REPORT CARD: Which Comics-Based Series Are Making the Grade?

[Zeitgeist]

I'd post my opinions but they basically line right up with the article, though I haven't watched Arrow since season 1 and Walking Dead Since season 3.

Flash has had a great start, Gotham is a bit of a mess at this point and is saved almost solely by Robin Lord Taylor's Penguin, Constantine is so-so but it's early days, and Agents Of Shield had continued it's general upswing from late season 1 and is a decent show, dealwithit.gif

Agents of SHIELD: F.

...

I have no desire to ever pick it up again, no matter how "good" it gets.

So you're rating a show this season based on what you thought of it last season. Makes total sense.

[malreyn]

Arrow and SHIELD are both on good tracks in that they are both improving, which is what something should do.

I really disliked Arrow season 1. Season 2 was better but still rough. The acting wasn't too great to begin with and it's clearly a CW show in the way it's plotted. Though it's probably the best CW show, that doesn't really say much. Season 3 so far is actually pretty good. Improvements all around, more interesting story and the overall show and characters are starting to feel more like what I would want them to be.
B

SHIELD started out suffering from high expectations, but also just felt somewhat directionless and uninteresting. For me, it wasn't just the season's end, but it was a clear and sharp improvement once the show returned from winter break. All aspects were immediately improved and it only continued to improve toward the end. This season, I find all characters and plots to be starting off and heading in much more interesting and confident directions.
B+

Flash has surprised me with how much I enjoy it. It's first season is so far better than Arrow's third season.
B+

Haven't watched Constantine yet, but plan to give it a try.
N/A

TWD is and has always been good.
A

Gotham is an awful, awful show full of mostly bad acting, pointless plots, unearned gravitas and cringe-worthy, eyeroll moments. Surprisingly, the show is best when it gets focused on Cobblepot. He's actually entertaining. C-

[kkkk]

I must be pretty out of touch. I watch all of these shows and I actually like both SHIELD and The Flash. I'm afraid I'm one of the few who don't care for the Arrow. I really liked the Green Arrow as a kid and this character is virtually nothing like him. There's also too much relationship/soap opera stuff going on. I do like the current season better than the last two, but I prefer the Flash.

I like Constantine better than Gotham, but Gotham is really just a crime drama that takes place in a very corrupt, fictional city.

As far as the Walking Dead. I've read most of the comics and watched all the seasons to this point. To be honest, it's starting to get a little repetitive. Even the comic is becoming a little repetitive. I guess there are only so many places you can go with a zombie apocalypse before it becomes a different kind of story. I mean, it's been how many years and there are still herds of zombies. Don't they decompose? There can't be that many new zombies made. At some point, you'd stop seeing zombies. Then what?

Yeah, this season there basically going back to plotpoints they glossed over in the first season,the group seems to be going in circles now, I know people missed the vibe of the first 2 seasons but I think Gimple went a little too far.
Still enjoyable but outside of the guest badguys the Claimers and the Hunters, it feels the show peaked with the governor episodes.

[BeastieRunner]

Not a single book related to any of those TV shows.

*High Five*

You're a comic book fan then! And a good one.

[Ben K.]

Is this scaled just to comic book shows? I'd struggle to classify any of these shows above a straight C across all types of fiction shows. There's still a huge quality gap between super hero movies and super hero television shows that has been closed in other genres.

Can't see a huge difference in quality between Arrow, Flash and AoS. Arrow may have been up a rung last season and AoS a rung below for the majority of it's last season. Now they're very similar in quality, but I never found them more than the somewhat entertaining category.

Gotham I've dropped and may 'trade wait' for the entire season depending on reviews. I see what it's trying to do with the amalgamation of all the different historical batman tones, but imo it aint executed too well.

Haven't watched Constantine.

Walking Dead is far better than the others when it's on its game, but when it's off...

[SmokeMonster]

Flash, Arrow, Gotham, and Constantine are watchable; enjoyable enough to make it through an episode. Sure they're more likely to win Razzies than Emmys, but at least it's a chance to experience these characters in a live-action setting.

On the other hand, Agents of SHIELD is not even watchable, for me at least. I couldn't make it past 3 or 4 episodes. Whereas the DC shows are salvageable in that they're about characters I have an interest in already so I'm at least curious to see what they do with them, with Agents of SHIELD you have none of that. I hear it's pretty good now, but I'm not going to suffer through any more.

True Detective, Mad Men, Game of Thrones are shows I can actually call 'good'.

[SXVA]

In descending order of greatest to least.

Walking Dead = A+
Marvel Agent's of SHIELD = A
The Flash = A
Arrow = A-
Gotham = B-
Constantine = C

If/when Caitlin Snow goes villain on Flash... it will likely drop to a B, however.

Agents of SHIELD is bordering on A+, i'd prefer to let this season unfold before i gave it that additional + and entering Walking Dead territory though.

