No more live-action television shows after SAL?

[Stanlos]

I thoroughly enjoy Superman And Lois (SAL).

It's the best live-action Superverse TV show in the 85-years-and-counting history of the character.

But recent episodes have made me realize a painful truth:

For two main reasons, Live-action TV just is not the ideal medium for Superman.


The first reason is obviously budgetary. TV will NEVER have the financial resources (nor the cultural importance) of Feature Films.

A high-end sci-fi /space fantasy character like Superman requires lots of expensive good SFX for most of his stories. Go back and look at any of the previous Superman shows (Adventures Of Superman, Superboy, Lois & Clark, Smallville) and for every decent SFX shot, there are 9 bad ones.

SAL is holding up better than anticipated so far, but that's mainly because they limit costumed Supes to an average of about 5 minutes screentime on a 45 minute show (after commercials).

Less Superman = money saved =/= better storytelling.

The second reason is between his 5 solo shows, TV has now covered Superman extensively from age 14 thru age 44. Sometimes it feels like too much like going over the same ground again.

For example, SAL too often feels like it's trying to be Smallville: The Next Generation.


I dunno ... maybe I'm being too harsh on the limitations of the TV medium.

I just feel like going forward, Superman should be reserved for big-budget feature film series, high-end animation, and (please please please) decent video games.

I feel like animation is the best place for Supes, especially given the decline in practical effects. Looking at MOS and BVS the action would have to be CG anyway. So why not do the whole animated rather than a mix of live action and PS2 graphics?

Personally I hope something in a modernized Fleischeresque style comes along

[DochaDocha]

Anyone think we'll see a Superman show not created by WB released post 2033?

[Frontier]

Anyone think we'll see a Superman show not created by WB released post 2033?

Something something public domain...

[Ascended]

I feel like animation is the best place for Supes

Personally I hope something in a modernized Fleischeresque style comes along

Agreed completely. Not even a cartoon guy, but it's the perfect medium for Clark.

And I love me some Golden Age Supes so anything in that vein is something I'm there for. Personally I want a big, Pixar-quality (not necessarily Pixar style) adaptation of Smashes the Klan.

Anyone think we'll see a Superman show not created by WB released post 2033?

A lot depends on what happens between now and then. We're in uncharted waters, legally speaking. What kind of precedent will be set by Steamboat Willie that will affect Superman in a decade? And that's assuming nothing major happens to current copyright law too, gods only know what congress or scotus might decide in the next ten years.

If we look at Winnie the Poo as an example; when Poo hit the domain we didn't see a bunch of people using him. We saw a weird horror movie that Disney tried, and failed, to squash. The major entertainment players didn't bite, but a small independent studio did, and put up with a lot of grief doing it. Granted, Poo isn't exactly a big deal, but still.

I think we'll see stuff like that; major players like WB and Disney, the companies they own like ABC, they all have old IP that'll be going public relatively soon and none of them like it. But if they all quietly agree not to use each other's stuff, and then harass anyone else who tries, they can kill a lot of domain projects and maintain control.

It'll be the stubborn people, and the crazy ones, who push their projects through. I figure we'll mostly see them as web series, maybe some streaming. Not major cable networks nor major film studios.

The 'harassment' aspect may die down as legal precedent is set, but no matter what the law ends up saying about this I doubt these corporations will just let us have access to the characters they built their empires on.

[Primal Slayer]

Supergirl did start as a CBS show before it moved to CW.

I didnt say it didnt. It's budget was also bigger.

Anyone think we'll see a Superman show not created by WB released post 2033?

I wouldnt be surprised but a lot of what makes superman, Superman still wouldnt be able to be used.

No Daily Planet. No lex. No flying. No classic S. No kryptonite. None of his villains. No Martha/Jonathan (Mary, yes). etc..

[Vakanai]

I'm perfectly fine not getting another series this decade or even the next if it finally means we get an honestly worthwhile film out of it. Returns and MoS were not it.

[The Kid]

I'm perfectly fine not getting another series this decade or even the next if it finally means we get an honestly worthwhile film out of it. Returns and MoS were not it.

These are my thoughts. I enjoy Superman TV and I liked S&L but nothing really compares to a great movie you can see on the big screen.