The Flash v. Supergirl: 

Why one works and the other not so much

As we march head on into a new era in viewing habits, we've come a long way when television first started out. Back then, the networks were described as the Big Three, NBC, CBS and ABC. It didn't mater what was one, just as long as something was on the television and you had sets of eyeballs watching. At it's zenith, the most watched broadcast show of all times was M.A.S.H. When it CBS aired the finale that garnered 125 million viewers. Roots, from ABC, had 100 million people watching. The farewell appearance of Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show garnered 50 million and the finale to Everybody Loves Raymond at 33 million people watching. Each one of these programs had a respective ranking of #1, #2, #8 and #15. But that is history now. With cable and streaming television the territory has opened up more but at a cost to the ratings, the life blood to any show. And it's that life blood that Supergirl has found itself in. When the program first debut, it held a promise of better things to come on a variety of levels. Alas, the hype didn't live up to the expectations and the reality. Every week, the numbers plunged but then, for a brief crossover moment, the numbers stabilized thanks to The Flash. And once that was over, the erosion continued. So, why does The Flash works and Supergirl does not? Let's take a closer look.

THE FLASH

Character Development:

Barry Allen, mild mannered guy who gets exposed to radiation from a particle accelerator and zapped by lightning and becomes The Flash. His back story is that of seeing his mother gt murdered and his father being accused of that murder and is sent to prison for the crime. Barry is raised in the home of Joe West, a detective, along with Joe's daughter, Iris. Barry is the de facto leader to Team Flash.

Cisco Ramon, eccentric tech head with plenty of nerd cred and he doesn't take himself too seriously even when things get serious. Cisco too has been exposed to the accelerator and discovered that he has powers. Cisco is also the one who names the meta-humans. Cisco is the comic relief to Team Flash.

Iris West is the unrequited love of Barry's. She gives Barry's life a balance and a port to call home. She is essentially the heart to Team Flash.

Caitlin Snow is a scientist. She wants to see the good in all people including the meta-humans because at one point, they were humans first. She is sometimes backed into a corner and have to do what she has to do in order to survive but that doesn't mean she feels a sense of loss to her humanity. She is the brains to Team Flash.

Joe West is a detective and an authority figure. He's respected by his peers, colleagues and with the members of Team Flash. Without even realizing it, Joe is the one they turn to for approval. Even though Barry has a father, Joe is the predominate alpha male figure for Barry and he remains the father figure to Team Flash.

Harrison Wells is a scientist who was bad in the first season of The Flash and now the Earth 2 Wells in a not so bad guy with an agenda. He's lost in his world dealing with the demons to his life. He has a daughter that he' trying to protect but it comes with a cost as well. What he does to protect her is dealt with shades of gray. The price that he pays is the relationships he has with Team Flash. He is the aggravating sand to the pearl with team Flash.

SUPERGIRL

Character Development:

Kara Danvers is Supergirl. She is a mousy woman in a grownup world. She lacks all types of confidence that is demonstrated by the way she dresses. She doesn't dress for success she dresses for convenience. She only becomes Supergirl after finding out her adoptive sister is a a plane that develops mechanical trouble. She is given her name by Cat Grant and that becomes a point of contention when the use of “girl” is applied rather than woman. And why the skirt as part of the costume? Superman doesn't have the briefs anymore so why does Supergirl still sporting the skirt? Why couldn't it been a one piece like Superman? And she also has this puppy dog expression on her face and deals with everything her Kara persona confronts with that droop dog look. Like Tony Stark says, I just want to punch in your perfect teeth just to get that expression off your face.

Alex Danvers is an agent for some subversive alien hunter task force. Her parents adopted Kara when she arrived on earth. She's a kick ass woman on paper bt you really don't get a sense of self with her. After watching this program for a while, you don't really have any depth with her other than she's this agent doing her job. She has no love life to speak of, just rounding up and fighting bad aliens.

James Olsen is a photojournalist. He fills out a room but he's not an imposing character. He is subdued because they wrote him this way. He is a weak character who is kept in his lane. I have yet to see this character develop a backbone when dealing with interpersonal stuff.

Cat Grant is the media mogul. She is a cardboard cutout from the Devil Wears Prada CEO and is a one dimensional caricature of every so called powerful in media.. Here is a woman who doesn't bother knowing the names of her employees. She berates them on their clothing, she intentionally mispronounce the names of her employees and she doesn't bother even associating with her employees. If you were running a corporation, you would have a vested interest to get to know who these people are. I would have preferred that Cat Grant would be trying to run a struggling media empire in an ever changing landscape of newspaper and magazine consolidation and closing. Right now, she's a frosty cold woman with no redeeming value who's only interest is to herself and her coffee lattes.

Winn Schott is another emasculated male on this show but he knew that going in. He offers very little in the way of character development. You have no confidence with him because it's clearly written that he is not suppose to gt the girl in the end, even when they gave him a love interest.

