The Sternberg Report

Streaming Ads are Much More Valuable than Linear TV Ads

Live TV viewing has significant advantages over DVR playback when it comes to commercial exposure and brand message recall.  TV shows with a high percentage of live viewing are therefore substantially more valuable to advertisers than those viewed largely via DVRs.  A logical extension of this is that commercials on streaming platforms are significantly more valuable than those on linear television.  

For advertisers, streaming has all the advantages of both live and DVR viewing with virtually none of the major drawbacks.  As with DVRs, streaming is appointment viewing (which means the TV is not on as background noise, there is less multitasking, and viewers are more attentive).  But like live viewing, there is no fast-forwarding through commercials.  And unlike linear TV, there is no channel switching (or pausing) during commercials – when ads come on, if you don’t leave the room, you’re exposed to them. 

The (Research) Times They Are A Changin’

There was a time when extensive research studies were done by broadcast and cable networks that focused on their strengths while highlighting the weaknesses of their competitors.

Who remembers CBS’s The Cable Fable?  That was 35 years ago, in a much simpler media landscape.  The average home had fewer than 30 channels, and while two-thirds of homes had a VCR, time-shifting was not yet a major thing and DVRs were still more than a decade away.  Most broadcast and cable networks were not corporate siblings, so each had the freedom to treat the other platform as the enemy. 

The standard broadcast line (which for years was true) was that bigger is better, and nothing on cable provided the reach of the Big Four broadcast networks.  The Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB) tried to counter that narrative with numerous studies showing that cable programming is just as valuable to advertisers as the broadcast networks (remember, at the time ad-supported cable networks did not air original scripted series and were not thought of as being in the same league as the broadcast networks in terms of quality programming). 

The main goal on the cable front was to get advertisers to shift more and more money each year from broadcast to cable.  The broadcast networks, faced with eroding audiences for the first time, tried to minimize their losses.  Ad-supported cable made gradual inroads each season, which accelerated during the early 2000s as more cable networks started airing high-quality original scripted programming. 

The broadcast networks were hampered by the fact that in addition to cable, they also continued to treat one another as the enemy – as they had since the beginning of television.  Since they essentially owned the airwaves for so long, they couldn’t comprehend needing to ally themselves with those they still considered their main competitors to fend off the upstart and much smaller cable networks. 

Cable networks, on the other hand, quickly understood that while they did compete with one another, they were also allies against the bigger broadcast networks – if advertising dollars shifted from broadcast to cable, they all benefited.  Cable networks started to grow and siphon off broadcast viewers in no small part because they began cross-promoting each other’s programming – something the broadcast networks still stubbornly refuse to do.  While no individual cable network was able to even come close to reaching a broadcast network’s audience size, cable as an entity eventually did.

There was a time when it was a broadcast world (1960s-1970s), which was followed by a time when it was a broadcast versus cable world (1980s-2000s).  It became more of a streaming world (or streaming-war world) in late 2019-2020 when Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max (now Max), and Peacock, joined Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, and CBS All Access (now Paramount+) in spending huge amounts of money on original content.  Broadcast and cable are now lumped together under the linear TV label (by the media and ad industries, if not consumers). 

Those different times, or media eras if you will, have impacted how much and what kind of research has been done on the effectiveness of television advertising.

Shifting Alliances: Why TV Research is Not What it Used to Be

When broadcast and cable networks became siblings under the same corporate umbrella, it started to affect the type of research these companies were willing to underwrite. The days of The Cable Fable and the CAB are long over.  The CAB is now the VAB (Video Advertising Bureau), with membership including broadcast and cable networks. 

Not only do giant media conglomerates now own broadcast and cable outlets, they all now have their own streaming platforms as well. 

The upfront sales pitch is no longer “Broadcast is bigger and better, and the only place to reach your customers all in one place” or  “Our cable network has the most engaged audiences and is the only one that can effectively compete with the broadcast networks.”  In essence, they are all telling us that they – Disney (ABC, ESPN, Hulu, Disney+…), Paramount Global (CBS, Paramount+, TV Networks, Showtime…), Warner Bros. Discovery (Turner cable networks, HBO, Max...), Comcast (NBCUniversal, USa, Syfy, Bravo, Peacock...) – are basically all the same: self-contained, massive communication hubs and unrivaled unified companies, armed with multiple networks, platforms, and genres, that can reach everyone, everywhere, all at once.

As a result, there is seldom any good research that highlights the weaknesses of any part of these entities (which also results in little research showing the strengths of other parts). Advertisers (remember them?) are often left with meaningless studies proclaiming “advertising works,” along with assurances that if they just add this, optimize that, or use this new and improved planning or buying tool, everything will be better. 

C3 and the Move Away From Vetting Research Methodology

This is the main reason we haven’t seen much research into the differences of commercial effectiveness in live viewing versus DVR playback – which was one of the biggest issues in the advertising industry beginning around 2005.  When I was head of audience analysis at Interpublic’s MAGNA Global, we conducted three years of groundbreaking Commercial Pod Studies (2005-07), which were instrumental in leading to the industry shifting from program ratings to C3 in Q4 2007.

There was a time when any changes to audience measurement needed to undergo extensive vetting before the industry would consider implementing them.  People meters, for example,  were evaluated by industry committees for nearly three years – including a full year of side-by-side data to compare it with the old meter/diary methodology – before agencies and networks decided to use it as marketplace currency.

Before switching from average program ratings to C3, however, virtually no research was done into the methodology for measuring average commercial minutes.  This was the first time that marketplace business concerns overrode the necessity for validating research methodology.  It is also the moment that Nielsen shifted away from being a pure research company – at the following year’s national client meeting, Nielsen actually proclaimed that getting a product to market was now more important than validating the research beforehand.

Precious little research has been done in this area since then.  The main reason?  Documenting the commercial recall advantage of live viewing over DVR viewing benefits virtually no one (other than advertisers).  Most of the networks that have the highest percentage of live viewers (cable news, sports networks, and cable networks with heavy loads of off-network repeats) are owned by the same companies that own broadcast and cable networks that have heavy DVR usage for their entertainment programming – which has traditionally accounted for the bulk of their revenue.  So, even though we all know what’s going on, neither ad buyers nor sellers are incentivized to publicly acknowledge it or produce research documenting it.

Ad Recall Among Live Viewers is 3x Greater Than Among DVR Viewers

Ten years ago, when I was head of audience analysis at ION Media, my group conducted a study that I believe is still the best (only?) analysis comparing engagement and ad recall between Live and DVR playback viewing.  At the time, ION (now owned by Scripps) was an independent network, whose programming consisted almost exclusively of off-network repeats, which are largely watched live (more than 95% of ION’s adult 25-54 average audience at the time watched its shows live).  Highlighting the advertising strength of live viewing would not hurt any other part of the company.

Trying to measure ad recall a day or more after the commercials aired is not particularly meaningful unless it’s at the start of a new ad campaign with new creative that is airing for the first time.  Otherwise, you don’t really  know where the respondents actually saw the commercial.  Much better is measuring ad recall right after the program airs. 

I got the idea for this analysis from a CAB study that was conducted more than 20 years ago, which remains the best I’ve ever seen.  It was an unaided ad recall study, where adults 18+ were surveyed by phone at home during primetime (I believe they got permission from respondents to call them after 10pm).  It demonstrated that there was no statistical difference between broadcast and cable based on verified recall of commercials and attentiveness to the programming.  There were also a lot of other interesting findings about the impact of commercial pod positioning and length.  The  main purpose of the study was to show that cable should have the same value per rating point as broadcast.  At the time, ad-supported cable networks were not yet producing original scripted programming, and they were still considered lower quality and less valuable than the much higher rated broadcast series.

We used a similar approach, although the times had changed – we conducted our survey online.

Here’s what we did along with the results.

• We maintained a panel of television viewers through Vision Critical (later rebranded as Alida). We recruited members to participate in a special research study (there were 476 respondents).

• Respondents were allowed to watch any program they wanted, and could view the program live, at the time it originally aired, or via DVR playback. They only had to tell us the day and time they would be watching (it had to be between 7pm and 10pm).

• They were instructed to watch TV as they normally would. The only stipulation was that it had to be a regular program that contained commercials.

• Each participant received a 9-question survey at 10pm the night they watched the program. If they submitted the completed survey by 11pm that night, they were placed in a drawing to receive a $500 Amazon gift card.  We made sure they understood that correct answers were not necessary to win the prize – so if they recorded a show they wouldn’t go back and try to find the right answers.

• Questions included asking respondents to list up to three plot points of the program, list all the brands they could recall in the commercials, and to list any specific messages they remembered from each brand they listed.

The results were eye opening but not really surprising.

• Attentiveness and recall to the program content was virtually identical for live viewing and DVR playback.

• The percentage of respondents who recalled one brand during commercials was 2.3 times greater among live viewers than among DVR viewers (the percentage who recalled three brands was lower, but was more than 3 times greater among live viewers).

• Brand message recall was roughly 3 times greater among live viewers.
• There was no advertising on the few streaming platforms at the time, so there was no reason to include them. But now, this type of analysis can easily include streaming.

When I left ION, I recommended that they replicate this analysis every year, so chances are there’s more recent data out there.  But despite changes in the media landscape over the past 10 years, there’s no reason to think the difference in ad recall between live and DVR viewers is much different.

The Streaming Advantage

So, how does any of this apply to advertising on streaming platforms?  Well, we know that DVR penetration has remained steady over the past 10 years at about 50% of the U.S.  It some cases, streaming has taken the place of DVRs – ABC and FX series come to Hulu soon after airing, as do CBS shows on Paramount+ and NBC shows on Peacock.  So, if you missed the original broadcast, you can catch up if you subscribe to the right streaming service.  We also know that in DVR homes, a high percentage of primetime viewing is via DVRs.  And virtually every study ever done on the subject has indicated 70-80% of DVR playback involves the use of fast-forwardiing through commercials.

And, as already mentioned, streaming is the very definition of appointment viewing, people can’t pause or fast-forward through the commercials, and virtually no one switches channels when they are streaming a series or movie.  There are also shorter and fewer commercial pods on streaming platforms, both of which we know (from numerous research studies) positively impacts ad recall.

So, while the advantage of streaming over linear TV ads might not be quite as extreme as that of live versus DVR viewing, it is certainly substantial.  I’d love to see such research done before this year’s upfront gets underway.  It seems like a prime project for Nielsen or ComScore, or one of the other emerging potential audience measurement competitors to tackle (or Netflix).  I think if positioned properly, it would enhance efforts to sell streaming ads without necessarily hurting anyone’s linear TV efforts.

TV Reviews: The Good, The Too Bad, and The Ugly (Mar. 2024)

This continues The Sternberg Report’s monthly series, where I review TV shows labeled the Good, the Too Bad, and the Ugly.  Every issue will not necessarily contain a show in each category, and some will have multiple shows in a single category.  This month’s report focuses exclusively on “the good.”

By way of definition, the Good is a show you should enjoy if you like that particular genre.  The Too Bad is a show that could have (or should have) been better – but doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad.  The Ugly is a show that completely misses the mark or is just  an ill-conceived mess.

 There are some spoilers ahead…

The Good

All the Light We Cannot See (Netflix)

This four-part limited series based on Anthony Doerr’s 2014 novel of the same name is a shining achievement.  It tells the story of a blind French teenage girl, Marie-Laure LeBlanc, who has a radio broadcast in the Nazi-occupied French coastal town of St. Malo in 1944.  Working for the Resistance, She reads stories over the air containing secret codes that provide bombing targets for the Americans and British. 

Newcomer Aria Mia Lonberti, who is herself blind, gives an extraordinary performance as Marie-Laure, and more than holds her own with the superb supporting cast, which includes Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie.

As the Americans get ever closer to liberating France, the town is under siege by an Allied bombing campaign.  The Germans are vowing to fight to the last man, while not allowing the trapped French citizens to leave.  In the midst of this destructive barrage, Marie-Laure is determined to continue her broadcasts, the Nazis are determined to find her, and most of the townspeople are determined to keep her location secret (at the risk of their own lives). 

Marie-Laure is also using her broadcast to communicate with and locate her missing father Daniel (Mark Rufalo), seen mostly in flashbacks, and her great uncle Etienne (Hugh Laurie), a World War I veteran with PTSD who is now a member of the French Resistance.

As the Nazis were invading France, Marie-Laure’s father smuggled many items out of The Museum of Natural History (where he worked), including an extremely valuable diamond known as the Sea of Flames.  This diamond is rumored to have supernatural properties, enabling its owners to live forever, but cursing their loved ones.  SS officer Reinhold Von Rumpel (Lars Eidinger), who is dying from some unspecified disease, will stop at nothing to find Marie, who he thinks was given the diamond by her father before he fled Paris.  (This “MacGuffin” is one of the few weak points of the series, but it does drive the plot forward.)

In a parallel storyline, a brilliant young German orphan, Werner Pfennig (Louis Hofmann), is separated from his sister (Luna Wedler) by a Nazi officer, and forced to join the Hitler youth because of his skills with radio technology.  He eventually becoming a soldier who specializes in detecting and tracking radio frequencies (so the SS can find and kill the broadcasters). 

The two storylines converge, as Reinhold Von Rumpel is now Werner’s commanding officer.  Werner and Marie-Laure grew up listening to the same radio frequency on which she is now broadcasting, where a calm-voiced host, known as the Professor, spoke to children about reason, science, philosophy, and light and darkness – with lines such as, “…the light lasts forever, but the darkness lasts not one second when you turn on the light.”  In a world filled with chaos and confusion, the Professor was a calming and hopeful voice for a generation of children throughout Europe.  Werner now secretly listens to Marie-Laure’s broadcast (listening to foreign broadcasts in Nazi Germany was punishable by death). 

Rumpel orders Werner to track down Marie-Laure, so he can kill her, and retrieve the Sea of Flames.  Werner tries to avoid revealing Marie-Laure’s location, until that becomes impossible.  He eventually risks his life in an attempt to save her.  She, in turn, tries to protect Werner when her Resistance group members want to put him on trial for war crimes and kill him.

I’ve read a number of inexplicably negative reviews by critics who have read the book and find the TV series wanting.  If like me, you haven’t read the book, ignore them.  The series is powerful, cinematic, thrilling, poignant, brilliantly written and acted, and simply riveting from start to finish (even though you may well guess how it ends).  Like the Sea of Flames at its core, All the Light We Cannot See is a rare gem.

 

Lessons in Chemistry (Apple TV+)

Based on the popular Bonnie Garmus novel of the same name, Brie Larson gives a captivating performance as Elizabeth Zott, who takes America by storm with her 1960s feminist (and chemistry-based) TV cooking show, Supper at Six, which inspires women across the country to challenge the prevalent notion of the time that a woman’s place in society was in the home.

This brilliantly written and acted series somehow manages to combine science, romance, tragedy, feminism,  single-parenthood, the civil rights movement, and workplace comedy (and drama) into a cohesive and compelling story (in just eight episodes).  It’s also beautifully shot, with the 1950s and ‘60s costumes and sets transporting the viewer to a different, if not simpler, time.

In the 1950s, Elizabeth Zott’s dream of becoming a scientist is held back by her gender and lack of a PhD – the only woman in the program, she had to drop out when she was sexually assaulted by her thesis advisor during her doctoral candidate exams (shown in flashbacks). 

Now a lab technician at the Hastings Research Institute, she is not allowed by her superiors to develop her own projects because she’s a woman (despite her being better than virtually any of the male chemists), and she can’t put her name as the lead chemist on her work because she doesn’t have a PhD.  She becomes friendly with the institute’s eccentric star researcher, Dr. Calvin Evans (Lewis Pullman), who recognizes her immense talent and supports her – but seems oblivious to the fact that her gender has held her back, as this conversation illustrates:

Elizabeth: “Of course, I would be much further along in my research if I wasn’t making excellent coffee for mediocre scientists.” 

Calvin: You’re on the verge of a major scientific breakthrough.  You need to talk to Donatti (the head of the Institute).” 

Elizabeth: I did, he said no.”

Calvin: “That doesn’t make any sense.  Why?” 

Elizabeth: “Sex discrimination.” 

Calvin: “What?” 

Elizabeth: “Well, also politics, favoritism, and general unfairness, but yes, mostly sex discrimination.” 

Calvin: “I don’t understand.  Why would anyone discriminate based on something as intellectually non-determinative as gender?”

As they start working closely together on independent projects, a romantic relationship develops, and she eventually moves in with him.  Calvin lives in Sugar Hill, a Black middle-class neighborhood, where they are now the only white couple (he seems not only oblivious to sexism, but racial inequality as well).  A side plot has the racist city council approving the Santa Monica Freeway plans to be built through Sugar Hill, which would demolish the neighborhood.  Elizabeth joins her neighbor, Harriet (Aja Naomi King), in fighting the losing battle.  One result is that Elizabeth becomes aware of systemic racism for the first time.

When tragedy strikes, Elizabeth no longer has Calvin’s reputation to protect her.  When she returns to the lab, she finds all their research has been removed – the higher-ups at Hastings are trying to recreate Elizabeth and Calvin’s research and claim it as their own.  Realizing she is pregnant (which leads to her being fired), but intent on continuing her research, Elizabeth impersonates Hastings’ administrator and orders the equipment she needs, to build a chemistry lab in her kitchen.

Elizabeth gives birth to a daughter, whom she names Madeline (“Mad” for short).  She earns money by secretly consulting for male chemists, none of whom are at her level of brilliance.  A time jump shows her meeting Walter (Kevin Sussman), the father of one of Mad’s classmates.  He’s a television producer, who, after sampling one of her scrumptious dishes (as Elizabeth says, “it’s just chemistry’), offers her a job hosting a cooking show.  She  initially turns him down, but when Mad’s teacher suggests Elizabeth enroll her in an advanced private school, the high cost leads her to accept Walter’s offer.

As Elizabeth tries to develop her own show, designed to empower and inspire women, she and Walter meet resistance from the misogynist station owner (Rainn Wilson).  The station and the show’s sponsors do not like the feminist aspects of her show, and are adamantly opposed to her taking a public pro-civil rights stance (she encourages her viewers to attend a protest organized by her friend, Harriet).  At one point he says to her, “Politics doesn’t belong in the kitchen.  A man wants his wife to make him a drink after a long day at work.”  Elizabeth replies, “What makes you think his day was longer than hers?  Why don’t you make the drink?”

She becomes such a hit with her female audience, that her newfound celebrity status gives her the power to do things her way (to a point).  Here’s how she opens her first show – “In my experience, people do not appreciate the work and sacrifice that goes into being a mother, a wife, a woman.  Well, I am not one of those people.  At the end of our time here together, we will have done something worth doing.  We will have made supper, and it will matter.”  Each episode of Supper at Six has her demonstrating how the use of chemistry and science helps prepare her wonderful meals.  And she always adds, “Children, set the table.  Your mother needs a moment to herself.”

There are a number of side plots and sub stories – flashbacks show Elizabeth’s gay brother committing suicide, largely due to the homophobia and abuse of their preacher father; Mad (Alice Halsey), with the help of a local Reverend (Patrick Walker), tries to find information about Calvin; Elizabeth gets involved in the growing civil rights movement, much to the chagrin of her show’s major sponsor – she gets Tampax as her new sponsor and talks about menstruation on air (not something that was done in the 1960s or ‘70s).  There’s also an episode narrated almost entirely by her dog, which is not nearly as cheesy as it could have been.

The ending, which includes another short time jump, is satisfying and hopeful.  And as is often the case with great characters, I’m left wanting to see what happens next.  I would love to see how Elizabeth and her daughter move through 1980s, ‘90s, and beyond.

The Good (broadcast)

Say what you will about the decline of broadcast and linear TV, many of the most popular shows on television start out there.  And CBS knows its audience, which tends to check out virtually any new series it airs.  The network often manages to put a new spin on the procedural drama, providing its long-time loyal (and older) viewers with easy-to-digest, low-risk comfort food. 

Originally scheduled for the fall, the writers’ and actors’ strikes caused these two new scripted dramas to debut in mid-season.

 

Elsbeth (CBS)

The character of quirky (but brilliant) attorney Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston) originated with recurring roles in CBS’s The Good Wife and later in  the Paramount+ spin-off, The Good Fight.  Now headlining her own show, Elsbeth moves from Chicago to start over in New York City, where she becomes a civilian and consultant to the NYPD – after the police department is sued for making unlawful arrests in a major case, Elsbeth is assigned as an outside observer by the Justice Department to monitor the NYPD for a year to make sure they do things by the book (but she also has a secret agenda revealed at the end of the first episode). 

Elsbeth’s unique investigative skills and unconventional style are instrumental in helping the NYPD solve crimes, much to the chagrin of police Captain Wagner (the always good Wendell Pierce), who is forced to work with her, and detective Smullen (Danny Mastrogiorgio), who is initially dismissive of Elsbeth, and finds her to be nothing more than a nuisance – until he starts to realize how adept she is at spotting clues that even he has missed.  Carra Paterson is officer Kanya Blanke, who is assigned by Captain Wagner to keep an eye on Elsbeth, but quickly sees how insightful she is, and becomes sort of a Watson to Elsbeth’s Sherlock. 

Somewhat reminiscent of Columbo (and Peacock’s wonderful Poker Face), Elsbeth manages to win the day often because both the police and the criminals constantly underestimate her. 

I’ve always enjoyed Elsbeth in small doses as a secondary character, but whether she can carry an hour-long series remains to be seen.  Much will depend on how the character is developed beneath the surface of her eccentricities – which was not required in her role as comic relief in the other shows.  But from what I’ve seen so far,  Elsbeth is witty and well-written, and most importantly, fun.  There’s no reason to expect this not to continue. 

As is often the case with crime-of-the-week comedy-dramas (see Poker Face), the series has an excellent cast of guest stars, including Stephen Moyer, Jane Krakowski, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Blair Underwood, and Linda Lavin.

Tracker (CBS)

Based on Jeffery Deaver’s best-selling book, The Never Game, CBS manages yet another spin on the procedural drama.  Justin Hartley (This is Us) is Colter Shaw, a lone-wolf survivalist who travels across the country in his truck( with an Airstream trailer attached).  He refers to himself as a “rewardist,” which enables him to explain what he does in every episode when someone invariably asks “what’s that?”  If someone posts a reward for finding a missing person or object, or solving some mystery, he uses his extensive tracking skills to get the job done – as long as there’s a reward attached.  As he says in every episode, he only gets paid upon success.

Now, I’m certainly not saying this rises to the level of many other series I label as “good,” but if you’re a fan of CBS procedurals, and enjoy shows such as The Equalizer, you should find Tracker to be in the same mold.  It’s not designed to stay with you, and you may well forget what happens soon after you watch it, but that doesn’t mean you won’t like it – and it will probably enjoy significant repeat viewing if it’s on the schedule long enough for it to eventually be picked up by ION.

Colter had a traumatic childhood (seen through flashbacks) due to his paranoid and abusive survivalist father, who died under mysterious circumstances – Colter believes his brother, who he hasn’t spoken to since his father’s death, was responsible.

Each week finds Colter in a new locale, with a new mystery to solve, and facing a new batch of bad guys who don’t know who they’re messing with.

While Colter works alone in the field, he has a small team to assist him remotely.  Teddi and Velma (Robin Weigert and Abby McEnany), a wife-and-wife couple, provide him with potential clients and do basic research on cases he is working on.  Bobby (Erc Graise) is an expert hacker, who gets key information to help him each week.

While some critics have compared Tracker to Prime Video’s Jack Reacher, there is no similarity at all between the two shows or the characters (other than they’re both loners who travel around the country).  Bo award-worthy performances or brilliant writing here, just an entertaining distraction.

TV Reviews: The Good, The Too Bad, and The Ugly (Feb. 2024)

This is the start of a new monthly series, where I review new shows labeled the good, the too bad, and the ugly.  Actually, last month’s column, when I reviewed the three latest Marvel series, Loki season two (good), Secret Invasion (too bad), and Echo (ugly), can be considered the first one – I just hadn’t thought of this title yet.  

By way of definition, Good is a show that if you like this particular genre, you should enjoy, Too Bad is a show that could have (or should have) been good but somehow misses the mark, and Ugly is a show that is either an ill-conceived mess or has something about it that makes it unappealing.  Some of the shows I call “ugly” could also be placed in the “too bad” category, but then I wouldn’t have such a nifty title.  I think as these reviews take shape, you’ll start to see the distinction between “too bad” and “ugly.”

There are some spoilers ahead…

The Good

Griselda (Netflix)

Sofia Vergara gives a bravura performance in this heavily fictionalized miniseries about real-life drug lord, Griselda Blanco, referred to as “Godmother,” during what was known as the “cocaine cowboys” era of the late 1970s and ‘80s.  This quote appears on the screen leading into the first episode and sets the stage for what is to come – “The only man I was ever afraid of was a woman, Griselda Blanco.” – Pablo Escobar (drug kingpin). 

The series (in Spanish with subtitles or dubbed in English) chronicles Griselda’s stunning and violent rise from an abused former brothel worker married to a drug trafficker in Medellin Columbia, to one of the most feared members of the drug underworld, controlling the Miami cocaine trade.

