I mean, how often does the world almost come to an end?
Oh, it's like that.
Since 2012, there's been no better or more consistent
superhero universe on television than the Arrowverse.
At one point, ballooning to six TV
shows on the air simultaneously, all weaving an interconnected
story.
Sure, Marvel has had the Netflix shows,
and some stop and starts with things like Agents
Of Shield and Inhumans, but the network adventures
of DC's finest have taken the cake week in and week out.
And yet, there's a yawning mall of uncertainty surrounding
the crown jewel of the CW.
The brainchild of Hollywood super producer,
Greg Berlanti is seemingly on the verge of extinction.
Why?
You can't save everyone, Clark.
The moment I believe that is when I stop trying.
Starting in October of 2001, Smallville, a TV show
aimed at teens, shifted the paradigm of what comic book
properties could do on TV.
Following the early days of Clark Kent's life
in his titular hometown, Smallville
was sexy, successful, and made a lot of money
for its network, the WB.
In fact, when the network rebranded as the CW
in May of 2009, the series was renewed
for three additional seasons to help bolster the bottom line.
After Smallville came to an end in 2011,
the CW was keen to recreate the magic.
They greenlit an adaptation of the popular Smallville
supporting character Green Arrow for his own show.
The show would be a darker and more brooding
version of the character.
In fact, you could almost say he wasn't the Green Arrow,
he was Batman.
Well, you know us billionaire vigilantes.
We do love our toys.
In the comics, Green Arrow is known
for being a street level character with a wry
sense of humor, iconic green tights, and hopeful
view for the future.
In Arrow, Oliver Queen was dark, tortured, and brooding.
Yes, the pilot adapted from the acclaimed Andy Diggle and Jock
year one story, but the show quickly
developed its own personality.
Instead of attempting to slavishly recreate
Smallville's success, Arrow opted
for a mix of primetime soap and pulp street level
vigilante narratives.
Much of the production crew carried over from Smallville
to Arrow, but the key factor in its early success
was the brain trust who created the show.
The very same brain trust behind Green Lantern.
Yes, that Green Lantern.
The ring never makes a mistake.
This time it did.
You see, prior to the studio realizing
it might not be the vehicle they all wanted it to be,
Green Lantern was intended to launch the DC Cinematic
Universe.
However, we all know what happened there.
It bombed.
The plans for a DC Universe on the big screen were delayed,
and the creatives involved went to TV.
Andrew Kreisberg, Greg Berlanti, and Marc Guggenheim all
are credited as the creators of Arrow.
As soon as Arrow had proven that it had legs and wasn't going
anywhere, the brain trust's immediate goal
was to set up more shows.
They wanted to recreate the magic of the DC Universe.
The promise of an interconnected tapestry of superhero
narratives on TV.
Starting at around Arrow's third season,
they accomplished their goal.
Berlanti and Kreisberg worked with DC
bigwig Geoff Johns to create a vehicle
for the scarlet speedster.
BOTH: I'm Barry Allen.
No!
What?
What does that mean?
How can this--
This should be impossible now.
The Flash who had previously had a one season TV
show in the 1990s was primed to appeal to younger audiences
that the CW was gunning for.
Actor Grant Gustin was cast in the part
and appeared in two soft backdoor pilot cameos on Arrow
prior to getting his own show.
Much like the arrowverse version of Green Arrow,
the Flash underwent some major character surgery as well.
Barry Allen, the silver age version of the character,
was a stern crime scene investigator
hit by lightning in a laboratory and given the ability
to run faster than any human alive.
In the comics, his nephew Wally West, a wisecracking speedster
with a heart of gold, took up the mantle when Barry died.
For the show, they combined these two versions of the Flash
into the arrowverse version of Barry.
Premiering in North America on October 7, 2014,
the pilot was the second most watched premiere
in the history of the CW, right after Vampire Diaries.
Needless to say, the arrowverse was off to the races.
A race?
Think you can keep up, girl of steel?
Oh, just you watch, scarlet speedster.
Supergirl landed at CBS, but the network
decided to cancel the show.
Thankfully, it got picked up at the CW.
And now, with three live action shows on the network,
a reasonable person would assume they'd
slow down on superhero programming due to market
oversaturation.
Well, that person would be wrong.
While these shows kept churning out tights and fights
adventures, the CW greenlit three new shows.
The Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, and Black Lightning.
During this era of the CWverse, the brain trust
of writers and producers began attempting
to perfect a recreation of the comic book crossover.
Large universe spanning stories that
take advantage of the large ensemble
and colorful characters.
You got shanghaied into another crossover, didn't you?
Initially, these shows would stage these crossovers
as single one off episodes like the Arrow season three
episode "The Brave and the Bold" or the Arrow
season four episode "Haunted," which
featured John Constantine.
However, these one off crossovers eventually
developed into event series that the audience would have
to view in sequential order.
And as insane as this sounds, this didn't just happen once.
It happened seven times.
Flash Versus Arrow, Heroes Join Forces, Invasion!,
Crisis on Earth-X, Elseworlds, Crisis
on Infinite Earths, and Armageddon.
Crisis was five parts long across five TV shows.
Sometimes you just have to slow down.
As these shows continued to merge and evolve,
the CW would greenlight Superman and Lois and Naomi.
At this point, you can probably see the writing on the wall.
How much is too much?
The shows began to overtake each other.
They were all stylistically similar, all
aiming for the same demographics,
and all suffering from the same problem.
Artificially manufactured status quos.
Much like their comic book predecessors,
the shows started to alienate their core supporters
by not allowing their characters to change or their status quos
to grow and evolve.
How many times can Barry run so fast he turns time backwards?
How many times can there be a new Green Arrow
or different colored canary?
And then as it is inevitable with all things,
the good times started to come to an end.
An end.
And a beginning.
First it was Arrow coming to an end and the spin
off series not being picked up.
Then Supergirl dipping in the ratings
and being canceled after season six.
Then they gave the axe to Black Lightning.
Over the last few years, there's been a lot of change ups
in the media landscape.
One of the largest has been AT&T sale of Warner Brothers
to Discovery.
Because of this corporate restructuring, in May of 2022
the Discovery higher ups decided to completely overhaul the CW.
Ultimately, in a shocking twist of events,
CW canceled seven of its primetime programs,
with an eye on a near complete overhaul of the network's
identity.
You look like the attractive yet non-threatening racially
diverse cast of a CW show.
Currently there are two CWverse shows
on the air that take place in the Berlanti shared universe.
The Flash, which is about to enter its final season,
and Superman and Lois, which seems
to be performing very well and is striking
a chord with Superman fans.
These shows are the final vestiges
of the greatest shared TV universe ever put to film.
It's a sad reality that when bottom lines tighten,
it's often the fans and the creative community who
come away hurting.
However, it is resoundingly impressive
that what started out as a, let's
see if we can riff off of Smallville
show, birthed hundreds of hours worth of television.
It's just a shame that this superhero universe
went the way of so many others.
They became overly complicated, self-involved,
and refused to evolve.
If there's one thing we know about superheroes,
however, it's that even when they're dead,
they always come back.
What do you think?
Will the CWverse be reborn at another time?
Let us down in the comments, and as always, please like,
comment, and subscribe in order to stay up to date
with everything Nerdstalgic.
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