"Supergirl" is back -- and unemployed!
A few of you wonderful readers may dimly recall that I've long been a fan of "Supergirl" -- which is NOT the piece of schlock superhero idiocy you expect to find in the Vast Wasteland (quoting a long-ago TV observer, Marshall McLuhan).
At the SG show's outset, I was utterly charmed by the actress Calista Flockhart (whom I loved in ABC's "Ally McBeal" 1999-2004), playing a key role in Supergirl's only ABC season in 2015. Alas, SG moved down-market to the "CB" network in 2016 -- I suspect CB couldn't pay Calista's huge salary. In any case, she hasn't acted much since marrying Harrison Ford in 2010.
Missing Calista, I kind of stopped watching it every week -- but keep noticing over the years that it has maintained both its seemingly authentic Superman-derived storyline and strong characters.
Among them are some excellent women: Supergirl's alter-ego, Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist), a news reporter; Alex, her kid-sister (Chyler Leigh); and the sexy Lena Luthor (Irish actress Katie McGrath).
I mention them, frankly, because the show has a lovely lesbian undercurrent. Sister Alex h3ad a several-season love with a lady cop, and newswoman Kara flirts steadily with Lena --supposedly the sister of authentic Superman-nemesis Lex Luthor. Lena is trying to live down Lex's infamy -- when she's not signaling that she really has a black heart to go with her scarlet lipstick.
As it happens, Joanne doesn't care for Supergirl, and I don't like NCIS and its godawful spinoffs -- so we each record our stuff for when the other partner is otherwise engaged. I've been busy lately, hence not yet getting around to the new SG season that launched in October.
So today I watched the first of 5 new episodes -- and I confronted a major plot turn, involving Kara never having told "her" Lena that she, Kara -- secretly -- is SG. I'm sure this odd guilt must be intertwined with Kara evidently lusting after her gal-pal. (In five seasons, the sexual tension is always waxing or waning, or both at the same time.)
I'm also interested in how the whole series deliberately reflects the vicissitudes of our benighted era. The "president" (not named Trump, but clearly him) spent last year attacking human rights and "aliens" (interplanetary ones). In this episode, Kara wins the Pulitzer (yes!) for her reporting during last season on the defeat of the prez and his henchmen.
This year, it turns out, one of Lena's villainous friends buys "CATCO" (a communications conglomerate, which the Calista character created back in 2015, and where Kara works). The new owner creates a massive challenge to her reporters' freedom, given her insatiable search for more viewers. She likes to say stuff like "the [average American's] attention-span has plummeted" -- as she panders to get CATCO lots more eyeballs.
Kara winds up quitting as her reporting is butchered by the new editor; as a result, it seems she cannot work in journalism because of a vicious "non-compete clause" in her CATCO contract.
See -- not your average superhero-type plot-line!
Personally, I'd like Calista to return and oust the new owner -- so maybe the wealthy and semi-retired Mrs. Ford could settle for less money, and DO the needful. Thanks awfully, dear Calista!
At the SG show's outset, I was utterly charmed by the actress Calista Flockhart (whom I loved in ABC's "Ally McBeal" 1999-2004), playing a key role in Supergirl's only ABC season in 2015. Alas, SG moved down-market to the "CB" network in 2016 -- I suspect CB couldn't pay Calista's huge salary. In any case, she hasn't acted much since marrying Harrison Ford in 2010.
Missing Calista, I kind of stopped watching it every week -- but keep noticing over the years that it has maintained both its seemingly authentic Superman-derived storyline and strong characters.
Among them are some excellent women: Supergirl's alter-ego, Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist), a news reporter; Alex, her kid-sister (Chyler Leigh); and the sexy Lena Luthor (Irish actress Katie McGrath).
I mention them, frankly, because the show has a lovely lesbian undercurrent. Sister Alex h3ad a several-season love with a lady cop, and newswoman Kara flirts steadily with Lena --supposedly the sister of authentic Superman-nemesis Lex Luthor. Lena is trying to live down Lex's infamy -- when she's not signaling that she really has a black heart to go with her scarlet lipstick.
As it happens, Joanne doesn't care for Supergirl, and I don't like NCIS and its godawful spinoffs -- so we each record our stuff for when the other partner is otherwise engaged. I've been busy lately, hence not yet getting around to the new SG season that launched in October.
So today I watched the first of 5 new episodes -- and I confronted a major plot turn, involving Kara never having told "her" Lena that she, Kara -- secretly -- is SG. I'm sure this odd guilt must be intertwined with Kara evidently lusting after her gal-pal. (In five seasons, the sexual tension is always waxing or waning, or both at the same time.)
I'm also interested in how the whole series deliberately reflects the vicissitudes of our benighted era. The "president" (not named Trump, but clearly him) spent last year attacking human rights and "aliens" (interplanetary ones). In this episode, Kara wins the Pulitzer (yes!) for her reporting during last season on the defeat of the prez and his henchmen.
This year, it turns out, one of Lena's villainous friends buys "CATCO" (a communications conglomerate, which the Calista character created back in 2015, and where Kara works). The new owner creates a massive challenge to her reporters' freedom, given her insatiable search for more viewers. She likes to say stuff like "the [average American's] attention-span has plummeted" -- as she panders to get CATCO lots more eyeballs.
Kara winds up quitting as her reporting is butchered by the new editor; as a result, it seems she cannot work in journalism because of a vicious "non-compete clause" in her CATCO contract.
See -- not your average superhero-type plot-line!
Personally, I'd like Calista to return and oust the new owner -- so maybe the wealthy and semi-retired Mrs. Ford could settle for less money, and DO the needful. Thanks awfully, dear Calista!