Is Anyone Else Getting a Little Tired of The Berlanti DC Shows?

[chamber-music]

I saw the latest episode of Legends of Tomorrow and I don't know. That show is just a superhero parody at this point. The show has obviously had budget cut yet they still try and go big and epic. It all just looks bad. The show should have been a ten part animated series from the start. Its a failed experiment IMO.

The show is a bit limited by it's Vancouver location.

Even a show like Doctor Who which is often mocked for it's lack of budget has filmed in various countries such as the U.K, U.S, Croatia, Spain, France, Holland, Canada, Italy and the United Arab Emirates.

 

[DrCosmic]

Vancouver is used for a ton of places in many films. It's just hard to get four different shows out of the place at once.

 

[kguillou]

I feel like, instead of a full on series, Legends should have been an 8 part event series where the stars of the shows come together and crossover to combat a huge threat. Like make it a special bi-annual mini series or something.

The show itself, eh, it seems to be getting campier and campier.

 

[2kt09]

I'll catch Supergirl eventually, no intention of starting from season 1.

Arrow and The Flash, however, have been on a surprising upswing so far. Might not be so surprising for The Flash viewers, but the 2nd season was not quite the high season one consistently was.
Arrow finally has its dynamic figured out with this new team in place and utilizing its obviously lower budget (slipping that CG moment at pivotal shots/scenes) efficiently. The choreography literally doesn't connect at points, but overall back to what I enjoyed.

Legends of Tomorrow seems like it hasn't changed much even as they lost a couple of members. Unlike Supergirl I plan on watching the entire first season as I wait for newer ep. This seems to have an unusual fixation with bar fights to pad out more action.

 

[MbJ]

The main problem with the Arrowverse nowadays as Collider Heroes pointed out, is that everyone becomes a Superhero or knows the heroes real identity. Ollie's sister, two ex-girlfriends, his sister's ex-boyfriend, his ex's employee and his bodyguard have all become superheroes which is ridiculous. In The Flash everyone is a speedster or Meta. Jay, Jesse, The Rival, Zoom, Reverse Flash, Wally (Eventually), Caitlyn and Cisco. I wouldn't be surprised if Iris gets powers tbh, but now we have Jimmy Olsen who's just like Diggle.

I think that's partially because at this point, having the hero's friends and girlfriend not know he's a hero has become formulaic and tired in its own right. You can keep it up for a few seasons but after a while, everyone involved begins to look really stupid.

 

[Mandon Knight]

I love the character of Green Arrow but the TV show doesn't really, for me, reflect the character I grew up with reading, didn't get past Season 1 of that. The Flash is excellently put together and have enjoyed both Seasons of that, just started watching Supergirl S1, liking it so far (and the expanded universe of S2 looks great). Not seen LOT at all, so cannot comment, but overall, I think it's a great world created and I think actually, we are really lucky, to have these shows in our living rooms, I remember when all we had was The Amazing Spiderman with Nicholas Hammond and Hulk every Saturday night.

 

[st barbara]

While I gave up on "Gotham" I have been enjoying the other shows. However I do miss Snart in "Legends Of Tomorrow", I hope he comes back. N B I don't know how far behind the U S we are in Australia, but I have just seen the episodes of "Legends" with the JSA.

 

[metaphysician]

Gotham isn't part of the Arrowverse, thankfully. I mean, I suppose in theory there might be an "Earth-Stupid" where its happening, but I'd like to think it only exists for somebody to accidentally visit it, and then leave and never wish to speak of it again. Sort of like how Earth-Smallville likely exists.

 

[kedrell]

I haven't dumped Flash yet though season 2 was a decided step down from season 1 and season 3 so far hasn't indicated that they've corrected this yet(getting deja-vu from Arrow and that ain't good). I saw Arrow thru season 3 and then dumped it. It was good at first but season 3 was so bad. Supergirl, LoT, Gotham I watched a few episodes but the limitations of the medium and approach ensured that I wouldn't even be finishing their first seasons at all.

I agree with what others have said that tighter, more condensed seasons with far less filler are what is needed here.

 

[Alex Murphy]

I haven't watched any of the Flarrowverse yet. Just the Marvel stuff.

I love the character of Green Arrow but the TV show doesn't really, for me, reflect the character I grew up with reading, didn't get past Season 1 of that. The Flash is excellently put together and have enjoyed both Seasons of that, just started watching Supergirl S1, liking it so far (and the expanded universe of S2 looks great). Not seen LOT at all, so cannot comment, but overall, I think it's a great world created and I think actually, we are really lucky, to have these shows in our living rooms, I remember when all we had was The Amazing Spiderman with Nicholas Hammond and Hulk every Saturday night.

