Why
The CW Needs The Green Arrow
Written
by Craig
Byrne
KryptonSite Webmaster
Hopefully
by the time you are reading this, the months-long
writers' strike will have concluded with a good
and fair deal to the writers, and that everyone
will soon be back to work and producing more
television. The writers' strike may have some
further affects, however. In addition to shutting
down all current production, most networks'
"pilot seasons" - when new shows are
being created for possible inclusion on their
Fall schedules - will be short if not nonexistent.
The
CW, however, does have a trick arrow up their
sleeves - should they choose to use it. That
gimmick is Oliver Queen, better known as the
emerald archer, the Green Arrow. The recent
success of "Siren" should rekindle
this idea.
Some
Background
Last
year, especially following the huge ratings
for the episode "Justice," there had
been serious talk about moving Oliver and his
"nascent Justice League" into their
own series. Many of the folks involved with
Smallville already seemed enthusiastic
about the idea, and the character of the Green
Arrow had quite a following. Unfortunately,
there were some stumbling blocks. Getting the
individual rights to all of those characters
for a team-up show seemed difficult; but also,
it seemed The CW was uninterested in another
super-hero show. They passed on Aquaman
a year before, despite its being a top seller
on iTunes. Instead, their debut season included
such winners as an 11th season of 7th Heaven
and a series called Runaway that lasted
less than a month.
In
this column, I will list fifteen reasons why
The CW should really reconsider the idea of
giving G.A. his own show. Here they are....
1.
Season 8 will probably be Smallville's
last.
Now, an eighth season is not yet confirmed at
this point, but you've seen the ratings for
other CW shows - a Season 8 is pretty inevitable.
Some actors - such as Tom Welling, Erica Durance,
and John Glover - are said to be contracted
for an eighth year should there be one, and
it is likely that others will sign new contracts
as well to continue. But after that, there is
the question of how many years of a series about
"a boy becoming a [super]man" can
last.
The
show seems to be very profitable, so when better
than the show's final year to use it as a spring-board
to something new and hopefully equally long-lasting?
A Smallville/Green Arrow night might
also yield very high ratings for the network,
priming Green Arrow to take Smallville's
slot once the series meets its end.
(Supernatural
fans, don't worry - I'm not forgetting you!
Read on...)
2.
No worries about casting.
The CW clearly knows they have a star in Justin
Hartley, even though they didn't pick Aquaman
up. Justin was cast in a sitcom titled 8
Days A Week which may never air at this
point, and The CW also had him lined up for
another pilot last year. But Justin's most popular
role this side of Fox Crane is that of the Green
Arrow - so, right from the onset the show would
have its star. Not a bad deal, eh?
3.
The Green Arrow is already popular.
At the Comic-Con International in San Diego
last year, I overheard people saying that they
only were watching Smallville in Season
Six for the Green Arrow (not to dismiss the
work of anyone else, mind you). It seems that
most of the reviews for the Green Arrow were
overwhelmingly positive, with the only complaints
about the character being from fans who did
not like that he seemed to be taking away from
the show's main character - Clark - in Season
Six.
However,
with his own show to explore the Green Arrow
would not be stepping over someone else's series,
and instead the character's rich backstory could
be further explored.
4.
Some of the sets are already built.
Hey, CW - here's another way you can save money
- Oliver Queen's penthouse already exists! Now,
if the show were to move to Star City, home
of the Green Arrow, surely they could just remodel
the existing set a little bit.
5.
Instant supporting cast.
Not only could a Green Arrow series continue
to explore the mythology and "world"
set out by Smallville... the parent series
has also introduced some people who would make
great supporting characters or co-stars for
his show.
First
and most important, of course, is Black Canary.
Alaina Huffman did a great job in her debut
in that role, and a Green Arrow series could
focus a bit on the formation of their relationship.
There's also someone else that I'd recommend
for such a show, should it prove popular, and
that is....
6.
Erica Durance as Lois Lane.
Assuming that Clark goes off on his journey
to see the world at Smallville's end....
what would Lois Lane do? It's simple... once
Smallville is over, she could hop on
to a Green Arrow show for its second
season, and cause some waves in any possible
Green Arrow/Black Canary romance. As a bonus,
she and Justin Hartley have incredible chemistry;
the creators have considered spinning her off
before; and Oliver/Dinah/Lois would feed into
the whole "love triangles" thing that
the CW (and the Smallville creators)
seem to love oh so much.
