On The Air: Superman & Lois (2021)

 With Black Lightning & Supergirl (the latter due to return later this year) finishing their runs, the CW has found a replacement that fills the voids created by both shows.

Superman & Lois spins out of 2019's Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries, with Tyler Hoechlin & Elizabeth Tulloch returning in the title roles. Now, though, DC's ultimate power couple are leaving the big city behind, a la Green Acres back in the 60's, except that the farm they're moving into is the same one where Clark Kent (Hoechlin) grew up. After his foster mother, Martha Kent passes suddenly, Clark packs up Lois (Tulloch) and twin sons (!) Jonathan & Jordan, and returns home to Smallville. Ex-flame Lana Lang has gotten married, too, and her daughter, Sarah, is an old friend of the twins.

Now, you're wondering, Jonathan is being posited as a Superman of the future in the comics, but where does Jordan fit? He doesn't. He was created for the show, although a previous DC continuity gave Clark & Lois another son, Christopher (named for Christopher Reeve), some years back, but he was ret-conned out.

Inevitably, Clark crosses paths with a "Captain Luthor", but it's not the same Lex Luthor we know from the books or Supergirl. This Luthor has a European accent (Wole Parks moves over from All American, another Greg Berlanti production, to play Luthor), and has more knowledge of Clark's history than you'd think.

To avoid any further spoilers, let's take a look at a trailer from DC's YouTube channel:

The last time Luthor spoke with a Euro accent, it was the 1966-70 New Adventures of Superman cartoon from Filmation & CBS, where Jackson Beck gave Lex a distinctive accent. Partly because in the Golden Age, Luthor apparently was of European descent, but that seems to have been changed in recent times.

The only downside is that starting next week, Superman & Lois airs in back of the returning Flash. Then again, I said the same thing about Supergirl & Batwoman's schedule positioning last season. More proof that Mark Pedowicz and his programmers don't get some things right.

This is appointment television.

Rating: A.