Me too. Kinda. Repeats anyway. And Superman (George Reeves and Dean Cain), Batman, and Wonder Woman. Such simpler, innocent times.

There needs to be a DVD boxset of The Amazing Spider-Man, despite how **** it was. I have all those others I just mentioned. Need to complete my collection.

 

[DrCosmic]

So... apparently I'm watching these shows again this year, so I'm not tired. It's really a love-hate relationship. I love the characters, and hate a lot of what they do with the characters.

 

[metaphysician]

So... apparently I'm watching these shows again this year, so I'm not tired. It's really a love-hate relationship. I love the characters, and hate a lot of what they do with the characters.

I think that might be the best possible summation of the Arrowverse. It just varies from show to show where they land on that spectrum.

 

[jihado86]

Right now I dropped them all except Flash, and I think I'll drop it too is it keeps like this.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Wasting away again in Berlantiville...

 

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

I think Legends and Arrow have done a pretty good job keeping things fresh, but I am getting tired of Flash.

I like Malfoy's inclusion a lot, but I think the show needs to switch things up soon. I'm sick of seeing Star Labs, the West family drama, etc. Their problems feel so trivial and repetitive.

They need to get Wally in the Kid Flash suit asap, and soon after that, introduce Impulse, and have Barry go to the future or something. Legion of Super Heroes?

 

[los pollos]

They need to get Wally in the Kid Flash suit asap, and soon after that, introduce Impulse, and have Barry go to the future or something. Legion of Super Heroes?

I never like this show's Wally, I don't know if it's the actor, or just the way the character is written, but he does not resonate with me, neither does Jessie.

Flash is the only one of these shows I still watch, but I've been losing patience with it lately. I'm not as excited to watch week to week like I used to.

 

[Osiris-Rex]

Supergirl just keeps getting better and better. Arrow is much better this season. Legend of Tomorrow is bordering on being great. Only Flash has been a big letdown. So I am not in the least tired of the Berlanti shows. I eagerly await all three of them.

 

[wnjcwjkk]

There mostly fun in a low budget cheesy way. And I watch most of them. But it would be cool to have something of more "prestige" like the kind Marvel has in their Netflix series. If AMC, FX, HBO, Amazon, etc picked up a DC show and took it seriously that would be cool thing to see.

Yeah, I would love that if they did some more serious, prestigious 10-12 episode series like you said, maybe either connected to the DCEU with something like Nightwing or Gotham Central, or it's own thing separate from DCTV. Like, I just can't watch Gotham and really feel like it's part of the Batman mythology, it just feels so off brand because they can't have Batman involved. Since they have separate film universes for TV and film, with two versions of Flash, why not add another, focused on Batman that's it's own thing. Either a serious, gritty, dark actual Batman series or Gotham Central, like True Detective or The Wire meets the insanity that is Gotham City.


I'd love to see a serious, mature, dark live action Batman that is modeled on The Animated Series. Like, not set in the 1930's, more like an ambiguous time period where Batman can have all sorts of technology, but visually based on those old 1930's gangster movies. Something that looks similar to Affleck's new Live By Night film. And it's kinda like in The Wire the Baltimore inner city is the main character, except it's Gotham City, focusing on Bruce/Batman and other characters, the police (Gordon, Bullock, Renee Montoya, Crispus Allen), the media (Vicki Vale), politicians (Harvey Dent), the villains, street criminals, junkies, etc. Superman can have cameos, with his look based on the Fleischer cartoons. They'd have a lot more time and freedom to explore the themes of Batman, the detective and crime drama aspect, without having pressure to be the big blockbuster action film.

 

[Osiris-Rex]

Yeah, I would love that if they did some more serious, prestigious 10-12 episode series like you said, maybe either connected to the DCEU with something like Nightwing or Gotham Central, or it's own thing separate from DCTV. Like, I just can't watch Gotham and really feel like it's part of the Batman mythology, it just feels so off brand because they can't have Batman involved. Since they have separate film universes for TV and film, with two versions of Flash, why not add another, focused on Batman that's it's own thing. Either a serious, gritty, dark actual Batman series or Gotham Central, like True Detective or The Wire meets the insanity that is Gotham City.