As the drama gets underway, Griselda, having just killed her abusive husband, escapes to Miami with her three sons.  She’s taken in by her friend Carmen (Paulina Davila)  who also fled a husband in the drug trade, and now has a legitimate business as a travel agent.  Carmen tries to get Griselda to leave the past behind and start a new life, but Griselda wants to start her own business selling cocaine in the U.S., and gain enough wealth and power so her family is never in danger again.  She had stolen a kilo of cocaine from her husband, which she brought to Miami in one of her son’s suitcases, and hopes to sell for enough money to get started.

She is assisted by a bevy of friends, all former sex workers from Columbia, who come to Miami by the planeload (tickets supplied by her travel agent friend Carmen), their bras stuffed with cocaine.  

But Griselda is initially unable to sell her product because neither the Columbian cartels nor the Miami drug dealers want to do business with a woman, much less let her control any territory. 

But Griselda persists.  She identifies a previously untapped market – wealthy white suburbanites, and tries to persuade the Medellin cartel to supply her, and Miami drug traffickers to help distribute her product.  She manages to get one prominent drug dealer to partner with her, giving her the initial clout she needs to get started.  But while she is determined to succeed, the most powerful Miami dealers are equally determined to stop her.

From there, it’s a tumultuous decade, as she has to bargain with less competent men who don’t take her seriously, drug dealers who try to rip her off, and a powerful Columbia drug cartel that poses a threat not only to her business, but to her and her family’s lives.  By sheer will and overpowering personality, Griselda knocks down every obstacle thrown her way, often with extreme violence.  

Griselda recruits an army of "Marielitos” (refugees who fled communist Cuba during the Mariel Boatlift crisis) – she promises them a better life and respect, coming across more as a crusading politician than a ruthless gangster.  As she grows her own drug empire, and builds a reputation as a cunning and terrifying drug Queenpin, these Marielitos become her soldiers, guardians, and hitmen, helping her eliminate many of the drug lords who stand in her way (this period of the 1980s was known as the “Miami drug war”).

Griselda’s transformation from an apparent anti-hero single mom, rescuing other women from life in a brothel, and overcoming the testosterone-filled drug dealer world that sees her as little more than a nuisance, to becoming a murderous, power-hungry monster, is startling, and a testament Sofia Vergara’s acting chops – she’s unrecognizable from her role in the comedy Modern Family.

At the same time, a parallel storyline is unfolding, where another woman, June Hawkins (Juliana Aiden Martinzez), a Latina police officer, is investigating the murder of several top drug dealers.  She the first to figure out that there is a new player in town, a woman who might be more than just a “girlfriend.”  A female witness tells her, “she doesn’t walk like a girlfriend…she walks like a boss.” 

Like Griselda, June has to put up with the misogyny and sexism of her colleagues, who don’t take her seriously – expecting her to write analysis memos and make sure the coffee is hot, but leave the real investigating to men.  She gets involved in Griselda’s case basically because she’s the only one in the police station who speaks Spanish.  She soon becomes obsessed with bringing Griselda and her criminal empire to justice.  June becomes part of the newly formed CENTAC (Central Tactical Unit), a joint operation between the Miami police department and the DEA, which eventually compiles enough evidence to arrest Griselda.

At only six episodes, Griselda does not have the same logical narrative of USA Network’s superior female drug-lord crime drama, Queen of the South (also available on Netflix).  The downside of so few episodes is that time jumps are necessary to effectively tell a story that spans decades.  This makes Griselda’s transition from a largely sympathetic character into a vicious, paranoid, crack-addicted murderer, too sudden and jarring.  It could have benefited from a few additional episodes to better flesh out this transformation and show more of the dichotomy between Griselda and June  (on a broadcast TV procedural, this might have been June’s story). 

While the last couple of episodes don’t live up to the promise of the first four that this would be something substantially different from the typical rise-and-fall crime dramas we’ve seen in the past, it is still enjoyable, fast-paced, gorgeously filmed, well-acted, and binge-worthy.

The Too Bad

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Prime Video)

Sometimes a series isn’t objectively bad in a vacuum, but simply falls short of expectations.  This is most common with reboots and TV shows based on popular movies.  You seldom have the original stars or movie-type budgets.  And while feature films are designed as one-shots, a series has to tell an ongoing story, usually with multiple plotlines.  Most TV series based on theatrical films can’t live up to the hype.  Such is the case with this spy comedy-drama inspired by the 2005 theatrical hit movie of the same name (with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt). 

For those who do not recall (or haven’t seen) the feature film, Brad Pitt and Angelina Joile portray married couple John and Jane Smith, highly trained operatives working for rival agencies.  Each believes the other to be an ordinary (and boring) citizen, until they are assigned to the same case and discover one another’s involvement.  Once their companies realize what’s going on, each is assigned to kill the other – until they discover the real plan is to kill them both.  Then they team up.  A battle royale ensues, action-packed from start to finish.  Unfortunately, this Mr. and Mrs. Smith has little in common with that one.

As the TV series opens, a married couple (Eiza Gonzalez and Alexander Skarsgard) seem to be vacationing in an idyllic setting.  They are clearly meant to resemble Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, so anyone who has seen the movie is expecting a straightforward continuation of the original.  It appears they are in hiding from the agencies who were trying to kill them, but when they sense armed intruders approaching, they decide to stay and fight (as they did in the movie).  Here, however, they are quickly (and way too easily) killed.  There is no explanation of who they are or who attacked them.

Then we switch to the real stars (Donald Glover and Maya Erskine), who are strangers, being interviewed separately online by some mysterious company – no person is seen, only questions popping up on the computer screen.  They get the job (after we discover other organizations, such as the CIA, won’t hire them).  They seem to have problems dealing with authority or working as part of a team, and she is determined to have sociopathic tendencies.  They are assigned to act as husband and wife, and are given various missions by their new employer. 

They received their invitations to be interviewed by email, get all their mission instructions by text, and initially have no idea who they are working for.  This stretches credulity to its limit, as do several other aspects of the show.  In the first episode Jane tells John she has no interest in any romance.  By the second episode they’re sleeping together.

One of the things that made the movie so riveting, was not just the sizzling chemistry of its two stars (who fell in love while filming), but their characters’ unwavering confidence in their own abilities and that they can overcome any obstacle, no matter the odds, even as their competing agencies assign them to kill one another (and eventually try to eliminate them both).

Part of the problem with the TV version is that if you are expecting the star swagger, non-stop action, and sexual tension of the original, none of that is present here.  The first few episodes have little action, and it never really ramps up.  None of their missions are very exciting (or even interesting).

Making it more frustrating is that because Donald Glover and Maya Erskine are so appealing, there’s some witty dialogue, the soundtrack is good, and it has a string of strong guest stars (Ron Perlman, John Turturro, Sarah Paulsen, Billy Campbell, Parker Posey) – you keep expecting something to happen, so you keep watching.  But nothing happens (until the final episode) and it doesn’t get any better.  They also try to include scenes that replicate specific situations from the movie, but they seem haphazardly thrown in to little effect.  It’s almost as if they couldn’t decide whether to make an action thriller or a rom-com, so it wound up being neither.

There’s a twist you’ll see coming from a mile away, and the season ends with a cliffhanger that doesn’t have much suspense.  After the season finale, my wife turned to me and said, “I’m glad that’s over.”  

If you are familiar with (and liked) the movie, you’ll probably be thinking it’s too bad, because with this cast it could have been a really good show.  If you haven’t seen the movie, you might think this is a decent distraction.  Check it out for yourself.

The Ugly

Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans (FX, Hulu)

The first season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Bette and Joan in 2017 focused on the rivalry between the great Hollywood actresses Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon) and Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange) during and after the production of their 1962 horror thriller, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?  It’s well acted, and well written fun – high camp about high camp.  Unfortunately, this isn’t that.  The second installment of Feud, subtitled Capote Vs. The Swans, is neither well-written nor fun – and a mystery why anyone thought it would interest a large number of people. 

For those unfamiliar with Truman Capote (most people under 60?), he was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor.  He wrote the novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958), which was adapted into a major motion picture, and is most famous for his true crime novel, In Cold Blood (1966), also adapted into a feature film.  He was a darling of New York high society in the 1950s and ‘60s, and was a regular on the TV talk show circuit during the 1970s. 

The flamboyant, openly gay, often witty (and just as often, downright mean) Capote, became friends and confidantes to many wealthy socialites of the time – until he committed social suicide by betraying them in a 1975 Esquire article titled, La Cote Basque 1965 (named after the restaurant they all frequented), in which he exposed many of their secrets in a thinly fictionalized version of their lives.  It was a chapter in his never-finished novel, Answered Prayers. 

For those unfamiliar with “the Swans” (probably most people), it was the nickname Truman Capote gave to the his circle of female socialite friends – high-society members of the international set who often graced the covers of fashion magazines, the original influencers, many of whom vowed to ruin him as revenge for his article airing their dirty laundry.

 Being ostracized from New York society and abandoned by many of his former friends was the beginning of Capote’s downfall, as he spiraled further into alcoholism and self-destruction, which ultimately led to his death from liver failure in 1984 at the age of 59.

Even this fantastic ensemble cast can’t rise above the material – which alternates between boring and confusing (as it jumps back and forth in time), and lacks any dramatic or emotional depth.  None of the characters as portrayed here are even remotely likable, there’s no one to root for, and you’re left thinking what could have been a fun ride is just a jumbled mess.

The main cast includes, Tom Hollander as Truman Capote, Naomi Watts as Babe Paley, Diane Lane as Slim Keith,  Chloe Sevigny as C.Z. Guest, Demi Moore as Ann Woodward, Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill (Jackie Kennedy’s sister), Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson (Johnny Carson’s second wife), Jessica Lange Capote’s mother, and the late Treat Williams (in his last performance) as CBS honcho Bill Paley,

Going For It on 4th Down: The Problem With NFL Analytics

Over the past few years, one of the more controversial aspects of NFL football games is the idea of going for it on fourth down when a team needs two or three (sometime more) yards for a first down.  The reason?  Something called “analytics,” which has upended decades of NFL truism and tradition.  Anyone who watched the NFC Championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions (or any number of other games this season) knows how contentious this has become.

Whether you agree or disagree with using analytics to help determine the best course of action during a sports contest, it is here to stay.  Of course, “analytics” is just a fancy term for statistical research.  Unfortunately, TV sportscasters and analysts, whose main job is to inform and entertain the casual fan, seldom if ever discuss how these analytics work, what’s behind them, and how they should be used in the context of any particular situation on the field.  And most of the time, it’s only a topic of heated debate when it fails, not when it works.

Until a few years ago, unless it was desperation time toward the end of the game, you almost never saw a team go for it on fourth down from their own side of the 50-yard line if they needed to gain more than a yard.  If a coach did so, it was considered bold (if it worked) and foolish (if it didn’t).  Some coaches, such as Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick and Sean Payton, were known for successfully taking such chances.  Fourth-and-three (or more), on the other hand, was virtually never attempted regardless of field position (again, unless it was toward the end of the game when a team desperately needed a score to avoid losing). 

Today, however, because of analytics (and all teams have their own analytics people), this has become commonplace – with announcers informing viewers who they believe disagree with the decision, that “analytics says to go for it in this situation.” 

This analysis takes a look at how the ESPN analytics model works during an NFL football game as it relates to recommending whether to go for it on fourth down, attempt a field goal, or punt.  Different teams use their own analytics models, but they likely contain many of the same elements – as evidenced by the common refrain that “analytics says go for it.”  I haven’t heard any broadcaster or analyst (or coach) say that analytics says don’t go for it on fourth-and-two.

Here is how ESPN explains various aspects of its analytics model, followed by my comments after each point.

• ESPN acknowledges its model is “more aggressive on fourth down than the average coach.” In fact, its model “recommends a go on fourth-and-1 in typical situations anywhere on the field.”  There are a few reasons for this.
  • “In the modern era when offenses are so explosive, possession significantly outweighs field position in terms of importance. A fourth-down conversion attempt might or might not fail, but a punt always turns the ball over to the other team.”

Comment:  In my view, any model that says you should always do something regardless of context is inherently flawed.  I also disagree that possession always outweighs field position in terms of importance.  You are much more likely to win a game if your average possession starts at mid-field than if it starts inside your own 10-yard-line.  Field position is one of the most significant factors in winning or losing.  If you go for it on your own 20-yard-line and fail to convert, you are almost guaranteeing that your opponent score.  If you go for it on your opponent’s 20-yard-line and fail, they still have to gain 50 or so yards to attempt a field goal and 80 to score a touchdown.  Field position is at least as important as possession).

I’ve seen research done in the past that showed the increasing chances of scoring a touchdown or field goal as your starting position gets closer to your opponent’s goal line.  I’d love to see an analysis for the 2023 season demonstrating the relationship between superior average starting field position and wins/losses.  Of course, I would also note that superior starting field position is most often a result of a team’s superior offense and/or defense.

• “There are two factors for why the model often prefers going for it to a field goal in more situations than most fans would expect.”
  • “First, it recognizes opting for a field goal attempt rather than a guaranteed three points. Field goals don’t always go in.”
  • “Second, while touchdowns are worth seven points and field goals are worth three, both require kicking the ball to the opponent afterward. The possession and field position for the opponent is worth roughly one expected point in favor of the opponent.  Once we consider the opposing kickoff, we can think of touchdowns being worth roughly six points and field goals being worth roughly two to the game’s margin.  Thinking about scoring this way shows the relative value of a touchdown compared to a field goal is higher than you might think.”

Comment:  If kicking the ball to an opponent after a score is worth roughly one expected point in favor of the opponent, it has the same impact following a touchdown as it does following a field goal.  It’s a wash.  It doesn’t mean you subtract one point from a touchdown and one point from a field goal – that arbitrarily changes the value advantage of a touchdown vs. a field goal from the actual difference of 2.33 to 1 (7/3) to 3 to 1 (6/2).  That is a substantial difference, and biases the model to such a degree that it will recommend going for it on fourth down virtually all the time.  This seems to me to be nothing more than a math trick.  It’s almost as if they went to their analytics folks and said come up with a math solution that justifies going for it on fourth down.

• “Close to the goal line failures still result in putting opponents in bad starting field position.”

Comment:  This is true, but seems to go against the assertion that “possession significantly outweighs field position in terms of importance.” 

• “In comparing a punt vs. a fourth-down attempt, ESPN’s model considers the win probability expected given a fourth-down success and fourth down failure, and weighs those by the expected conversion rate of that fourth down. (The expected conversion rate is determined by league averages in similar circumstances and adjusted based on strength of the offense and defense.) That produces an overall expected win probability given a fourth-down attempt, which can be compared to an expected win probability given a punt.  The higher win probability is the recommendation.”

Factors not in the model include, weather, injuries, matchup advantages or disadvantages, and what happened previously in the game.  Nor does it take into account your team’s success rate on going for it on fourth down in any given situation.

Comment:  I can’t really disagree with this because I don’t know how they adjust the average based on the strength of the offense and defense.  But I don’t like basing decisions on average league-wide results. – even if you modify the data, it’s still based on a huge database that isn’t as meaningful as people might think.  The average of other teams, whose offensive and defensive capabilities can be vastly different from your own, does not provide the most optimal insights.  Looking at your own team’s success rate in going for it on fourth and whatever combined with your opponent’s success rate in stopping it is a more valid analysis.

There’s also something to be said about what has already happened in the game providing an indication of what you should do next.  In other words, if you went for it on fourth-and-three two times and failed, the model would continue to advise going for it a third time – probably not such a good idea.

None of this is to say I’m against the concept of analytics.  I’ve been in the research field long enough to know the value of statistical analysis.  But I’ve also been around long enough to know the disadvantages of using big-data black boxes to make decisions that logically make no sense.  Context and human experience matter.

Of course, that doesn’t mean coaches just blindly follow analytics recommendations, but it often seems as if many do.  If you look at the very best coaches – Bill Belichick, Andy Reid, John Harbaugh, Mike Tomlin, Kyle Shanahan, and a few others – sometimes they go for it and sometimes not in seemingly similar situations.  Their experience and well-honed football instincts take precedence.  Sometimes it depends on the flow of the game and whether a field goal will put them up by three scores.  Sometimes it depends on whether they think their defense can stop the other team.  Several years ago, Bill Belichick famously (or infamously) went for it on fourth-and-two from his own 28 yard line against the Colts because every time Peyton Manning got the ball back he drove right down the field.  If the Patriots made the first down, they might have been able to run out the clock.  Even though it failed, it was a chance worth taking.

Finally, there’s one thing analytics never take into account – the psychological impact and shift in momentum failing to convert on fourth down has on both teams.  Just an example from the recent 49ers-Lions NFC Championship Game.  The Lions are up by 17 points and the 49ers start the second half by getting a field goal.  The Lions are now up by 14 points.  They decide to go for it on fourth-and-two from the San Francisco 28 yard line.  Had they attampted and made the field goal, they would have been back up by three scores and San Francisco players would have been deflated.  But they went for the first down and failed.  Now San Francisco was revved up, knowing if they scored again they would be right back in the game (they eventually took the lead).  Then, midway through the fourth quarter, the Lions passed up a chance to tie the game with a field goal, opting to go for it on fourth-and-three from the 49ers’ 30-yard-line (and again failed to convert).  The 49ers scored a touchdown, putting the game virtually out of reach. 

Now, I’m not saying that they relied on analytics to make these decisions (the Lion’s head coach has been known for taking similar risks all season), but analytics likely would have recommended going for it in both situations.

Let the debates, arguments, and gnashing of teeth continue…

More Marvel Mayhem: Loki Soars but Echo and Secret Invasion Sink (Jan. 2024)

Ten live-action TV series were produced for Disney+ between 2021 and 2024, with at least six more planned over the next couple of years.  Some of these shows feature well-known characters who appeared in the theatrical films, while others pulled more obscure characters from the extensive Marvel comics library.

Netflix-originated series, Jessica Jones (2015-19) and Daredevil (2015-18) are still the top of the line, followed by Disney+’s WandaVision (2021),  Loki (2021, 2023), and Hawkeye (2021).  Not quite as good, but still worthy efforts, are the Netflix-originated The Punisher (2017, 2019) and Luke Cage (2016, 2018), along with Disney+’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) and Ms. Marvel  (2022).  Interesting experiments, all in 2002, include, Moon Knight, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Werewolf by Night – all have something to recommend them (and have been reviewed in previous issues of The Sternberg Report).

Here are my reviews of the three latest entries, Secret Invasion, Loki season two and Echo.  There are some spoilers ahead.

Secret Invasion (2023)

One season, 6 episodes

Loosely based on the epic 2008 Marvel comic-book series, Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as Nick Fury, as he uncovers a conspiracy by a group of Skrulls (shape-shifting aliens) who have been infiltrating Earth for years as they scheme to take over the planet from humanity.  

Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), the former leader of the Skrulls, who was first introduced in the Captain Marvel theatrical movie, is one of Fury’s key allies.  Kingsley Ben-Adir is Gravik, the main Skrull baddie, who leads the rebel Skrulls in their effort to conquer Earth.  They plan to start a nuclear war between the United States and Russia.  Emilia Clarke is G’iah, Talos’s daughter, who works for Gravik.  Whose side she is actually on is initially unclear.

This is the exact type of Marvel series that does not lend itself well to television, where the studio can’t come close to satisfying fans of the comic series.  In the comic-book event, the Skrulls spent years replacing numerous superheroes with impostors prior to their invasion.  Here, they replace various world leaders and government officials – since they obviously didn’t have the budget to hire a cast of heroes or have more than one or two cinematic battle sequences.

I almost stopped watching after the first episode – killing off a major well-liked character is just lazy writing designed to shock the audience.  But it was just disappointing and meaningless.  It also seemed to have little impact on Fury, which was way out of character.  I realize it probably cost a bundle to snag Emilia Clarke, but if you can’t afford (spoiler) for more than just a brief appearance, just don’t include her in the first place.

Samuel L. Jackson seems to be sleepwalking through the role of Nick Fury, showing none of the energy or charisma he displays in the various Avengers movies.  Despite having Nick Fury fighting the Skrulls without calling in any of his superhero buddies (which is kind of ridiculous), there is no real sense of danger, and the Skrulls are defeated way too easily (and suddenly) after seeming unbeatable for five of the series’ six-episodes.

Olivia Colman’s performance as Sonya Falsworth, a high-ranking MI6 agent in the UK and one of Fury’s old allies, is the series’ lone bright spot.  Don Cheadle reprises his role as James “Rhodey” Rhodes (an Avenger who operates the War Machine armor).  But here, he is also Raava, a Skrull posing as Rhodes, who is also an envoy and advisor to the President of the United States.  Apparently Rhodes was captured by the Skrulls a long time ago, indicating that the character we’ve seen in Avengers films may not have been the real Rhodes.

Up until now, this is the only Marvel series produced for Disney+ that totally misses the mark.

Loki (2021, 2023)

Two seasons, 12 episodes

This is the MCU’s introduction to the multiverse (alternate timelines and realities) and alternate versions of well-known characters.  Before discussing season two, here’s a recap the first season. 

In the 2019 blockbuster film Avengers Endgame, the Avengers go back in time seven years to when they were fighting Loki (Tom Hiddleston), God of Mischief and Thor’s half-brother, in the “Battle of New York” (from the first Avengers movie in 2012).  They need to get the Infinity Stones before Thanos acquires them and wipes out half the universe.  In the chaos that ensues, Loki manages to get his hands on the powerful cosmic energy cube known as the Tesseract, which he uses to escape. 

This did not happen in the events we saw in the original movie, thus creating a new timeline.  This series follows what happens to that Loki, before we see him grow and redeem himself in Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War.

Loki’s disappearance has caught the attention of the Time Variants Authority (TVA), a powerful bureaucratic organization that exists outside of normal time and space.  The TVA is tasked by the mysterious Timekeepers to make sure people stay in their set timeline.  Any “variants” are put on trial and either reset into their expected timeline, or simply “pruned” (erased from existence).  This Loki is now considered a variant.

Just as the TVA judge, Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), declares Loki guilty and is about to have him “pruned,” TVA chief detective Mobius (Owen Wilson) steps in.  He wants to use Loki to help them capture a dangerous variant who has been traveling through time and killing TVA agents.

As Loki quickly discovers, magical powers don’t work in the TVA compound, so he is trapped.  The equally talkative and charming Mobius tries to elicit information from Loki about why he does what he does, at the same time explaining what’s going on and how Loki varied from his “set path.”  For a god-like being who thrives on chaos, the idea that his path is predetermined by all-knowing keepers of the sacred timeline does not sit well.  Mobius shows Loki scenes from events that those who saw the Thor and Avengers movies remember.  Events that haven’t yet happened to this Loki.

The situation is helped along by the animated clock mascot of the TVA, known as Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong), who conveys dire information with a smile – a surreal device in a surreal situation, but it does help the viewer understand what’s going on.  “She” also has orders and an agenda that Mobius and Loki become aware of in season two.

Loki has long been one of the most complex Marvel villains, and this take on his motivations, the impact of seeing how some of his former bad acts have impacted people he loves, and seeing his own death in what he is told is the future that is supposed to happen, is fascinating – and pulled off largely because of the chemistry between the immensely talented Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson.

Mobius tells Loki the variant they are chasing is another version of Loki from another timeline.  This Loki is in the form of a woman (smartly played by Sophia Di Martino).  When he finds her, she tells him that she is no longer a Loki, and now goes by the name Sylvie.  This character seems like a combination of Lady Loki and the Enchantress, both of whom appear in various Marvel comics (and is way too confusing to get into here).  Her plan is to destroy the Timekeepers (who supposedly created the TVA) and blow up the sacred timeline. 

As they question one another, she reveals details of her past that are substantially different from his.  She also tells him that the TVA staff were not in fact created by the Timekeepers, but are rather all human variants who were plucked from their own timelines and have no memory of their previous lives.  Did Mobius lie to him, or is he unaware of his own previous life?  Loki is known to be deceitful and manipulative, so the fact that these two versions of Loki start to trust one another and actually team up can’t end well (or can it?).

As they continue their banter, they both casually acknowledge that they often have meaningless sex with both women and men.  While the comic books have occasionally referred to Loki’s bisexuality, this is the first time a major character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been so designated – and is now officially part of the MCU canon.  It should be noted that in Netflix’s series, Ragnorok, which provides another take on Thor, Loki is clearly bisexual.  In Norse mythology, Loki shifts between male and female presentations and pronouns.

Having escaped from the TVA, they eventually wind up in a void at the end of time, where they meet several other versions of Loki from different timelines and realities, who have apparently been trapped there for quite a while.  They have to remain in hiding lest the cloud monster Alioth, a trans-temporal entity and guardian of the Void destroys them.  When TVA victims are pruned, we discover, they are actually banished here to be devoured by Alioth.

In the end, they escape the Void to discover the man behind the curtain, or rather “He Who Remains” (Jonathan Majors).  He gives Loki and Sylvie a choice – they can replace him as arbiters of the Sacred Timeline, or destroy him, thus creating multiple timelines, and face thousands of versions of himself in thousands of multiverses, who are far “less benevolent.”  While his real name is never mentioned, this is clearly the popular Marvel comics villain, Kang the Conqueror.

Loki and Sylvie have different ideas on how to proceed.  One of them takes an action that immediately causes ripples through time as the sacred TVA timeline seems to branch off into countless directions.  This sets up a whole new Marvel Cinematic Universe (or Multiverse), and introduces a new major cross-movie villain.  It also paved the way for the theatrical films, Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. 

