Update 6/16: The CW has moved up two premiere dates to earlier in the summer! 

Crooner and Tell Me a Story will both premiere earlier than planned. Instead of debuting the fall, the Canadian series and the CBS All Access show will launch Wednesday, August 5 and Tuesday, July 28, respectively. Both will air at 9/8c. 

UK comedy will debut on Tuesday, August 18 at 8/7c. Additionally, The CW acquired four reality shows to fill out the summer lineup including Killer Camp, Being Reuben, Taskmaster, and Fridge Wars. 

Original Post 5/14:

The coronavirus pandemic has affected the television landscape more than we’d like to admit.

Since mid-March, most TV show productions have been shuttered due to the outbreak, and with things so uncertain, it’s unclear when shows will begin filming again. 

Naturally, this affects the upcoming season. 

Many networks have been improvising with FOX revealing a 2020-2021 lineup that revolves heavily around NFL (pending the season returns on time) and animated shows. 

Now, The CW has made a bold move and unveiled their fall 2020-2021 schedule, which reveals that most of its scripted dramas will be pushed back until the spring 2021 TV season. 

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Our fave shows won’t be returning until 2021. All the info at CraveYouTV.com! #thecw #fall2020 #tv #coronavirus

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The network is filling the schedule with completed series’ and streaming shows like Swamp Thing and Tell Me a Story, acquired from DC Universe and CBS All Access, respectively, to fill in the gaps. International shows Dead Pixels and Coroner will also fill out the schedule. 

The only new series airing will be the final episodes, which were finalized prior to COVID-19, of Supernatural. 

Peep the [updated in late June] schedule below:

Sunday

• 8/7c pm: Two Sentence Horror Stories
• 9/8c pm: Pandora

Monday:

• 8/7c: Whose Line Is It Anyway? (two episodes)
• 9/8c: Penn & Teller: Fool Us

Tuesday:

• 8/7c: Swamp Thing
• 9/8c: Tell Me a Story

Wednesday:

• 8/7c pm: Devils (Patrick Dempsey drama)
• 9 pm: Coroner

Thursday:

• 8/7c: Supernatural (final season)
• 9/8c: The Outpost

Friday:

• 8/7c pm: Masters of Illusion
• 9/8c pm: World’s Funniest Animals

All scripted dramas including Riverdale, Nancy Drew, Batwoman, Legacies, and more will be held until January 2021. This include new series orders for Superman and Louis and Jared Padelecki’s Walker, Texas Ranger spinoff. 

This means that Supergirl, Dynasty, Roswell, New Mexico, and Katy Keene (pending a season 2 order) will likely be held till the spring TV season likely debuting sometime in May. 

Check out that schedule below:

Sunday:

• 8/7c: Batwoman
• 9/8c: Charmed

Monday:

• 8/7c: All American
• 9/8c: Black Lightning

Tuesday:

• 8/7c: The Flash
• 9/8c: Superman & Lois

Wednesday:

• 8/7c: Riverdale
• 9/8c: Nancy Drew

Thursday:

• 8/7c: Walker
• 9/8c: Legacies

Friday:

• 8/7c: Penn and Teller: Fool Us
• 9/8c: Whose Line Is It Anyway?

The Arrowverse spinoff Green Arrow and the Canaries and an untitled The 100 prequel are awaiting a decision. 

The CW also ordered the Kung Fu reboot and The Republic of Sarah.

When the Golden Age superhero group the Justice Society of America (JSA) falls, their leader Starman (Joel McHale) passes his Cosmic Staff to his sidekick Pat Dugan (Luke Wilson) to find a rightful successor.

Ten years later, Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger), Dugan’s stepdaughter accidentally discovers the staff and activates its dormant powers.

Will she be able to take up the mantle of Stargirl?

Executive producer Geoff Johns, the highly esteemed DC comic book writer responsible for renowned storylines such as the Flashpoint crossover event, created the character Stargirl to honor his late sister Courtney.

Stargirl who debuted in the first issue of Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. in 1999 has been a relative fixture in DC Comics, and boasts membership in several superhero teams including the JSA, Young Justice, Suicide Squad and the Justice League itself.

Johns’ treatment of the character has always had a personal skew for him, but he has always done it with respect to the integrity of DC lore, and this is what makes Stargirl as a show most intriguing – Johns knows the source material by heart.

Therefore, he will likely pour his heart into this project.

Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E. had a cameo on the hit series Justice League Unlimited.

