TV Nights: A Super Fall Preview
It’s been a long time, if ever, that there has been this many superhero and comic book TV shows on any fall line up and I’m very excited about it. In this preview I will be looking at the shows that are airing on the major networks starting in the early fall season. There are a couple more coming out in the midseason and a couple more that have been announced for sometime next year, but I will take a look at those when there is more information. For all of the new shows I am embedding a trailer for the series, but there’s one other thing that I would like to announce, and this is the perfect place to do it. Since there are so many superhero and comic book shows coming up this next fall season, I decided that I wouldn’t be able to cover them all myself. I mean, I couldn’t even keep up with three shows this year and so I am proud to announce Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights’ new TV correspondent for this upcoming Fall season, James Dyble from JTD who I will let introduce himself before going into my own reactions to the shows coming out this fall.
As a fan of all things sci-fi and fantastical it means the current obsession with Superheroes is, in my opinion, a wonderful thing.
From a very young age I would find myself watching ThunderCats, Ninja Turtles and Biker Mice from Mars (Yes, that is a real program), but it was the discovery of a certain web-slinger that really sparked my interest. Different from all the other Superheroes, he had a unique blend of powers that set him apart and the fact he was younger made Peter Parker very relatable.
Fast forward several years (I’m rounding down there) and I leave my banking career to pursue journalism and my passion for the written word. As a devout film fan I will watch any genre from any era, but the appeal of Superheroes still looms large on my psyche. Luckily we live in an era of X-Men, Batman v Superman and The Avengers to satisfy my appetite while I continue to wait for a silver screen Spiderman / Man-Spider storyline.
I am not just a one interest guy however, TV dramas, football (English, not American), travel and personal fitness are all things I love and I look to mix up my blogs with a combination of all of these. I mean, surely I can’t be the only one who looks at Chris Evans’ Captain America and try and work out his gym routine?
If you have any questions, requests or opinions you want to share you can find me on Twitter at @jedyble.
Gotham
Monday 8:00pm Fox
Before there was Batman, Gotham was still a cesspool of crime and depravity where the only people around to protect the citizens are the police. This series appears to follow a young detective Jim Gordon and his dealings with the criminal underbelly around Gotham before the criminals became supervillains. It looks like it has an amazing cast, based on the trailer which I have right below it looks like it will be nicely gritty and dark, with plenty of references to the Batman mythos, though hopefully it will still stay completely grounded in reality with the concept that the introduction of Batman was what caused the escalation of the criminals. It seems to get the look right, but I’m going to have to wait and see if it also gets the tone right and resists the temptation to overly foreshadow the Batman universe. Subtle hints like using names fans will recognize are great, but if the show feels like it’s going “she’s going to grow up to be Poison Ivy *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*” too much, that will get annoying quickly. I have high hopes for this one and will definitely be watching it. It’s currently been picked up already for 16 episodes.
Follow Gotham:
Official site
Twitter
Facebook
The Flash
Tuesday 8:00pm CW
I almost hate to admit that I haven’t been following Arrow. When it came out last year I really wanted to start watching it, started watching the Pilot, and got distracted by something else and eventually felt I was too far behind to catch up. The Flash is a place to start fresh, not only that but I’ve always enjoyed the idea of the Flash more than Arrow. Where Arrow is honestly just another vigilante, and very similar in concept to Batman only with a bow and arrow, the Flash is something completely different. It also feels like it has a much lighter tone which is something I always enjoy in my TV. I’ve also heard that it has more of a sci-fi bend to it rather than a realistic tone that so many superheroes are moving towards these days, so I’m very excited about this one. I also see that it has Danielle Panabaker in the cast, who I remember from her time on Sky High and a guest role on Grimm. I’m also curious to see how much crossover there is between the two sister shows on CW.
Follow The Flash:
Official Site
Twitter
Facebook
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Tuesday 9:00pm ABC
This is the one superhero/comic book related show that I have been watching all season long and I’m glad that it’s gotten picked up for a second season. S.H.I.E.L.D. itself has been disbanded only to have its reins handed over to Director Coulson in order to remake it into something stronger. The Fridge, where the various criminal meta-humans were previously kept have all been released by Hydra including the gravitonium which is now held by Quinn and has the promise to turn into the comic book supervillain Graviton. The group lost Ward to Hydra, though he’s still around, locked up, they gained the much more interesting Triplett, and something has happened to Fitz. The first season was a little bumpy, but it ended strong and is set up for a very exciting second season which I am very much looking forward to.
Follow Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Official Site
Twitter
Facebook
Arrow
Wednesday 8:00pm CW
As I mentioned in my Flash intro, I haven’t gotten into Arrow like I thought I would have. I’ve heard a lot of great things about the first season, and it’s only appeared to improve in season 2. It’s a very dark show, and the few costumes that have been popping up here and there are ones that seem to please fans of the comics. They are also introducing more and more of some of the fan favorite characters, like the Suicide Squad and the Birds of Prey. I wish I had more to say about it, but there might well be a season catch-up sometime this summer before the third season is upon us.