Jonathan Majors was recently convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend, placing his Kang character, which was supposed to be the lynchpin of the next phase of the MCU, into question.  Given that Kang has already been established in the comic books as having many alternate identities across the multiverse, and Marvel comics fans know of his other incarnations, it should be relatively easy to replace the actor who plays him.  But it seems Marvel has instead decided to move away from the character altogether.  It is not yet clearhow they plan to proceed.

Season two is more of a pure action thriller, as Loki teams up with Mobius, TVA agent Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), and other agents “in a battle for the soul of the TVA,” as they race to find Sylvie, Ravonna Renslayer, and Miss Minutes, and prevent the multiverse timelines from being destroyed.  At the same time, Loki is trying to control the power that has him randomly jumping from one timeline branch to another and back again.

Sylvie is now working as a cashier in a McDonald’s in 1982 Oklahoma, in a timeline in danger of being destroyed.  Eugene Cordero is a TVA receptionist who in another timeline is Frank Morris, a bank robber and only person known to have escaped from Alcatraz prison.  Kate Dickie is General Dox, a TVA general who is searching for Sylvie and still believes in the TVA’s mission to prune branched timelines.  Key Huy Quan is Ouroboros, a quirky TVA technician who either designed or knows how to fix every piece of TVA technology – he also portrays A.D. Doug, a theoretical physics teacher at Caltech and failed science fiction author from 1994.  All have been plucked from their own timelines and placed in the TVA (with no memory of their previous lives).

In the end, Loki helps save the day and finds his “glorious purpose,” as his journey from villain, to anti-hero, to actual hero, to something beyond, is a satisfying culmination to Loki’s story, and creates a new multiverse – it remains to be seen how this impacts the Marvel Cinematic Universe going forward.  But it does effectively move away from the Kang character.

No word yet on a potential season three.  Loki is top of the line when it comes to Disney+ Marvel TV shows (rivaled only by WandaVision).

Echo (2024)

One season, 5 episodes

Alaqua Cox reprises her role from Hawkeye as Maya Lopez, aka Echo, a deaf Native American Choctaw, and former leader of the Tracksuit Mafia, a criminal gang working for Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin.  Maya had believed Hawkeye killed her gangster father, when he was temporarily a vigilante named Ronan (in Avengers: Endgame).  In reality, Wilson Fisk had engineered her father’s death.  Echo starts off five months after the events in the Hawkeye season finale, where, after discovering his deception, Maya shoots Kingpin in the face.  Maya returns home to Oklahoma to reconnect with her Native American roots, with Wilson Fisk’s mobsters hot on her trail.  Apparently, he is not dead as Maya believed, only injured.

Echo is the first series under the new Marvel Spotlight banner, which introduces standalone content that doesn’t require familiarity with the larger MCU and its various story arcs.  Although if you haven’t seen Hawkeye, this series can be confusing.  The Echo character first appeared in a 1999 comic-book issue of Daredevil, and there are some differences in both her background and powers (not worth getting into here).

I thought that the misguided 2023 effort, Secret Invasion, was the bottom of the Disney+ Marvel barrel.  I was wrong.  Echo now has that designation all to itself.

Unfortunately, Alaqua Cox does not have the charisma needed to carry a superhero show, and seems stuck in a monotone, emotionless facial expression.  Her virtually identical reaction to whatever is happening around her makes her less interesting as the series progresses.  The plot is slow-paced and never ramps up.  The acting is flat.  The Native American historical and mystical elements seem haphazardly slapped on just so Marvel can point to its continued diversity efforts (and lacks any emotional depth).  Even the few fight scenes lack any real drama. 

And they do the one thing you simply cannot do to a major supervillain – make him look weak.  Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin, so fearsome and powerful in Daredevil, is a ghost of his former self here – highlighted by the absurdity of Maya so easily defeating him.  Apparently she now has the supernatural ability to channel her ancestors, who echo through her, and harness their energy and abilities (and temporarily transfer them to other people), which leads to one of the more ridiculous fight scenes.  Her abilities include, enhanced strength, martial arts expertise, regenerative healing ability, and expert marksmanship.

The brief, and surprisingly low-intensity fight between Maya and Daredevil, shown in a flashback scene in the first episode, appears to have no other purpose than to be included in promos misleading viewers into thinking Daredevil actually has a role in the series.  Daredevil fights are usually the best choreographed on television – not this time.  I’m not even sure Daredevil was played by Charlie Cox here.  The character was only shown in costume and mostly from a distance or blurred (from sunlight glaring through the window) – and the couple of times he spoke, it didn’t really sound like him.

I’m also not sure why they made a big deal of putting a TV-MA rating on the show, since there’s no sexual content, and both the violence and fight scenes are significantly less violent than any of the Netflix-originated series that received the TV-MA label when they moved to Disney+.  It almost seems as if the streamer thought the adult rating was a way to attract more viewers who might have been disappointed with Marvel’s recent efforts.

As a Marvel fan, to say I was disappointed watching this mess is an understatement.  On the other hand, perhaps as a Marvel fan my expectations are causing me to overreact.  Check it out for yourself and let me know.

The Emmys: How to Make Them Better (Jan. 2024)

The Emmy Awards telecast has traditionally alternated among ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox.  Once seen as a major promotional vehicle for the broadcast networks (pre-2015 at least), the host network would win a bunch of awards and have commercials ready to immediately tout their wins.  I’m old enough to remember when marginally rated series would become hits after winning multiple Emmys.  It was a big deal.

This, of course, hasn’t been the case for several years.  In the mid-2000s, premium and ad-supported cable started to overshadow the broadcast networks.  The Emmy Awards is now primarily a showcase for HBO and streaming services – most notably Netflix, although other streamers are catching up. 

Of the 99 major comedy and drama nominees in 2023 – best comedy, best drama, best limited series, and the lead and supporting acting nominees in each category (the major awards viewers care most about), 28% are on HBO (28).  Fifty-eight (59%) are on streaming platforms.  Netflix and Hulu, with 16 apiece, account for a combined 55% of the streaming total.  Apple has 13 nominations, Prime Video has seven, and Max, Peacock, Disney+, and Roku have one each.  Freevee has two.

These numbers, of course, can be misleading.  When HBO’s Succession and White Lotus each get 10 nominations, it skews the results.  Individual shows performing so well does not really mean that network or platform is head-and-shoulders above everyone else.  You get a better picture by looking at how many shows each network or platform has nominated.  Netflix and Hulu each had six series nominated for these major Emmy Awards, while HBO and Apple TV+ each had five.  Prime Video had three shows nominated, Showtime and Freevee each had two, and Peacock, Disney+, Max, Roku, AMC, and FX had one apiece.

It's worth noting that based on The Sternberg Report’s rankings of the best 20 TV shows of 2023, Apple TV+ has six, HBO/Max has four, FX/Hulu has three, Prime Video has two, and Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, Freevee, and Showtime have one apiece.

Nomination Trends: Shifting Platforms

Looking at the number of series nominated for 15 major awards – best comedy, drama and limited series, and the lead and supporting actors in each, since 2000, shows how broadcast gradually gave way to ad-supported and premium cable, and then both the broadcast networks and ad-supported cable were supplanted by streaming series.  Between 2005 and 2015, the percentage of nominations for the broadcast networks dropped from 64% to 24%, falling to just 11% in 2020 and 5% in 2023.  Premium cable’s percentage gradually declined since 2015, before rebounding in 2022 and 2023.  In 2020, for the first time, half of all these major awards went to streaming series (compared to just 18% five years earlier).  This rose to 59% in 2023. 

	Emmy Nominations (15 major awards)
Year	Broadcast	Ad-Supported Cable	Premium Cable	Streaming
2000	48 (65%)	4 (5%)	22 (30%)	----
Best Comedy	4	----	1	----
Best Drama	4	----	1	----
Best Miniseries	3	1	1	----
2005	47 (64%)	6 (8%)	21 (28%)	----
Best Comedy	5	----	----	----
Best Drama	3	----	2	----
Best Miniseries	2	1	1
2010	38 (49%)	19 (24%)	21 (27%)	----
Best Comedy	4	----	2	----
Best Drama	2	2	2	----
Best Miniseries	1	----	1
2015	21 (24%)	23 (26%)	28 (32%)	16 (18%)
Best Comedy	2	1	2	2
Best Drama	----	3	2	2
Best Limited Series	2	2	1	----
2020	11 (11%)	13 (13%)	25 (26%)	49 (50%)
Best Comedy	1	2	2	3
Best Drama	----	2	1	5
Best Limited Series	----	----	1	4
2021	13 (14%)	4 (4%)	20 (21%)	59 (61%)
Best Comedy	1	----	----	7
Best Drama	1	1	1	5
Best Limited Series	----	----	2	3
2022	7 (7%)	8 (8%)	30 (29%)	58 (56%)
Best Comedy	1	1	2	4
Best Drama	----	1	3	4
Best Limited Series	----	----	1	4
2023	5 (5%)	4 (4%)	32 (32%)	58 (59%)
Best Comedy	1	----	1	6
Best Drama	----	1	5	2
Best Limited Series	----	----	----	5

Streamers Dominate but HBO Still Stronger (kind of)

The continued impact of the streaming wars is evident as 59% of the nominations for these awards in 2023 were for series on streaming services (compared to 50% in 2020, and just 18% in 2015).  

The broadcast networks accounted for just 5 nominations in 2022 (5%), all of which went to just one series (ABC’s Abbott Elementary).  This was the culmination of more than 15 years of decline – in 2005, the broadcast networks drew 64% of these nominations, which fell to 49% in 2010, 24% in 2015, and 11% in 2020.

 

HBO had by far the most nominations in these 15 major categories with 28 (spread out among five series), although more than 70% went to just two shows, The White Lotus and Succession, each with 10.  Two other HBO series nabbed multiple nominations – Barry (4) and The Last of Us (3).  House of the Dragon got one.

The only other premium cable network nominated was Showtime, which garnered two apiece for Yellowjackets and George & Tammy.

While HBO had the most overall nominations, both Netflix and Hulu actually had more different series nominated, with six each.  More than half of Netflix’s 16 nominations went to two limited series – Beef (6), and Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (4).  The others went to perennial nominee, The Crown (2), Dead to Me (1), and new series, Wednesday (2) and The Diplomat (1).  Hulu also grabbed 16 nominations.  The Bear  got three, while Only Murders in the Building got two, and The Handmaid’s Tale managed one.  Among the streamer’s limited series, Welcome to Chippendale’s got four nominations, Fleishman is in Trouble got three, and Tiny Beautiful Things got two. 

 

        

Apple TV+ continues to expand the number of series receiving nominations, going from just one (Ted Lasso) two years ago, to three last season, to four this year.  Ted Lasso got five nominations in its final season, Black Bird, three, Shrinking, two, and Bad Sisters got one.  

Prime Video’s seven nominations were split among The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (3), in its final season, Daisy Jones & The Six (3), and Swarm (1).

Peacock got one nomination for its new show, Poker Face.  Disney+ got one each for its Star Wars franchise shows, Andor  and limited series Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Max, which got seven nominations each of the past two years (when it was called HBO Max), only managed one this season (for the Love & Death limited series).  Amazon Freevee got two nominations for Jury Duty.  Roku got one for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

On the ad-supported cable front, AMC’s Better Call Saul snagged three nominations (the same as last year) for its final season, while FX got one for The Old Man.  This tied the post-2000 low registered in 2021.

Among the broadcast networks, ABC got five nominations for Abbott Elementary (the same as last year).  This was the lowest number of nominations ever for the broadcast networks, and the first time only one broadcast network was nominated in these major award categories.

Of course, with FX on Hulu coming and going, it’s not always easy to designate a show as being on one or the other.  FX promoted The Bear, Fleishman is in Trouble, Reservation Dogs, and Atlanta as being FX series that air on Hulu.  So even though FX produced The Bear and Fleishman, they aired exclusively on Hulu, so I’m including then under Hulu.  The Old Man, on the other hand, aired on FX before going to Hulu, so I’m including it under FX.

Here's how they can improve the broadcast and attract more viewers.

Stop Including Shows in the Wrong Categories (or Create New Ones)

Barry and The Bear in same category as Abbott Elementary?  Why steal nominations from real comedies like The Great and Ghosts?  Just because they’re afraid to compete with Succession or Better Call Saul, they shouldn’t be allowed to pick their category.  Anyone who watched Barry's final season and thought "comedy" has their own issues.  As for shows like The Bear, just because a drama is infused with some humor or satire, does not make it a comedy.

How to Attract More Viewers and Help Ad-Supported Series

Once the exclusive domain of the broadcast networks, and a vehicle for broadcasters to promote themselves, the Emmy telecast has clearly shifted to being something that not only showcases their major competitors, but also rewards series that the majority of viewers haven’t seen – which has probably contributed to the show’s declining ratings.

 

Despite press accounts that often predict the demise of broadcast television, the highest rated shows on the air are still primetime broadcast network series (Yellowstone notwithstanding), few of which get nominated for major awards these days.  You’ll never see any of the most popular series with broad fan bases, such as the Chicagos, NCISs, or 911s

, nominated for any awards.

None of the major acting or outstanding series awards for comedy or drama went to a broadcast network show in 2018, 2019, 2020, or 2021 (Sterling K. Brown won Best Actor in a drama for This is Us in 2017).  Sheryl Lee Ralph was the lone broadcast series representative in 2022, as she nabbed best supporting actress in a comedy for ABC’s Abbott Elementary.

No broadcast series has won for best drama since 24 got the honor in 2006.  In 2017, This is Us was the first broadcast drama even nominated in six years (it was also nominated in 2018 and 2019).  There were no broadcast series nominated for best drama in 2020.  This is Us was nominated once again in 2021, no doubt benefitting by Better Call Saul, Killing Eve, Ozark, Stranger Things, and Succession not being eligible.  In 2022 and 2023, no broadcast dramas were nominated. 

The last broadcast show to win for best comedy was Modern Family eight years ago, in 2014.  In 2018, Black-ish was the only broadcast network comedy nominated, while in 2019 and 2020, NBC’s The Good Place was the only broadcast comedy to make the nomination cut (although Black-ish did get a best actress nomination and both Black-ish and The Good Place got best actor nominations).  Black-ish made the cut again in 2021 – most likely because Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Good Place, and Schitt’s Creek ended their runs.  In 2022 and 2023, Abbot Elementary was the sole broadcast series nominated for Best Comedy (and received four acting nominations both years).

TV series that air on different video outlets have different creative limitations based on levels of language, sex, and violence, and whether they must answer to advertisers. Having them all compete with one another is inherently unfair, and works against the broadcast networks – particularly since streaming series generally have between 6 and 13 episodes per season while the broadcast networks typically have between 17 and 24 (and require more “filler”).

The obvious solution is to divide the awards into three categories – ad-supported, premium cable, and streaming.  

This might have given viewers an ad-supported drama category this season that included, This is Us, Yellowstone, Better Call Saul, Bosch: Legacy, and Killing Eve.  The premium cable drama group might include, Euphoria, Succession, Billions, The Gilded Age, and Yellowjackets competing against one another.  The streaming drama category could have had Evil, Ozark, Stranger Things, Severance, and Squid Games. 

We’d get a similarly diverse group of shows in the comedy categories.  Ad-Supported – Abbott Elementary, Ghosts, Atlanta, Reservation Dogs, and What We Do in the Shadows;  premium cable – Barry, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Insecure, Somebody Somewhere, and The Righteous Gemstones;  streaming – Hacks, The Flight Attendant, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Only Murders in the Building, and Ted Lasso.

 Then you could have online/phone voting where viewers can select the overall winners for comedy and drama, and have something like an hour-long follow-up Emmy Viewers’ Choice show on Monday (where they could show extended trailers of the major nominees, which would serve as great promotional vehicles for those unfamiliar with the shows).

This would also pave the way for ending category gender divisions, so performers such as Billions star, Asia Kate Dillon, the first gender-nonbinary performer to play a nonbinary character on a major television series, won’t have to choose between “male” or “female,” neither of which identifies them.  With more nonbinary roles being cast, now is the time to do this.  With the additional categories, not having enough nomination spots available would no longer be a concern in ending gender distinctions (you could still have five to eight nominees per category).

This way, more television series that people have actually seen would be up for major awards without negatively impacting the high-quality shows that are only available to subscribers in 25-75% of the country. There’s little doubt that ratings would improve as well. Otherwise, let Netflix or HBO have the Emmys. In its current form it has become a vehicle to promote the broadcast networks’ competitors, so why not let one of them air it.  Given that the broadcast networks recently extended their rights to alternate the award show, however, now would be a good time to implement the above suggested changes.

If changes are not implemented to ensure that some of the most popular series are included, perhaps the broadcast networks should go back to the future and institute their own version of the long defunct Cable ACE Awards.  These were given by the National Cable Television Association to recognize excellence in American cable television between 1978 and 1997 – when the Emmys refused to recognize cable shows (ACE stood for Award for Cable Excellence).  In the final year of the Cable ACE Awards, HBO’s OZ won for best drama and The Larry Sanders Show won for best comedy.

The Marvels - Just a Blip or Something More

There have been 33 theatrical films released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which began in 2008 with the debut of Iron Man.  The bulk of these movies feature The Avengers or individual members of that team, as well as popular characters such as Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Doctor Strange.  Guardians of the Galaxy, with its distinct sense of humor, premiered in the middle of the Avengers craze and became a surprise hit – the only one at the time not to feature the well-known lineup of Marvel heroes. 

Television shows set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) are based on characters appearing in Marvel comics who have a shared reality with the theatrical film franchises.  Nine such TV series were produced for Disney+ between 2021 and 2023 (with one more debuting at the end of November).  At least four more are planned through 2025.

So, the latest film in the MCU franchise, The Marvels, has not lived up to industry expectations, and press headlines widely peg it as a flop.  This is the second recent so-called failure, as it joins Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania with the dreaded “flop” designation.  Rumors abound that a desperate Disney is considering resurrecting popular heroes such as Iron Man and Captain America (and maybe even Black Widow).  Events in the second season of Disney+’s Loki seem to make that possible.  Whether or not that would happen, and whether they could even lure the stars to reprise their roles, remains to be seen. 

Let’s take a look at why The Marvels did not draw the anticipated opening weekend box office, and what that might mean going forward.

The promos were terrible.  I was actually planning to see. The Marvels on opening weekend,  but when I saw the promos I decided to wait until it hits Disney+.  The TV trailers I saw had little dialogue, were all special effects, jumped between scenes so quickly, I could barely make out who the heroes or villains were.   There was nothing in the promos that generated any interest in me paying to see it.

The writers’ and actors’ strikes prevented any of the movie’s stars from the normal pre-opening publicity tours – red carpet premieres, talk shows, or comic cons.  Brie Larson, who plays Captain Marvel, went on The Tonight Show the night the movie hit theaters – and she was there to simultaneously promote her Apple TV+ series, Lessons in Chemistry, which may have diluted the impact on The Marvels.

The first Captain Marvel movie debuted at the height of Avengers-mania, being released in 2019, sandwiched between Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame (in which she appeared).  It earned a worldwide box office of more than $1 billion (more than $150 million domestic opening weekend), compared to the current movie’s $47 million domestic opening weekend.  Of course, the pandemic has had a long-lasting impact on moviegoing habits.  Pre-pandemic, my wife and I saw about 10 movies a year in theaters.  Since then, I don’t think we’ve been to more than three in a year. 

It should be also be noted that the first Captain America and Thor movies in 2011 each only managed a $65 million domestic opening weekend.  The first Ant-Man movie generated $57 million during its opening weekend. Still, it’s hard to put a positive spin on The Marvel’s performance – although the headlines proclaiming Disney’s doom and the end of superhero movies are vastly overstated.

Despite the pandemic and subsequent trend of streaming theatrical movies way ahead of previously normal windows, TV shows and theatrical movies are not interchangeable.  Even the best Disney+ TV shows, including Ms. Marvel, were designed as TV shows, not Avengers-style blockbuster movies.  Most heavy Marvel moviegoers did not see Ms. Marvel, and even those who did were not going to pay to see her as one of the leads in a theatrical movie (after seeing her for free on television). 

You can’t just add Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and expect everyone to flock to the theater.  Secondary and more obscure Marvel characters can work well for a TV series, where word-of-mouth (or social media) can create a hit, and viewers have ample time to discover a new show.  But they don’t work so well when the all-important opening weekend requires a strong initial movie attendance.

Wonder Woman is an icon, and historically popular among women and men.  Black Widow became popular through numerous Iron Man and Avengers movies (as a co-star).  But men and boys, the driving force for Marvel movie attendance, aren’t  crazy about the Captain Marvel character – or superhero movies exclusively starring women.  Women and families will go to superhero movies, typically at the request of their male family members.  Whenever there was a new Avengers or Spider-Man movie, I would tell my wife I wanted to see it, and she would gladly come along (and usually enjoyed them).  But she was never the one who suggested we see them Wonder Woman being a key exception).  So if men aren’t intent on seeing a new Marvel movie, it generally will not do well.

Since Avengers: Endgame, virtually all Marvel movies have been weak on characterization and heavy on special effects.  Marvel had spent years building the character interactions and backstories for stories about members of The Avengers.  People went to these movies largely because they became familiar with the characters and wanted to see their new adventures – special effects and cinematic battles were a bonus, not their reason for being.

When I evaluate TV shows, I often point out that “Shows make stars, stars don’t make shows.”  But for theatrical movies, which cost a significant amount of money these days for families to attend, stars help put fannies in the seats.  Major popular stars who have portrayed various Marvel characters include, Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Tom Holland (Spider-Man), and the late Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther).

We also need to keep in mind that there is a considerable amount of review bombing for Marvel series featuring female leads.  Just as an example none of the pre-2022 TV series had even 3% of reviews getting on IMDb just 1-star  The Ms. Marvel Disney+ series, which was largely praised by critics, was at 20% (She-Hulk had a remarkable 32% of its premiere reviews being 1-star).  Not so coincidentally, both have female stars, both can be labeled as comedies, and both are substantially different from anything Marvel has done before.  I’m sure there was a significant amount of this going on for The Marvels as well.  She-Hulk actually mocks these internet trolls in a plotline that has a secret organization (of mostly white men) and a website devoted to complaining about the existence of superheroes like her.

Going forward, this seems to be a post-pandemic non-Thanos related blip.  The current second season of Loki on Disney+ is both a critical and viewing success.  The upcoming Echo should do just fine and next season’s Daredevil: Born Again is sure to be a hit.  On the feature film front, Deadpool 3 (which reportedly will include Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine one last time), and the rebooting of the Fantastic Four and X-Men franchises could generate new excitement.  Much will also depend on the public’s willingness to accept Anthony Mackie (the Falcon) as the new Captain America in Captain America: Brave New World (slated for a 2025 release), and how it ties in to a new Avengers team.  There’s also another Spider-Man movie, a new version of Blade (starring Mahershala Ali).  Thunderbolts, the MCU’s version  of Suicide Squad, will be in theaters in 2025.

So I wouldn’t write off the Marvel Cinematic Universe just yet.

The Marvels - Just a Blip or Something More

There have been 33 theatrical films released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which began in 2008 with the debut of Iron Man.  The bulk of these movies feature The Avengers or individual members of that team, as well as popular characters such as Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Doctor Strange.  Guardians of the Galaxy, with its distinct sense of humor, premiered in the middle of the Avengers craze and became a surprise hit – the only one at the time not to feature the well-known lineup of Marvel heroes. 

Television shows set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) are based on characters appearing in Marvel comics who have a shared reality with the theatrical film franchises.  Nine such TV series were produced for Disney+ between 2021 and 2023 (with one more debuting at the end of November).  At least four more are planned through 2025.

So, the latest film in the MCU franchise, The Marvels, has not lived up to industry expectations, and press headlines widely peg it as a flop.  This is the second recent so-called failure, as it joins Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania with the dreaded “flop” designation.  Rumors abound that a desperate Disney is considering resurrecting popular heroes such as Iron Man and Captain America (and maybe even Black Widow).  Events in the second season of Disney+’s Loki seem to make that possible.  Whether or not that would happen, and whether they could even lure the stars to reprise their roles, remains to be seen. 

Let’s take a look at why The Marvels did not draw the anticipated opening weekend box office, and what that might mean going forward.

The promos were terrible.  I was actually planning to see. The Marvels on opening weekend,  but when I saw the promos I decided to wait until it hits Disney+.  The TV trailers I saw had little dialogue, were all special effects, jumped between scenes so quickly, I could barely make out who the heroes or villains were.   There was nothing in the promos that generated any interest in me paying to see it.

The writers’ and actors’ strikes prevented any of the movie’s stars from the normal pre-opening publicity tours – red carpet premieres, talk shows, or comic cons.  Brie Larson, who plays Captain Marvel, went on The Tonight Show the night the movie hit theaters – and she was there to simultaneously promote her Apple TV+ series, Lessons in Chemistry, which may have diluted the impact on The Marvels.

The first Captain Marvel movie debuted at the height of Avengers-mania, being released in 2019, sandwiched between Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame (in which she appeared).  It earned a worldwide box office of more than $1 billion (more than $150 million domestic opening weekend), compared to the current movie’s $47 million domestic opening weekend.  Of course, the pandemic has had a long-lasting impact on moviegoing habits.  Pre-pandemic, my wife and I saw about 10 movies a year in theaters.  Since then, I don’t think we’ve been to more than three in a year. 