During the pilot episode, nods to the comic book were littered from the beginning with the Golden Age JSA battling to the death with the Injustice Society, and it ends with a teaser for Dugan’s superhero persona/robot armor S.T.R.I.P.E. (Special Tactics Robotic Integrated Power Enhancer).

McHale’s brief performance as Starman was particularly notable as he reluctantly hands Wilson’s character his staff.

As Starman falls in battle in the arms of Dugan, he asks him to find a worthy successor while comically reiterating “Definitely not you.”

For over ten years, Dugan was either unsuccessful or unwilling to impart the powerful relic from his dead friend to another, and this begins the story of Stargirl.

The show is set in the fictional Blue Valley, Nebraska where Dugan along with his son Mike (Trae Romano), wife Barbara Whitemore (Amy Smart), and stepdaughter Courtney move from California to look for a fresh start as a family.

The cinematography and soundtrack of the show elicit an old-timey vibe when the scene shifts to Nebraska, and it’s reminiscent of Marty McFly going back in time on Back to the Future.

There’s even a great scene highlighting the difference in culture between California and Nebraska when the Whitemore-Dugans walk around town, and people greet them with a smile.

As Mike and Courtney are bewildered by what they see as odd behavior from strangers, Dugan and Barbara reply plainly, “They’re just being friendly.”

When the step-siblings have their first-days at school, Mike integrates among the nerdy click fairly well, and claims they have more time for video games because there’s nothing to do in Nebraska.

Meanwhile, Courtney struggles as she finds out there is no gymnastics team, and she quickly finds herself on the “loser” table with a bully immediately picking on her.

The new high school scenes are as cliche’ as they come, and is a far too familiar a trope as any, but it’s the pilot so it’s a forgivable bit for now.

As it turns out, the bully Henry (Jake Austin Walker) is the son of Dr. Henry King, Sr. / Brainwave (Christopher James Baker), and Courtney encounters both after inadvertently awakening the Cosmic Staff.

Moreover, this version of the Cosmic Staff has limited sentience, similar to Doctor Strange’s Cloak of Levitation in the 2016 film, and is a unique trait that’s never been used in past incarnations.

Courtney Whitemore (Brec Bassinger) holds the Cosmic Staff for the first time. STARGIRL / The CW.

Where will the show go moving forward?

The main drive of the Stargirl character has always been to bring the glory of the JSA back to contemporary times, and during the pilot, the pieces of the story were put into place with an enjoyable tone.

Luke Wilson brings his comedic chops to support the fresh face of Brec Bassinger as a teenage female superhero lead, which is uncharted territory for the most part.

The chemistry between Wilson and Bassinger is already filled with humor and heart, and it’s a stepfather-daughter relationship that could be interesting to watch as it evolves.

However, the teenage demographic might be a tough audience to crack since there is a myriad of shows available on several streaming services already, and though there is a place for teenage superheroes, based on the recent successes of Young Justice, Titans, and Cloak and Dagger, Stargirl could be lost in the shuffle.

Because unlike those aforementioned shows, Stargirl, relatively speaking is less dark, less mature, and seems a bit too old-fashioned, which is exactly the point of the character in the first place, and it could either work for or against the show’s success.

VERDICT: Probably not worth streaming – for now.

Stargirl seems to want to pay homage to the Golden Age of Comic Books, and in doing so has set itself apart from other contemporary teenage drama shows that seem to always want to subvert expectations and desecrate long-standing sacred source material – looking at you Riverdale and Titans.

The problem is though, it plays like a familiar movie we’ve all seen a million times, and is it worth seeing the same movie again over the course of a series-long narrative?

True, the characters are relatively new to the average viewer, but the encompassing premise is simply not.

Nevertheless, Geoff Johns’ personal pet project started off well, its cinematography is excellent, and has definitely done the source material justice (pun intended).

In the meantime, unless you’re a fan of the comic or simply want to support a likely groundbreaking female teenage superhero lead of our time, then streaming Stargirl might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Kara and Lena are reunited in the season finale, “Immortal Kombat.” Will they be enough to stop Lex and Leviathan’s evil plans?

In the previous episode of Supergirl, Lena realizes too late that she’s on the wrong side of the fight, and goes to Kara to seek redemption.

However, her involvement with Lex, and by extension Leviathan, with her Non-Necere project has put her former-BFF and herself at a disadvantage.

Meanwhile, Brainy still insists on going along with Lex’s plans, even though Lex clearly has no sympathy for anyone but himself.

