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Greg Berlanti was responsible for the sprawling superhero universe that was created over at CW. While the producer did not have access to heavy hitters in the Justice League like Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman, Berlanti was successful in carving out a universe that was as rich as it was diverse, with characters like The Flash, Supergirl, and Green Arrow.
Berlanti talked to IndieWire about how making these shows trained him for his next venture in CW’s superhero sandbox, which, during the interview, wasBlack Lightning. Given that the producer prepared a lot forBlack Lightning, it was ironic that it became one of the worst-performing shows in CW’s superhero lineup.
Greg Berlanti made superhero shows by removing the superhero tag from them
Speaking withIndieWire,Greg Berlantirevealed how he went about making his superhero shows, and what he had learned about producing such programming for CW. He said:
A few of them would be that the shows have to exist as if they had nothing to do with superheroes as well. What kind of show would it be? What would it be about? What’s the emotional core of the main character and their journey? Inevitably if that stuff isn’t there, everything else feels like noise.
I’d say also, your heroes are only as good as your villains. They have to have a great villain as well to challenge the hero. And to not be afraid to make it as specific as possible
Berlanti put in a lot of effort to flesh out the superhero shows for CW, which functioned as a cohesive multiverse that crossed over annually. However, later series in the franchise likeBatwomanandBlack Lightningfailed to resonate with audiences in the same wayThe FlashandArrowdid.
CW’s focus on superheroes might have been the thing that killed the channel
The CW had a set model that allowed it to focus on a particular type of audience. By focusing on telling supernatural stories aimed at teens, the network was able to generate a lot of watch hours on a shoestring budget. At this stage, given that no other studio or network was providing similar programming, the network was able to get away with its low production value.
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However, the channel decided to commit to the superhero space, and suddenly the choppy effects and shoe-string budget had to compete with the likes of the DCEU and the MCU, along with all the shows that were dominating the streaming services as well. As the production budget and choppy effects became something fans could not tolerate, it was already too late to try and get back the audience that it had lost.
Black Lightningcan be streamed on Netflix.
Anuraag Chatterjee
Content Writer
Articles Published :1633
Anuraag Chatterjee, Web Content WriterWith a passion for writing fiction and non fiction content, Anuraag is a Media Science graduate with 2 year’s experience with Marketing and Content, with 3 published poetry anthologies. Anuraag holds a Bacherlor’s degree in Arts with a focus on Communication and Media Studies.
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Greg BerlantiThe CW