It should be also be noted that the first Captain America and Thor movies in 2011 each only managed a $65 million domestic opening weekend.  The first Ant-Man movie generated $57 million during its opening weekend. Still, it’s hard to put a positive spin on The Marvel’s performance – although the headlines proclaiming Disney’s doom and the end of superhero movies are vastly overstated.

Despite the pandemic and subsequent trend of streaming theatrical movies way ahead of previously normal windows, TV shows and theatrical movies are not interchangeable.  Even the best Disney+ TV shows, including Ms. Marvel, were designed as TV shows, not Avengers-style blockbuster movies.  Most heavy Marvel moviegoers did not see Ms. Marvel, and even those who did were not going to pay to see her as one of the leads in a theatrical movie (after seeing her for free on television). 

You can’t just add Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and expect everyone to flock to the theater.  Secondary and more obscure Marvel characters can work well for a TV series, where word-of-mouth (or social media) can create a hit, and viewers have ample time to discover a new show.  But they don’t work so well when the all-important opening weekend requires a strong initial movie attendance.

Wonder Woman is an icon, and historically popular among women and men.  Black Widow became popular through numerous Iron Man and Avengers movies (as a co-star).  But men and boys, the driving force for Marvel movie attendance, aren’t  crazy about the Captain Marvel character – or superhero movies exclusively starring women.  Women and families will go to superhero movies, typically at the request of their male family members.  Whenever there was a new Avengers or Spider-Man movie, I would tell my wife I wanted to see it, and she would gladly come along (and usually enjoyed them).  But she was never the one who suggested we see them Wonder Woman being a key exception).  So if men aren’t intent on seeing a new Marvel movie, it generally will not do well.

Since Avengers: Endgame, virtually all Marvel movies have been weak on characterization and heavy on special effects.  Marvel had spent years building the character interactions and backstories for stories about members of The Avengers.  People went to these movies largely because they became familiar with the characters and wanted to see their new adventures – special effects and cinematic battles were a bonus, not their reason for being.

When I evaluate TV shows, I often point out that “Shows make stars, stars don’t make shows.”  But for theatrical movies, which cost a significant amount of money these days for families to attend, stars help put fannies in the seats.  Major popular stars who have portrayed various Marvel characters include, Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Tom Holland (Spider-Man), and the late Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther).

We also need to keep in mind that there is a considerable amount of review bombing for Marvel series featuring female leads.  Just as an example none of the pre-2022 TV series had even 3% of reviews getting on IMDb just 1-star  The Ms. Marvel Disney+ series, which was largely praised by critics, was at 20% (She-Hulk had a remarkable 32% of its premiere reviews being 1-star).  Not so coincidentally, both have female stars, both can be labeled as comedies, and both are substantially different from anything Marvel has done before.  I’m sure there was a significant amount of this going on for The Marvels as well.  She-Hulk actually mocks these internet trolls in a plotline that has a secret organization (of mostly white men) and a website devoted to complaining about the existence of superheroes like her.

Going forward, this seems to be a post-pandemic non-Thanos related blip.  The current second season of Loki on Disney+ is both a critical and viewing success.  The upcoming Echo should do just fine and next season’s Daredevil: Born Again is sure to be a hit.  On the feature film front, Deadpool 3 (which reportedly will include Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine one last time), and the rebooting of the Fantastic Four and X-Men franchises could generate new excitement.  Much will also depend on the public’s willingness to accept Anthony Mackie (the Falcon) as the new Captain America in Captain America: Brave New World (slated for a 2025 release), and how it ties in to a new Avengers team.  There’s also another Spider-Man movie, a new version of Blade (starring Mahershala Ali).  Thunderbolts, the MCU’s version  of Suicide Squad, will be in theaters in 2025.

So I wouldn’t write off the Marvel Cinematic Universe just yet.

A Brief History of Cop Shows on TV (and the reckoning that never came) (Sept. 2023)

Since the beginning of television, various program genres have fallen in and out of favor with the general public.  But none have been as consistently popular as shows depicting law enforcement (crime and punishment), whether they be police/detective series, procedural dramas, or shows featuring the FBI or CIA (or some other government agency initials). 

The look and feel of these shows have evolved over time, sometimes following societal changes and sometimes influencing them, but certain elements have remained persistently unshakeable – law enforcement agents are the good guys, most suspects are guilty of something, and the few bad cops will eventually be weeded out and punished.

Post-George Floyd, there was supposedly going to be a reckoning resulting in changes to how law enforcement and policing in minority communities are portrayed on television (and who gets to tell these stories).  Later in this report, we’ll discuss how that is going.

In the early days of television, crime and justice mostly took the form of westerns, which had clearly defined lines of good and evil.  In the 1950s and ‘60s, there were more than 100 westerns airing on just three television networks (and syndication).  In shows like The Lone Ranger (1949-57), The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955-61), Cheyenne (1955-63), Have Gun, Will Travel (1957-63), Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958-61), The Rifleman (1958-63), Rawhide (1959-66), and The Wild Wild West (1965-69), the good guys always won and the bad guys were always captured, killed, or reformed.

At the same time, police, detective, and FBI dramas were gaining in popularity with shows like Dragnet, Highway Patrol, 77 Sunset Strip, Naked City, The Untouchables, The F.B.I., and The Fugitive.  But it wasn’t until the 1970s that they would start to supplant westerns as the main vehicles for stories about law enforcement.

Over the past 60 years, the genre has produced a number of groundbreaking television series that not only affected how law enforcement is portrayed, but also how scripted stories on TV are told – and how the public generally feels about crime and punishment.  While there have been hundreds of cop shows on television over the years, many of the basic rules of the road have remained essentially the same.

Here are the six basic tenets of law-enforcement shows on television (note that broadcast network and syndicated series are in blue, ad-supported and premium cable in red, and original streaming shows in green). 

1. Most cops are honest, heroic, and good

More than 70 years of police portrayals on popular scripted dramas have contributed to public perception of police as the heroic good guys putting their lives on the line every day to keep us all safe.  Doing whatever it takes to catch the bad guys, even if it means roughing up suspects and violating their rights, is forgivable, and often necessary, to achieve the greater good of protecting the public and bringing criminals to justice.  From the earliest days of television this has been a basic tenet of virtually all cop series.  During the 1950s and 1960s, several of these shows (most notably, Dragnet, Highway Patrol, Adam--12, and The F.B.I.) had the cooperation of local law enforcement agencies, which often included script approval.  So they exclusively provided the law-enforcement perspective, virtually never showing cops in a negative light.

Societal upheavals in the late 1960s to mid-1970s resulted in some TV police dramas shifting their focus to generational differences and other social issues.  We started seeing younger cops who looked different from their older colleagues (and had different perspectives) in shows like The Mod Squad and The Rookies. 

Several of these series included women and people of color in central roles.  But even if different generations of cops didn’t understand one another, they were still all good guys, and seldom broke the rules.

We also saw irreverent TV shows, such as Car 54 Where Are You? and Get Smart, satirizing law enforcement for the first time. 

In the 1980s (Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice) and 1990s (NYPD Blue, Homicide: Life on the Street), cop shows started to become grittier and more graphic.  We saw that some cops could be corrupt.  But those were (and still are) usually presented as a few bad apples who eventually get their comeuppance.  The main characters, whose exploits we follow week after week, were more heroic than ever.

When cable began airing original scripted series, we started to see more police misconduct and significantly more violent content.  This began more or less in 2002 with FX’s The Shield (2002-08) and HBO’s The Wire (2002-08), which debuted just a few months apart.  These types of shows are relatively rare, even today, particularly on ad-supported linear television. 

2. Violent crime is on the rise, but most crimes are solved

Despite the fact that violent crime declined by 71% between 1993 and 2018 (according to the U.S. Department of Justice), a 2016 Vox-Morning Consult survey showed that roughly two-thirds of Americans thought violent crime was getting worse.  While newscasts certainly contributed to this, so did the increasing number of police series that showed violent crimes in virtually every episode.  This led many to believe that rampant crime is on the rise in big cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago (the most common locales for police dramas).

During the 2022-23 television season, there were more than 30 crime-based scripted dramas just on the broadcast networks, with several others on cable, and streaming services.  Police procedurals, which usually have crimes solved by the end of the hour, provide an unrealistic view of not only the crime rate, but on the effectiveness and relative quickness of solving each case.  FBI statistics for 2019 show that police nationwide cleared 45.5% of reported violent crimes and only 17.2% of property crimes.  On TV shows, it’s more like 95%.

3. Crossing the line is OK – as long as you catch the bad guys

The city (or country, or world) is only safe because of righteous avengers who are willing to do things no one else is willing or able to do to protect an unsuspecting public.  These are typified by Andy Sipowicz (NYPD Blue), Elliot Stabler (Law & Order: SVU and Organized Crime), Jack Bauer (24), Vic Mackey (The Shield), Danny Reagan (Blue Bloods), Matt Wozniak (Shades of Blue), and Hank Voight (Chicago P.D.). 

Roughing up suspects is acceptable if it helps bring the bad guys to justice.  Other cops stand by and do nothing – even those who are opposed to what is happening, because they know the world is safer due to the few who are willing to take morally ambiguous action.  You can’t worry about constitutional or civil rights when time is running out to prevent innocent civilians from being hurt.  Actions that might ordinarily be seen as deplorable are forgiven and justified when committed by popular characters who on television almost always mistreat suspects who are eventually shown to be guilty anyway (or at least guilty of something, if not this particular crime).  They seldom  abusively interrogate the innocent.

Most law-enforcement series still employ “no-knock warrants,” which writer’s probably see as the best way to heighten the dramatic effect (and speed things up) – I cringe every time I see a dozen or so cops on Chicago P.D., FBI,  or S.W.A.T. knock down doors with guns drawn, yelling at everyone inside to not move or get down.  Before Breonna Taylor, this didn’t stand out to me at all.  Somehow, cops on TV shows never break down the wrong doors or shoot anyone in these situations by “accident.”

Since the murder of George Floyd by cops (on video for all to see), there have been some recent attempts to make it seem as if police departments on TV are instituting policies against doing anything that crosses the line.  But these are generally presented as being misguided efforts by bureaucrats that invariably interfere with or prevent catching the bad guys.

Writers seem to have settled on the common refrain, “We don’t do that anymore.”   In one recent episode of Chicago, P.D., for example, as Hank Voight is about to hit a suspect, one of his subordinates stops him and says, “We don’t do that anymore.”  Hank glares at her for a few seconds before backing off.  If only that would happen in real life.  Likewise, in Law & Order: Organized Crime, when Elliot Stabler is about to beat up a suspect, Olivia Benson says, “We don’t do it this way anymore” – not because they think it’s actually wrong, but because “everything is being looked at through a different prism now.” 

In Blue Bloods, when Danny Reagan is about to rough up a suspect, his female partner says, “We don’t do that anymore” (it’s usually a female cop who stops a male cop from crossing the line).  In the same series, a cop who is about to assault a suspect is told by his partner to calm down because there are cameras everywhere and everyone has a smartphone – in other words, don’t cross the line, not because it’s wrong, but because people might record you and you could lose your job. 

Chicago P.D. had an episode where the new police chief, who is determined to do things by the book and stop violating suspects’ rights, does not allow detectives to enter a property to catch a dangerous psychopath who had kidnapped her son.  Even though Hank Voight’s team knew where he was hiding, she insists on continuing to investigate until they have enough probable cause for a search warrant.  As a result of the delay, her son is tortured and killed.  After they discover her son’s body, she tells Voight to do whatever it takes to catch the killer (she realizes he was right all along, and progressive policies that look good on paper can be ineffective and dangerous in practice).  The clear message of the show is that it’s fine to institute new policies to prevent cops from breaking the rules, but those who make these policies are naïve, and endangering the public by no longer permitting cops to do whatever it takes to catch the bad guys. 

4. Racism exists but is not systemic

There might be some individual racist cops, but they are rare and easily recognizable – and usually have links to white supremacist groups.  Shows like Chicago P.D., The Rookie, FBI, and S.W.A.T. (the only police series on network TV with a Black showrunner and Black lead star), have aired multi-episode storylines that deal with racism on the police force in ways never before seen on broadcast television.  Most of these plots, however, focus on racism as seen through the eyes of Black police officers, who are generally torn between their communities who see cops as the bad guys, and their own desire to help people and change things from the inside.  This does provide for interesting perspectives but hardly addresses the impact of police brutality and racial profiling on the daily life of regular citizens.  In most cases, the surrounding white cops seem oblivious to the issue until a Black colleague in their unit is harassed and loses his or her cool. 

Of course, it is still typically presented as just a few bad apples.  Police brass is usually shown as being unaware that racism is a widespread problem in the department.  They invariably don’t know how to deal with it.  It’s up to the Black cops to educate their colleagues and superiors, often at great personal and professional risk.  The white members of their unit, ordinarily presented as clever and observant, are generally naïve on the subject of racial bias, but are virtually never actually racist themselves.

A few cop shows have recently tried to deal with the subject.  ABC’s The Rookie, for example, has incorporated multi-episode plotlines dealing with racism on the police force, the profiling of minorities, and over-policing of Black communities.  It should also be noted that aside from its star (Nathan Fillion) the main cast members are largely people of color.  And the writers’ room is one of the more diverse, with almost half being non-white. 

CBS shows, S.W.A.T. and The Equalizer, both with Black leads (Shemar Moore and Queen Latifah, respectively), have examined issues surrounding racism and policing in minority neighborhoods.  S.W.A.T. has also had several episodes dealing with corrupt cops, racist cops, LGBTQ+ rights, and the relationship between police and the Black community.  It also dealt with a group of white supremacist cops, and how other white cops find some of their opinions “reasonable” sounding (even though they themselves aren’t perceived as racist).  The Equalizer has had a number of episodes focusing on race and racial profiling, including Asian hate crimes (one of the main cast members is Asian, and she had input into the storyline).

CBS’s FBI, and NBC’s Chicago P.D. have also had several episodes dealing with racial profiling – although showing the impact on minority members of the main unit, rather than on the general public.  Law & Order: SVU had an episode where our hero, Olivia Benson, questions whether she unconsciously racially profiled a suspect (critics had a field day with this one).  The main cops on TV shows never seem to consciously racially profile anyone – and, if they do, by the end of the episode tend to learn their lesson.

Post George Floyd’s murder, networks and producers for the first time seemed willing (and financially motivated) to make changes in how they portray police procedure, racism, and other systemic inequities.  But it’s been more lip service and the occasional one-off episode than anything else, with few real changes.  The one show that seemed to be making a consistent statement about the need to change the way police operate, CBS’s  East New York, one of the best new shows of 2022 (and one of only two with a Black female lead), was unceremoniously canceled after a single season.

5. Cops are mentored and well trained

Cops and FBI agents are taught the right way to do their jobs by veterans, mentors, or instructors.  The whole theme of The Rookie, for example, is that every rookie cop is assigned a training officer who teaches them proper procedure and how to deal with suspects (without violating their rights).  They also learn how to de-escalate potentially violent situations.  Until they pass muster, they can’t be promoted.  Quantico had a full season devoted to showing how well trained FBI agents are.   Other cop shows have periodically focused on the importance and rigors of training, and how even one mistake can cost lives (or your job).

In the world of television, good cops, (i.e., most cops), even rookies, can stand up to the few crooked or racist cops and eventually succeed in getting them disciplined or removed from the force.

6. The evidence is color blind

FBI series or those featuring other law enforcement agencies (such as NCIS or CSI) seldom address racial inequities.  They simply follow the evidence.  The evidence never lies and virtually always leads to capturing the bad guys or getting them to confess.  Race has nothing to do with it, and there is no racial bias in the way evidence is collected or processed.  Social context is irrelevant.  They seldom jump to conclusions as to where the evidence might lead based on the color of someone’s skin.  Most of the time, law enforcement is shown rising above, and fighting against, the racism and bias demonstrated by the general public.

In recent times, virtually all of these types of series, Criminal Minds, the various NCISs and FBIs, The Blacklist, Blindspot, Quantico, etc., feature diverse casts who are relentless in tracking down suspects, and have seemingly unlimited resources at their disposal.  The bulk of the criminals in these shows range from serial killers (who are almost always white men), to white supremacists, to crazy white women, to foreign bad actors.  If any minorities are wrongly accused of a crime, the evidence quickly exonerates them and implicates the real culprits.  If any of the main characters shows racial insensitivity, they are quickly set straight by the appropriate minority member of their team.

Here’s a look at how cop and crime shows have evolved (and not evolved) over time.

1950s / Early 1960s

It’s a Black and White World: Cops are Noble and True (and white)

In the 1950s, good vs. bad was straightforward and clearly defined.  It was a decade plagued by the red scare and the blacklist.  Non-white representation on television was limited to I Love Lucy’s Ricky Ricardo, Amos ‘n’ Andy, and little more.  Any inclusion of Black characters were in stereotypical, comic-relief, or secondary roles – certainly not in characters relevant to the main storyline.  Cops, detectives, and FBI agents were generally older white men and clean-cut younger white men (who often looked up to their older white male mentors). 

The names of these shows were simple and descriptive – Man Against Crime (1949-54), Martin Kane, Private Eye (1949-54), Rocky King Detective (1950-54), Treasury Men in Action (1950-55), Racket Squad (1951-53), Dragnet (1951-59), The Lineup (1954-60), Highway Patrol (1955-59), The Sheriff of Cochise (1956-57), State Trooper (1956-59), M Squad (1957-60), Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1957-60), U.S. Marshal (1958-60), Peter Gunn (1958-61), 77 Sunset Strip (1958-64), The Lawless Years (1959-61), Manhunt (1959-61), The Detectives (1959-62), and  Naked City (1958-63) – known for the iconic line at the end of each episode, “There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.” 

Shows that aired in the early 1960s, such as The Untouchables (1959-63), The Saint (1962-69), and The Fugitive (1963-67), were more violent, but largely followed the 1950s model.  Even the comedy, The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68) fit into this general mold – imagine a TV show today depicting life in a North Carolina town without showing any Black residents.

Early on, many crime shows built relationships with local police departments.  Dragnet’s Jack Webb, who played upright “just the facts, ma’am” detective Joe Friday, submitted the show’s scripts to the LAPD’s Public Information Division and omitted anything they didn’t approve.  The F.B.I. vetted every detail of the original TV series, The F.B.I., which included background checks to make sure no “criminals, subversives, or Communists” were associated with the show.  The closing credits for Adam-12, stated, “Technical advice for the filming of Adam-12 was approved by the board of Police Commissioners and came from the office of … Los Angeles Police Department.”   At the time, these were all considered positive, and was seen as providing an air of authenticity to the programming.

Cops were honest, brave, and good, and almost never broke the rules.  Both the cops and the criminals were typically white men.  If the show continued to air into the early 1960s, you’d occasionally see a Black officer, detective, or secretary, and more minority criminals.  If FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s name was mentioned, it was virtually always with reverence.

Late 1960s / Early 1970s

The Times They Are a Changin’ (but cops are still noble and true)

As the country experienced the turmoil of the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the resulting generational rifts, the networks seemed uncertain as to how they should present crime and punishment.  Cops, F.B.I. agents, and detectives were still mostly clean-cut white men, but you would occasionally see clean-cut Black officers or assistants/secretaries pop up.  The F.B.I. (1965-74) was one of the more popular shows in the late ‘60s-early ‘70s, and J. Edgar Hoover was still seen as the epitome of righteous law enforcement.

The differing, mostly generational, public perceptions during this time is epitomized by the fact that NBC’s Adam 12 (1968-75), which was as clean-cut and by-the-book as you can get, premiered the same year as ABC’s counter-culture series, The Mod Squad (1968-73), which is about young undercover cops – revolutionary for casting a woman (Peggy Lipton) and a Black man (Clarence Williams III) in leading roles (it was the first network police drama to have either).  The series was actually promoted as “One black, one white, one blonde.”   It was also notable for trying to address the generation gap and various social issues.

Anne Francis, starring in Honey West (1965-66), as a female private eye, actually predated Mod Squad by a few years (the half-hour drama ran for one season). 

A few other cop/detective shows debuting in the late 1960s / early 1970s, most notably Ironside (1967-75), Mannix (1967-75), and The Rookies (1972-76), also had central (although not leading) Black cast members.  And, of course, Hawaii Five-0 (1968-80) had people of color in its cast.  Mannix’s loyal secretary Peggy (Gail Fischer) was one of the first regular series roles for a Black woman.

For the first time there were shows that satirized law enforcement – Car 54, Where Are You? (1961-63), Get Smart (1965-70), and Batman (1966-68).  There were also several action spy series clearly influenced by the success of 1960s James Bond films, Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and Goldfinger.  These included, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1964-68), I Spy (1965-68), which was the first American TV drama to feature a Black actor (Bill Cosby) in a lead role, and Mission Impossible (1966-73), which also had a regular Black cast member (Greg Morris).

The half-hour drama, The Felony Squad (1966-69) was the lone series that harkened back to the 1950s model, from the casting (Howard Duff), to the look and feel of the show..  Originally titled Men Against Evil, the show’s main sponsor didn’t want their products associated with the word “evil.”

The 1960s also had more than a dozen police dramas that lasted just one or two seasons, several of which had well-known or future stars, including, 87^th Precinct (Robert Lansing, Gena Rowlands, Norman Fell), Arrest and Trial, a precursor to Law & Order (Ben Gazzara, Chuck Connors), The Bold Ones: The Protectors (Leslie Nielsen), Checkmate (Sebastian Cabot, Doug McClure), The Everglades, Hawk (Burt Reynolds), Honey West (Anne Francis), Johnny Midnight (Edmund O’Brien), Johnny Staccato (John Cassavetes), Markham (Ray Milland), Miami Undercover (Rocky Graziano), N.Y.P.D. (Frank Converse, Jack Warden), and The New Breed (Leslie Nielsen). 

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the only thing that changed about how the police treated suspects, was that they now had to inform them of their Miranda rights (due to the 1966 Supreme Court decision).  They would often read suspects their rights from a pre-printed card.  You would sometimes see suspects having to be released because they weren’t informed of their right to remain silent and that anything they say can be used against them in a court of law.

1970s 

The Maverick “Outsider” Cop (approach but don’t cross the line)

Clint Eastwood’s iconic 1971 theatrical film role as Dirty Harry – and the public perception among many at the time that criminals had more “rights” than their victims, influenced a slew of maverick cops on television.  These were tough white men who might play outside the rules but were still firmly part of the establishment – they walked up to the line, but never quite crossed it.  That was fine because it almost always resulted in getting the bad guys.  As long as you “read them their rights,” everything else was O.K.  These include, Dennis Weaver in McCloud (1970-77), Peter Falk in Columbo (1971-78), William Conrad in Cannon (1971-76),  George Peppard in Banacek (1972-73), Tony Musante in Toma (1973-74), Telly Savalas in Kojak (1973-78), James Garner as Jim Rockford in The Rockford Files (1974-80), Robert Blake in Baretta (1975-78), and David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser in Starsky & Hutch (1975-79).

The 1970s were big on titles based on character names.  In addition to the ones mentioned above, the networks also aired, Dan August (1970-71), Monty Nash (1971), Longstreet (1971-72), McMillan & Wife (1971-77), with Rock Hudson and Susan St. James, O’Hara, U.S. Treasury (1971-72), Banyon (1972-73), Chase (1973-740, Griff (1973-74), Nakia (1974), Harry O (1974-76), Bronk (1975-76), Ellery Queen (1975-76), Delvecchio (1976-77), and Eisheid (1979-80).  

Social Issues, Some Racial Diversity, and Women (for the male gaze)

The Mod Squad (1968-73) and The Rookies (1972-76), both on ABC, had more diverse casts than previous police shows.  Both had women and Black men in central roles.  Both featured younger cops as the networks tried to appeal to younger viewers.  They also took on the establishment and addressed social ills and the generation gap in ways not seen before on TV.  The Streets of San Francisco (1972-77) also dealt with social issues and generational differences, and paired the more traditional younger, college-educated, inexperienced go-getter (Michael Douglas) with an older, street-smart mentor (Karl Malden).

There were four series in the 1970s with Black characters in titular roles, but none lasted longer than a single season.  The first were Shaft (1973-74), with Richard Roundtree reprising his role from the popular 1971 movie, and Tenafly (1973-74).  Both were spokes in rotating movie wheels that were popular on the broadcast networks at the time.  Get Christie Love! (1974-75) had its roots in Black exploitation films, inspired by Pam Grier movies – Christie’s trademark line was “You’re under arrest, sugar.”  Its single season is historically significant because Teresa Graves was the first Black woman to star in an hour-long drama.  Paris (1979-80), starring James Earl Jones, rounded out the 1970s quartet of one-season shows with Black leads.

CHiPs (1977-83) was the first cop show on television to feature a Latino police officer in a leading role, as the trouble-prone  Ponch (Erik Estrada), who, along with his more straight-laced partner, Jon (Larry Wilcox), cruised the L.A. freeways on their motorcycles as part of the California Highway Patrol. 

