One of the problems with having so many television options is that if you fall behind, the shows can start to pile up. Unfortunately, I fell behind recapping Supergirl, so in order to catch up in time for Lexi Alexander’s directorial debut in National City tonight, I made sure I plowed through the last two episodes and will be covering both today.
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Supergirl: Playing Catch Up”
Just in time for her directorial debut on Supergirl, one of the most woke directors in Hollywood, Lexi Alexander, returns for another episode of her “favorite podcast” — her words! — Hard NOC Life. Now also available on iTunes and Soundcloud.
Continue reading “#LexiTakesFlight on Hard NOC Life (and Supergirl)”
So I’ve been out for a few weeks and am still catching up on all the TV I missed, but I wanted to get this Supergirl recap out ahead of tonight’s all new episode. This won’t be a full on recap, however. Basically just a series of OMG gifs because I’m still reeling from the fact that we actually have a live action Martian Manhunter show on television, you guys! Also shout out to Connie for holding down the recap fort on Supes last week!
Marvel’s Agent Carter had its season premiere Tuesday night with a double episode, and all sorts of things are new.
For one, the somber, immediate-post-WWII-New-York-values tones have been replaced by a lighter, sunnier, Californian color that suits the show’s inevitable slide into the fifties. For another, Agent Daniel Sousa’s childish crush on Peggy Carter seems to have deepened into a reciprocal — if ambiguous — relationship. (On this, more later.)
Continue reading “Agent Carter Adds Superhero TV’s Newest Trope”
Hi Guys! Supreme Chief Keith is out for the week, so I’m covering Supergirl! After I watched this week’s episode, I was glad I was recapping this one and not last week’s, which kinda bored me. This week was better and included some great acting, but some of the writing left me wanting… Let’s dive in!
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Supergirl: Toy Man and The Boy Toy”
On a very cold sub-zero January evening in Minnesota (talking windchill -30 F people) , one of our favorite NOCs was ready for some questions. Director, writer, activist, martial artist, general badass, and real life superhero Lexi Alexander joined me at The NOC for another round of #AskLexi. I wasn’t prepared for the hundreds of fans that overwhelmed us with questions, but the feeling of love radiated out of the computer and warmed my heart in the chilly house. Here are some highlights.
They say there’s nothing good on television. Clearly, more than a few shows were trying to disprove that saying. 2015 kept me busy in terms of reviewing shows but more than a few proved to be well worth it.
As is the standard, for a series to be reviewed (much less nominated), it must meet the guidelines of my Media Litmus Test.
So without further adieu, the following are my Top 15 Television Series of 2015:
Am I the only one who thinks Supergirl came back sooner than expected? Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that one of my favorite shows is back on the air, but since the other DC shows — namely Flash, Arrow, and Legends — don’t return until the week of January 19 I assumed Supergirl would be joining them then. Also doesn’t help that there isn’t a new episode next week either. Still, Supergirl is back — for this week, at least — and they pick up right where they left off before Christmas.
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Supergirl: Blood is Thicker Than Kryptonite”
Still playing catch up on our recaps, but I didn’t want to go into the holiday break without talking about what was easily the best episode of Supergirl to date. And that’s saying a lot considering how much I enjoyed the last episode. But the mid-season finale — called “Hostile Takeover” — took things to a whole new level and I can’t wait to see what they have in store once 2016 rolls around! Not to mention the fact that NOC-favorite Lexi Alexander will be helming an ep in the new year.
It’s no secret we’re big fans of The CW’s shared universe of DC superheroes. Arrow and Flash are two of the only shows we still livetweet and recap on a regular basis (shout out Connie and Christelle!) and this season — though it’s on CBS and not (yet) connected — we’ve thrown Supergirl into the mix as well. Of course all of these shows are now on their annual holiday break and won’t return until January. But when they do, they’ll be joined by a new kid on the block, Legends of Tomorrow.
Continue reading “January Brings Four Straight Days of Greg Berlanti’s DC Universe”
Welp. We’re down seven episodes on CBS’ new Supergirl series, and I can now definitively say that not only does it suck, but it’s also a drag.
Let me clarify: TV shows can suck and still be worth watching. They can feature horrible dialogue, break characterization for cheap plotlines, deploy so many reversals that situations and relationships become meaningless, flub the acting, swell the dime-store music, and commit any number of fundamental visual storytelling sins… while still being hella fun to watch.
Full disclosure: I wasn’t really looking forward to last night’s Supergirl. After the big cliffhanger in last week’s excellent entry into the season — in which Kara cuts herself on a piece of glass, demonstrating her loss of powers — I was disappointed the show was already going the no powers route so soon. This trope gets explored in nearly every iteration of the Superman/Supergirl story. But boy was I wrong! “Human For a Day” might be my favorite episode so far!
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Supergirl: My Favorite Martian”
After a couple of weeks of out-of-order continuity, we finally got back on track with “Red Faced,” the latest episode of Supergirl. In addition to the live action debut of Red Tornado — and despite the internet’s jokes when the look was revealed earlier, the Red Tornado actually looked pretty good in action. Still wish they kept his blue cape, though — the episode probably delivered the strongest storyline of the season so far.
