What's HOT & What's NOT: The state of Prime-Time television.

I'm sure it has got me into trouble more then once but I've never been afraid to share my opinion....

We've once again entered that time of year when television network executives breakout their sharpies and start "stroking off" their lists, I'm of course referring to their list of series that won't be returning in the fall. And in a world that seems to be dominated by reality television, once again this year two of the shows that I've found myself firmly attached to will not be coming back.

Lucifer is the one that I think has really upset me, it's true that season three seemed to fall off the rails a little with the whole Sinner-man story-arc, but generally speaking the series was a well-written & performed diversion to an otherwise stagnant Monday night lineup. 

The news that they would not be picked up for a fourth season seemed to take the cast and crew off-guard as well, with the hashtags #SaveLucifer and #PickupLucifer going viral on social media within a matter of hours. 

And without ruining the series finale for anyone who has yet to see it, showrunner Joe Henderson recently told Deadline that "His team created a huge cliffhanger" that's going to "Frustrate the hell out of fans so that there was no way Fox could cancel us".

Unfortunately Henderson was only 50% right, his team created a huge cliffhanger, but Fox pulled the plug and unless another network steps in to save them, fans will truly be frustrated with the unexpected series finale.

Last week when ABC decided to cancel Designated Survivor it was less then surprising.

The series which stars Kiefer Sutherland has suffered multiple turnovers as a number of cast and crew have gone through a revolving door during its two years on television. And although this series started off strong - telling the story of a man thrust into unexpected power after a horrible terrorist attack, anyone can see that it has lost its way during the course of the second season.

What made this series so compelling during season one has ultimately harmed it during season two, the lack of a conspiracy and a true villain. In my personal opinion, had the writers not introduced Terry Serpico's character, Patrick Lloyd as a rich industrialist then the second season could have been about discovering who funded the man behind the attack on Washington D.C

Having said that, The Hollywood Reporter has recently suggested that talks are underway with Netflix to revive the series for a third season with its fifth showrunner in two years. They may also want to consider talking to some new writers or their run on the video streaming service might be a short lived one. 

On the plus side, Gotham has been confirmed for its Fifth and final season. The series which has taken a unique approach to the DC Batman story, focusing on a young Bruce Wayne prior to dawning the cape and cowl, was one of many shows that Fox was rumored to be cutting.

However Variety has confirmed that the Warner Brothers produced show will be given the green-light for one final run so that fans can witness Young Master Wayne finally suit up and seize his future legacy.

And with The CW renewing both Supernatural and it's entire DC lineup of shows, my options for series to continue binge watching has never been better.... Now if The CW would only pick up Lucifer that would be perfect!

Outside of a few shows where a decision has yet to be made you can click here to see a complete list of what will and will not be returning in the fall. Let us know in the comments below what cuts have truly disappointed you and remember to join in on the conversation on the CanGeek Community Page.

Thanks for reading.

Welcome To Earth - Leave Your Bias At Home

I have said it time and again,  DC should stop wasting their time with feature length films and focus on prime time television, because at this point DC truly owns that time slot!

Thus far this season of the CW's Supergirl has just continued to prove my point.  From the introduction of Tyler Hoechlin as Superman, to this past Monday when Lynda Carter was introduced as President Oliva Marsdin, the casting for this series has been fantastic!

But my opinion goes far beyond casting, through the writers this show has been willing to tackle some tough topics and has done so in an thought provoking manner.

Welcome To Earth which is the third episode of season two began the character development of Mon-EL after his arrival in the season one finale.  Mon-EL is the last survivor of the plant Daxam, a sister moon to Krypton which was turned into a wasteland following Krypton's destruction.

Mon-EL had been in a comatose state up until now but upon waking up he fleas the DEO, most likely out of fear,  and becomes the subject of a city wide manhunt having been labeled "Dangerous" by the powers that be.  Meanwhile the President of the United States arrives in National City to sign the "Alien Amnesty" act, a law intended to give all illegal aliens the same rights as any other American citizen.  Unfortunately not ever alien views this new law in a positive light, with some viewing it as an attempt to expose and track the alien population.

One such alien sets out to eliminate the President before such a law can be set in motion.

After the first attempt on the Presidents life, J'onn goes on record as disagreeing with this bold act, he states that having lived both as a black man and an alien among humans that humanity is not ready to accept the differences of others.

Meanwhile Kara is so blinded by her distrust of the now absent Mon-EL that she immediately assumes he is responsible for the attempts on the President and enlists Winn to help track down and imprison Mon-EL once and for all.

While Kara is searching for her rogue Daxamite Alex takes another approach with the help of National City Police Detective Maggie Sawyer, another new character played by Floriana Lima. Together they investigate a private drinking hole known to be frequented by aliens, at least according to Maggie.  Maggie admits to having known of the alien presence and the existence of the DEO for quite some time and states that for a Lesbian from a small town she has always felt like she could relate more to aliens then to humans.  Alex holds a different opinion, she states that beyond her sister, Superman and J'onn J'onzz there are few trustworthy aliens to be found.

Kara and Winn are eventually successful in finding Mon-EL who is at the National City observatory desperately trying to send a distress call to Daxam.  After a physical altercation Kara is able to return Mon-EL to a DEO holding cell were he states his innocence and ultimately the shared bias of to former enemy races began to come to light.

Kara is now convinced that with Mon-EL imprisoned that all is right with the world again, that is until another attack takes place against the President.  Now having to accept that Mon-EL was not involved, Maggie, Alex, and Kara set out to find the real perpetrator and are once again exposed to the prejudices of an alien who, like J'onn, believes mankind while never accept that which they do not understand.

In the end Kara must set aside her personal bias, she  releases Mon-EL and break the news of Daxam's fate to him.  Meanwhile J'onn J'onzz, the last Martian goes to investigate  an alien refuge, the private bar Maggie introduced Alex too, and comes face to face with another alien in hiding - M'gann M'orzz the last daughter of Mars.

This most recent episode of Supergirl was ripe with the unfortunate bias that seems to be inherent in humanity as a species.  The shows writers did a impressive job of communicating this through the narrative and in the end gave us all something to think about.

This is the type of storytelling that will continue to bring me back week after week,

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