Barney Miller (1975-82), one of the first comedies about cops, features a diverse cast that includes Black, Puerto Rican, Polish-American, and Japanese-American detectives in a New York police precinct.  There were a couple of recurring female cops and detectives (female detectives were not yet a regular thing on television), and a gay cop joined the squad during its fourth season – the show was one of the first to incorporate stories featuring gay characters (which makes sense since the precinct was located in Greenwich Village.

Police Woman (1974-78) a spin-off from the successful anthology drama, Police Story (1973-77), centers on a female cop (who mostly goes undercover as a prostitute, dancer, prison inmate, nurse, or flight attendant).  Its lead, Angie Dickenson, was the first woman to be the lead star in an hour-long drama.  The series reportedly influenced many women across the country to apply for police positions.  Peggy Lipton preceded her on The Mod Squad, but she wasn’t the singular lead.  Jessica Walter had starred in Amy Prentiss, playing a female detective, as part of NBC’s Mystery Movie, but it was canceled after just three two-hour episodes. 

Charlie’s Angels (1976-81), featuring three young female cops, became a hit and helped coin the phrase “jiggle TV” (basically scantily clad women jumping around – also known as “T & A TV”).  They took their assignments from Charlie, a heard but unseen mysterious male boss.  A man named Bosley acted as liaison between Charlie and his “Angels,” and supervised their assignments.  Even though Farah Fawcett was only in the first season (she was replaced by Cheryl Ladd in season two), she became pop-culture icon.  Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson were the other two original Angels.  According to its executive producer, Aaron Spelling, TV critics at the time did not understand that Charlie’s Angels was not meant to be a serious crime drama.  Viewers did.

These shows, starring women but written by men as a sort of male-fantasy TV, obviously don’t hold up well today.  But their success did pave the way for women being given more substantial and authentic leading roles.  And just as with the men, female cops were portrayed as universally good and often heroic.  But in the 1970s (and much of the 1980s) female diversity, for the most part, meant simply casting both blondes and brunettes.

The 1970s also had a number of the short-lived police dramas, with more than 25 shows lasting anywhere from just a few episodes up to two seasons.  Several featured well-known and future stars.  These include, Adams of Eagle Lake (Andy Griffith), Archer (Brian Keith), The Blue Knight (George Kennedy), Bronk (Jack Palance), Caribe (Stacy Keach), Chopper One (Dirk Benedict), Dan August (Burt Reynolds),  Delvecchio (Judd Hirsch), Eisheid (Joe Don Baker), Griff (Lorne Greene), Jigsaw John (Jack Warden), Kodiak (Clint Walker), Lanigan’s Rabbi (Art Carney), Longstreet (James Franciscus), Madigan (Richard Widmark), The Manhunter (Ken Howard), Monty Nash (Harry Guardino), Nakia (Robert Forster), Nashville 99 (Claud Akins), O’Hara: U.S. Treasury (David Janssen), Paris (James Earl Jones), Sam (Mark Harmon), Serpico (David Birney), The Silent Force (Ed Nelson, Lynda Day George), S.W.A.T. (Steve Forest, Robert Urich), and Toma (Tony Musante, Susan Strasberg).

1980s

White Women Take Center Stage Alongside White Men

Women were given more prominent roles in crime dramas during the 1980s, highlighted by CBS’s Cagney & Lacey (1982-88), the first cop show to feature two female partners as the main characters – although as a sign of the times, the original casting was changed following the pilot episode, with Sharon Gless replacing Meg Foster.  Network executives were afraid that Foster and Tyne Daly, two aggressive women, might be perceived as lesbians. This was among the first series of its kind to deal with topics ranging from rape, to abortion, and alcoholism (of a lead character). 

NBC tried teaming up two women, this time Lynda Carter and Loni Anderson, in Partners in Crime (1984), but it was no Cagney & Lacey, and only lasted one season.  CBS’s long-running hit, Murder, She Wrote (1984-96), also had a female lead (Angela Lansbury), and appealed to a significantly older audience – which led to other series featuring older actors. 

Several other shows featured male/female partners gave birth to the romantic comedy cop show.  These series often featured humorous banter (romantic and otherwise) among partners.  These include, Hart to Hart (1979-84), Remington Steele (1982-87), Scarecrow & Mrs. King (1983-87), Hunter (1984-91), and Moonlighting (1985-89).  These types of shows typically featured white men and women – mixed-race romances, or even flirtations, were not yet acceptable on network television.  Having a Black man and woman as partners was never under consideration.

Female cops were generally portrayed as being just as heroic as their male counterparts, but tended to be more likely to follow the rules and not mistreat suspects.  One rare exception was Lady Blue (1985-86), whose lead female detective was even more violent than most of her male counterparts.  Way ahead of its time, neither viewers nor critics in the 1980s were ready to see a woman in this type of role.  It lasted two seasons.

But there were still several successful police dramas with white male leads, some working alone, some with a partner.  These include, Magnum, P.I. (1980-88), with Tom Selleck, and The Equalizer (1985-89), with Edward Woodward, which spawned a movie franchise with a Black male lead (Denzel Washington), as well as a recent popular reboot with a Black female lead (Queen Latifah),  Simon & Simon (1981-89), Hardcastle & McCormick (1983-86), Matt Houston (1983-85), Riptide (1984-86), Crazy Like a Fox (1984-86), Spenser: For Hire (1985-88), and Jake and the Fatman (1987-92).  TJ Hooker (1982-85) had a female cop (Heather Locklear) in a mostly male police squad led by William Shatner.

Crimes and Cops Get More Integrated, Stylish, and Violent

Police and detective shows in the 1980s were punctuated by two of the best and grittiest – Hill Street Blues (1981-87), and Miami Vice (1984-90).  Both groundbreaking series included women and people of color in major roles as police officers and detectives.  Both shows featured criminals who were far more brutal than those on television in previous decades.  So, of course, the cops were justified in being just as brutal to bring them to justice.  Hill Street Blues’ cops often faced off with street gangs (typically Black and Hispanic), while Miami Vice took on drug cartels (most often Hispanic or Asian).  Miami Vice was also known for its pulsating, MTV-style soundtrack and hyper-stylized visuals, and use of quick cuts in ways we had never before seen.

Hill Street Blues demonstrated that people can follow large ensemble casts with multiple story arcs.  It’s hard to imagine today, but critics, and advertisers at the time thought the show would be too confusing to viewers who were used to simpler storylines.  Before this, virtually all cop shows featured one or two main characters, in self-contained episodes, and one or two stories at a time.  While it started out with low ratings, it won multiple Emmy awards (at a time when that mattered), which turned it into a hit, influencing virtually every ensemble drama that followed.  The main cast members seemed like they could actually be real people, with real-people problems, who just happened to be cops.  They struggled with real-life issues, such as alcoholism and drug abuse, and  how to maintain their sense of right and wrong  while still doing what it takes to catch the bad guys.  Their work lives often conflicted with their personal lives.  Hill Street was also one of the last police dramas to take place in an unnamed big city.

21 Jump Street (1987-91), Fox’s first hit drama, in addition to making Johnny Depp a star, featured a Black woman (Holly Robinson) and other people of color in leading roles.  In the Heat of the Night (1988-95), starring Carroll O’Connor and Howard Rollins, based on the 1967 hit movie, features a Black man as one of the lead characters.  There were also several shows with Black leads that only lasted one season: Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980), with Jeff Goldblum and Ben Vereen;  Sonny Spoon (1988) with Mario Van Peebles; A Man Called Hawk (1989), a spin-off from Spenser: For Hire (1985-88) with Avery Brooks; Gideon Oliver (1989), with Louis Gossett Jr;  and Snoops (1989-90), with Tim Reid and Daphne Maxwell Reid.

The epic (and too short-lived) Crime Story (1986-88), whose style and look were similar to Miami Vice (both were produced by Michael Mann), had a clear impact on Wiseguy (1987-90), which also featured unusually brutal (for the time) bad guys. 

All four of these series – Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, Crime Story, and Wiseguy – were notable for their use of serialized storylines (rather than the more common close-ended episodes) and were prototypes for many of the edgier cop shows to follow.

As was the case in previous decades, the 1980’s had many police shows that lasted two seasons or less (most of them one season), and featured current and future stars.  These included B.A.D. Cats (Michelle Pfeifer), Booker (Richard Grieco), Chicago Story (Maud Adams, Craig T. Nelson, Dennis Franz), Crime Story (Dennis Farina, Anthony Dennison), The Devlin Connection (Rock Hudson), Downtown (Michael Nouri, Robert Englund, Blair Underwood, Mariska Hargitay), Eye to Eye (Charles Durning), Hardball (John Ashton), Hawaiian Heat (Robert Ginty), Heart of the City (Christina Applegate), Hollywood Beat (Jack Scalia, John Matuszak), Hooperman (John Ritter), Houston Knights, J.J. Starbuck (Dale Robertson, Ben Vereen), The Law & Harry McGraw (Jerry Ohrbach), Leg Work (Margaret Colin, Frances McDormand), MacGruder and Loud, McClain’s Law (James Arness), The Oldest Rookie (Paul Sorvino), Paris (James Earl Jones), Partners in Crime (Lynda Carter, Loni Anderson), Private Eye (Josh Brolin), The Renegades (Patrick Swayze), Riker, Sonny Spoon (Tim Reid), True Blue, Unsub (David Soul, Kent McCord), and Wolf (Jack Scalia).

1980s/90s

Ensemble Police Dramas Require Integrating Casts

The 1980s and ‘90s ushered in ensemble cast dramas focusing on police precincts and squads of cops, rather than the individuals or partnerships that were more prevalent in the 1960s and ‘70s.  It would have been ridiculous to have TV shows about detective units or police precincts in major urban areas without having key roles for Black and Hispanic characters.  Pioneered by Hill Street Blues (1981-87), these shows covered multiple story arcs devoted to various characters.  Other successful ensemble cop shows in this era include, Miami Vice (1984-90), 21 Jump Street (1987-91), Law & Order (1990-2010), NYPD Blue (1993-2005), Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-99), and New York Undercover (1994-99).

1990s 

Black and Latino Characters Move into Central (but not yet Lead) Roles

In the 1990s, Black and Latino cops and detectives became more commonplace on television.  These shows included, In the Heat of the Night (1988-95), Law & Order (1990-2010), Gabriel’s Fire (1990-91), one of the first police series with a singular Black lead character, Street Justice (1991-93), Renegade (1992-97), NYPD Blue (1993-2005), Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-99), Walker, Texas Ranger (1993-2001), New York Undercover (1994-99), the first police drama on American television to feature two people of color in starring roles, The Sentinel (1996-99), Pacific Blue (1996-2000), Nash Bridges (1996-2001), and L.A. Heat (1999).  There was also Martial Law (1998-2000), which was the only network primetime show in the U.S. headlined by an East Asian (Sammo Hung).  It’s interesting to note that most of the Black and Latino cops portrayed in the 1990s were less likely to brutalize suspects than were their white counterparts.

There were only a few successful series with white male leads – The Commish (1991-96), Dark Justice (1991-93), Diagnosis Murder (1993-2001), and The Sentinel (1996-99), which each appealed to a substantially different audience. 

Women continued to star in police series during the 1990s.  Of the shows listed above, NYPD Blue, Homicide, New York Undercover, and Pacific Blue each have women in key roles.  In addition, Profiler (1996-2000) features  a female FBI agent, and Sirens (1993-95) tells the story of three female rookie cops, each of whom works with an experienced veteran who, of course, provides them with excellent training. One West Waikiki has a female lead (Cheryl Ladd).  One-season series, Angel Street (1992), teamed two female detectives, one Black and one white.

Network Cop Shows Start to Push Some Boundaries

Law & Order (which debuted on NBC in 1990) featured stories “ripped from the headlines,” and showed not only the cops capturing the suspects, but what happens next when they go to trial.  And breaking with years of TV precedent, sometimes the guilty go free.  It led to more than 20 years of franchise extensions, including the most popular and longest-running of all, Law & Order: SVU (1999-present).

In 1993, ABC introduced us what its producer, Steven Bochco called “network TV’s first R-rated series,”  NYPD Blue.  It was revolutionary at the time.  ABC was so secretive, they would not send us the pilot.  They came in with a copy, which we had to watch with them, after which they left and took the pilot with them.  They didn’t want any copies leaking out before the show premiered on television. The nudity (mostly butt shots) was unprecedented for network television, as was some of the language and adult-oriented storylines.  It became an instant hit, which helped overcome any potential advertiser reticence. 

The same year, another classic cop show (although not nearly as popular), NBC’s Homicide: Life on the Street, premiered, raising the depiction of everyday violence and its impact on police and detectives to a new level.  Filmed almost entirely on location in Baltimore, it used music montages, hand-held cameras, and jump-cut editing, giving the show a unique look and feel.  The show was notable for stories that tended to be darker than we’d typically seen on cop shows, and for its complex, non-stereotypical Black characters.  It also integrated multiple storylines per episode, which was still uncommon for the time.

The 1993 triumvirate was completed with Fox’s The X-Files (1993-2002), starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.  It paired up male and female FBI agents who investigate unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena.  Millennium (1996-99) also involved supernatural elements as an ex-FBI agent (Lance Henriksen) hunts down serial killers and other criminals.

More than 35 police dramas debuted during the 1990s that only ran for a season or two, some with major TV stars attached.  They include, The Big Easy, Brooklyn South, C-16: FBI (Eric Roberts, Angie Harmon), Charlie Grace (Mark Harmon), Cop Rock, Cracker, Crime & Punishment,  Dellaventura (Danny Aiello), EZ Streets (Ken Olin), FBI: The Untold Stories, Gabriel’s Fire (James Earl Jones), The Hat Squad, High Incident, L.A. Heat, Land’s End (Fred Dryer), Likely Suspects, The Marshal, Mike Hammer (Stacy Keach), Missing Persons (Daniel J. Travanti, Jorja Fox), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Scott Bakula, Maria Bello), One West Waikiki (Cheryl Ladd), Over My Dead Body (Edward Woodward), P.S. I Luv U (Greg Evigan, Connie Selecca), Players, Pros & Cons (James Earl Jones), Reasonable Doubts (Marlee Matlin, Mark Harmon), Secret Service, Shades of L.A., Sins of the City, Sirens, Snoops, Swift Justice, Turks (William Devane), Under Suspicion, The Untouchables, Vengeance Unlimited (Michael Madsen), and Veronica Claire.

2000s 

Rise of Procedural Dramas, Ad-Supported Cable; The Aftermath of 9/11

As the new decade got underway, NYPD Blue and the original Law & Order were still going strong.  Since both series are set in New York City, both were severely affected by the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.  They, along with other police, detective, CIA, and FBI series had to start balancing the presumed continuing threat of Middle-Eastern based terrorism, with the ensuing prejudice against Muslims by both regular citizens and law-enforcement agencies.  The threat of terror attacks, both from abroad and through sleeper cells within the U.S., was an ongoing theme in law-enforcement series throughout the decade.

In the aftermath of 9/11, with the U.S. government’s stance toward “enhanced interrogation,” and the new law known as The Patriot Act, the path was set for counter-terrorism and CIA shows such as 24 (2001-10), Alias (2001-06), the first hour-long spy series with a female lead, and The Agency (2001-03).  All were in production before 9/11, but the events that day changed the direction these shows would take.  The bottom line was that terrorism is such a threat that anything our heroes do to the bad guys is justified as long as it helps prevent the next attack or protect innocent civilians.  24, one of the most popular series on television, repeatedly sent out this message for the entire decade.

In 1999, an extension to the popular Law & Order franchise, Law & Order: SVU premiered, eventually becoming television’s longest running drama (now entering its 25^th season).  More intense than most cop shows on broadcast TV, it focused primarily on often grisly sex-related crimes.  The show has received praise for bringing some of these crimes and issues (such as “no means no”) into mainstream programming, and for its star, Mariska Hargitay, who plays Olivia Benson, becoming a real-life champion for sex assault survivors’ rights.  It has also received criticism for presenting an unrealistic portrayal and raising unrealistic expectations of what a real-life sex-crimes unit actually does.  The show has also been criticized for clumsily handling issues of race (It has had a mostly white writers’ room) – but that’s true of a lot of series.

In 2000, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation became a surprise hit, ushering in a new era of procedural dramas.  While hardly the first of its kind (that distinction goes to Dragnet), it created a new type of hero – behavioral analysts, forensic experts, tech wizards, and nerds.  Unlike many other cop dramas that show heroic officers capturing the bad guys often through car chases, gun battles, hand-to-hand combat, and breaking down doors, these shows focus on the intellectual aspects of collecting evidence, predicting criminal behavior, and then searching for the suspects.  The main characters from whatever law-enforcement agency the show features, typically solve the crime in a lab or conference room and by questioning potential witnesses.  Procedural dramas on broadcast television are typically self-contained episodes – the story unfolds and is resolved within the same hour-long episode. 

CSI spawned several spin-offs (CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, CSI: Vegas, and the short-lived CSI: Cyber).  Subsequent successful shows in the 2000s that fit this mold include, Without a Trace (2002-09), NCIS (2003-present), Cold Case (2003-10), Criminal Minds (2005-20), Bones (2005-17), Numb3rs (2005-10), The Closer (2005-12), and Lie to Me (2009-11).   The Closer was one of the first original scripted series on ad-supported cable to become a major hit. 

In 2002, when ad-supported cable was just starting to air original scripted series to compete with the broadcast networks, FX debuted The Shield (2002-08).  It was controversial not only for its portrayal of corrupt cops and its morally ambiguous characters, but also for a degree of sexual and violent content never before seen on ad-supported television.  Buoyed by strong ratings, it forever changed what was acceptable to air on ad-supported TV.  It broke many long-standing conventions and led to a gradual increase in edgier dramas on television.  The LAPD was reportedly not happy with the show’s portrayal of police, and threatened to withdraw standard security support for the production (according to the show’s executive producer Glen Mazzara).  Characters in the series therefore never refer to “LAPD” by name.  They also wear fake badges on the wrong side of their uniforms. 

A few months after The Shield debuted, HBO premiered the epic drama, The Wire (2002-08), considered by many to be among the best television series ever.  It was perhaps the first show to criticize the “war on drugs,” and deal with issues of race in a way no other cop show was doing at the time.  With its focus on corruption and decay in a major urban city (Baltimore), and the intersection of cops, gangsters, and politicians, it took storytelling to a new level.  The Wire remains one of the few television series that depicts systemic police brutality against regular citizens (mostly people of color) in addition to showing honest individual cops.  In other words, there can be honest cops in a corrupt system, as opposed to the standard TV narrative that there can be some corrupt cops in a generally honest system.

White Women Headline More Series

The 2000s gave us several police/detective dramas with women either in leading roles –  Alias (2001-06), Crossing Jordan (2001-07), The Division (2001-04), Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye (2002-05), Karen Sisco (2003), Cold Case (2003-10), Veronica Mars (2004-07), Medium (2005-11), The Closer (2005-12), – or in equal partnerships with men –  Law & Order: SVU (1999-), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001-11), Bones (2005-17), In Plain Sight (2008-12), and Castle (2009-16). 

There were also several series with racially diverse departments, teams, or partners, often with women in prominent roles, including, Third Watch (1999-2005), CSI (2000-15), The District (2000-04), CSI: Miami (2002-12), Without a Trace (2002-09), NCIS (2003-present), CSI: NY (2004-13), Criminal Minds (2005-2020), Sleeper Cell (2005-06), Psych (2006-14), Flashpoint (2008-12), and Leverage (2008-12).  All of these shows were successful, and all lasted for at least four seasons.  Monk (2002-09), Numb3rs (2005-10), Dexter (2006-13), Burn Notice (2007-13), and The Mentalist (2008-15) were the only ones with solely white male leads.

With several ad-supported cable networks now firmly in the business of producing original scripted content, there were more police and detective series on the air than in any previous decade.  There were also more than 30 shows that did not last more than a season or two.  These include, 10-8: Officers on Duty, 18 Wheels of Justice (G. Gordon Liddy, Billy Dee Williams), The Beast (Patrick Swayze), Big Apple (Ed O’Neil, Kim Dickens), Blind Justice, Boomtown (Donnie Wahlberg, Neal McDonough), Cover Me, Dark Blue (Dylan McDermott), Day Break (Taye Diggs), The Evidence, Eyes (Tim Daly), Fastlane, The Forgotten, The Fugitive (Tim Daly), Hack (David Morse, Andre Baugher), Hawaii, Heist, The Huntress (Annette O’Toole), The Inside, Jonny Zero, K-Ville (Anthony Anderson), Kidnapped (Jeremy Sisto, Delroy Lindo, Timothy Hutton, Dana Delany), Killer Instinct, Kingpin, Level 9, Life (Damian Lewis, Sarah Shahi), Life on Mars, Line of Fire, Robbery Homicide Division (Tom Sizemore), Standoff (Ron Livingston, Gina Torres), Touching Evil, UC: Undercover, The Unusuals (Amber Tamblyn, Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau), Wanted (Gary Cole, Rashida Jones), and Women’s Murder Club (Angie Harmon).

2010s

A Mixed Bag of Sub-Genres, The Rise of Streaming

Crime shows in the 2010s had protagonists who fit into several different categories.  The rise of streaming platforms led to several new entries, often more gritty and violent than those airing on ad-supported TV.  While many of these shows could be placed in different sub-genres of police/detective series, they all had one thing in common – the ends justifies the means.  Protecting suspects rights is important only until innocent people are at risk.  Then, anything goes.  And if your suspect turns out to be innocent, you just apologize and move on with no regrets.  You were just doing your job and trying to protect the public.  The greater good outweighs individual rights.

Female leads – Covert Affairs (2010-14), Nikita (2010-13), Rizzoli & Isles (2010-16), Body of Proof (2011-13), Homeland (2011-20), Unforgettable (2011-16), Absentia (2017-20), Good Girls (2018-21), Jett (2019), L.A.’s Finest (2019-20) – unlike shows in previous decades, most of these women are just as likely as men in similar shows to cross the line to bring the criminals to justice.

Male/female or multi-racial partners/teams – Castle (2009-16), Hawaii Five-0 (2010-20), The Chicago Code (2011), The Killing (2011-14), Person of Interest (2011-16), Elementary (2012-19), Longmire (2012-17), Banshee (2013-16), Scorpion (2014-18), True Detective (2014-19), Murder in the First (2014-16), Lethal Weapon (2016-19), C.B. Strike (2018-present ), Magnum PI (2018-present ), Rellik (2018), City on a Hill (2019-22).  Banshee was the first American scripted television series with a gender-fluid character as a main cast member.

Diverse group of federal agents – NCIS: Los Angeles (2009-2023), Strike Back (2010-20), The Blacklist (2013-2023), Graceland (2013-15), NCIS: New Orleans (2014-21), CSI: Cyber (2015-16), Blindspot (2015-20), Quantico (2015-18), Narcos (2015-17), Mindhunter (2017-19), Jack Ryan (2018-23), Narcos: Mexico (2018-21), FBI (2018-present) – most shows focusing on the FBI or other federal agencies have diverse casts, but seldom deal with racism (unless it’s in the context of going after violent white supremacist groups), and almost never deal with police brutality.  FBI, which has a Muslim lead character, is one of the few exceptions.

Diverse group of detectives – Southland (2009-13) – one of the first police/detective series to have a regular gay (although closeted) police officer.  Major Crimes (2012-18) – one of the best procedural crime dramas, with a team of detectives led by a woman, successfully balances horrific crimes and light office banter.  It’s the first series of its kind to highlight a gay teen character and same-sex relationships.  While it does have a diverse cast, both racially and age-wise, its sole Latino detective is the one to have a temper and anger management issues, often losing his cool and needing to be reeled in by his teammates.   Bosch (2014-21) – multiple episodes have dealt with sexism (Bosch’s lieutenant is a woman), as well as police and political corruption, and there are a number of central Black characters.  Chicago P.D. (2014-present) – racism and political corruption have become central themes, as the detectives continue to do whatever it takes to eliminate threats to their own and to the general public.  Shades of Blue (2016-18) – Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta lead a crew that takes bribes and protection money, and thinks nothing of crossing lines to catch the bad guys (but they’re really decent people, who only break the rules to give their families a better life).

Diverse group of rookies – Rookie Blue (2010-15), The Rookie (2018-present ) – rookie cops on TV shows are always well trained and taught right from wrong.  These two shows demonstrate the difference in diversity from the beginning to the end of the decade, as many series started providing more substantial representation of women, as well as Blacks and other minorities.

Diverse S.W.A.T. team – S.W.A.T. (2017-present) – this series has dealt with racism, sexism, and homophobia better than most police dramas.  Its diversity both in front and behind the camera makes it noticeably different in how it deals with these issues.  When it debuted, its star, Shemar Moore, was CBS’s only lead actor of color. 

Diverse group of detectives in a comedy – Brooklyn Nine Nine (2013-2021) – the first series about detectives, where the captain (who is Black) happens to be gay – and Angie Tribeca (2016-18), starring Rashida Jones, in what has been referred to as a Naked Gun for the small screen.