Follow Arrow
Official Site
Twitter
Facebook
Constantine
Friday 8:00pm NBC
This isn’t quite the Keanu Reeves movie coming to life on your TV screen. The vibe that I get from the trailer feels very much like the first season of Supernatural. And while some people might think that it could copy that format too much, I think it’s a great jumping off point as Supernatural is a great show to emulate. It has a very light touch to some potentially very dark material and that is often an entertaining combination. It is one of those premises that can easily fall into the very common monster of the week trap, but at the very least the lead Matt Ryan seems to be very likeable, and the special effects are fairly impressive for a TV budget as well. Of course, if they keep up that quality, then they’ll need the ratings to justify them. It could be a tough sell, but if Grimm is in its fourth season and Supernatural is on its 8th then there’s a good chance for this one as well.
Follow Constantine:
Official site
Twitter
Facebook
Posted on May 28, 2014, in TV Nights. Bookmark the permalink. 10 Comments.
Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 
Suggestion: Add in the start dates for these shows. I’d love to add them to my TiVo but they don’t show up in listings until it’s very close to launch date.
Gotham could work. They’ve tried this “World of Batman Without Actually Being Batman” angle before with the Birds of Prey show, but that fell victim to ham-handed X-men esque metahuman rights harping, and D-listers aplenty. Something Shield had trouble with in the first half of the season, when at times it didn’t feel like a Marvel series at all for a complete lack of familiar Marvel elements. Hopefully Gotham can work despite being incapable of doing anything more than teasing the familiar due to being a prequel.
Constantine looks… a BIT cheeseball in the visual effects department. But at least John’s far more accurate to the original, and the overall concept feels more accurate. That movie they made was OKAY but was not Hellblazer, it was something else with the Constantine title slapped onto it.
I would have put in start dates but I couldn’t find them yet.
See, I think I’m the opposite end of the excitement levels as you. I’m getting a wee bit bored and tired of all the comic book stuff that’s getting thrown at us, because I feel it’s stopping the creation of truly original content, on TV and film.
Saying that, out of these, Constantine has peaked my interest. Looks like they’ve got the character right and and there’s a good balance in the trailer of silly action and some decent characters.
My worry with Gotham is we’re just gonna get thrown mini-Catwoman, mini-Joker, mini-Poison Ivy, mini-Harley Quinn.
But when was the last time that a show like the Flash has been on TV? Sure the movies have been booming, but TV’s been on the slow side until this past year. There’s been Heroes back in 2006, Smallville, Arrow, and that’s just about it.
Gotham is a touchy one that could easily go either way, it’s a fine line to make a reference to a name that fans will get without making it so obvious that even non-fans will recognize it.
It just feels like comics are getting bombarded yo us from all directions. And it’s great that they’re being seen as more mainstream, but surely the mainstream are going to tire of this too and they’ll be a huge crash.
Great article dude! Fun read! I am very skeptical every fall season when the new shows arrive. I get into a show, then BAM! It’s canceled. I tried “Alcatraz” a couple years ago and it didn’t even finish its first season. I have been keeping up with “The Following” which I think is the most creative, and most best written shows on TV right now.
This season, I might check out the Flash. It seems cool, but being on the CW makes me cringe a bit. Gotham, I am not sure about. Without actual villains or Batman, what’s the point really? Maybe for a mini-series perhaps, but not a full fledged series. I don’t care about the character of Commissioner Gordon enough to watch an entire series built around him.
I tapped out from A.G.E.N.T.S after 5 episodes. It just doesn’t feel like its a Marvel show to me. If they had more cameos, or actual superheroes from the Marvel Universe, maybe, but its just seems like every other show on TV.
Yeah, I don’t know how many of these will last through their first season, they all have promise but I doubt they will all make it through the year. Gotham has the always popular Batman angle behind it, but as you mention, are there as many fans out there for Jim Gordon if Batman is still little Bruce? As for S.H.I.E.L.D., it does get a lot better in the second half of the season after going through some growing pains early on in the show. Thanks for stopping by!
I have Arrow in my Netflix list but haven’t gotten around to it yet. Never seem to have the time to devote to it despite everyone telling me to. Stoked for Gotham and The Flash of course. Even Constantine looks decent. I must agree with Jaina somewhat, here. I hope we don’t get inundated with every possible superhero / comic book story out there turned TV show. It can go either way for some of these titles. Still, I am pretty stoked, though. Nice post, Bubbawheat!
Yeah that’s the big question because even though the trailers look good at this point it could go either way for any of these titles.
Agreed.