Appearances
from other Smallville characters, or
crossing over, really wouldn't hurt, either.
Surely Oliver wouldn't forget his perky blonde
"watchtower" sidekick, now would he?
The Luthors would also make for a welcome presence.
There's also the matter of Smallville's
newest character, Kara aka Supergirl... surely
anyone who's seen the Green Arrow/Supergirl
team-ups in Justice League Unlimited
would agree that would make for a great live-action
pairing.
7.
The Heroes Factor.
Heroes
has been a big hit for NBC by giving us heroic
characters with super powers but no costumes
or anything like that. To keep itself different,
Green Arrow could not only be giving
us costumes and super-heroic action, but it'd
be populated with characters you've actually
heard of! Admit it, seeing Cyborg and Impulse
in live action cooler than Maya and Alejandro
ANY day. That wouldn't be without its challenges,
however: Not only would there be rights/legal
issues to sort out with individual characters...
there would also be the challenge of creating
villains on par with Smallville's Lex
or Heroes' Sylar.
(This
is in no way knocking Heroes... I'm just
saying that a show with established characters
should do very well considering that original
characters on that show have been so popular.)
There
is the counter-argument that a show like Birds
of Prey failed. Birds failed
because, frankly, the show had no consistent
"vision" and a lot of it was played
for camp... even though there were some writers
on staff who went on to do better things, and
the cast was pretty good... whereas the Green
Arrow as presented on Smallville already
has a rich backstory.
Heroes
has proven that people could really warm up
to on-screen heroes, as has Smallville
for years before that even premiered - and the
success of films such as Spider-Man, X-Men
and Batman Begins also shows that people
will watch this stuff if it's well done.
Also
take into account that those who have driven
the Smallville ship have managed to create
something that has been popular for seven years.If
anyone could definitely create something that
could sustain its popularity for a few years,
it's them, provided the network itself lasts
that long.
8.
He matches the color scheme.
If the CW insists on keeping that ugly-ugly
green logo thing, at least here's a character
who wears clothing that matches that stuff.
9.
Ratings.
"Justice" was one of the highest-rated
episodes on The CW, EVER. When "Siren"
aired, it was in the middle of everyone thinking
that all shows were on strike, AND there wasn't
even a trailer aired after the previous Smallville
episode; yet, it still improved by hundreds
of thousands of viewers over the previous week.
Here's
what the CW had to say about the ratings for
"Siren," in a press release: "SMALLVILLE
(1.8/5) achieved double-digit growth over last
week among Persons and Males 18-34, 18-49 and
12-34 and Households (2.7/4, +13%), including
a +24% gain in M18-34 (2.1/7). Plus, the drama
ranked #2 in the competitive 8pm hour and #4
(tied) for the night overall with M18-34."
These are the kinds of numbers the network should
crave every week.
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10.
A weekly action/adventure series would
be a lot of fun.
An action/adventure hero like the Green
Arrow would be appealing to the guys watching,
and then the casting of Justin Hartley
would be eye candy for the ladies. It'd
be a win-win situation.
11.
The Smackdown factor.
It has been recently announced that WWE
Smackdown! and The CW will be parting
ways. So what will that do to the hit-deprived
CW schedule, as they'll now have yet another
night to fill with programming and no
real pilots in development for the Fall?
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So,
have a Smallville/Green Arrow night,
and let Supernatural share a different
night of the week with its logical companion
show, Reaper. Supernatural seems to have
a loyal following that will go anywhere with
it; Reaper has seriously suffered from
being paired with bad reality shows. They'd
go together well!
12.
DVD sales.
If The CW were to order even six episodes of
a Green Arrow series to try it out, those
would sell well on DVD, no matter how successful
the show is on the air. One needs to only point
to the success of Aquaman on iTunes to
know there's demand for this sort of thing.
13.
A loyal fanbase.
If this show could keep the millions of viewers
Smallville gets every week, they'd be in very
good shape. Fortunately, Justin Hartley's Green
Arrow should be up to the challenge.
14.
It would save us from that "Green Arrow
in Prison" movie.
Hopefully a successful Green Arrow TV series
would make cooler heads prevail at the Warner
Bros. movie studio so they'll spare us from
Super Max.
15.
What else could they put on?
A second season of Life is Wild, to see
if they can top their record-breaking lows?
More CW Now? Crowned II? I think this
might just be what the CW needs.
And
there you have it - fifrteen reasons why I think
the CW needs the Green Arrow now more than ever.
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