Supernatural, Fantasy, Sci-Fi – Haven (2010-15), Grimm (2011-17), iZombie (2015-19), Stitchers (2015-17),

White male leads – White Collar (2009-14), Justified (2010-15), The Glades (2010-14), Perception (2012-15), Crossing Lines (2013-15), The Following (2013-15), MacGyver (2016-21), The Sinner (2017-21), Prodigal Son (2019-21).  Instinct (2018-19) featured the first openly gay lead character who is married to another man in an American network television series.  Justified, being on FX, which has a reputation for edgier and grittier programming, is one of the more violent cop shows, with Timothy Olyphant portraying a deputy U.S. Marshal who dispenses “his own brand of justice.”  What once was the standard for police dramas – the rugged lone white male lead – is now something of a rarity.

This decade also brought us the noble police family in Blue Bloods (2010-present) – even when they occasionally cross the line, their intentions are good and they constantly question themselves – when a cop outside the family breaks the rules, the Commissioner (Tom Selleck) usually manages to boot them off the force by the end of the episode (as though police unions don’t exist), often getting them to resign (to avoid bad PR).  Blue Bloods has also had a number of episodes where Black activists try to frame innocent white cops for police brutality – until the righteous Commissioner Reagan persuades them or Black civilian witnesses to come clean.  In this world, the main problem is unfair public misperception of cops and Black activists who cause trouble.

And then there’s Fargo (2014-present), which defies genre labels but is certainly diverse, and features numerous women in leading roles.  Each season has a different cast of quirky and often violent characters.  It is one of the few (if not only) shows to present good, honest cops, corrupt cops, and incompetent cops in relatively equal number.

Ironically, the continued popularity of the genre is emphasized by the record number of unsuccessful series during the 2010s (46), lasting only one or two seasons.  These include, Against the Wall, Alcatraz, Almost Human (Karl Urban), APB, Awake, Backstrom, Battle Creek (Josh Duhamel), The Black List: Redemption (Famke Janssen, Ryan Eggold), Breakout Kings, The Bridge, Chance (Hugh Laurie), Charlie’s Angels, Chase, The Chicago Code, Cleaners, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (Gary Senise), Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (Forest Whitaker, Janeane Garofolo), CSI: Cyber (Patricia Arquette, James Van Der Beek), Gang Related, The Gates, Golden Boy (Theo James, Chi McBride), Gone (Chris Noth), Good Behavior (Michelle Dockery), The Good Cop (Tony Danza), Gracepoint (David Tennant, Anna Gunn), Ironside (Blair Underwood), King and Maxwell (Jon Tenney, Rebecca Romijn), Law & Order: L.A., Legends (Sean Bean, Ali Larter), Low Winter Sun, Memphis Beat, Minority Report, Mob City (Jon Bernthal, Milo Ventimiglia), The Mysteries of Laura (Debra Messing), NYC 22, Past Life, Prime Suspect (Maria Bello), Prodigal Son (Tom Payne), The Protector (Ally Walker), Public Morals, Rosewood, Rush Hour, Seven Seconds (Regina King), Stalker (Maggie Q, Dylan McDermott), Take Two, Taken, Taxi Brooklyn, Terriers, Those Who Kill, Training Day (Bill Paxton, Katrina Law), True Justice (Steven Seagal), Wicked City (Jeremy Sisto, Gabriel Luna), Emergence.

2020s

Streaming Wars, Franchise Extensions, and the Reckoning That Wasn’t

In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder by a police officer, with other officers just standing by, captured on video for all the world to see, there was a backlash against how law enforcement is portrayed on TV series as universally heroic and righteous.  Networks and showrunners pledged to reassess how policing in minority communities, and the brutalizing of suspects, is portrayed in law-enforcement  related series.

The popular reality show Cops, which debuted on Fox in 1989 and shifted to Spike TV (now the Paramount Network), in 2013, was canceled in 2020.  Its “real-life” portrayal of harsh police tactics, particularly toward minorities, was no longer acceptable.  But then the conservative Fox Nation (a subscription video on demand service companion to Fox News) picked it up in 2021.  A&E Network’s Live PD, another highly rated reality show focusing on various police forces across the country, which had debuted in 2016, was also canceled in 2020.  In 2022, cable network Reelz, launched On Patrol: Live (from the same producers as Live PD) with surprisingly little backlash.  Both were signs that public (and media) outrage at police portrayals on television might be subsiding.

More than 20 police dramas have premiered since 2020.  As linear television faces challenges from all sides, particularly the streaming wars, franchise extensions and reboots are easy to promote and one of the surest ways to retain viewers.  Recent examples include, FBI: Most Wanted (2020-present), The Equalizer (2021-present), Law & Order: Organized Crime (2021-present), Walker (2021-present), CSI: Vegas (2021-present), FBI: International (2021-present), NCIS: Hawaii (2021-present), Leverage: Redemption (2021-present), Kung Fu (2021-23), Dexter: New Blood (2021-present), Bosch: Legacy (2022-present), The Rookie: Feds (2022-present), Criminal Minds (2022-present), and Justified: City Primeval (2023-present).

Other cop shows debuting since 2020 include, Big Sky (2020-2023), Briarpatch (2020), Deputy (2020), Hightown (2020-present), Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector (2020), Tommy (2020), Clarice (2021), Lupin (2021-present), Mare of Easttown (2021), Mayor of Kingstown (2021-present), Seal Team (2021-present), which shifted from CBS to Paramount+, The Calling (2022-present), Dark Winds (2022-present), East New York (2022), Reacher (2022-present), Tokyo Vice (2022), We Own This City (2022), Alert: Missing Persons Unit (2023), True Lies (2023), and Will Trent (2023-present).

Of the series listed above, five have Black leads (Briar Patch, Lincoln Rhyme, The Equalizer, East New York, and The Rookie: Feds, while five others have central Black characters (Big Sky, FBI: Most Wanted, Law & Order: Organized Crime, Clarice, We Own This City).  The lead character in Hightown is Latina.  Nine of these shows – Big Sky, Briarpatch, Hightown, Tommy, Clarice, The Equalizer, Mare of Easttown, East New York, and The Rookie: Feds – have women in lead roles (Briarpatch, The Equalizer, East New York, and The Rookie: Feds star Black women).  Tommy features a lesbian police chief, and has a strong focus on sexism and homophobia.  Clarice, which takes place in the 1990s, has dealt extensively with sexism and racism. 

Unfortunately, Tommy, Clarice, Briarpatch, Lincoln Rhyme, and East New York were canceled after just one season. Of the remaining shows, only The Equalizer seems interested in addressing racial inequities in any ongoing way.  Will Trent, through flashbacks, seems to be saying that sexism and racism on the police force is largely a thing of the past.

Since 2020, as the streaming wars started to heat up,  several spy series have premiered, with most of them quite successful – The Recruit (2022) and The Night Agent (2023) on Netflix, Alex Rider (2020) and Citadel (2023) on Prime Video, Tehran (2020) and Slow Horses (2022) on Apple TV+, Rabbit Hole (2023) and Special Ops: Lioness (2023) on Paramount+.

As for the reckoning that was promised?  It still remains to be seen.  Will established police dramas continue to evolve in dealing with these issues, or will the lessening press focus on these issues enable business-as-usual inertia?  Just as important will be what new police dramas look like?  Will there even be many new series in this genre that aren’t extensions of popular brands? 

While there did seem to be some initial movement in this area, and there seems to be continuing progress made in diversifying writers’ rooms, there really haven’t yet been substantial changes to what makes it on air.

I watched the Law & Orders, FBI shows, and Chicago P.D. last season to see if I could notice any significant changes in how the police operated.  Not so much. 

During this season’s first episode of Law & Order: Organized Crime, a detective is trying to get information from someone who says he won’t cooperate without a warrant.  After the detective threatens him, he provides the information.  A fairly typical scene for cop shows.  But this time, the detective’s partner says, “It’s easy enough to get a subpoena, you didn’t need to do that.”  Is this what the writers think of as progress, or is it just a first step toward a real change in attitude?

On Chicago P.D., they seem to have settled on a certain theme.  Rather than anyone actually standing up to Hank Voight when he breaks the rules, some detectives will privately talk among themselves that they don’t like what he’s doing, while some will stare at him with somber looks or tears in their eyes when he gives an order they don’t agree with.  One or two of his detectives will even argue with him briefly.  But when he dismisses their concerns they invariably wind up following him and publicly supporting him.  Because they know their city is safer with him on the job, doing what needs to be done.

On FBI, there were a couple of instances where they several agents busted down doors (no-knock warrants), guns drawn.  Of course, no innocent people were hurt.  Fairly typical.  There was nothing in any of the FBI shows significantly different from previous seasons.  So, while there are some signs of incremental change, the networks and showrunners should not be patting themselves on the back just yet for the baby steps they are now taking after 70 years of what many refer to as “copaganda.”  There’s still a long way to go.  More diverse representation and perspectives in front of and behind the camera (and in the writers’ rooms) are the keys to real change.

A Brief History of Superheroes on TV (Sept. 2023)

From the earliest days of television, live-action  series featuring superheroes have had their ups and downs.  Occasionally popping up in the 1950s through early 2000s, these shows were most often used as counter-programming in an effort to appeal to a younger audience.  During this time, only a few enjoyed significant success.

The emergence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe led to a rebirth of the superhero genre.  The CW network’s  creation of the Arrowverse led to the superhero genre being reborn on television.  The rise of streaming platforms, most notably Netflix, HBO Max (now Max), and Disney+, allowed several new entries to thrive.

While budgets have soared for superhero movie franchises, which can afford spectacular cinematic battle sequences, special effects, and major stars, this is generally not the case for television series.  They have to reach viewers over a series of episodes with far less money, which means limited special effects, less set pieces, and fewer stars.  This, of course, requires strong characters and storytelling.

Although there is some overlap, the two major superhero factories, DC and Marvel, have traditionally appealed to largely different audiences (particularly in the comic books). 

From the 1950s through the early 2010s, the few successful superhero series on TV featured DC characters, most notably the big three – Superman (and Superboy), Batman, and Wonder Woman.  Until the critically acclaimed The Dark Knight movie trilogy, Batman Begins (2005),  The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), they were traditionally G-rated, were relatively low budget with limited special effects, and were largely geared toward family viewing.  

The DC universe exists in a different reality from our own, with major cities having generic, fictional names, such as Metropolis, Gotham City, Central City, Star City, National City, etc.  DC also tends to have simpler storylines and clearly defined good versus evil characters and plots (which are easier for kids to understand).

When Arrow debuted on the CW in 2012, it led to several more DC superhero series – The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, Batwoman, Stargirl, and Superman & Lois.  All of these characters share the same universe and continuity, which enables big-event crossover episodes.  The network also aired single seasons of Naomi (and Gotham Knights – both canceled too soon, a result of unfortunate timing.  Before the Arrowverse, DC series seldom had diverse casts or addressed social issues of the day.

For a short time, DC had its own streaming platform, DC Universe (2018-20), which aired superhero shows Titans and Doom Patrol,  Swamp Thing  and the first season of Stargirl.  It also aired the first season of the animated series, Young Justice, and the first two seasons of Harley Quinn.  All these series shifted to the new Max, which became the home to non-Arrowverse DC series.

With the CW being sold to Nexstar Media Group, the network is shifting its focus away from younger viewers as it tries to get “bigger and broader.”  As a result, live-action superhero shows have likely seen their last days on broadcast television.  New leadership at DC Studios and Warner Bros. Discovery seems to be focusing more on the DC Cinematic Universe than on television series, but Max will still be debuting several superhero series going forward – although not at the same volume it had previously planned. 

Given that the latest big-spectacle DC movie, The Flash, bombed at the box office, it will be interesting to see what happens next.  Much depends on how its newest 2023 movies, Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom perform.

The “new” cinematic DC Extended Universe will officially launch in 2025 with the feature film, Superman: Legacy (which will reportedly also include Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Terrific).  How any of this impacts potential new streaming series remains to be seen.  It also remains to be seen whether the current writers’ and actors’ strikes delay its release date.

Unlike DC, Marvel superheroes exist in our reality, with many living in New York City.  Marvel’s tendency to have flawed characters with stories focused on real-world problems appeals to more of a teen/young adult audience  – both in comic books and on the screen. 

Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe officially began in 2008 with the release of the first Iron Man theatrical movie, Marvel characters on television were few and far between.  Only one, The Incredible Hulk (1977-82), could be considered successful.  There were also a number of failed pilots featuring Dr. Strange (1978), Captain America (1979), Thor (1988), and Daredevil (1989).  These efforts were often cheesy, with few if any special effects, and not always strictly adhering to the comic-book versions of the characters.

This all changed In 2015.  Before Disney+ was even a gleam in its parent’s eyes, Netflix made a deal with Marvel to air a number of series based on “street-level” heroes – Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Punisher.  These are heroes who focus more on saving their neighborhoods or cities, rather than dealing with the global threats faced by groups like The Avengers or X-Men.  These shows, with their focus on character development and often spectacular fight choreography raised the bar for superhero shows.

Following is a brief history of live-action superheroes on television, followed by a look at superhero animation through the years.

1950s:  It’s a Bird, it’s a Plane…

DC’s Adventures of Superman (syndication 1952-58), starring George Reeves, was the first comic-book superhero to appear in his own television series.  Budget and special effects constraints of the time resulted in his fighting common criminals rather than super villains, and spending much of his time rescuing Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen (colleagues of his secret identity, Clark Kent).  It was extremely popular, particularly among Baby Boomers, who were kids at the time.

Other action/adventure series during this decade were technically not in the superhero genre but went after a similar audience.  These included, The Lone Ranger (ABC 1949-57), Captain Video and His Video Rangers (Dumont 1949-55), Buck Rogers (ABC 1950-51), Flash Gordon (Dumont 1954-55), Captain Midnight (CBS 1954-56), Sheena, Queen of the Jungle (Syndication 1955-56), and Zorro (ABC 1957-59).

1960s:  Holy Camp, Batman

Batman (ABC 1966-68), starring Adam West and Burt Ward, with its bright colors and animated fight sound effects, was designed for kids, but its weekly guest stars camping it up as villains – Cesar Romero as the Joker, Burgess Meredith as the Penguin, Frank Gorshin as the Riddler, Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt as Catwoman, to name just a few – appealed to adults as well.  It aired twice a week in its first two seasons, and weekly in its third.  Yvonne Craig joining the cast as Batgirl, becoming the first regular female superhero on TV.  Viewers were reminded to tune in next week at the “same bat time, and same bat channel.” 

The Green Hornet  (ABC 1966-67), which was not affiliated with either DC or Marvel, tried unsuccessfully to duplicate Batman’s success.  It stars Van Williams in the title role and a young Bruce Lee as his sidekick, Kato.  The network tried to give it a boost with a crossover episode where they teamed up with Batman and Robin to solve a case.  Although the show only aired a single season, Bruce Lee’s subsequent martial arts and movie fame has made this a cult classic.

There were several other less-than-successful efforts in the superhero genre during the 1960s.

In 1967, trying to cash in on the Batman camp superhero craze,  NBC aired Captain Nice (produced by Buck Henry) starring William Daniels as Carter Nash, a mild-mannered police chemist and mama’s boy who discovers a secret formula that in an explosive burst of smoke transforms him into Captain Nice – the only name he could think of when a bystander asks who he was (his belt buckle was monogrammed “CN” for Carter Nash).  It only lasted 15 episodes.  CBS tried to do the same with Mr. Terrific, with mild-mannered  gas station attendant, Stanley Beamish (Stephen Strimpell), getting super powers by taking a “power pill.”  It only aired 17 episodes.

1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s:  From Cult Classics to the Worst Ever

From the 1970s through the 1990s, there were just a few successful superhero shows.  DC’s Wonder Woman (ABC 1975-79), starring Lynda Carter, and Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk (CBS 1977-82), with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno playing scientist Bruce Banner and his big green alter-ego, were hits and became cult classics.  The syndicated Superboy (1988-92) and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (ABC 1993-97), with Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher, were also quite popular (as all TV shows featuring Superman at any age tend to be).

Other DC-based shows during this time were, Shazam (CBS, 1974-76), The Flash (CBS 1990-91), and Swamp Thing (USA 1990-93).  CBS Saturday morning aired the first weekly live-action TV series with a female superhero lead with Isis (1975-76), renamed The Secrets of Isis in syndication.  The only other live-action series during this time based on a Marvel superhero was The Amazing Spider-Man (CBS 1977-79).

A few popular non-DC or Marvel superhero shows popped up during the 1970s and early 1980s, again on ABC, which was continuing its counter-programming strategy to go after young viewers.

The Six Million Dollar Man (ABC 1973-78), starring Lee Majors, became a major hit, and was spun off into a companion series, The Bionic Woman (ABC 1976-78), with Lindsay Wagner (which couldn’t duplicate the success of the original).  A few years later, William Katt was The Greatest American Hero (ABC 1981-83).

 The Kroft Supershow (ABC 1976-78) on Saturday morning included segments of Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, featuring Diedre Hall and her teenage sidekick, played by Judy Strangis, and Bigfoot and Wildboy, which has Bigfoot (Ray Young) finding a lost boy (Joseph Butcher) in the wilderness and raising him – they fight crime and aliens who show up in their forest home.

During these years, there were also several unsuccessful series within the genre.

In 1983, Manimal, with Simon MacCorkindale as a shape shifter who can turn himself into any animal had an inauspicious eight-episode run on NBC – it’s often joked about as being one of the worst TV series ever made. 

Certainly a rival for that designation is the 12-episode Automan (ABC 1983-84), which tried to take advantage of the successful Tron theatrical film.  It stars Desi Arnaz Jr. as a computer programmer who has created an artificially intelligent crime fighting hologram (Chuck Wagner), which can leave the computer world at night to fight crime.

About a decade later, M.A.N.T.I.S. (Fox 1994-95) aired for one season.  It stars Carl Lumbly as an African-American paraplegic scientist who builds a powerful exo-skeleton suit, which enables him to walk and have super abilities.  This was the first Black superhero on television. 

Night Man (syndication 1997-99) is based on a Malibu Comics character, Johnny Domino (Matt McColm), a jazz musician who is struck by lightning, which allows him to telepathically recognize evil.  He has no other superpowers, but has a specialized body suit that gives him several abilities, including flight and camouflage-style invisibility.  And he has insomnia, so he fights crime at night.

2000s:  The Modern Era of TV Superheroes Begins

DC started the modern era of superhero TV series in 2001 when The WB (now The CW) aired Smallville (2001-11), starring Tom Welling.  The show provides a look at Superman’s life as a boy in the fictional town of Smallville, Kansas.  The series starts out well before the future Man of Steel dons his uniform, when he is only known as Clark Kent.  The first few seasons concentrate on Clark’s high-school life, including his friendship with future nemesis, Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) and his budding relationship with Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk).  Eventually the series moves into his adult world where he gets a reporter job at the Daily Planet, working alongside Lois Lane (Erica Durance).  Various DC Comics superheroes and villains are introduced throughout the series.

The WB tried unsuccessfully to follow up the success of Smallville, with Birds of Prey (WB 2002-03).  After the Joker leaves Batgirl confined to a wheelchair, she takes on a new identity as Oracle.  She mentors Huntress (the secret daughter of Batman and Catwoman), and teams up with a third young woman, Dinah, who has psychic abilities.  They become the Birds of Prey – committed to defeating the Joker and Gotham’s other criminals.  It only lasted one season.  Had this debuted 10 years later, it might have become a hit.

2010s:  Superhero Shows Get Grittier and More Diverse

Fox did for the Batman mythology what the WB/CW did for Superman, when it debuted Gotham (2014-19).  This series provides a look at the largely corrupt Gotham City and a young Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz), as he seeks revenge for the murder of his billionaire parents.  He is assisted by his butler, Alfred Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee) and a young police detective, Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie), before he becomes the Commissioner Gordon of Batman fame– the show is even more Jim Gordon’s story than Bruce’s.  The series also focuses on the origins of Bruce’s ally/adversary, Catwoman (Camren Bicondova), and several well-known villains, such as Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor), Riddler (Cory Michael Smith), Joker (Jeremiah Valeska), Poison Ivy (Maggie Geha), Mad Hatter (Benedict Samuel), and Ra’s al Ghul (Alexander Siddig).  Jada Pinkett Smith has a recurring role as master criminal, Fish Mooney.

Just as Smallville was coming to an end, the CW was about to unveil a whole new slate of superhero shows that would soon be known as the Arrowverse.  The name derives from the first series of the group.  All of the Arrowverse heroes exist in a shared continuity, which enables crossover appearances among the various series.  The shows are notable for their diversity and inclusion, with people of color and LGBTQ+ characters in central roles.

Arrow (CW 2012-2020), which is based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow, stars Stephen Arnell as Oliver Queen, a billionaire playboy who was shipwrecked on a mysterious island for five years.  When he returns home to Star City, he fights crime and corruption in his secret identity as the vigilante known as Arrow (his weapon of choice is a bow and arrow, although he is expert at martial arts as well).  Throughout the series, various other characters join him, forming Team Arrow, which continues to fight an array of bad guys.

 A couple of years after Arrow debuted, The Flash (CW 2014-23), starring Grant Gustin as the speedster, became the second series in the Arrowverse, and was even more popular than its predecessor.  When a new scientific invention called a particle accelerator causes an explosion at S.T.A.R. labs, it creates a freak storm, and crime-scene investigator Barry Allen is struck by lightning.  He awakens from a coma nine months later to discover he now has super speed.  When he realizes that others have also gained powers from the explosion and use them for evil, he dedicates himself to protecting the innocent citizens of Central City, and hunting these other “metahumans.”  His super-speed allows him to occasionally move through time and parallel worlds with often unexpected, sometimes dire consequences.  As is the case with Arrow, The Flash has a team of friends, scientists, and heroes to help him.  There are several crossover episodes where The Flash and Arrow team up.

Superman was not the only one to escape from the planet Krypton before it was destroyed. Supergirl (CBS/CW 2015-21), starring Melissa Benoist, focuses on his cousin Kara, who was sent to earth as a 13-year-old.  She was raised by foster parents, and now in her secret identity works as a reporter in National City.  Her adoptive sister is a government agent, whom Supergirl often works with to bring bad guys to justice.  Several other DC heroes and villains are introduced throughout the series, including Martian Manhunter, Mon-El, and Brainiac-5, a member of the Legion of Superheroes from the 31^st Century. 

Supergirl is actually from a parallel earth within the multiverse to the one where The Flash and Arrow reside.  While on their world, metahumans are the biggest threat, on Supergirl’s earth, the biggest threats are aliens from other planets.  On occasion, they have been able to cross over between worlds to help one another.  Supergirl debuted on CBS, but moved to the CW for its second season.

Legends of Tomorrow (CW 2016-2022) consists of a ragtag team of heroes and villains recruited by rogue time traveler, Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill).  They venture through time in a stolen time ship known as the Waverider, protecting the timeline from aberrations.  There are continued conflicts among the Legends and various bureaus in charge of protecting the timeline.  The team include, Sara Lance/White Canary (Caity Lotz), Ray Palmer/Atom (Brandon Routh), Mick Rory/Heat Wave (Dominic Purcell), Nate Heywood/Steel (Nick Zano), Zari Omaz (Tala Ashe), John Constantine (Matt Ryan), and Ava Sharpe (Jes Macallan), as well as several other recurring characters.  Matt Ryan had also starred for one season in his own series, Constantine (NBC 2014-15), playing the same character.

Legends of Tomorrow is the first live-action superhero series to have openly gay characters in central roles, including the team’s leader.

Cress Williams stars as Jefferson Pierce, also known as the electricity-powered Black Lightning (CW 2018-2021).  As the series begins, he is a legendary retired African-American superhero, now a high-school principal in Freeland, Georgia.  He’s forced out of retirement when his city and his daughters are threatened by a fearsome criminal gang.  His daughters Anissa (Nafessa Williams) and Jennifer (China Anne McClain) start developing powers of their own and join him as Thunder and Lightning.

Three years after Batman mysteriously disappeared from Gotham City, Bruce Wayne’s cousin, Kate Kane (Ruby Rose) picks up the mantle, becoming Batwoman (CW 2019-2021).  After season one, Ruby Rose left the show for personal reasons, and with Kate Kane out of the picture, Ryan Wilder (Javicia Leslie) steps into her boots and becomes the new female vigilante.  Batwoman is assisted in her crimefighting by Kate Kane/s stepsister, medical student Mary (Nicole Kang) and Luke Fox (Camrus Johnson), son of Wayne Enterprise’s tech guru, Lucian Fox.  The show never really regained its footing after Ruby Rose left.

In season one, Ruby Rose became the first openly gay superhero in a title role, while in season two, Javicia Leslie was the first Black woman to have the lead in a superhero TV series.

Stargirl (CW 2020-2022), stars Brec Bassinger as high-school student Courtney Whitmore, who inspires a new generation of young misfits to become heroes and form a new version of the Justice Society of America (JSA) – most of the original supergroup members were killed a decade earlier in battle with the Injustice Society of America.  Courtney had discovered the Cosmic Staff of one of the JSA heroes, Starman.  When she learns her stepfather used to be Starman’s sidekick, she decides to form the new group.  It might have lasted longer had the CW not been sold.  Stargirl is the only Arrowverse hero not to be involved in one of the many crossover episodes – she would have been had the CW not moved away from the genre.

Tyler Hoechlin and Bitsie Tulloch star in the lone superhero series to survive the CW cuts – Superman & Lois (CW 2021-present).  This is an entirely new take on the Man of Steel.  After years of fighting supervillains and alien invaders, Clark Kent and famed journalist Lois Lane, leave the big city of Metropolis to return to his small rural hometown of Smallville, to raise their two teenage boys (Jordan Elsass, Alexander Garlin), one of whom has emerging super powers of his own.  The show balances superheroing, high-school drama, and family dynamics.