The fifth episode of Supergirl on CBS finally aired last night, and now we know how the continuity glitches from last week’s episode would be resolved. In case you didn’t know, the episode “How Does She Do It” was scheduled to air last week, but was postponed after terrorists attacked several sites in Paris and Beirut. Instead, they aired the Thanksgiving episode that introduced Livewire, but also picked up a couple story threads that weren’t woven until last night. So was the delay worth it?
After the horrific attacks in Paris and Beirut over the weekend, CBS decided to postpone the already scheduled episode of Supergirl — which apparently centered around a terrorist attack in National City — and instead aired the Thanksgiving episode that was slated for next week. This shuffle in the schedule could have led to some continuity gaps, but apart from a weirdly resurrected Jimmy/Lucy relationship, it didn’t feel too out of place. So what did we think of the latest incarnation of Livewire’s origins?
With each passing week, I’m becoming more and more impressed with Supergirl as a series. Sure, the pilot was already strong, but last week’s episode definitely raised the bar. Now with episode three in the can, the sky’s the limit for Supergirl to blaze its own trail. It’s just too bad the ratings are not keeping pace with the quality of the series. Come on, America! Tune in because this show could use your eyeballs!
After a strong debut last week, the second episode of Supergirl’s inaugural season took a bit of a ratings hit, losing 30% of the audience that tuned in for the premiere. And that’s too bad because those people who decided not to come back missed a really strong follow-up episode and a better indication of what kind of show Supergirl will be. Still, nine million viewers is nothing to sneeze at. To put those numbers in perspective, The Flash and Arrow get a total of about six million viewers a week. Combined.
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Supergirl: Strength in Numbers”
It feels like we’ve been riding the Supergirl hype train for more than a year now. Now that the show has finally arrived — behind a massive marketing campaign that made it the most watched new show of the season! — the rest of the general public is finally beginning to see what we’ve been saying since from jump: Supergirl, the show, is legit and the best thing to happen to live action superhero adaptations since The Flash debuted — which also stars a Glee alum and is produced by the same folks, coincidentally.
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Supergirl: This Show Flies Up, Up, and Away”
As we do every year, we take some time to preview the upcoming debuts of our favorite superhero shows. And since Netflix recently announced The Flash will be joining Arrow to stream, everyone can catch up before both shows return next week. To discuss those shows and others, criminology professor ‘Shawn Smith makes his triumphant return to the NOC, joining our resident Flash recapper and TV superfan Christelle Gonzales (@christellexoxo).
The latest issue of Variety features a profile of super-producer Greg Berlanti — who will have six(!) different shows on three different networks next season. It’s a great profile about one of the most prolific producers in Hollywood. But what got the internet buzzing was the magazine’s cover, featuring Berlanti flanked by the stars of his most recent superhero offerings: The Flash’s Grant Gustin and Supergirl’s Melissa Benoist.
Because they’re both Glee alums, it got me thinking about the potential for not only a Flarrow/Supergirl crossover, but why that crossover needs to be a musical episode!
Continue reading “Why There Must be an Arrow/Flash/Supergirl Musical Crossover”
Last night, CBS and Warner Brothers television released a six-and-a-half minute sizzle reel for Supergirl, this fall’s hotly anticipated entry into Greg Berlanti’s DC television dominance universe. Starring Glee alum Melissa Benoist as the eponymous hero, the preview exuded a sense of fun, joy, and lightness often missing from DC’s live action comic adaptations — not including CW’s The Flash, of course, coincidentally a show also starring another Glee alum.
But how did the internet respond?
Continue reading “If You Perceive “Girly” Superheroes as Lesser, isn’t the Problem You?”
Calista Flockhart is the latest name officially attached to the CBS Supergirl. The Golden Globe-winning actress has been cast as Cat Grant!
Flockhart, most well known from Ally McBeal, Brothers & Sisters, and being the lucky woman who captivated Harrison Ford, will portray Cat Grant as a “self-made media magnate and founder of CatCo” where Kara/Supergirl is her assistant. My first thought: Ohmygod, it’s going to be a superhero Devil Wears Prada, isn’t it?
Continue reading “Cat’s Out the Bag: Calista Flockhart is in Supergirl“
It looks like Greg Berlanti is trying to own all of superhero broadcast television. He’s involved in two of the five current DC Comics TV shows (ahem, his shows are doing the best too — is Constantine still on the air? Sorry Constantine fans.) with a few other shows on other networks (like Mysteries of Laura on NBC). His latest venture will be Supergirl over on CBS, co-produced with Ali Adler (Chuck, The New Normal, No Ordinary Family).
Melissa Benoist (Glee) will be playing Supergirl, but as much interest as I already had in the show (knowing it’s a part of the Flarrow universe), I became about 1000% more excited when I learned that Jimmy Olsen will be played by Mehcad Brooks. A lot of people know him from Necessary Roughness or Desperate Housewives, but I am just excited that they’re casting a person of color in a lead role. A lead romantic role, if The Hollywood Reporter’s description reigns true (though I have a bone to pick with a part of it — more on that later).
Continue reading “Blerd Boost for Supergirl: Mehcad Brooks Cast as Jimmy Olsen”
