Around 1979, CBS executives decided they were tired of being branded the "superhero network". The "Tiffany of The Networks" had rescued Wonder Woman from the ABC scrap heap, and retooled the series, bringing it into the then-present while retaining its two core leads, Lynda Carter and Lyle Waggoner. However, the emergence of a winter 1979 entry, The Dukes of Hazzard, made WB stablemate Wonder Woman expendable again. Charles Fries' adaptation of The Amazing Spider-Man was quietly dropped as well, leaving The Incredible Hulk, which was part of a powerhouse Friday block with Dukes and Dallas for three more years before it ended.
43 years later, it is the CW, with co-owners Warner Bros-Discovery and Viacom-CBS looking to sell the network, that may be having comic book fatigue.
It was announced this week that the network was cancelling Batwoman (3 seasons) and Legends of Tomorrow (7), which creates room for two new DC Comics adaptations, including Gotham Knights, which we've previously discussed.
What has fans up in arms is that Legends ended its season in March with a cliffhanger that now can only be resolved if the characters surface on The Flash next season, and that series is running on fumes as it meanders toward its 8th season finale at the end of June. What did in Batwoman, in this writer's opinion, was moving it off Sundays, and trading places with Riverdale, which had been on Wednesdays. Flash, in turn, was bumped from Tuesdays to make room for freshman teen drama Naomi, which wraps up its season in a couple of weeks.
However, Naomi is one of those shows on the bubble, having not previously been renewed by the network. A good reason for that is that it's lost viewers from its lead-in, Superman & Lois, on a weekly basis. Another bubble show is Stargirl, which doesn't have a start date for its 3rd season, which could start in June or July. Apparently, CW is rethinking its youth movement strategy, as well as veering away from comics adaptations. Its dark, looser than loose adaptation of Nancy Drew, which has also finished its season (3rd), is also on the bubble.
What ye scribe sees: Naomi, for the reason stated above, may wind up getting dumped, right around the time the "season 2" miniseries currently in stores finishes, which will be in August. Curiously, we haven't heard anything further about Greg Berlanti's controversial reboot of The Powerpuff Girls in a few months, either. Hmmmmm.
Maybe the CW should try sitcoms going forward.......
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