The last two superhero shows to debut on the CW, Naomi (2022) and Gotham Knights (2023) lasted just one season apiece.  They both suffered from bad timing, premiering right before the network shifted its programming strategy away from superhero fare.

Naomi stars Kaci Walfall is Naomi McDuffle, a comic-book loving teenager in Port Oswego, Oregon, who hosts a Superman fan website.  When a supernatural event occurs in town she discovers there was a UFO sighting on the same day she was adopted, and she may actually be an alien with emerging super powers of her own.

Gotham Knights stars Oscar Morgan as Turner Hayes, the adopted son of Bruce Wayne, who was recently killed.  He forms an unlikely alliance with runaways Harper and Cullen Row (Fallon Smythe, Tyler DiChiara) and the criminal Duella (Olivia Rose Keegan), who is rumored to be the daughter of the late Joker, after they are framed for the murder.  Turner’s classmate, Carrie Kelley (Navia Robinson), who is secretly the new Robin, helps them find the real culprits.  They eventually become Gotham’s new defenders, known as the Gotham Knights.

There have been a number of crossover events where these characters interact and battle major threats to the city, planet, or universe.  The biggest crossover event was during the 2019-20 season, which incorporated virtually every character in the Arrowverse, as well as a few from the DC film universe (the first time the two universes acknowledged one another).  For example, Ezra Miller’s Flash from the theatrical movies appeared alongside Grant Gustin’s Flash from the CW series. 

Numerous other DC heroes without their own individual series have been introduced within the Arrowverse, including, Martian Manhunter, Atom, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Black Canary, Kid Flash, Speedy, Hourman, Mon-El, Brainiac-5, Vixen, Dr. Mid-Nite, the Legion of Superheroes, and the Justice Society of America.

These shows pretty much have straightforward comic-book style good guy versus bad guy storylines that are more-or-less suited for the entire family. 

DC also has a few popular superhero series outside the Arrowverse, which air on Max, and are more adult-oriented than the CW shows.

Titans (DC Universe, Max, 2018- 2023) is based on the DC characters, the Teen Titans, young superheroes who fight evildoers.  This is not your parents’ group of heroes, however – the violence and sexual situations make it a much more adult version.  One thing that gives the show broad appeal is that it incorporates the version of the group that many Baby Boomers grew up with, namely Dick Grayson’s Robin (who eventually becomes Nightwing), Wonder Girl, and Aqualad, as well as the vigilante partners known as Hawk and Dove, and brings them together with the newer version of the Titans – Jason Todd’s Robin, Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy, as well as Conner/Superboy (a genetic clone of Superman and criminal genius Lex Luthor).  Titans originally debuted its first two seasons on the DC Universe streaming service, but shifted to Max when that became the platform for original DC series outside the Arrowverse.

Doom Patrol (DC Universe, Max, 2019-2023) is another DC team of superheroes, although not from one of the more popular comics.  The group has undergone many different incarnations over the years.  The Doom Patrol is a group of super-powered misfits, each of whom received their powers due to horrible accidents that also left them scarred, traumatized, and alienated from society.  Members include, Chief, Negative Man, Robotman, Elasti-girl, Mento, Beast Boy (who eventually joins the Titans), Space Case, Crazy Jane, Flex Mentallo, Danny the Ambulance, and Cyborg (who also becomes a member of the Teen Titans and Justice League).  Doom Patrol originally aired on DC Universe before moving to Max.  The series will end with the upcoming release of the second part of season four.

Peacemaker (Max, 2022-present) stars John Cena reprising his role from the 2021 film The Suicide Squad.  He fights for peace no matter how many people he has to kill to get it, in this violently irreverent satire on the superhero genre, which was also the first original DC series to premiere on Max.  All you need to know is creator James Gunn’s reported description of Peacemaker as a “douchebag Captain America.”   You’ll either love this or hate it, from the opening title sequence song and dance number performed by various cast members, to all the blood-soaked action. 

DC Studios head, James Gunn, has indicated that there will be a second season, but it won’t happen until after feature film, Superman: Legacy, which is slated for a 2025 release.

Until about 10 years ago, Marvel did little more than dip its toes into the waters of live-action superhero series. 

In 2006, a few years before the MCU started to take shape, Blade: The Series, based on the Marvel Comics character and film series, premiered on Spike.  It lasted one season.  But with the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a new phase of blockbuster theatrical movies, beginning with Iron Man in 2008, Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011, and The Avengers in 2012, Marvel would soon hit the small screen with considerable force.

Debuting a little more than a year after the first Avengers film, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC 2013-20) was Marvel’s first attempt to capitalize on its theatrical movie success.  S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention and Logistics Division) is a peacekeeping spy organization tasked with protecting the world from hostile forces that pose worldwide danger.  It’s leader, Nick Fury, originally assembled The Avengers to help protect humankind from these global threats. 

In its TV incarnation, a team of agents is led by Phil Coulson (Clark Greg), whom Nick Fury helped resurrect through top-secret technology after he was apparently killed by Loki in the first Avengers movie.  The series deals with the evil organization known as Hydra (and the ramifications from Captain America: Winter Soldier).  It also introduces us to the Inhumans, and alien species such as the Kree, and the Chronicoms, as our heroes travel through space, time, and alternate realities to protect the world from catastrophe.

Chloe Bennet is Daisy Johnson, aka Quake, a powerful Inhuman who joins S.H.I.E.L.D.  Ming-Na Wen, Henry Simmons, Ian De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, and Natalia Cordova-Buckley round out the core team.  Whether or not this show is actually part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s canon has been open to debate.  But there’s no debate that this is the most successful Marvel series ever on broadcast television.

Agent Carter (ABC 2015-2016) stars Hayley Atwell reprising her role as Peggy Carter from the 2011 theatrical movie, Captain America: The First Avenger (where she played the love interest of Steve Rogers).  In the aftermath of Captain America’s apparent death during World War II, Peggy Carter, one of the eventual founders of S.H.I.E.L.D., has to balance her life as a single woman in the 1940s, and her life as a secret agent – and deal with her dismissive (and less competent) male colleagues.

The series is stylish and fun, and Hayley Atwell gives a winning performance, but ratings did not live up to its critical success, and the series was canceled after just two seasons.

In 2015, when Netflix was starting to become a media force, Marvel entered into a deal with the streamer to develop original series featuring some of its lesser-known “street-level” heroes.  Unlike the world-saving superhero teams (such as the Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four), these characters have grittier, more personal stories, which better lend themselves to multi-episode plotlines – as opposed to one- or two-part blockbuster movies.  They protect their own cities or neighborhoods, rather than getting involved in planet-saving exploits.

One difference between the Marvel series that originated on Netflix and those produced for Disney+ are that the Disney+ fight scenes are generally more cinematic and special-effects driven, while the Netflix shows are more intense and bloody.  Not only are the Netflix series significantly more violent and graphic than their TV predecessors, they contain some sexual situations that were simply unimaginable in previous superhero shows. 

When Daredevil (2015-18) debuted on Netflix, it elevated superhero storytelling on TV to a new level.  Charlie Cox gives an intense yet nuanced performance as Matt Murdock/Daredevil – blind lawyer by day, vigilante crimefighter by night.  While he has no actual superpowers, he has ninja-like fighting skills and heightened senses to make up for his lack of sight.  He is conflicted and haunted by events in his past, and struggles with the violence he is forced to inflict on the bad guys. 

The fight choreography is spectacular for television (check out the hallway fight sequence from season one, the battle toward the end of season two, and the prison gym fight in season three).  Instilling fear into those who would threaten his rough New York City neighborhood, he is initially known as “the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.”   This series also introduces us to The Punisher, one of Marvel comics’ most popular characters, and Elektra, Daredevil’s one-time love interest and future nemesis.

Daredevil officially joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his brief appearances in the 2021 film, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and in Disney+’s She-Hulk.  He will be the first Netflix-originated hero to be given his own series on Disney+, with Daredevil: Born Again scheduled to premiere in 2024 (although it will be delayed because of the writers’ and actors’ strikes).

Krysten Ritter is riveting as Jessica Jones (2015-19), which has the distinction of being Marvel’s first female lead and title character in either television or movies.  The reluctant hero, working as a private detective out of her Hell’s Kitchen apartment in New York City, has  extraordinary strength, received through an experimental medical procedure that saved her life when her family was killed in a car crash. 

Jessica Jones shatters the mold of typical female TV protagonists by presenting a strong, brooding, independent woman on her own, who plays by her own rules.  She swears, drinks too much, and has indiscriminate and casual sex on her own terms – the type of female character you rarely, if ever, see on television. 

Most of the strong, independent characters here are women, and the series provides strong commentary on male/female relationships and the abuse of privilege and power, focusing on such topics as addiction, rape, retaliation, revenge, and redemption – subject matter seldom dealt with on television, and not at all in the Marvel universe at large.  Notably, roles often played by women, the assistant, the girlfriend (in this case boyfriend), and the sidekick, are reserved for men.  

All 13 episodes in its second season have female directors.  There have been persistent rumors that Krysten Ritter will at some point reprise her Jessica Jones role and enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe, perhaps as a guest star in an upcoming Disney+ series, but nothing has yet been confirmed (she did recently attend a GalaxyCon convention with Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio, both of whom will be in Daredevil: Born Again).

 Luke Cage (2016-18) was the first Black superhero to be featured as a protagonist and title character of a comic book (first appearing in 1972 as Luke Cage: Hero for Hire).  This is an updated version, with Mike Colter in the title role as the quietly confident hero with super strength and unbreakable, bulletproof skin (caused by a sabotaged medical experiment when he was in prison after being wrongfully convicted). 

As with all the Netflix-originated Marvel series, Luke is reluctant to take on the “hero” mantle.  But his plans to live a quiet life do not go as planned, when bad guys, some linked to his past, force him out of the shadows to fight crime and corruption in his city.  He is celebrated on the streets where he lives as “the Hero of Harlem.”  But new threats emerge, forcing him into several violent confrontations, and to question what it really means to be a hero. 

 

Luke Cage is different from other superhero series (and most television dramas), as it features a mostly Black cast, as well as numerous cultural references and visual images – bringing a socially conscious and fresh perspective to a genre in which it has been sorely lacking.

Iron Fist (2017-18) stars Finn Jones stars as Daniel Rand, who was presumed dead in a mysterious plane crash that claimed the lives of his billionaire parents.  In truth, he was rescued by warrior monks, and he grew up in the mystical city of K’un-Lun, which is only accessible to the outside world every 15 years.  He was trained in martial arts to become a fierce warrior, eventually becoming “the immortal Iron Fist,” protector of K’un-Lun and fighter of evil forces.  Fifteen years later, he returns home to New York City to reconnect with his past and take his rightful place at the head of his family’s company, where he has to face off with numerous bad guys, along with his new ally, martial arts expert Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick). 

This is the weakest of the Netflix-originated Marvel series, and is the only one that probably would not have seen another season even if Disney had not ended its deal with the streamer.

Marvel’s most violent antihero, Frank Castle, known throughout New York City as The Punisher (2017-19), is played to perfection by Jon Bernthal.  He’s a former special forces marine, who, in the first season, is seeking vengeance on those who murdered his family.  He is cunning, ruthless, and brutal, and makes previous movie versions of the character seem tame and one-dimensional by comparison.  Unlike other Marvel vigilantes, he has no qualms or remorse about the high body counts he leaves in his lurch.  He has also battled and joined forces with Daredevil.  It aired for two seasons.

There is also a miniseries featuring, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, who reluctantly come together as The Defenders to battle a shadowy group of powerful immortals (led by Sigourney Weaver), which plots to take control of the power of Iron Fist and destroy New York City.   Several fight scenes showcase the strengths of each character.  The highlight of the show is the interaction between Jessica Jones and Daredevil, as her snark collides with his intense seriousness.

As Netflix’s five-year partnership with Marvel came to an end, it canceled all five of its original scripted superhero series.  This coincided with Disney ramping up efforts to launch Disney+ and taking full operational control of Hulu.  Netflix was moving toward owning more of its own content, and it did not have an ownership stake in any of its Marvel series – each season required paying a hefty license fee to Disney-owned ABC Studios.  Continuing with additional seasons of these series, which they would soon lose the rights to anyway, was not seen as financially viable for Netflix.  All of these shows have since shifted to Disney+. 

Other series based on Marvel characters have aired on Disney-owned ABC, Freeform, and Hulu, as well as Fox and FX (before Disney acquired 20^th Century Fox assets).  These were produced by Marvel’s television unit and were canceled once its film division took over and Disney+ was becoming a reality.

Lots of teenagers think their parents are evil, but in this case they really are.  Marvel’s Runaways (Hulu 2017-2019)  features group of six diverse high-school students, with varying degrees of enhanced abilities, who must band together to fight their parents, who may be part of an otherworldly threat to humankind.  The kids are classmates, who grew up together because their parents were friends.  When the kids discover their parents have been responsible for unspeakable deeds, and are part of a secret organization called The Pride, they band together to further investigate.  Are their parents actually evil, or are they being manipulated by outside malevolent forces?

Inhumans (ABC 2017) are evolutionary advanced humans with physical abilities far beyond normal people, who live in a secret city on the Moon (hidden from human eyes).  When they come of age, they enter something called the Terrigen Mist which can substantially enhance these abilities.  The Inhumans are led by the Royal Family – Black Bolt, Medusa, Karnak, Gorgon, Triton, and Crystal.  They first appeared in Fantastic Four comics in 1965 (with some new characters introduced in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series).  They have an interesting backstory and enough different and diverse characters that it should have the potential to make a good series.  But this was not it.

Legion (FX 2017-2019) is linked to the X-Men universe (before the rights to that franchise reverted from Fox back to Disney).  It centers on David Heller/Legion (Dan Stevens), who might be the most powerful mutant of all.  He was diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age, and has spent much of his life in mental institutions (with several other mutants).  But the bizarre visions and monsters he thinks are delusions might actually be real.  There’s apparently a parasitic demon who has been living in his head.  And, of course, there’s a secret organization that wants to harness his power.    

The series received f critical acclaim for its visual effects and departure from standard superhero fare – it is the least Marvel-like Marvel series you will ever see.  Those familiar with his character from the comic books know who his superhero father is.  Jean Smart heads up an ensemble cast, which includes Aubrey Plaza.

The Gifted (Fox 2017-2019) takes place in the X-Men universe.  The X-Men have disappeared, and mutants are being hunted by a special government unit.  When two suburban parents (Stephen Moyer, Amy Acker), discover their two children (Natalie Alyn Lind, Percy Hynes White) have developed mutant powers, they seek refuge with an underground network of mutants.  This group, with varying degrees of enhanced abilities, fights to survive in a world that fears them and puts them in constant danger.  They also clash with a more aggressive group of mutants, who believes a pre-emptive strike on the humans who are hunting them is the best way to keep them all safe.

Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph star as Cloak and Dagger (Freeform 2018-2019), two New Orleans teenagers from very different backgrounds (she from privilege, he from the streets), who have both experienced major tragedies in their lives.  They acquired superpowers when an oil Gulf platform collapses.  She has the ability to emit light energy daggers, he can engulf others in darkness and transport them through the Darkforce Dimension.  As their relationship grows, they start to realize that their powers are linked together and strongest when they work in tandem – all the better to help them fight against the evil Roxxon corporation.

Helstrom (Hulu 2020) is a horror-supernatural series focuses on Daimon and Satana Helstrom (Tom Austin, Sydney Lemmon), children of a mysterious serial killer and demonic cultist.  Together, they hunt down the worst of humanity.  While some of the visual effects are impressive, and the acting is fine, the overall series is not very interesting, and has little resemblance to the Marvel comic book, Son of Satan, on which the characters are based.  Not really bad, but not anything special either.  This was the last live-action series produced by the now defunct Marvel Television unit, and was canceled after one season.

2020s:  The MCU Comes to Disney+ and the DCEU Reboots

When Disney+ launched in late 2019, it wasted no time in developing a slew of new superhero series.  Marvel Studios started grouping its movies into “phases” and has released more than 30 films between 2008 and 2023.  Nine TV series were also produced for Disney+ from 2021 to 2023.  The first few took secondary characters from various Avengers movies and using them to help set up future films.  These include, WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, and Secret Invasion.  Other series, featuring lesser-known characters not appearing in any movies, include, Moon Knight, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Werewolf by Night. 

There are at least six more Disney+ series slated to debut over the next two or three years (depending on when the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes end).

Here’s a brief look at the original live-action Marvel series produced for Disney+. 

WandaVision (Disney+ 2021) stars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany reprising their roles as Wanda Maximoff, aka The Scarlett Witch, and Vision from the Avengers theatrical movies.  She has magical powers (telekinesis, telepathy, energy manipulation) and is one of the most powerful of all Marvel heroes.  He is an android with superhuman strength, speed, and analytical capabilities, as well as the ability to change his density and phase through objects. 

The series opens with our heroes in suburbia, living in simulation parodies of classic TV sitcoms from the 1950s through the early 2000s.  Wanda and Vision gradually start to realize something isn’t right when they seemingly can’t remember basic details of their new life.  Is this all an alternate-reality dimension created by Wanda, or is there something more nefarious afoot?  The mystery is unveiled in bits and pieces over the show’s nine episodes.  All of the quirkiness and weirdness of the series culminates in an action-packed finale, worthy of the Marvel Cinematic Universe at large. 

WandaVision was designed as a one-off series transitioning from Avengers: Endgame to the 2022 film, Dr. Strange In the Multiverse of Madness.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+ 2021) stars Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan in their roles as Sam Wilson/Falcon and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, respectively, teaming up in this six-episode series that finds them in the shadow of the recently departed Captain America (Sam’s mentor and Bucky’s former partner/foe/ally).

The series opens a few months after the events in Avengers: Endgame, with each of our heroes separately trying to adjust to life in a post-Blip world.  For those who don’t recall (or never knew), the “Blip” occurred when Thanos snapped his fingers and caused half of all life in the universe to disappear.  Thanks to the heroics of the surviving Avengers, they were brought back – but not until five years had passed, during which time much of the world was thrown into chaos. 

The main bad guys are terrorists known as the Flag-Smashers, who believe things were better during the Blip, and want things to revert back to the chaos and that existed during that five-year period when half the population on earth had disappeared and many of the rules regarding how people lived and who could enter the country, along with them. 

Much of the drama focuses on the racial inequities that still exist in America, and Sam struggling with what it would mean for a Black man to be the symbol of our country.  The whole purpose of this series seems is to set up the 2024 theatrical movie, Captain America: Brave New World, with Anthony Mackie as the new shield carrying hero.  There are also some surprise guest appearances.

Loki (Disney+ 2021-present) stars Tom Hiddleston, who brings his movie character as the God of Mischief and Thor’s half-brother to the small screen.  In Avengers Endgame the Avengers went seven years back in time to when Loki was fighting them in the “Battle of New York” (from the first Avengers movie in 2012).  They needed to get the Infinity Stones before Thanos acquires them and wipes out half the universe.  In the chaos that ensued, Loki managed to get his hands on the powerful energy cube known as the Tesseract and disappears. 

This series follows what happens to that Loki, before we see him grow and redeem himself in Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War.  Loki’s disappearance has caught the attention of the Time Variants Authority (TVA), a powerful bureaucratic organization that exists outside of normal time and space.  The TVA is tasked by the mysterious Timekeepers to make sure people stay in their set timeline.  Any “variants” are put on trial and either reset into their expected timeline, or simply erased from existence.  Loki is now considered a variant – as are several different versions of Loki from different timelines and realities – including a female version (Sophia Di Martino). 

A new major villain appears, and seems set to wreak havoc on the Marvel Cinematic Universe at large.  This is the first live-action Disney+ Marvel series so far to be given a second season (slated to be released this fall). 

Hawkeye (Disney+ 2021) finds Jeremy Renner reprising his role as the highly-skilled archer and Avenger, Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye.  He’s just trying to get home to his wife (Linda Cardellini) and kids for Christmas.  These plans are complicated by those seeking revenge for events that occurred during Avengers: Endgame in 2019.  During the Blip, when his family disappeared for five years, a depressed and fatalistic Hawkeye took on the identity of Ronin, a masked vigilante who went on a rampage, brutally killed gangsters and thugs around the world.  Members of one such gang, the Tracksuit Mafia are now coming after him. 

Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), the deaf Native American commander of the Tracksuit Mafia, is the daughter of a mobster killed by Ronin.  She is known to Marvel comics fans as Echo a skilled martial artist, first introduced in the pages of Daredevil comic-book in 1999.  She and her crew report to a mysterious figure referred to only as “the big guy,” whose identity is revealed in the sixth and final episode.  He is a well-known character to Marvel fans. 

Also hunting down and planning to kill Hawkeye, is Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), a Russian Black Widow spy, assassin, and sister to Natasha Romanoff.  Natasha, the Black Widow from the Avengers, sacrificed herself to save Hawkeye (and half the universe) from Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.  Yelena blames Hawkeye for her death.  Her character appeared with Scarlett Johansson in the Black Widow theatrical movie. 

Assisting Hawkeye is Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), a 22-year-old expert archer and hero wannabe, who has idolized Clint Barton since she saw him help save New York City with the Avengers.  Their relationship forms the foundation of the show, and provides an element missing from other Marvel series.  At first, he finds her to be a nuisance, but eventually comes to consider her his partner.  The Kate Bishop character was first introduced in 2005 in the Marvel comic, Young Avengers #1.

This was designed as a limited series, so no second season was planned (which doesn’t mean there won’t be one).  An upcoming Disney+ series will feature the Echo character – its scheduled November 2023 release has been pushed back to 2024.

Iman Vellani is Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel (2022).  She’s a 16-year-old Muslim Pakistani-American from Jersey City, N.J., who is a major fangirl of the Avengers and Captain Marvel.  After discovering a magical bangle (bracelet), she gains the ability to harness cosmic energy and create hard-light constructs.  Kamala Khan is Marvel’s first Muslim character to headline her own comic book or television series (she made her first comic-book appearance in 2013).  This is the first original Disney+ Marvel series to not have a returning cinematic character or be fronted by a well-known star – given that this is 20-year-old Iman Vellani’s first role, it is an extraordinary debut.

In the comic book, Kamala gains shape-shifting powers (from her latent Inhuman DNA).  Here, her powers are different – although she does utter her catchphrase, “embiggen,” which enables her to grow in size and use her enlarged fist to fight the bad guys.   Her tech genius best friend Bruno (Matt Lintz), who has a crush on her, discovers a “mutation” in her genes that enables her to wield her powers.  This could be a prelude to introducing a new X-Men team into the MCU (Disney recently acquired the screen rights to these characters – it had previously been prohibited from using the word “mutant,” in a deal that originally gave Fox the use of all things related to the X-Men). 

This teenage superhero origin series is more family-oriented and wholesome than any other live-action Marvel TV show.  It’s almost like Marvel’s version of Disney’s Hannah Montana – except it stars, as Kamala Khan herself says, “a brown girl from Jersey City.”  Disney’s recent move toward making the Marvel landscape more culturally diverse has given representation to voices too often unseen and unheard in the broader cinematic universe.  This series also delves into Kamala’s family background, and how they were personally affected by the partition of India, something of which most  Western audiences might be unfamiliar.  As I did, anyone who wants to learn more about this can just head to Google.

This is one of the few Marvel TV series that might have benefited from more episodes.  Presenting an origin story, along with multiple character backstories, and fleshing out the key character motivations, while still having to incorporate some superhero-style battles, is a lot to squeeze into just six episodes.

Ms. Marvel is going to appear in the feature film, The Marvels, a sequel of sorts to the 2019 hit movie, Captain Marvel.  The movie will also include Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

Moon Knight (2022) is one of the more unusual Marvel characters.  Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac) is a brutal mercenary, who is trapped doing the bidding of Egyptian moon god Khonshu (voiced by F. Murray Abraham), who had once saved his life.  Khonshu gave him superhuman abilities in exchange for becoming his conduit on Earth to bring criminals to justice.  When in danger, Spector turns into Moon Knight, wearing a white suit with glowing eyes, which enhances his already considerable strength and fighting skills.  Even though the Moon Knight character made his first appearance in a Marvel comic nearly 50 years ago, he is among the lesser-known heroes – and is unfamiliar to those whose major exposure to the Marvel universe has been through the feature films. 

Marc Spector has dissociative identity disorder.  When we first see him, he is in identity of Steven Grant, a mild-mannered London museum gift shop employee, who has a fascination with Egyptian history.  When Moon Knight appears, Steven Grant blacks out, and often awakens in far off places, in the middle of chaotic scenes of intense violence, with no memory of what happened. 

Ethan Hawke plays the show’s main villain, Arthur Harrow, the leader of a cultish group, in thrall to Egyptian goddess, Ammit. 

