Was CBS Supergirl better than CW Supergirl?

[LastSonOfShaolin]

It's been a long time since I watched Season 1 of Supergirl but I'll probably be revisiting it pretty soon. I've seen up to season 4 of the show and no more. But that too has been a while.

But off the top of my head it seems like I liked CBS Supergirl better. Not even really sure why. It could be just the fact that I enjoy most tv shows first season the best. Not even sure if its because of Flockhart or not. I just liked the feel of it I guess. The tone.

I dont think it has much to do with CW being a teen network cause Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favorite show of all time.

Guess I'm just curious on others take. Which network did you prefer the show on? And any specific reason?

[lotchj]

The CBS Supergirl was far better than the CW Supergirl!! The CW ruined Supergirl!! I watched Supergirl four are five times the first season on the CW and thought it was just plain awful. They changed everything i liked about the show on CBS. From stopping the love relationship between her a Jimmy, changing her sister, breaking up the team from the first season on CBS.

[superduperman]

Well, California is a lot brighter than Vancouver so that might have something to do with it. I KIND OF agree in the sense that it felt like she wasn't beholden to anyone else. Superman existed there but more as a concept than a person. I pictured the CBS Supergirl Superman as being a bit older than Hoechlin (though he has grown on me) and Flockhart's Cat Grant was a good foil for Kara. I feel like they were setting her up to be a mentor and then the move nixed that. There's always going to be that "what if" factor but I think this is a situation where they were going to have to introduce Superman at some point. It just felt inevitable. I was just kind of hoping for someone a decade older than Hoechlin.

[SJNeal]

Yes, it was. As much as I loved how they blended it in with the rest of the CW shows, I'd have preferred it stayed on CBS (and kept Calista Flockhart). I think we would have had a really great show that would have aged much better.

[Celgress]

Yes, it was, IMO. But, CW Supergirl (like 90% of CW shows) is a low bar make that a very low bar so beating it isn't that impressive.

[marhawkman]

Now the real question... would it have been good if Helen Slater had played the role(of Supergirl) in a series(in the 80s)? I mean she played Lara in Smallville, and is currently in Supergirl as Eliza Danvers.

[achilles]

Yes, it was, IMO. But, CW Supergirl (like 90% of CW shows) is a low bar make that a very low bar so beating it isn't that impressive.

I think that sums it up quite nicely. Mostly, trying to find the best CW DC show these days is like trying to determine who the drunkest person is among a bunch of people passed out on the floor of a bar. It's hopeless, and you'll get well acquainted with vomit.

[Yoda]

I don’t think the quality of the writing was all that much better when it was at the CBS. The budget and effects were better and yeah, more Cat would have improved things. But on the whole it was still the same show.

I wonder if we would have gotten Hoechlin’s Superman in the second season if it had stuck around? Probably not because it wasn’t getting ratings to survive on CBS so instead of Superman it may have just been cancelled. We likely would not have Superman & Lois if it had.

[Jim Kelly]

I didn't bother to watch SUPERGIRL when it began. The look of her suit and the marketing made me think it was going to be grim dark and uninspiring. And I don't like Calista Flockhart. I finally binge watched it just before her crossover with the Flash--because I was watching that show. So I saw a whole lot of episodes one after the other. I think if I had seen those early episodes from week to week instead of all at once, I would have lost interest and not bothered. But I burned through those so quickly that I got to the better episodes in the second half of the season.

My misgivings about Flockhart not withstanding, I came around to appreciating what she brought to the show.

To me every show filmed in L.A. looks so fake. I live in Vancouver, that's my reality. When they film in L.A. it's all too bright and polished and everything looks like it was filmed on a studio set, not real life. I like to see real clouds in the sky and authentic buildings. I think stuff filmed in Vancouver looks way better than stuff filmed in L.A.

On balance, I would say season 1 and 2 are about even with me. There's things that happened in both seasons that I hated and other things I loved. The best thing about SUPERGIRL is Melissa Benoist--she has the super-power to make a series pasted together with spit and duct tape seem much better than it actually is.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I never became a Supergirl fan. I did try episodes with both CBS and CW. I don't think it ever improved or kept my interest for very long.

[Frontier]

Aside from set and budget, I don't think it was that different, or maybe I'm overestimating the writers playing more to a CW audience after the move.

[achilles]

I didn't bother to watch SUPERGIRL when it began. The look of her suit and the marketing made me think it was going to be grim dark and uninspiring. And I don't like Calista Flockhart. I finally binge watched it just before her crossover with the Flash--because I was watching that show. So I saw a whole lot of episodes one after the other. I think if I had seen those early episodes from week to week instead of all at once, I would have lost interest and not bothered. But I burned through those so quickly that I got to the better episodes in the second half of the season.

My misgivings about Flockhart not withstanding, I came around to appreciating what she brought to the show.

To me every show filmed in L.A. looks so fake. I live in Vancouver, that's my reality. When they film in L.A. it's all too bright and polished and everything looks like it was filmed on a studio set, not real life. I like to see real clouds in the sky and authentic buildings. I think stuff filmed in Vancouver looks way better than stuff filmed in L.A.

On balance, I would say season 1 and 2 are about even with me. There's things that happened in both seasons that I hated and other things I loved. The best thing about SUPERGIRL is Melissa Benoist--she has the super-power to make a series pasted together with spit and duct tape seem much better than it actually is.

Just goes to show you, it's all about your own viewpoint. Mine being the opposite since I've lived out near L.A. most of my life, and that sort of light, (BTW, at some times of year it's especially beautiful), is normal for me, while Vancouver seems a bit cold and dark.

[Tony]

The show was really fun on CBS but the cast and direction changes on the CW ruined it.

[Powerboy]

I'll go against the grain here and say it got into a lot of significant issues in the later seasons. It's treatment of those issues varied from very good to horribly simplistic. But the first season set the expectations of what the show would be so it's understandable that a lot of people hated it when it deviated from those expectations.

It's interesting that you mentioned Buffy because the same thing happened there. At a certain point, it started deviating from what it originally was which understandably irritated people who liked it for what it originally was.

The main problem with the CW shows is that they tend to approach everything from the point of view of what would appeal to teen angst fans.

[objectivewatcher2013]

A million times better. CW version was absolutely awful.