Arrow has decreased slightly since last season and is closer to B+ but i still greatly enjoy it, and the season still has amazing potential, and so.. i think it's more on an upward path rather than downward.

Gotham is hovering closer to C mainly as a result of not having any Female characters i connect with. [Catwoman, Ivy, Kringle, etc.. they've barely been on]

[Krysmopompas]

flash: b+ (what a nice suprpise! sweet & innocent fun!)
arrow: couldn't get past the first few episodes of season one

Hey, if you like Flash I'd highly recommend watching more Arrow. The first half of the first season was trying to find its ground, but got better with every episode. Season 2 was dynamite. You could even start there if you want.

[Iron Chi]

I really want to like Arrow, but I keep having two enduring issues with it: dating drama & flashbacks. I stopped watching last year, but I'm giving it another shot this year.

At some point, a flashback to explain every new plot point becomes distracting. I realize it's on the CW, so a certain amount of drama is required. I just have a hard time finding a reason to care if the Arrow is in a relationship or not.

The Green Arrow is an awesome character who has lots of depth. I have to admit, it has come a long way from season 1. Honestly, that was hard to watch. Seemed like it couldn't make up it's mind whether it wanted to be Smallville, a Christian Bale's Batman impression, or a teen soap opera. Great improvements since then. I also prefer Malcolm Merlyn being back on the show to Deathstroke. I kind of wish they had called him something else so that we could have a legit Deathstroke somewhere down the line. The actor just didn't seem to pull off Deathstroke very well.

Also, instead of the five o-clock shadow let's give Ollie a goatee!

[AndrewCrossett]

Agents of SHIELD: A
Gotham: A
Constantine: B-

Haven't seen enough of the others to offer a responsible opinion.

[Azariie]

I'd say The Walking Dead is an entirely different beast, if only for the ridiculously high production values and top notch acting from everyone involved. I stopped watching regularly after season 2 because they killed off my favorite character in the absolute worst possible way, but even I have to admit it doesn't deserve anything short of an A++. Overrated or not as a whole, the second half of the past season was Emmy material, with everyone and their dog agreeing Melissa McBride was robbed.

I couldn't ever get into Arrow because of Stephen Amell. Wouldn't a better choice to play Oliver would had been be an, you know, actual actor? Guy seems nice but his acting skills (or lack thereof) kept putting me out of the show. Same goes for Agents of Shield. The cast is so-so and the main characters are as interesting as watching paint dry. Plus, the whole thing just looks so... generic. No distinct camera work, color palette, ANYTHING to make it stand out from the other zillions genre shows out there.

Gotham is the one that has me hooked. And I actually think the mashup of genres it's their strongest point. Sure, it won't be getting Emmy nods anytime soon, but is so fun! You can tell the creators are fans of the source material, and the casting choices are downright inspired. Ben Mckenzie shines as Jim Gordon (one would think it would be hard to care for the straw man in a 'verse where the villains are true forces of nature, but McKenzie plays him in such a way you can't help but root for him. And I love how he sort of implies Gordon is VERY AWARE of just how insane most of the people and situations surrounding him are - the way he rolls his eyes at his partner - & the entire PD, really-, and *that* look he gives Cobblepot everytime they met never fails to amuse me.), Robin Lord Taylor steals the show as The Penguin, and young Bruce, Cat and Nygma (I don't get the hate; the actor is awesome, pay attention to the little details, his reactions in the drug episode... he's brilliant) make it all the more compelling. It's got a very strong cast, incredible interesting characters, relationships (every little moment Jim gets with Bruce, Cobblepot and Cat is golden) and literally ENDLESS potential. It gets a solid B+ from me.

I am looking forward to Constantine (I am not familiar with the comics, but loved the film. C'mon, you can't go wrong with Tilda Swinton portraying a self-righteous, androgynous angel, and Peter Stormare was easily the best Lucifer to grace the big screen), and Flash is in my to-watch list. I like Grant Gustin, and the previews remind me of early Smallville so it should be fun.

[CongoBill]

Is this scaled just to comic book shows? I'd struggle to classify any of these shows above a straight C across all types of fiction shows. There's still a huge quality gap between super hero movies and super hero television shows that has been closed in other genres.

Can't see a huge difference in quality between Arrow, Flash and AoS. Arrow may have been up a rung last season and AoS a rung below for the majority of it's last season. Now they're very similar in quality, but I never found them more than the somewhat entertaining category.

Gotham I've dropped and may 'trade wait' for the entire season depending on reviews. I see what it's trying to do with the amalgamation of all the different historical batman tones, but imo it aint executed too well.

Haven't watched Constantine.

Walking Dead is far better than the others when it's on its game, but when it's off...

Great point here. Compared to the truly great shows on TV these comic book shows are middling at best. I'll watch them if they provide an enjoyable level of entertainment but they're all lightweights when compared to shows such as Game of Thrones, Sopranos. The Wire, Justified, Mad Men, and many others. The only one of the comic book shows that I really look forward to watching is Walking Dead. I know it's not a great show and it's had some pretty bad episodes in past seasons, but I'm hooked. I love the comic and love the show and will follow both until the end.

