Supergirl (TV Series)

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Supergirl
Title card for the second season
Genre	Superhero Action Adventure Drama Science fiction
Based on	Characters  by Jerry Siegel Joe Shuster
Developed by	Greg Berlanti Ali Adler Andrew Kreisberg
Starring	Melissa Benoist Mehcad Brooks Chyler Leigh Jeremy Jordan David Harewood Calista Flockhart Chris Wood Floriana Lima
Composer(s)	Blake Neely
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	39 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Sarah Schechter Ali Adler Andrew Kreisberg Greg Berlanti Robert Rovner
Producer(s)	Michael Grassi Ted Sullivan Michael Cedar Larry Teng Glen Winter Raymond Quinlan
Location	Los Angeles, California (season 1) Vancouver, British Columbia (season 2)
Cinematography	Michael Barrett David Stockton Jeffery C. Mygatt Shamus Whiting-Hewett
Editor(s)	Andi Armaganian Barbara Gerard Harry Jierjian
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	45 minutes
Production company(s)	Berlanti Productions DC Entertainment Warner Bros. Television
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network	CBS (season 1) The CW (season 2)
Picture format	HDTV 1080i
Audio format	Dolby Digital 5.1
Original release	October 26, 2015 – present
External links

Supergirl is an American superhero action-adventure drama television series developed by Ali Adler, Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg (the latter two having previously created Arrow and The Flash) that originally aired on CBS and premiered on October 26, 2015. It is based on the DC Comics character Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, and stars Melissa Benoist in the title role. Supergirl is a costumed superheroine who is the cousin to Superman and one of the last surviving Kryptonians.

The series was officially picked up on May 6, 2015, after receiving a series commitment in September 2014, and received a full season order on November 30, 2015. On May 12, 2016, Warner Bros. announced that the series had been renewed for a second season and that it would move from CBS to The CW. It debuted on October 10, 2016. On January 8, 2017, The CW renewed the show for a third season.

[edit] Series overview

Main article: List of Supergirl episodes

Kara Zor-El was sent to Earth from the doomed planet Krypton as a 13-year-old by her parents Zor-El and Alura. Kara was meant to protect her infant cousin Kal-El. Kara's spacecraft was knocked off course by a shock wave from Krypton's explosion and forced into the Phantom Zone, where it stayed for 24 years. When the spacecraft eventually escaped the Phantom Zone, she was still a 13-year-old girl. By the time the spacecraft crash landed on Earth, Kal-El had grown up and become Superman. Superman takes Kara to be adopted by his friends, the Danvers family. The series begins eleven years later when the now 24-year-old Kara is learning to embrace her powers.

In the first season, Kara Danvers becomes Supergirl. Having hid her powers for more than a decade, Kara is forced to reveal her powers to thwart an unexpected disaster. She becomes National City's protector. Kara discovers that hundreds of the criminals her mother prosecuted as a judge on Krypton are hiding on Earth, including her mother's twin sister Astra and Astra's husband Non, who seek to rule the world. After briefly becoming suspicious of the true agenda of her boss, Hank Henshaw, she and her adoptive sister, Alex Danvers, secretly discover that Henshaw is actually benevolent Green Martian refugee J'onn J'onzz, who assumes Henshaw's identity some fifty years after escaping a holocaust on Mars. He infiltrated the DEO to reform the organization and keep watch over Kara. Over the course of the season, Kara is targeted by criminals as the result of connection to Superman, and encounters an emerging community of metahumans, as well as people from parallel universes. She is aided by a few close friends and family who guard her secrets – most significantly her cousin's longtime friend, James Olsen and tech genius Winn Schott.

In the second season, Kara and her allies, including her cousin Superman, deal with feuds between Earth's native populace and extraterrestrial community, and investigate conspiracies against both parties from enemies such as the shadowy organization Project Cadmus, masterminded by Lillian Luthor, mother of Superman's archenemy Lex Luthor, who later joins forces with the Cyborg Superman, Hank Henshaw and Supergirl's adoptive father, Jeremiah Danvers. At the same time, Kara becomes friendly with Lillian's stepdaughter Lena Luthor, the new CEO of LuthorCorp, and struggles with romantic feelings for recent Earth arrival Mon-El, a survivor and prince of a ruling family from Krypton's neighboring planet Daxam. In other storylines, James becomes the masked streetfighting vigilante Guardian; Alex comes out as gay and begins dating Maggie Sawyer; and J'onn befriends a younger Martian, M'gann, from the White Martian race that killed his people.

