In the 2014-5 season, there were six shows based on comic books. Tack on AMC's reality series, Comic Book Men, set at Kevin Smith's shop in New Jersey, and Talking Dead, the aftershow airing in back of The Walking Dead, and the total rises to 8. Only one show failed to be renewed for next season, that we know of, and that is NBC's Constantine. Warner Bros. is shopping it to other networks, and Arrow star Stephen Amell has talked about the prospect of a crossover between the two shows, despite being on, at the time, different networks. With Constantine looking for a new home, maybe Amell is trying to lay on the hard sell to his network, CW, to add Constantine to their genre-heavy stable. So far, they haven't bit.
Walking Dead, Talking Dead, & Comic Book Men all air on Sundays on AMC. Walking Dead reruns from the earlier seasons aired this season on MyNetworkTV on Wednesdays, opposite CW's Arrow. Well, that's why they invented On Demand and DVR's, folks.
Gotham, despite inconsistent writing and way too many storylines for a freshman series, returns for a 2nd year. Arrow for a 4th. The Flash & iZombie give CW's comics geeks a 1-2 punch on Tuesdays, as both will return for their sophomore seasons. Over at ABC, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD is set for year 3, and Agent Carter will come off the bench for year 2.
Got all that? Good. Now, get your scorecards ready for next season, as we look at what's new.
Supergirl:
Where: Mondays at 8 (ET), starting no later than November 2.
Network: CBS.
Ultra-busy producer Greg Berlanti adds three more series overall to his workload, doubling what he had this season. Berlanti's vision for Supergirl has the Maid of Might as a 24 year old assistant to media mogul (I think) Catherine "Cat" Grant (Callista Flockhart, ex-Ally McBeal). Helen Slater, who played Supergirl in the Salkinds' ill-advised 1984 feature film, and 90's Superman Dean Cain also co-star.
Fans may have a problem with the following:
*--Supergirl will air directly opposite Gotham. Get your DVR's ready. New episodes usually turn up On Demand within 48-72 hours of broadcast, from what I can gather. It's airing Mondays and delayed because CBS has football on Thursdays starting Sept. 17, and CBS had to break up one of their comedy blocks, either Monday or Thursday, come November, to make room for Supergirl.
*--Jimmy Olsen, ace reporter/photographer for the Daily Planet, has been rebooted as an African-American. We'll greet that with a yawn, folks, because you won't see that in the comics.
Supergirl won't be Berlanti's only frosh on Mondays, as he also has Blindspot, starring Jamie Alexander ("Thor: The Dark World"), on NBC at 10 (ET).
Legends of Tomorrow:
Where: date & time TBA, starting January 2016.
Network: CW.
The last of Berlanti's class of 2015-6 will be a mid-season replacement for either Flash or Arrow, with elements of both shows in the mix. If I were to venture a guess, I'd say it'll give Arrow a breather come January. Vandal Savage, an immortal villain introduced all the way back in the Golden Age, will be the "big bad" on this show. Rip Hunter, the time traveller introduced in the Silver Age, is rebooted as a British scientist from the future. Meh, whatever. Two Rogues, Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) & Heat Wave (Dominic Purcell), join Atom (Brandon Routh), Professor Martin Stein (Victor Garber), 1/2 of Firestorm, Hawkgirl, & White Canary, plus nominal appearances from Arrow and Flash (Grant Gustin).
Lucifer:
Where: Mondays at 9 (ET), starting no later than January 2016.
Network: Fox.
Fox plans to use this series, based on a defunct Vertigo book spun off from The Sandman, to relieve another frosh, Minority Report, which in turn is based on the Steven Spielberg movie of the same name, and couple Lucifer with Gotham. They made room by moving Sleepy Hollow to Thursdays for what may likely be its final season.
In my opinion, Lucifer & Bones should switch, since Lucifer makes a better partner for Sleepy Hollow.
And, another item that could cause concern in some circles.......
The Muppets:
Where: Tuesdays at 8 (ET), date TBA.
Network: ABC.
Kermit, Ms. Piggy, and friends return in a parody of The Office and other contemporary sitcoms of recent vintage. Heck, the trailer includes a new Muppet designed similarly to The Office's Dwight (Rainn Wilson, whose latest, Fox's Backstrom, has been cancelled).
Fans may have a problem because it airs directly opposite the first half of The Flash, although the season openers won't be on the same night, as far as I know for right now. I'm pretty sure there are comics fans who are also Muppet fans.
I'll post the trailers for the newbies over the next couple of weeks. Let me know what you think.
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