I am surprised at the amount of negativity here about Gotham. I think they're pulling it off pretty well thus far. Maybe it's a comic book/fanboy thing where people just can't really get behind it unless Batman himself is in the show? I don't know because compared to the others on the list it's near the top in terms of writing, acting, production values, and character development. Although the one character I do not like on Gotham is Fish Money (Jada Pinkett Smith). She's just playing it up too much like a villain from "Batman and Robin" or "Batman Forever." Way too over-the-top and campy. But the rest of the main cast is excellent.

Flash and Arrow are both pretty good (NOTE: As I mentioned in my previous post, I am still watching season one of Arrow so maybe things will change when I get into season two that everybody raves about) -- but these CW shows just have a weird teeny-bopper, soap opera style to them that makes them a bit difficult to take very seriously. All the main characters are young and pretty and the sets look kind of cheesey (like a soap opera) and it's all kind of "too fluffy" for my tastes. I know this is the CW style and that they are obviously aiming for the younger demographic, but because of this I see Gotham as a much darker and grittier show with more edge than either Arrow or Flash. But, yeah, I'm kind of struggling to get through season one of Arrow and I watch Flash because it's decent and I want to see where they take it, but I'm not anticipating every new episode with great excitement. I'm a bit more excited about Gotham, but nothing like Walking Dead, which I can't wait to see every week.

[GrandKaiser]

Arrow- One of my favorite comic book based shows on television right now. People say that it's not a good representation of Oliver, I say otherwise. I've always been a huge Green Arrow fan and even though this guy isn't a wisecracking blondie with a beard, he is most certainly Oliver Queen, a young child brought up in a rich family. Washed up on an island where he learned to fight and shoot arrows. Came back to Star(ling) City to fight crime as Green Arrow. I like the fact that Oliver is still dealing with anger and tragedy, and it makes a lot of sense. So many terrible things are happening and even though we're in season 3 this show still feels like an origin story. I think we've got a long way to go before Ollie can truly embrace who he is in the comics. This show is just great.
Flash- Another great show. I loved Barry Allen's introduction in Arrow but I wasn't sure if he'd be able to hold his own show. So far he has. The music is great, the effects are incredible, and the characters are really cool too.
Constantine- Just caught up on the two episodes the other day, and wow this show is fantastic. I love Hellblazer and this is an amazing adaptation of that comic, a lot better than the movie that's for sure. It feels like a supernatural X-Files. My only issue with the show is that Matt Ryan is the only good actor on this show. His co stars are not very good at all, and that's a little annoying. But holy sh*t, this guy knows John Constantine. He must have done his research. It really is perfect.
Agents of SHIELD- Nothing much to say about this show. Started out boring, and corny, then became amazing. A great spy show, with fun action and dialogue.
The Walking Dead- Disliked it from the very beginning. The acting, visuals, and script is amazing. Whoever's doing the choreography knows what he/she is doing. But honestly I can't stand this show. They added in way too many unnecessary characters and left out so many necessary characters (some of them are introduced too late) . The group is still way too freaking big, and it's because of these annoying made up characters. That makes the show so unrealistic and annoying to watch.
Gotham- There is nothing about this show I like. I believe all the negative things about it have already been posted ITT.

[Iron Chi]

I am surprised at the amount of negativity here about Gotham. I think they're pulling it off pretty well thus far. Maybe it's a comic book/fanboy thing where people just can't really get behind it unless Batman himself is in the show? I don't know because compared to the others on the list it's near the top in terms of writing, acting, production values, and character development. Although the one character I do not like on Gotham is Fish Money (Jada Pinkett Smith). She's just playing it up too much like a villain from "Batman and Robin" or "Batman Forever." Way too over-the-top and campy. But the rest of the main cast is excellent.

Flash and Arrow are both pretty good (NOTE: As I mentioned in my previous post, I am still watching season one of Arrow so maybe things will change when I get into season two that everybody raves about) -- but these CW shows just have a weird teeny-bopper, soap opera style to them that makes them a bit difficult to take very seriously. All the main characters are young and pretty and the sets look kind of cheesey (like a soap opera) and it's all kind of "too fluffy" for my tastes. I know this is the CW style and that they are obviously aiming for the younger demographic, but because of this I see Gotham as a much darker and grittier show with more edge than either Arrow or Flash. But, yeah, I'm kind of struggling to get through season one of Arrow and I watch Flash because it's decent and I want to see where they take it, but I'm not anticipating every new episode with great excitement. I'm a bit more excited about Gotham, but nothing like Walking Dead, which I can't wait to see every week.

You nailed the issue with Arrow. I completely agree. I also agree with you about Fish Mooney. Just something odd, fake, and over-acted about her character. Penguin IS the star of Gotham, so far.