'Superman & Lois' in development at the CW

[Superbat]

Green Lantern is getting a show on HBO Max.

I can't be excited for a Superman & Lois show on the CW when you have other DC properties getting the HBO treatment.

[Last Son]

Green Lantern is getting a show on HBO Max.

I can't be excited for a Superman & Lois show on the CW when you have other DC properties getting the HBO treatment.

They said Green Lantern inspired, so it might not be what you think it is.

[daBronzeBomma]

Is there an official title yet?

I've read it SUPERMAN & LOIS in some places and SUPERMAN & LOIS LANE in other places ...

[Last Son]

I think it's just Superman & Lois. That's the one I hear the most. But it wouldn't surprise me if the title ends up being something more.. succinct. I mean, fewer syllables, a little less clumsy and plain sounding. It's not a very catchy title, but it might be something that grows on me after a few months.

[stargazer01]

Superman and Lois: The New adventures of the Super Family

[Valentis]

Looks like Green Lantern has beaten Superman to the punch of a potential quality TV series. Things hardly go wrong with HBO. CW is already wrong as a channel for Supes.

[DragonPiece]

Looks like Green Lantern has beaten Superman to the punch of a potential quality TV series. Things hardly go wrong with HBO. CW is already wrong as a channel for Supes.

I could easily see CW giving this show a bigger budget given it will likely get more viewers, I wouldn’t worry to much

[Vordan]

And Supes will be in Strange Adventures so he’s still going to be showing up on HBO!

[Patrick Gerard]

Everybody here seems caught up in the idea of this as a super-hero procedural ala Supergirl and Flash.

I don’t see that as the strongest take. Nor does it match up with the limited info we have.

My money is that this will borrow heavily from the template of This Is Us.

I expect a show very much about ice cream trips and favorite songs and people dealing with panic attacks with lots of flashbacks and flash forwards.

Superman very much in the Milo role.

Maybe some cues borrowed from Saga and How I Met Your Mother.

You could have a 60 year old Jon Kent narrating or something to that effect.

But I envision it as the kind of show where young Jon gets an A plot interspersed with flashbacks to Lois and Clark’s first date and Pa Kent in Vietnam or maybe the Gulf War. And then maybe the added perk that, sure, you can have Jor-El and Lara. Maybe they wrote Routh out of Legends to write him in as Jor.

[Vordan]

Everybody here seems caught up in the idea of this as a super-hero procedural ala Supergirl and Flash.

I don’t see that as the strongest take. Nor does it match up with the limited info we have.

My money is that this will borrow heavily from the template of This Is Us.

I expect a show very much about ice cream trips and favorite songs and people dealing with panic attacks with lots of flashbacks and flash forwards.

Superman very much in the Milo role.

Maybe some cues borrowed from Saga and How I Met Your Mother.

You could have a 60 year old Jon Kent narrating or something to that effect.

But I envision it as the kind of show where young Jon gets an A plot interspersed with flashbacks to Lois and Clark’s first date and Pa Kent in Vietnam or maybe the Gulf War. And then maybe the added perk that, sure, you can have Jor-El and Lara. Maybe they wrote Routh out of Legends to write him in as Jor.

Now that does sound awful, I must admit. I hope you’re wrong, but I guess we’ll see.

[Yoda]

Flashbacks and Flashforwards I would not be surprised at. And I'm sure it'll lean into the CW's soap formula as much as the others. Though if I had to compare it to any of them I'd say maybe Black Lightning which leans heavily on the generational and family style storytelling that the pitch hinted at. Full on family drama ala This is Us doesn't seem to likely.

It'd be interesting if they adopted the Arrow style and had like an older Jon in the Flashforwards or even a Legion era Jon coming back in time. Berlanti and Co. burn through plot like no other so I'm fully expecting we'll see Death/Reign/Return at some point - honestly that'd make for a epic two year crossover if they merge the worlds. Do Doomsday one year having him tear through the other shows culminating in Death. Then play out Reign over the second half of the series and do Return (and Mongul/Cyborg) being the following year's crossover. You could introduce a Tyler Hoechlin as Cyborg Supes so he's not out of the series.

[Patrick Gerard]

Now that does sound awful, I must admit. I hope you’re wrong, but I guess we’ll see.

I think This Is Us is one of the better network shows on TV and Superman is a blank check to get schmaltzy and sentimental.

And I’m down with that, personally.

I imagine a lot of the Snyder-fans wouldn’t like it if this is a show where a 45 year old Jon cries in a Denny’s in 2065 over a plate of Beef Bourginon with Ketchup because it was his missing dad’s favorite meal. Or a funny double date between Lucy Lane, Ron Troupe, Clark, and Lois where they make a bet.

But those people aren’t who a network show is going to be for. The budget will never exist for that kind of action outside of Disney Plus level stuff. Not even Netflix or DC Streaming can deliver that kind of action. And the This Is Us take brings specificity of characterization. And I think if Smallville was a 20-something pop song, what would play well to those folks is something a bit adult contemporary pop.

Snyder is thrash metal. That’s niche. I’m not convinced that even something pop punk like Guardians of the Galaxy would work on broadcast. It works to some extent in movies because even smash hit movies don’t need millions of viewers. Getting 20 million people to see a movie is a feat but it can trade on niche a lot easier than getting 3 million people at a time to watch a TV show with audience members who come and go and advertising interruptions. You need something that speaks to the mainstream understanding of a character.