Hank Henshaw us the Martian Manhunter and who would have thought that they could emasculate a Martian but they did. They humanized him to the point where he is subservient to Kara when she believes it was him who killed her aunt. What made that particular transaction deplorable was when it was reveal that it was Alex who killed the aunt and Kara's attitude changed.

Lucy Lane is sister to Lois Lane. She's military and serves no other purpose other than as Jimmy Olsen's one time girlfriend. There is nothing much to her except that she serves as an obstacle between James and Kara and that's it. The character brings nothing to the role not even in a military capacity. If she is written as nothing more than a prop for the other characters then she is not being served well.

THE FLASH

Bad Guys:

Did someone say ManShark? The Flash has a robust line up of first tier bad guys, second tier bad guys and third tier bad guys. ManShark is classified as a third tier bad guy devoted to no more than three quick scenes. The first tier bad guys are the ones with the continued story arc. The first season was the yellow Flash, Leonard Snart and Mick Rory. You are vested in these characters because they are so fully developed as to what motivates them and more. The story arc with the yellow Flash was compelling and intense that led up to an exciting conclusion. The current bad guy with a story arc is Zoom. He is from Earth 2 and he has brought more bad guys with him that are more capable of doing damage than the ones on Earth 2.

SUPERGIRL

Bad Guys:

Supergirl's bad guys are aliens and regular people. The aliens are not that interesting as are the regular bad guys. With the exception of Supergirls's aunt. The bad guys have been tepid. One bad guy was a robot who looked like he came from the box of a 60's era Mattel toy. The audience reaction was very vocal. Another bad guy was one who had a modified suit that gave him abilities that took Supergirl to task by handing her ass to her and she lost that fight when she lost consciousness. When she came to and found out that Superman came to her aid, she was not appreciative. Instead of being thankful and appreciative, we were met with consternation and vitriol from Supergirl as she took offense to the rescue. She brought up being a woman and blah, blah, blah, feminism rant. It had gotten to be so bad that they had Superman apologizing for being Superman. Even he couldn't be the Man of Steel, he was shamed into becoming the Man of Guilt. This isn't the first time this show has brought up the issue with gender. Men, overall, is the silent bad guy in Supergirl. They have made a point to bring up a lot of discussion about being a woman in this society. We get it and we got it from the first time it was brought up but they keep pounding on this horse until it just collapse under the weight of the rhetoric. This is one of the reason why this show is not succeeding. Even women who've watched this show have made the observation on this point. It's gotten to the point where you either tune it out or turn it off.

THE FLASH

Romance/Bromance:

Iris West and Barry Allen have a destiny. It was much very much prophesied with the first Harrison Well and in the Earth 2 story, they were married. As we watch this relationship starting to flower, it's been a nice build up towards it. There is chemistry that is being built on a foundation of trust. They've both had other people in their lives and have grown from the heartache that will eventually define where this relationship will end up. In a recent survey, fans have become comfortable with this version of Iris West and have voiced their opposition to having her substituted if this was to become a feature film.

The bromance is between Cisco and Barry and Joe. These are the kind of guys who would be comfortable drinking beers and have fart contest while setting them on fire. They've been through a lot together and seen each other at the best and at their worst. They should at least have an episode dedicated to just them doing something fun but eventually having to rescue each other because a new big bad has shown up.

SUPERGIRL

Romance/Bromance:

Jimmy Olsen was in a relationship with Lucy Lane. You never really bought it, the two of them were like oil and water, never finding the right mix. They ended it because Lucy suspected that Jimmy had feelings for Kara. The writers of this show is wanting to convince the viewers that Jimmy and Kara should be together but there lies another problem, it's not a good blend. In fact, everybody on that show should never be in a relationship. There is no chemistry with anyone on this show, everybody should be just friends.

Bromance doesn't exist in this universe. Winn and Jimmy never hang out unless Kara is in the mix. They share nothing in common other than work. You don't know anything about these guys outside of work. What are their hobbies, do they like sports, movies, social media, you just don't know and that is sad. This is another factor against the writers for keeping these characters one dimensional.

SUMMATION

There was a recent article of DC and Marvel shows on the air right now ranging from ten being at the lowest rank and one at the top rank. Supergirl came in at number nine and The Flash came in at number one. The episode where The Flash crossed over into Supergirl's earth was a good thing for Supergirl's ratings but you can't have The Flash keep crossing over to boost the shows flagging ratings. That isn't a fix. There is also talk that Supergirl might move to the CW and be a part of the Greg Berlanti empire since he as The Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow and The Flash on that network. I don't know if that will work because Supergirl is froth with problems. You started off rooting for this show but it's turned into something completely different. Might I suggest, keep the cape, lose the skirt and the feminism slant.