CW set's an 'Arrow' spin-off 'The Flash', 'Supernatural' is doing one as well

With the CW unable, unwilling or just not really caring to bring Wonder Women to their network after years of development, they have decided to bring The Flash to Arrow and then spin him off into a series for 2014-15 TV season. 

Barry Allen will debut on Arrow’s eighth and ninth episode this season and then again in the twentieth before (hopefully) landing a spin-off for the fall of next year.  With Amazon stuck in Developmental Hell, it seems odd that Arrow, created by Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, would add a super powered hero to their show, after saying (taking a page from Smallville) that their series would not have anyone with superpowers. 

But apparently, The Flash was Berlanti’s favorite character when he was growing up. And this origin story, told in the three episodes, will be “grounded and realistic as possible,” said Kreisberg at the TCA’s happening in Pasadena this week. “That’s how we’ll get to know him. Then his life will get a bit faster.” The surrounding characters in Arrow will react to Allen “in a very realistic way,” noting that they “won’t be treated as commonplace on the show but as extraordinary events.” Kreisberg added: “It will be fun for the audience to see how we do our take on The Flash’s powers. Some will feel very familiar to those who know the comics, and other stuff will feel different yet fresh and exciting.”

Meanwhile, Berlanti noted, “That said, he does need powers to become The Flash. And he will be The Flash. He will wear a red costume, and he will go by that name.”

Berlanti, Kriesberg and series writer Geoff Johns will write all three episodes of The Flash arc and David Nutter, who helmed Arrow’s pilot episode, will do the same for episode 20.

Meanwhile, another CW series is mounting a long gestating spin-off. Supervising producer Andrew Dadd will write an episode for Supernatural that will also be a backdoor pilot for a potential series that will air in the spring. While in the early stages of development –no title, or cast-, this spin-off will not be as wide roaming as the mothership, instead it will focus on a clashing hunter and monster culture of Chicago (I wonder if it’ll film in Toronto, which many say shares many similarities with Chicago). So it sounds like it could be the Deep Space Nine of this franchise, where the bad guys come to the heroes instead of them searching for them.

'Glee' star Cory Monteith 1982-2013

Cory Monteith may not have been the strongest singer on Glee, but what he lacked there, he shined in other places, in particular his ability to shift easily from dumb jock to lovelorn Finn in one of the shows few center pieces, the on/off again relationship with Rachel. 

I started to give up on Glee after season two, though I continued to watch it through season three. When FOX moved the show opposite the ones I watched on NBC Thursday for its fourth year, I almost never watched it. But on occasion, I would get caught up in the show if I was flipping channels. 

Part of the reason was I left the show was –even in the hyper-reality that is all TV series- because it had stepped away from its premise. Season one’s struggles of Kurt coming out, of Finn’s love for Rachel, despite (what I felt anyway) her really not seemly to care; nothing was going to stop her from going to New York and Broadway, and how bully Puck became the man he is destined to be was central to that season, along with other great stories. By season two and three, the show moved away from some of these character-centric ideas and became more story driven. 

Still, while I believe Kurt and his coming out, his relationship with Blaine remains the series heart, the soul of the show solely belongs to Monteith and his unique ability to keep the show and Finn firmly planted in reality –something the show in its current incarnation needs desperately. Some will say he was never a strong actor either, but I would disagree with that. He clearly had a talent that made you frustrated with Finn and his naivety about his love for Rachel. The fact that the producers never made it creepy was perhaps because of Monteith. Just look at his performance from season 4’s The Break Up episode where he finally and sadly realizes that Rachel had moved past him. It was a terrific, grounded accomplishment from an underrated actor.

His death leaves a big hole in the series for season five, which will soon go back into production –though this tragedy may delay that, as well, perhaps, the season opener which is scheduled for September 19. And even though Finn had graduated, Monteith was still a main cast member. I have faith that the producers and writers of the show will do an appropriate tribute to Cory Monteith, and perhaps in doing so, bring the shows concept back to the reality that made season one of the show its best.

As for Monteith’s family, his friends and fellow cast members of Glee, I send my condolences. It is always sad when addiction wins, and you want to hit someone, or something, just to understand the reasons why it does. But life, as always, is fragile and at times, unfair. Love sometimes is not enough to keep people from the grip of addiction. And that, in the end, is saddest part of all.