I’ve spent over a decade in digital marketing for celebs, tv and films. I was doing social media before it was called social media and fought to have it taken seriously by clients’ publicists, managers and agents, trying to convince the powers that be of the importance of embracing an audience and doing proper promotion of content, especially online. Now those same companies and people have entire departments dedicated to doing just that.
And now, I’m a screenwriter. So I also fully understand the creative dynamics, the political pressures, the ownership issues and conflict amongst those in charge on what’s best for a character or property. All that being said, I want to say as both a professional and a fan who loves the show and wants to see it succeed as best it can -
The CW is failing Supergirl at the moment. Premiere ratings were up due to the suspense and push around the Kara/Lena drama. But the last 2 episode’s previews have been too sloppy, too quick and focused too much on new people and villains of the week. And ratings are dropping. They need to cut better trailers that focus more on the overall arc, and more heavily on a combo of Kara’s heroism, and yes - Supercorp. But it’s not just a marketing issue. It’s a writing issue as well.
In TV writing, with a procedural (think Grey’s, Chicago, Law & Order), you have what’s called the A, B and C stories within an episode.
A story is the case of the week.
B story is personal stuff.
C story is the overall story arc.
In a serialized show however, like what we see on cable and streaming (Game of Thrones, etc), they simply split A, B and C between the characters and stories to various degrees. And this usually helps produce much higher quality material.
The problem with Supergirl is it’s trying to be something in between, and it used to do it a lot more successfully. But as time has gone on, they’ve lost the right balance on that front. So we see a little bit of Kara being Supergirl solving a problem or fighting a villain, a little bit of her personal issues with Lena and/or at work, and the rest is focused on the supporting characters’ arcs that actually overshadow the above in terms of screen time and creative focus. So what we have are episodes that are all over the place with way too many stories going on at once, jockying for position and costing each of them in the process.
The first 3 episodes of S5 we already have all of the below in a haphazard mix:
Kara and Lena’s drama involving the betrayal and reveal
Leviathan looming in the background
J’onn’s brother being a threat
J’onn struggling with his memories/Martian history
Kelly and Alex’s relationship growth
Kelly targeted and developing a power
Nia/Brainy’s relationship issues
Lena and Hope/Eve experimentation and Lena’s descent
Lena’s conflict with Andrea
Andrea taking over CatCo and conflicting with Kara
William conflicting with Kara
James trying to decide his future
William being up to something that’s tied to Andrea
The development of the new tech and its social effects
Whatever the case/alien of the week is
They really need to streamline things. And above all else, they need to focus on Kara being a superhero AND dealing with her issues (and feelings, ahem) involving Lena. That is where the best, richest plots lie. That should be their A story. The side characters’ dealing with their own relationships and arcs WHILE BACKING SUPERGIRL UP should be the B story. Then the development of the technology/emergence of Leviathan and looming Crisis should be the C story.
And again, as for the marketing - it’s been so sloppy, lazy, and misguided the last couple episodes. Did they really tweet about Kara’s lip color last night? Yes, yes they did.
One of my biggest pet peeves is wasted potential and I feel like they’re really wasting Supergirl’s potential right now. As both a character and a series. And that’s a shame, since if I had to guess, Season 6 may be the last.
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