And Alex, Dreamer, the Martians and the rest of Supergirl’s squad standby to defend against Leviathan’s plans.

As far as season finales go, the execution of Supergirl’s finale this season is as safe as it gets.

It’s not necessarily bad, but given the build-up from the previous episodes, it just came off as too safe and ultimately became almost boring and predictable.

First off, the grand lesson or theme that the show has been exploring with the virtual reality bit of Obsidian did not feel as high stakes as they intended it to be.

While it’s true that the ideology behind it is intriguing.

Namely, that people would rather escape into a fantasy world where everything is perfect and no pain or suffering can befall you, instead of living in the “real” world where life is messy and chaotic.

(Which does sound extremely appealing considering the condition the world is in right now)

But despite the extremely poignant and superbly relevant topic that the show has been trying to wrestle with all season, they fell short in achieving a true payoff.

To no fault of her own, Melissa Benoist, unfortunately, becomes central in how the show finished on a flat note this season.

The scene where she goes into the Obsidian virtual reality and basically “hope speeches” 2 billion people to end their simulation seems utterly preposterous.

Though the speech was magnificent, as expected from Benoist’s execution coupled with excellent inspirational quote-like writing, it simply did not drive home the point because it just wasn’t convincing.

There was no real argument made against the benefits of going on virtual reality to ease one’s pain.

Because essentially, what Kara’s poorly conceived argument boils down to was:

Living in a fantasy world is not good for you, so get out because you’re in danger, and go deal with the pain of the real world, please?

It’s a lackluster paraphrasing on my part, but I for one, do not find that line of argument convincing, so how would it work on 2 billion different people?

Nevertheless, Supergirl and her team are able to save the world again.

Despite the implausible scenario regarding Obsidian, however, there were elements of this episode that were quite enjoyable.

The fight scene between the Leviathan aliens, including Rama Khan, versus the Martians, Dreamer, and Alex was a visual spectacle that spared no extravagance.

As far as special effects for a television show goes, this was as decent as they come.

Unfortunately, when it was all over, the fighting seemed pointless because the good guys won almost too easily, and the idea that the Leviathan aliens were “gods” was not vindicated at all.

Yes, as the title suggests they were shown to be “immortal,” but the way they were defeated by Brainy seemed almost too convenient as well.

As for Brainy, he was billed as making the ultimate sacrifice at the early part of the episode, and all he had to suffer through was an alien radiation-induced headache for 10 minutes?

On a positive note, we get to see Brainy’s comic-book-inspired blonde hair again.

BRAINY: “I don’t want to die alone.”

SHOW WRITERS:

Dreamer even dreams of Brainy suffering, but he survives anyway, and Lex just takes the device he used to defeat Leviathan as a trophy for his personal use.

This is another poorly executed payoff because Lex and Brainy, who both possess supposed “12th-level intellect,” seem to become too emotional and careless in the most crucial moments and “miscalculate” each other.

Lex underestimates Brainy’s loyalty to his friends, and Brainy underestimates Lex’s ego.

In the end, they simply canceled each other out.

In short, Lena’s help in providing Kara another Anti-Kryptonite suit proved key to helping the team fend off and ultimately defeat Lex and Leviathan’s plans with Obsidian.

However, the episode ends in a cliffhanger as it’s revealed that Gemma answers to a higher power, and Lex is not done with the next phase of his plans.

And somehow, it involves his mother getting involved in her dirty work once more.

Too bad the show had to prematurely end this season because it would have been awesome to see where these new plot points would have gone.

But for now, they can serve as tasty teasers for next season’s storyline.

ELSEWORLDS:

• Alex Danvers debuts her “vigilante” costume, and it has an homage vibe to the Green Arrow’s costume, but with Alex’s personal spin.
• Eve Tessmacher is reunited with her mother, so she’s no longer a viable blackmail target for Lex.
• William lives to fight another day but is still oblivious to Kara/Supergirl’s dual identity.
• Andrea Rojas was “awakened” by Leviathan to try to assassinate Supergirl, but Lena successfully stops her with a hug, so that’s nice.

VERDICT:

Though this season finale left much to be desired, it did deliver a number of decent thrills, drama, and superhero versus supervillain action.

The good guys won, for now, but no real high stakes situation was ever conveyed.

And none of the characters had to make a heroic sacrifice.

Pretty much the highlight centered around Kara and Lena’s relationship getting repaired, and the potential trouble Lex and Leviathan will hatch up next season.

“Immortal Kombat” scores a

7.0 / 10.0