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired	Network
	1	20	October 26, 2015	April 18, 2016	CBS
	2	22	October 10, 2016	May 22, 2017	The CW

[edit] Cast and characters

Main article: List of Supergirl characters

• Melissa Benoist as Kara Zor-El / Kara Danvers / Supergirl: A 24-year-old Kryptonian living in National City, who must embrace her powers after previously hiding them. She assists her adoptive sister as part of the Department of Extra-Normal Operations (DEO) as she discovered the truth that her adoptive father also worked for the DEO so they would not take her, while Alex's co-workers at the DEO help her perfect her powers. Kara worked as Cat Grant's assistant at CatCo. Benoist expressed her excitement over portraying the character, and being able to "[tell] a story about a human being really realizing their potential and their strength". At the end of season one, Kara was promoted by Cat and became a junior reporter at the beginning of season two. Malina Weissman portrays a young Kara.
• Mehcad Brooks as James Olsen / Guardian: A former Daily Planet photographer, James moved to National City and became the new art director for his former colleague, Cat Grant, at CatCo Worldwide Media. He is initially a potential love interest for Kara. Among his reasons for moving across the country include his breakup with his fiancée, Lucy Lane, and keeping an eye on the newly revealed Supergirl for Superman. While working at the Daily Planet, James received the Pulitzer Prize for taking the first photograph of Superman. In the second season, James becomes Guardian. He also becomes the acting CEO of CatCo after Cat Grant takes a leave of absence.
• Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers: Kara's adoptive sister. She is a scientist and government agent who works for Hank Henshaw at the DEO, serving as his right-hand. Having been extensively trained in combat after joining the DEO, Alex in turn provided rigorous training to Kara in order to decrease her reliance on her powers. Initially, like Kara, she becomes suspicious of the DEO and thus her own role upon learning of their father having worked there in order to protect Kara, but Alex ultimately learns that Henshaw is the Martian survivor J'onn J'onzz in shape-shifted disguise, whom her late father had rescued before his and the real Henshaw's deaths. Jordan Mazarati plays a young Alex. In season two, Alex continues to search for her father, while she meets and befriends Maggie Sawyer. She develops feelings for her, forcing Alex to confront her sexuality.
• Jeremy Jordan as Winslow "Winn" Schott, Jr.: A tech expert who worked alongside Kara at CatCo, he is Kara's best friend and serves as one of her allies, helping her develop her costume and aiding her in her adventures. Winn has an unrequited feelings for Kara and is a rival with James for her affection. However, at the end of "For the Girl Who Has Everything", Winn has accepted that it is best that they remain as best friends, and in "Solitude", he begins seeing Cat Grant's new assistant, who is also Kara's rival; Siobhan Smythe, who is subsequently fired by Cat and who, in "Worlds Finest", becomes a supernatural metahuman supervillain called Silver Banshee. In the series, he is the son of Toyman. Cat nicknames him Toyman Junior after she finds out. In season two, Winn left CatCo to work at the DEO as a desk agent. He also works with James Olsen as his vigilante partner.
• David Harewood as J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter: The head of the DEO who takes Hank Henshaw's likeness after Henshaw is killed in Peru while hunting J'onn. J'onn takes Henshaw's likeness in order to reform the DEO from within as well as to watch over Alex and Kara. The evolution of Henshaw was discussed during the filming of the pilot, with the executive producers jokingly saying that Harewood would be a good actor to play the Martian Manhunter in a potential television series, to which DC Comics' Geoff Johns asked why it could not be done in Supergirl. Harewood reflected that he had difficulty "find[ing] an angle to play Hank Henshaw" in the pilot, and became excited when he was told about the change to his character's backstory. Harewood also recurs in the series as the real Hank Henshaw, who becomes Cyborg Superman.
• Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant: The outwardly shallow and superficial founder of the media conglomerate CatCo Worldwide Media, who feels, since she "branded" Kara as "Supergirl", that she has proprietary custody over the new hero. Before she founded CatCo, she was a gossip columnist at the Daily Planet, and before that, the personal assistant to the Daily Planet's Editor-in-Chief, Perry White. Cat investigates and reveals that Supergirl is Superman's cousin, which then causes Kara to become a target for some of Superman's rogues gallery. Cat also serves as a mentor to Kara, dispensing advice about being a woman in a man's world. In the episode "Hostile Takeover", she suspects that Kara is Supergirl. In the second episode of season two, Cat announces she is taking a leave of absence from CatCo, leaving James to run the company in her stead.
• Chris Wood as Mon-El: A prince from the planet Daxam with similar powers to Superman and Supergirl, Mon-El lands on Earth in the pod at the end of season one.
• Floriana Lima as Maggie Sawyer: A detective for the National City Police Department who takes a special interest in the cases involving aliens and metahumans. Lima will become a recurring actress for the third season. Lima noted the role was only intended to last for one season.

