Supergirl flies off the air after 6 seasons
Plus, Impeachment: American Crime Story makes its closing arguments, Your Life Is A Joke debuts, and Morgan Freeman narrates Great Escapes
TV Lists Supergirl
Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Tuesday, November 9. All times are Eastern.
Top pick
Supergirl (The CW, 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., two-part series finale): The Supergirl finale is, of course, a two-parter, with “Gauntlet” kicking things off and “Kara” bringing things to a closely immediately after. Greg Berlanti series are always filled with heart, and his superhero finales often carry a bittersweet tinge. The finale boasts the fallout over the killer cliffhanger from the previous episode, kidnapping, a wedding, and the return of the handsomest Jimmy Olsen in the Superman/Supergirl universe, Mehcad Brooks.
If you’re longing to relive some of your favorite episodes, you might be happy to know Supergirl was in our round-up of the best genre shows on Netflix. To quote Tegan O’Neil: “Supergirl doesn’t glower or brood, and she couldn’t do grim-and-gritty if her life depended on it. She smiles, dammit. Melissa Benoist smiles, too, and her guileless performance as the Girl Of Steel is enough to elevate what could otherwise have been a fairly pro forma exercise into something a lot more compelling.”
Regular coverage
Impeachment: American Crime Story (FX, 10 p.m., season finale)
Wild cards
Your Life Is A Joke (Netflix, 3:01 a.m.): German Comedian Oliver Polak hangs out with celebrities, then “gently roasts” them. It’s almost like a European Comedian In Cars Getting Coffee but without the obsession with the cars—and with stylish and charming celebrities rather than mostly comedians. We doubt there’s anything as awkward as this, though.
Great Escapes With Morgan Freeman (History, 10 p.m.): The Shawshank Redemption is one of the best prison break stories, in both book and film form—but most importantly, the movie may have been one of the first times we experienced the religious experience of Morgan Freeman’s narration. How did we ever live without it? Now Freeman is narrating and executive producing an entire series about great escapes from prison, starting with “Alcatraz.”
23 Comments
I will say this about the Supergirl run — Benoist was either the best-cast actor on all of the DC CW shows, or is an amazing talent, or both. Long after her supporting characters and plot arcs became cringingly dumb, I kept coming back for her solid performances. She could’ve carried a movie franchise instead — she is Chris Evans/Christopher Reeve/RDJ -good at her character.
correct
I’d say she’s both. Tbh, most Arrowverse shows have solid casts, but Benoist really rose above most others there. When she and Chyler Leigh are in a scene together, it’s just magic, really. The Crisis crossover also showed that Benoist really brings out the best in her co-stars, it was great to see. Whatever issues Supergirl had, Benoist was never among those issues. She is a legitimate fantastic talent and as you said, could have easily helmed her own movie franchise.
is an amazing talent
Yes.
Solid agree. She is one of the best things about the Arrowverse, easily the single best-cast character, and the whole thing will lose something special once Supergirl ends.
I agree. I stopped watching at the start of the season when Supergirl was trapped in the Phantom Zone and had a smaller role after having a baby. Without her I couldn’t take how stupid the stories were.
Credit to them for keeping the show on this long but their shitty writing and adding terrible love interests did their best to kill the show.
that’s what makes the show’s writing/choices so frustrating. every once in a while they do something right and she knocks it out of the park, then they go back to sidelining her or making unspeakably stupid choices and you’re reminded how much potential the show wasted all over again.
Yeah whatever rough parts the show’s had, she’s a ray of sunshine and it’s been nice to have her around.
Robert shumake>> Detroit’s homeless treated to Red Carpet luncheon
Robert shumake
I can’t believe Flash gets a danged eighth season while Supergirl ends after only 6. worse, part of me fears this will end with Kara either dying or being depowered, given she is totally absent from the trailers for the upcoming crossover (unless it’s a surprise reveal) which would be a real downer ending for the character.But it really needs to be said that Benoist is one of the best actors in genre TV right now and I’m sure she’ll kill it at whatever her next project will be.
I would be stunned if they kill her off. Most likely these will be the reasons she is not in the crossover.1) Crossover takes place during her time in the Phantom Zone.2) In the series finale, she ends up going to the future with Mon-El and the rest of the Legion (which would also explain why she doesn’t exist in S&L so far).
“given she is totally absent from the trailers for the upcoming crossover”
Hopefully that is just creative editing to not spoil that she survives the finale.
I believe Benoist has said while she doesn’t want to do the series anymore she’d be open to being Kara in guest shots or during the big crossovers, her schedule permitting of course. So I imagine she doesn’t die.
Supergirl ran for so long because of the complete charm of its lead. Melissa Benoist is so engaging and earnest and beguiling, it was just a show we had to watch (although we did give up a couple seasons ago). She has a bright future and I hope we get to see more of her soon.
Mehcad Brooks 1) actually turned out to be very charming on screen 2) was horribly miscast as Jimmy Olsen. Just nothing Jimmy Olsen about him. They realized it pretty quick and make him Guardian. Should have just made him Jim Harper from the jump. Big miss to have a Jimmy Olsen on a Super-show and then not really have a Jimmy Olsen.
I would say the main problem with Jimmy Olsen was the writing and not Brooks himself, but agree he was better suited to play Jim Harper or Mon-El. What’s core about Jimmy in the comics is his optimism, enthusiasm and almost foolhardy levels of nerve and curiousity. And he physically transforms and mutates — a lot. That should have been a regular part of the show.The CW show presented him as more of a mentor figure to Kara, but then made that creepy when they became a couple. If Kara and Jimmy had been set up as peers, rather than Jimmy playing the big brother/work mentor role, the relationship wouldn’t have been cringey.The other problem is that the actors had more of friendly than romantic chemistry. Brooks, imo, had more chemistry with Kate McGrath’s Lena Luthor. But even then, the show never seemed quite sure what to do with him.
He should feel comfortable becoming a giant turtle person
He should feel comfortable becoming a giant turtle person
I know, right? Jimmy Olsen is an amazing character.
No Impeachment love today? I won’t know what to watch with no Stargirl or Impeachment on anymore.
Let Nia continue somehow!! Single best supporting character across the shows, and it’s been like that for several seasons.
It’s a shame what they did to Supergirl. I’ve got a pretty full life, so some time to TV, but not a ton. I was able to fit in the odd show here and there. And then Supergirl started piling on the crossovers with a whole bunch of shows I don’t watch, locking me out of what the hell was going on.Ah well.
How did it even make one season?
Cliched as it sounds, Mel has a million-dollar smile. That and her scenes with Chyler are what I mainly will remember from Supergirl. Just to take two examples—the scene in “Falling” where Kara emotionally falls apart after seeing that her trip to crazytown broke Alex’s arm, and in “Manhunter” where Alex has to go into hiding from Project Cadmus and Kara despairingly wonders how she’ll get by without her. Kevin Smith pointed out in his audio commentary for “Supergirl Lives” that the main cast totally nails it time and again, and he’s 100% right.