season finale airs.
“SHIELD” left us hanging in its mid-season finale but promises something fun in the interim, at least, with episodes of the new prequel series “Agent Carter” beginning in January.
For the rest of these shows, we’ll wait and wonder. And marvel (no pun intended) at how networks and production companies have trained us to expect the middle of the season to end with a bang.
I couldn’t be happier with Marvel’s big-screen comic book releases so far, as dubious as I am about DC’s supposed slate of superhero movies.
But on the small screen, DC is kicking all kinds of butt.
Of course there’s “Arrow,” beginning its third season this fall. The second topped the first and introduced even more DC comics characters, like Black Canary. This fall “Arrow” will bring scientist Ray Palmer to the small screen and Brandon Routh – Superman from “Superman Returns” – will play the scientist who is secretly the Atom.
Of course, “Arrow” spin-off “Flash” will be doing its own world-building when it debuts this fall, as it introduces not only all the Scarlet Speedster’s characters but also Firestorm.
Meanwhile, “Constantine,” about the supernatural adventurer from the “Hellblazer” comic, debuts this fall and the trailer for the debut included a quick look at the helmet of fellow DC hero Dr. Fate!
Not only that, but the producers of “Constantine” have indicated they will introduce other DC supernatural characters, including Jim Corrigan, the cop who becomes the Spectre.
Meanwhile, “Gotham” will be a prequel to the Batman saga and while I’m not crazy about that – “Smallville” ended up being way to timid about flying and capes for my taste – they’re introducing early versions of a lot of characters and will, each week, be teasing the character who will eventually become the Joker.
For us longtime comic book readers, it’s an exciting time.
Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.
Hollywood reporter Nikki Finke recently scooped the rest of the entertainment press with a list purporting to detail Warner Bros. and DC’s plans for big-screen superhero movies in the near future.
Here’s the list:
• May 2016 – Batman v Superman
• July 2016 – Shazam
• Xmas 2016 – Sandman
• May 2017 – Justice League
• July 2017 – Wonder Woman
• Xmas 2017 – Flash and Green Lantern team-up
• May 2018 – Man Of Steel 2
Nope. Not happening.
I mean, in many ways, I wish it would. As satisfying as Marvel’s big-screen universe is, I’d like to see DC comics heroes – the most accessible and familiar heroes in the world, in many ways – finally achieve lift off on screen.
Last year’s “Man of Steel” had so many things wrong with it, and with writer David Goyer and others behind the scenes who are plainly ashamed of superhero names, colorful costumes, origins and storylines, I don’t have much hope for future movies in the series.
And in particular I doubt that the studio can pull this off.
Lookit: WB and DC have only just gotten rolling on “BvsS.” How quickly can they turn around “Shazam,” which is supposed to follow the May 2016 release of “BvsS” by a couple of months?
And if they haven’t been able to figure out a big-screen “Wonder Woman” or “Green Lantern,” how can they pull off an oddity like “Sandman?”
Not to mention the whole “seven movies released within two years” thing. That’s a feat that I’m not sure even Marvel, with its assembly-line methods, could pull off.
I’ll go see whatever DC movies get released in the coming years, no doubt. But I’m afraid I’ll find them as lacking as “Green Lantern” and “Man of Steel.”
And I sure don’t think we’ll see one every few months.
The CW/Warner Bros. has released the first full look (sorta; he is hunched over) at the costume Grant Gustin will wear in the upcoming “Flash” pilot that will likely lead to a spinoff series of the network’s “Arrow” series.
Looks pretty good. It’s not any darker than the costume from the old “Flash” series.
And they aren’t afraid to go full Flash, obviously. No more red hoodies.
Yeah, that looks pretty good.
The CW has released a picture of Grant Gustin in the headpiece he’ll wear in the upcoming CW series “The Flash,” a spin0ff of “Arrow.”
It’s dark-ish, but so was the costume for the 1990 “Flash” series starring John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen.
Shipp, by the way, has been cast in a recurring role on the new series. Here’s hoping for Jay Garrick.
Some other notable looks for the Flash:
The evolution of the character and costume in the DC comics.
The best presentation of the Flash, in the person of Wally West, from “Justice League” and “Justice League Unlimited” animated series.
And, just for fun, the failed “Justice League” TV pilot.
keithroysdon 