[edit] Production

[edit] Development

[edit] Design

[edit] Filming

[edit] Broadcast

[edit] Reception

[edit] Critical reception

Season		Critical response
		Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic
	1	95% (73 reviews)	75% (33 reviews)
	2	100% (21 reviews)	81% (4 reviews)

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the series premiere a 95% approval rating from critics and with an average rating of 7.6/10 based on 73 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Melissa Benoist shines as Superman's plucky little cousin in Supergirl, a family-friendly comic-book adaptation that ditches cynicism for heart." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 75 out of 100 based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews". Cliff Wheatley of IGN gave the pilot episode a 7/10, praising Melissa Benoist's performance as Kara and the fun take on the Superman mythos.

Rotten Tomatoes gave the premiere of the second season a 100% approval rating from critics and with an average rating of 8.3/10 based on 20 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "The arrival of the more famous cousin in Supergirl does nothing to detract from the show's lead, who continues to deliver strength, action, and relatability." Metacritic assigned a score of 81 out of 100 based on reviews from 4 critics, indicating "Universal acclaim".

[edit] Ratings

Season	Timeslot (ET)	Network	Episodes	First aired		Last aired		TV season	Rank	Avg. viewers (millions)	18–49 rating (average)
				Date	Viewers (millions)	Date	Viewers (millions)
1	Monday 8:00 pm	CBS	20	October 26, 2015	12.96	April 18, 2016	6.11	2015–16	39	9.81	2.4
2		The CW	22	October 10, 2016	3.06	May 22, 2017	2.12	2016–17	TBD	TBD	TBD

[edit] Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result
2015	Critics' Choice Television Awards	Most Exciting New Series	Supergirl	Won
2016	People's Choice Awards	Favorite New TV Drama	Supergirl	Won
	Teen Choice Awards	Breakout Series	Supergirl	Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Actress on Television	Melissa Benoist	Nominated
		Best Guest Starring Role on Television	Laura Benanti	Nominated
		Best Superhero Adaptation Television Series	Supergirl	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress on Television	Calista Flockhart	Nominated
		Breakthrough Performance	Melissa Benoist	Won
2017	GLAAD Awards	Outstanding Drama Series	Supergirl	Nominated
	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite TV Show – Family Show	Supergirl	Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Actress on a Television Series	Melissa Benoist	Pending
		Best Guest Performance on a Television Series	Tyler Hoechlin	Pending
		Best Superhero Adaptation Television Series	Supergirl	Pending
		Best Supporting Actor on a Television Series	Mehcad Brooks	Pending

[edit] Critics' top ten lists

2015
No. 10 People Unranked – Variety No. 7 The Washington Post

2016
No. 5 Cinema Blend

[edit] Arrowverse crossovers

See also: The Flash (2014 TV series) and Arrowverse

[edit] Other media

[edit] Home media release

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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