I'd love to see a serious, mature, dark live action Batman that is modeled on The Animated Series. Like, not set in the 1930's, more like an ambiguous time period where Batman can have all sorts of technology, but visually based on those old 1930's gangster movies. Something that looks similar to Affleck's new Live By Night film. And it's kinda like in The Wire the Baltimore inner city is the main character, except it's Gotham City, focusing on Bruce/Batman and other characters, the police (Gordon, Bullock, Renee Montoya, Crispus Allen), the media (Vicki Vale), politicians (Harvey Dent), the villains, street criminals, junkies, etc. Superman can have cameos, with his look based on the Fleischer cartoons. They'd have a lot more time and freedom to explore the themes of Batman, the detective and crime drama aspect, without having pressure to be the big blockbuster action film.

Gotham isn't produced by Greg Berlanti though. Bruno Heller is the producer of Gotham.

 

[Batmannerism]

So... apparently I'm watching these shows again this year, so I'm not tired. It's really a love-hate relationship. I love the characters, and hate a lot of what they do with the characters.

Yeah, but at least they don't change the characters into moody, brooding and joyless versions of themselves.....

In some ways, I kind of prefer some of the TV versions of the characters, or at least the way they are portrayed by the actors.

I mean, Mick Rory - Heatwave, was a C-list Flash rogue but Dominic Purcell makes him hilarious with his deadpan delivery of scumbag lines.

Also, Martin Stein is possibly the least interesting character in the DC universe but Victor Garber actually brings some life and fun into him.

As for Atom, well he's kind of here and there, but generally okay. Brandon Routh is actually quite funny.

And despite some of his to -ing and fro-ing and fretting Grant Gustin is really likeable as the Flash - I was worried he was too young, when the series started, but he's really made the role his own.

Of course it's true that some of what they have the characters do is incredibly stupid, and cringe-worthy but I still submit that it doesn't reach the depths of crappiness of this year's DC films (yes, they have some good moments too, but the lows are definitely lower....Martha !)

 

[kguillou]

I cannot lie, I just watched the promo for the big four night crossover and it looks REALLY good. I'm very curious to see how they're going to pull something with this kind of scale off on a CW tv budget.

 

[Batmannerism]

I cannot lie, I just watched the promo for the big four night crossover and it looks REALLY good. I'm very curious to see how they're going to pull something with this kind of scale off on a CW tv budget.

Just saw the Flash episode, and it was FREAKING AWESOME !

Maybe I have low expectations from superhero shows, but the Flash and the other Berlanti shows don't have be Shakespeare, they don't have

Sure it didn't have the same kind of special effects as B v S, but it was a hell of a lot more fun ! And it had some good character bits where Barry has to face up to his colossal screw up in creating the alternate timeline.

Can't say anything else, as that would spoil it.

Enjoy people !

 

[misslane38]

I was disappointed. The antagonists, The Dominators, weren't developed well. The consequences of Flashpoint for Barry have been explored enough so far in regular season episodes that focusing so much on that arc here felt like a distraction. The plot of this crossover seems to be totally disconnected from the character development and themes in the episodes themselves. It feels like wasted potential.

 

[kguillou]

So, I'm gonna be honest, I had a TON of fun with the first part of the crossover. Yeah, some of the melodrama was kind of eye rolling, but man, that third act with Arrow and Flash vs everyone was a ton of fun. I tell you boy tv special effects have come a looong way. I dont know how they pull off some of this stuff, but I was impressed. Looking forward to the rest of the crossover.

Also, I havent been watching Flash this season, I stopped about 3/4ths of the way into season 2 but this kinda makes me wanna see whats been going on. Seems like a lot has changed.

 

[Kendrick]

So... apparently I'm watching these shows again this year, so I'm not tired. It's really a love-hate relationship. I love the characters, and hate a lot of what they do with the characters.

I agree with this. I loved Season 1 of Flash, and had a rough time getting through Season 1 of Arrow, though it picked up later on. The characters are all fleshed out nicely, but there is not much to fall back on as far as the filler episodes is concerned.

In Smallville, the writers could just focus on a small-town thing, with the Kents and Lois picking up the emotional aspect to pull the episodes through. But, with the Flarrowverse, it's such a crowded city and everyone has a high-profile job. It seems like there is so much going on, but at the same time, not much going on.

Still, I'm going to try to give Supergirl a shot just for Superman, and see what happens. I'm sure that trying to write every season of these shows concurrently with the intent to crossover all of them at the same time is hampering storylines a bit.