Lois & Clark was a romcom show with screwball comedy. Smallville dances around tights and flights. I’d take adult contemporary character study stuff over Clark leering at Lana through a telescope while a top 40 song plays — which is absolutely not an ineffective or unproven idea were CW to have gone that route.

I think a show that targets 40 year old women and adults watching with their senior parents is the big tent take for Superman.

Amy Pascal is absolutely onto something with the idea of a Superman romcom (supposedly one of her dream projects and something she argued WB was wasting money by not doing). But I think TV is where that take would have the most long term viability.

WB is probably going to do some kind of Suckerpunch meets Suicide Girls take on Supergirl as a movie, virtually guaranteed. And it’ll be everything the Snyder stuff was plus funny plus sexy and do an easy $750M. But the show was smart to go for a bit more The Devil Wears Prada and to focus on a squad of young women’s relationships with message politics. Because that was a stronger TV take.

[The World]

Everybody here seems caught up in the idea of this as a super-hero procedural ala Supergirl and Flash.

I don’t see that as the strongest take. Nor does it match up with the limited info we have.

My money is that this will borrow heavily from the template of This Is Us.

I expect a show very much about ice cream trips and favorite songs and people dealing with panic attacks with lots of flashbacks and flash forwards.

Superman very much in the Milo role.

Maybe some cues borrowed from Saga and How I Met Your Mother.

You could have a 60 year old Jon Kent narrating or something to that effect.

But I envision it as the kind of show where young Jon gets an A plot interspersed with flashbacks to Lois and Clark’s first date and Pa Kent in Vietnam or maybe the Gulf War. And then maybe the added perk that, sure, you can have Jor-El and Lara. Maybe they wrote Routh out of Legends to write him in as Jor.

Yeah this is what I feared it would be like when I read the synopsis. A show with a heavy emphasis on normal, non Superman stuff and a focus on being a regular guy. It's strange though but the rumor of The Question and Blue Beetle getting HBOmax shows has eased my frustration with this.

I think they're making a mistake by dragging Superman away from Superheroics but theres nothing I can do about it.

[superduperman]

How about we wait until it airs, or at least get a little more information, before we start making broad assumptions? Jon could still be a baby for all we know. Or they could go in a completely different route and have it be Joan. It's a Superman show so we know it's going to be full of action regardless. I know that this version of Superman isn't everyone's favorite but I doubt they'll nerf him for his own show. I'm willing to wait and see and give this a chance.

[Yoda]

I think This Is Us is one of the better network shows on TV and Superman is a blank check to get schmaltzy and sentimental.

And I’m down with that, personally.

I imagine a lot of the Snyder-fans wouldn’t like it if this is a show where a 45 year old Jon cries in a Denny’s in 2065 over a plate of Beef Bourginon with Ketchup because it was his missing dad’s favorite meal. Or a funny double date between Lucy Lane, Ron Troupe, Clark, and Lois where they make a bet.

But those people aren’t who a network show is going to be for. The budget will never exist for that kind of action outside of Disney Plus level stuff. Not even Netflix or DC Streaming can deliver that kind of action. And the This Is Us take brings specificity of characterization. And I think if Smallville was a 20-something pop song, what would play well to those folks is something a bit adult contemporary pop.

Snyder is thrash metal. That’s niche. I’m not convinced that even something pop punk like Guardians of the Galaxy would work on broadcast. It works to some extent in movies because even smash hit movies don’t need millions of viewers. Getting 20 million people to see a movie is a feat but it can trade on niche a lot easier than getting 3 million people at a time to watch a TV show with audience members who come and go and advertising interruptions. You need something that speaks to the mainstream understanding of a character.

Lois & Clark was a romcom show with screwball comedy. Smallville dances around tights and flights. I’d take adult contemporary character study stuff over Clark leering at Lana through a telescope while a top 40 song plays — which is absolutely not an ineffective or unproven idea were CW to have gone that route.

I think a show that targets 40 year old women and adults watching with their senior parents is the big tent take for Superman.

Amy Pascal is absolutely onto something with the idea of a Superman romcom (supposedly one of her dream projects and something she argued WB was wasting money by not doing). But I think TV is where that take would have the most long term viability.

WB is probably going to do some kind of Suckerpunch meets Suicide Girls take on Supergirl as a movie, virtually guaranteed. And it’ll be everything the Snyder stuff was plus funny plus sexy and do an easy $750M. But the show was smart to go for a bit more The Devil Wears Prada and to focus on a squad of young women’s relationships with message politics. Because that was a stronger TV take.

I admittedly like This is Us as well, so I would not be opposed to a drama style family show with Superman and lighter action. I don't think that's what CW will go for, but I'd be there for it nonetheless. And a RomCom Superman and Lois movie would be amazing as well. Even an indy style romance movie with a lower budget and say golden age power levels would be amazing. I'm fully down for either of those.

I do have to say, all these people lamenting the lack of money that a DC Universe or HBO Max version of Superman because it'd be better quality must not have seen the mid-2000's level CGI Titans rolled out for Trigun. Cause CW has regularly done far better than that with Grodd, King Shark, Beebo, etc. Really, the set design might be a little higher quality, but the effects aren't anything beyond what the CW regularly pulls off.