While much has been made of Ms. Marvel being Marvel’s first Muslim superhero to be the lead character in one of its series, relatively little has been mentioned about Moon Knight’s Marc Spector being Marvel’s first Jewish hero to headline his own show.  While his Jewishness is a key element of the comic books (where his father is a rabbi who escaped from the Nazis), it is alluded to but not highlighted in this series.  Leaning more into this aspect of his heritage might have made the show stronger.  While planned as a limited series, it is not yet clear whether there will be another season or whether the character will appear in other Marvel series or feature films.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022) stars Tatiana Maslany stars as Jennifer Walters, single thirtysomething attorney, who also becomes the 6-foot-7-inch green-skinned superhero known as She-Hulk.  She got her Hulk-like super strength when she was in a car accident with her cousin Bruce Banner (aka the Hulk), and his gamma irradiated blood intermingled with hers.  Mark Ruffalo reprises his role as “smart Hulk” from the Avengers: Endgame movie. 

This series has a more lighthearted, comedic tone than other Marvel series, with Jennifer/She-Hulk occasionally breaking the fourth wall to comment on what’s happening directly to the viewer.  But parents who assume She-Hulk is family friendly because it’s on Disney, should know that while the violence is tamer than most Marvel series, much of the show centers on Jennifer’s sex life.

Charlie Cox, who stars in three seasons of Daredevil, reprises his role here with a fun turn, as his banter with the more irreverent She-Hulk highlights some of the show’s best scenes (although he doesn’t appear until episode 8). 

Throughout the series, there are meaty roles by some familiar and not-so-familiar characters.  No word yet on any future appearance of She-Hulk.  In the comic books she eventually becomes a member of The Fantastic Four and The Avengers, so there’s ample opportunity to use her in a future theatrical film – although there has been no indication this will happen.

Werewolf by Night (2022):  Following the death of their leader, Ulysses Bloodstone, his widow, Verussa, gathers together a secret group of monster hunters to engage in a deadly competition – whoever hunts down and kills a dangerous monster, and recovers a powerful relic known as Bloodstone, becomes the new leader.  This is the first Marvel Studios Special Presentation in the MCU (basically a 53-minute standalone movie).

Werewolf by Night is a well-known title to Marvel comics fans and collectors, but not as much to the general public.  The character first appeared in 1972. 

Gael Garcia Bernal is mysterious and creepy as Jack Russell (the Werewolf).  Initially disguised as a monster hunter, he is actually planning to rescue the monster, a friend of his whose name is Ted (also known as Man-Thing, another familiar character to Marvel aficionados).  Verussa  (Harriet Sansom) discovers his true identity and tries to capture him.

Laura Donnelly is riveting as Elsa, Ulysses Bloodstone’s estranged daughter, who opposes her family’s tradition of hunting and killing monsters.  She’s an extraordinary and acrobatic fighter, and quickly becomes Jack Russell’s ally, as they agree to work together so he can free Ted and she can obtain the Bloodstone.  This requires several battles with the other monster hunters, who they dispatch with relish (and in often gruesome fashion).

Marvel has a treasure trove of obscure but potentially fascinating characters that would fit well into this “special presentation” format, and it’s something I hope they decide to continue.

Secret Invasion (2023) is loosely based on the epic 2008 Marvel comic-book series.  Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as Nick Fury, as he uncovers a conspiracy by a group of Skrulls, shape-shifting aliens who have been infiltrating Earth for years as they scheme to take over the planet from humanity.  

This is the exact type of Marvel series that does not lend itself well to television, where the studio can’t come close to satisfying fans of the comic series.  In the comic-book event, the Skrulls spent years replacing numerous superheroes with impostors prior to their invasion.  Here, they replace various world leaders and government officials.  They couldn’t afford a cast of heroes or more than one or two cinematic battle sequences.

Samuel L. Jackson seems to be sleepwalking through the role of Nick Fury, showing none of the energy or charisma he displayed in the various Avengers movies.  Despite having Nick Fury fighting the Skrulls without calling in any of his superhero buddies (which is kind of ridiculous), there is no real sense of danger, and the Skrulls are defeated way too easily (and suddenly), after seeming unbeatable for five of the series’ six-episodes.

Olivia Colman’s performance as Sonya Falsworth, a high-ranking MI6 agent in the UK and one of Fury’s old allies, is the series’ lone bright spot.  Don Cheadle reprises his role as James “Rhodey” Rhodes (an Avenger who operates the War Machine armor).  But here, he is also Raava a Skrull posing as Rhodes, who is an envoy and advisor to the President of the United States.  Apparently Rhodes was captured by the Skrulls a long time ago, indicating that the character we’ve seen in films following Avengers: Civil War, may not have been the real Rhodes.

With WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and Hawkeye, Marvel showcased key secondary players in major Marvel films, that have only had marginal character development.  So the showrunners and actors had largely blank canvases to work on with characters who still have some familiarity to the millions of potential viewers who have seen the Marvel movies (or read the comic books).  They couldn’t do TV shows like these with Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, or Spider-man, whose backstories and personalities were more fully fleshed out in Marvel canon. 

In 2022, Marvel series on Disney+ faced different challenges, but also new opportunities.  The streamer debuted series based on more obscure characters who have not appeared in any feature films.  These shows could take any number of directions, not necessarily being constrained to precisely following the comic books.

The writers also have more creative freedom to modify origin stories for lesser-known heroes.  Spider-man, for example, got his powers by being bitten by a radioactive spider.  Steve Rogers became Captain America when given the super soldier serum during World War II.  These stories, as well as those of other major heroes, are firmly entrenched in Marvel lore, and changing them would not be accepted by their large fan bases.  But they can get away with giving Ms. Marvel different powers from the comic book, or changing how She-Hulk gains her super strength.  Most viewers wouldn’t know the difference (and the fan bases for these heroes is significantly smaller).

The shows with lesser-known characters, which haven’t appeared in the MCU theatrical films, have had more mixed results in terms of viewer popularity, but they are designed to appeal to a different audience than just the hard-core Marvel fan.  While Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk might not get the same level of viewing as WandaVision or Loki, they have managed to expand the Marvel viewer base for Disney+ and will have an impact on future MCU films.

There was more review bombing of She-Hulk than any previous Marvel Series – its premiere had 32% of its reviews on IMDb being 1-star.  For comparison, none of the pre-2022 series had even 3% of reviews getting just 1-star.  Ms. Marvel was at 20%.  Not so coincidentally, both have female stars, both can be labeled as comedies, and both are substantially different from anything Marvel has done before.  She-Hulk actually mocks these internet trolls in a plotline that has a secret organization (of mostly white men) and a website devoted to complaining about the existence of superheroes like She-Hulk, which target her with death threats.

The superhero genre extends beyond just DC and Marvel.  Here’s a look at some other original live-action superhero fare on premium cable or streaming platforms.

Powers (PlayStation Network 2015-16) is based on the comic book of the same name, and was PlayStation’s first venture into original scripted programming.  In this world, superheroes (called Powers) exist alongside ordinary people.  Granted special abilities that remain hidden until adulthood, these crimefighting heroes are also pop-culture celebrities, managed by specialized ad agencies.  Some of these heroes are portrayed by Sharito Copely, Eddie Lizzard, Noah Taylor, Michelle Forbes, and Michael Madsen,.  I confess I had never heard of this show before researching this report.

Watchmen (HBO 2019): Rather than remake the original (which has been done in a less-than-successful 2009 theatrical release), writer-producer Damon Lindelof decided to set this tale of an alternate reality 30 years later, moving the main action from New York City to Tulsa, Oklahoma (the site of the real-life race massacre committed upon Tulsa’s black population, known as Black Wall Street, in 1921, which was virtually erased from history books, and figures prominently in the story). 

In this version of the United States, Richard Nixon remained President well into the 1980s, the U.S. won the Vietnam war (with the help of Dr. Manhattan, a blue, omnipotent “superhero,” now living on Mars), there is no internet or smartphones, and an interdimensional psychic giant squid appeared in Manhattan, killing 3 million people 30 years ago, in 1985.  In 2019 an unseen Robert Redford is President, and a white supremacist group called the Seventh Kavalry is at war with the police (who wear masks to protect their identities after several cops and their families were murdered).

Numerous mysteries abound, and whether or not you are familiar with Watchmen canon, you will likely be confused at several points in the first few episodes.  Episode 6 will either thrill or outrage hard-core fans of the comic.  The stellar cast is led by Regina King (as a detective and masked vigilante known as Sister Night), Jean Smart (as FBI agent and former costumed “hero,” Silk Spectre), Jeremy Irons (as the exiled “smartest man in the world.” Adrian Veidt), Lou Gossett Jr. (as the mysterious Will Reeves), and Don Johnson (as the Tulsa Police Chief).  Watchmen is strange, complex, ambitious, and exhilarating.

The Boys (Prime Video, 2019-present) presents a world where superheroes are real, unaccountable, and can basically do whatever they want (such as accidentally kill ordinary citizens).  In this dark comedy-drama, based on the comic book series, a Justice League-type superhero group known as The Seven wreak havoc as they sometimes do and sometimes only pretend to do great deeds, often leaving destruction and death in their wake  They work for a multibillion-dollar conglomerate that licenses their images and covers up their crimes.  A vigilante group, known as The Boys, is committed to fighting and exposing these corrupt “heroes.” 

Just because this show centers around superheroes, however, does not mean it’s for kids.  Scenes of graphic and implied violence and sex are prevalent throughout – particularly in the season three “Herogasm” episode (don’t ask).  But for adults, this is a surprisingly thoughtful take on the power of giant, faceless corporations in our society and how they can shape the news and public opinion – and sometimes can only be brought down by whistleblowers and vigilant activists.  It can also be seen as a commentary on how autocratic tyrants can gradually come to rule a public all too willing to be duped by big lies.

Karl Urban stars as Billy Butcher, leader of the vigilante group sworn to bring down the “heroes.”  Antony Starr is Homelander, the Superman-style, most powerful member of The Seven.  The excellent cast includes,  Erin Moriarity, Dominique McElligott, Aya Cash, and Giancarlo Esposito, among others.

A spin-off series, Gen V, set in Godolkin University, “America’s only college exclusively for young adult superheroes,” run by Vought International, the same corrupt organization behind The Boys, is set to debut on Prime Video at the end of September.

The Umbrella Academy (Netflix, 2019-present) is based on the comic of the same name.  In 1989, 43 infants are inexplicably born to random women who showed no signs of pregnancy.  Seven of them, all with enhanced abilities, are adopted by a billionaire industrialist who creates the Umbrella Academy to prepare his “children” to save the world.  But first they have to solve his mysterious death.

The siblings travel through time in an attempt to avoid an apocalypse that they somehow ended up causing in the future, while being hunted by assassins sent to stop them from preventing the end of the world,  They also are thrust into an alternate timeline where they never existed, but were replaced by other siblings known as The Sparrow Academy, whom they wind up battling to survive.  The ensemble cast includes, Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Casteneda, Cameron Britton, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, and Mary J. Blige. 

Jupiter’s Legacy (Netflix, 2021) is based on Mark Millar’s comic-book series, about the super-powered children of legendary superheroes, who struggle to live up to the extraordinary feats of their parents.  They see the modern world differently, and their parents’ code of ethics about never killing the villains as a relic of a different, more civilized time.  Jupiter’s Legacy was supposed to be the first in a series, creating a new “Millarworld” superhero universe for Netflix (to compete with Disney+’s Marvel and Star Wars franchises).  But despite being one of Netflix’s most watched series, it was mysteriously canceled after just one season.  The high budget and behind-the-scenes production battles were blamed.  Netflix and Millar spun the cancellation by saying they are proceeding with Jupiter’s universe, starting with an unrelated Millar comic-book series titled, Supercrooks.

As the CW’s Arrowverse comes to an end and with the current DC television and cinematic universes being rebooted, there are several new projects in the works.  The new, more unified DC Extended Universe (DCEU) will be rolling out over the next year or two (or three) – although the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes will cause many delays. 

Here’s a look at some of the live-action DC shows slated to hit the airwaves.  These are installments in the first wave of new DCEU projects referred to as Chapter One: Gods and Monsters.  All will be streaming on Max.

The Penguin is a spin-off from the 2022 film, The Batman, which chronicles the rise of the Penguin through Gotham City’s criminal underworld. Colin Farrell reprises his role as Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin from the movie.  Cristin Milioti is Sofia Falcone, who fights the Penguin as she tries to become the city’s crime boss.  Filming began in March 2023, but was suspended due to the writers’ strike.  It’s scheduled 2004 debut could be pushed back. 

Waller stars Viola Davis reprising her role from The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, as Amanda Waller, the ruthless and morally ambiguous head of the mysterious A.R.G.U.S. black ops government task force.  The show will reportedly also feature cast members from Peacemaker.  This is the first time a comic-book character got his or her own TV show without ever having their own comic-book series.

Lanterns follows the two most well-known (to comic book fans) members of the Green Lantern Corp., Hal Jordan and Jon Stewart.  The Green Lanterns are essentially inter-galactic cops who wear rings that give them immense power.  They will reportedly be investigating a terrifying mystery on Earth.  The series has been described as True Detectives with superheroes.  Given the current strike situation, and the fact that the show has not yet been cast, we probably won’t see this one until 2025 or 2026.

Paradise Lost is a Wonder Woman based series that has been described by its creators as a Game of Thrones, but with Amazons – a lofty goal, which probably sets expectations way too high.  Set on Themyscira (aka Paradise Island), the secret home of the Amazons and birthplace of Diana Prince (aka Wonder Woman), the show will focus on “the genesis and political intrigue of an island of all women.”  No release date has been announced.

One of DC comics’ cult favorites, Booster Gold, is getting his own series.  He’s a former football player from 25^th century Gotham City, banned for betting on his own games, who uses future technology to come back to present day and pretend to be a superhero to achieve fame and fortune.  No casting has yet been announced.  It probably won’t be released until 2026 at the earliest.

There will reportedly be an as yet untitled series based on Gotham City’s notorious Arkham Asylum and its dangerous inmates.

 Over the next few years, there will also be a number of new live-action Marvel series debuting on Disney+.

Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), known in the comic book as Echo, was last seen battling Hawkeye, in his Disney+ series.  Her own show will have her reconnect with her Native-American roots, as she comes to terms with her criminal past.  Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio will reprise their roles as Daredevil and Kingpin, respectively.  It’s scheduled for a November 2023 debut, and will be the first DIsney+ Marvel series to have all six episode released at once – the so-called Netflix binge model.

Daredevil: Born Again becomes the first Disney+ series to feature a character whose first show originated on Netflix.  Having joined the MCU with a brief appearance in the last Spider-Man movie and with a fun turn in Disney+’s She-Hulk, Charlie Cox is again Matt Murdoch, blind lawyer by day, crime-fighting vigilante by night, who lives in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood in Manhattan, New York.  Jon Bernthal will also reprise his Netflix role as brutal vigilante, Frank Castle/The Punisher, and Vincent D’Onofrio returns as crime lord Wilson Fisk/Kingpin.  The series will consist of 18 episodes (likely in two parts) and was to debut in early 2024, but now has been delayed indefinitely due to the writers’/actors’ strikes. 

Ironheart stars Dominique Thorne reprising her role from the 2022 film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.  Riri Williams/Ironheart is a Black MIT student and genius inventor from Chicago, who reverse engineers Tony Stark’s Iron Man armor to build one for herself.  Even though filming is complete, the strikes have resulted in no announced release date for this six-episode miniseries (it was originally scheduled for fall 2023).

Agatha: Darkhold Diaries stars Kathryn Hahn reprising her WandaVision role as powerful witch, Agatha Harkness, who had masqueraded as Wanda and Visions nosy neighbor in the sitcom world Wanda, created.  Wanda defeated Agatha in an epic battle, and trapped her in this make believe world.  Debra Jo Rupp, Patti LuPone, and Aubrey Plaza co-star in this nine-episode series slated for 2024.

Paul Bettany will reprise his role as the Vision in Vision Quest, a sequel of sorts to WandaVision.  No details yet, but it should come out sometime in 2025.

Untitled Wakanda series:  Marvel is reportedly working on at least one Black Panther related series, with Dora Gurira reprising her role as Okoye, leader of Wakanda’s armed forces.

Animation on TV:  DC and Marvel, Animals and Robots

Superhero animation has proliferated on television since the 1960s and has taken many forms.  Here’s a brief look at how the genre has evolved over the years.

The DC Animated Universe:  From Super Friends to Harley Quinn

Numerous animated series based on DC Comics characters proliferated on the broadcast networks on Saturday mornings during the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s.  These were mostly iterations and combinations of Superman, Batman, and Super Friends (in addition to Superman, Batman, and Robin, the core group included Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Wonder Twins – occasionally other Justice League members, such as Hawkman and Flash would make appearances as well). 

The 1960s saw on CBS Saturday morning, The New Adventures of Superman (1966-70), The Adventures of Superboy (1966-69), The Superman/Aquaman Hour (1967-68), Aquaman (1968-70), The Batman/Superman Hour (1968-69), and The Adventures of Batman (1968-69).  In the 1970s, Super Friends debuted on ABC in 1973, followed by The New Adventures of Batman (CBS 1977), The All-New Super Friends Hour (ABC 1977), The Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour (CBS 1977-78), Challenge of the Superfriends (ABC 1977), The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show (ABC 1979-81), and The World’s Greatest Super Friends (ABC 1979).  The 1980s gave us, another Super Friends (ABC 1980-83), Batman and the Super 7 (CBS 1980-81), The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! (NBC 1981-82), Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (ABC 1984), The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (ABC 1985), and Superman (CBS 1988).

The DC Animated Universe got a bit more adult and significantly darker (and the animation sharper and more distinctive) in the early 1990s, with the debut of Batman: The Animated Series on Fox Kids (1992-95) and Kids’ WB (1997-99), which was followed by Superman: The Animated Series (1996-2000), The New Batman Adventures (1997-2000), and Batman Beyond (1999-2001), all on WB Kids.  Fox Kids had also aired Swamp Thing in 1990, which only aired five episodes, and was the last DC Comics animated series not produced by Warner Bros. Animation. 

In the 2000s, another non-Justice Leaguer, Static Shock (2000-2004) had success on the CW’s Kids’ WB lineup – it was the first time an African-American superhero was the title character of his own broadcast animation series.  Less successful were, The Zeta Project (2001-02), which was a spin-off from Batman Beyond, Krypto the Superdog (2005-06), and Legion of Super Heroes (2006-08).

When Cartoon Network entered the arena, animated superhero fare got a sharper, more distinctive and sophisticated look, and more teen/adult content, with Justice League (2001-04), Justice League Unlimited (2004-06), Teen Titans (2003-06), The Batman (2004-08), Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008-11), which saw Batman team up with various other superheroes, and Young Justice (2010-13, 2019-22), which also aired on the DC Universe streaming platform and Max (most DC Universe series shifted to Max when it launched in 2020).

Cartoon Network also aired Green Lantern: The Animated Series (2011-13), Beware the Batman (2013-14), Teen Titans spin-off, Teen Titans Go! (2013-present), Justice League Action (2016-18), and DC Super Hero Girls (2019-21), which follows the teenage adventures of Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Bumblebee, Green Lantern, and Zatanna, who are students at Metropolis High School.

One of DC’s most popular antiheroes, Harley Quinn (2019-present) got her own (much more adult) series, starting on DC Universe before moving to Max.  This dark comedy has lots of gratuitous violence and gore, as well as implied sex and sexual innuendo, which has resulted in it being that rare TV cartoon to receive an “R” rating.  No longer the Joker’s sidekick/girlfriend, much of the series centers around Harley Quinn’s (voiced by Kaley Cuoco) relationship with her best friend (and eventual lover) Poison Ivy (voiced by Lake Bell).  The rest of Harley’s crew, as she attempts to become the crime Queenpin of Gotham City, includes, Clayface, Doctor Psycho, King Shark, and Sy Borgman.  The fourth season premiered in July 2023.  

Batwheels debuted on Cartoon Network’s pre-school block and Max in 2022 – the Bat-Family’s vehicles are brought to life by the Bat-computer to form a team led by “Bam,” the Batmobile, to fight crime in Gotham City.  It’s been renewed for another season.

My Adventures with Superman premiered on Adult Swim and Max in 2023.  It follows Clark Kent as he builds his secret identity as Superman, and his relationship with future star reporter, Lois Lane.  Along with his best friend, photographer Jimmy Olsen, the trio teams up to break important stories and save the day against the villains of Metropolis.

Here are the core members of the various DC superhero teams:  The Justice League includes, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl; Justice League Unlimited expanded the roster to include more than 50 other DC heroes; The Teen Titans includes, Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven;  Young Justice includes, Nightwing, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Artemis; The Legion of Superheroes are teens from the 31^st century and includes, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Phantom Girl, Bouncing Boy, Triplicate Girl, Cosmic Boy, Sun Boy, Element Lad, Shrinking Violet, Ferro Lad, Matter-Eater Lad, Star Boy, Timber Wolf, and Chameleon Boy.

Here are some upcoming DC animated series.

Creature Commandos (max) is spin-off of the 2022 film, The Suicide Squad, about a black ops team of monsters assembled by Amanda Waller.  It’s the first animated series in the new DC Universe, and is expected to be released in 2024.

Batman: Caped Crusader (Prime Video) will reportedly be taking Bruce Wayne back to a classic 1940s-esque Gotham City and harken back to the 1990s Batman: The Animated Series, which is still considered the gold standard of Batman animation.  Originally given a two-year order by Max, It was sold to Amazon, as part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s new ownership’s effort to monetize content by selling/licensing product to third parties (even competitors).

Bat-Family (prime video) is a more comedic and family-oriented take on Batman, as his son, Damian Wayne, teams up with Bruce and his butler Alfred to protect Gotham City.  It’s a spin-off from the upcoming holiday movie, Merry Little Batman, also airing on Prime Video.

Kite Man: Hell Yeah! (max) is an adult animated spin-off of Harley Quinn.  It features Kite Man, Poison Ivy’s on-again-off-again boyfriend and one of the show’s most popular supporting characters.  Here, he buys and runs (with his new girlfriend, Golden Glider) the Cheers-style villain’s bar frequented by Harley Quinn and her crew.  They moonlight as criminals to help fund their purchase.  It is expected to iar in late 2023/early 2024.

Beast Boy: Lone Wolf (Cartoon Network) will reportedly feature standalone adventures of Gar, aka Beast Boy, one of the main characters in Teen Titans Go!  It will be more action-oriented than the wacky take on the character in that show.  No release date has yet been announced.

Marvel Animation:  From Comic Books to the Marvel Cinematic Universe

There were not nearly as many Marvel animated series in the 1960s and ‘70s as DC.  This is because Superman and Batman comics had been around for decades, while The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man didn’t make their comic-book debuts until 1961 and 1962, respectively – which led to launching numerous other superhero comics and the Marvel Era.  The first Marvel TV entry was a syndicated series called The Marvel Super Heroes (1966), which was an umbrella series, with different segments devoted to five main characters – Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, The Mighty Thor, and The Sub-Mariner.  The following year, two series featuring Marvel’s most popular comic characters, Spider-Man (1967-70) and The Fantastic Four (1967-68), debuted on ABC Saturday morning.

The 1970s and ‘80s saw a few short-lived Marvel series, all of which aired either in syndication or Saturday morning TV on one of the broadcast networks, and were geared primarily toward kids.  The New Fantastic Four (NBC 1978), Spider-Woman (ABC 1979-80), Spider-Man (syndication 1981-82), and The Incredible Hulk (NBC 1982-83) each lasted just one season.  Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (which included Iceman and an original character, Firestar), ran for three seasons (NBC 1981-83). 

In the early 1990s,  Fox Kids premiered  X-Men: The Animated Series (1992-97), which would become one of the most popular animated series of the time, and the first series in what would become the Marvel Animated Universe.  It featured Professor X, Cyclops, Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Beast, Gambit, Jubilee, Jean Grey, and an original character, Morph, and unlike previous Marvel animated series, was geared just as much toward teens and young adults as kids, and delved into numerous social issues.  The series is available to stream on Disney+, which has announced a revival/sequel titled, X-Men ’97, which will reportedly continue where the previous show left off.

The 1990s saw several other Marvel series, airing in syndication and a variety of networks, including The Marvel Action Hour, featuring The Fantastic Four and Iron Man (syndication 1994-96), another successful Spider-Man (Fox Kids 1994-98), and The Incredible Hulk (UPN Kids 1996-97), as well as a few that lasted just one season – Silver Surfer (Fox Kids 1998), Spider-Man Unlimited (Fox Kids 1999), and The Avengers: United They Stand ( Fox Kids 1999-2000).

X-Men: Evolution (2000-03) on Kids’ WB got the 2000s off to a rousing start for Marvel.  It was followed by several more series on multiple networks, with varying degrees of success.  These included, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (MTV 2003), Fantastic Four: The World’s Greatest Heroes (Cartoon Network 2006-07),  The Spectacular Spider-Man (Kids’ WB 2008-09), Wolverine and the X-Men (Nicktoons 2009), Iron Man: Armored Adventures (Nicktoons 2009-12), and The Super Hero Squad Show (Cartoon Network 2009-11).

Between 2010 and 2020, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe took shape, there were also several new Marvel animated series.  BET aired a six-episode Black Panther miniseries in 2010.  Anime versions of Iron Man, Wolverine, X-Men, and Blade originated in Japan and aired on the now defunct G4 network in the U.S. (2011-12).  Disney XD had multiple successes with The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (2010-12), Ultimate Spider-Man (2012-17), Avengers Assemble (2013-19), which came out soon after the first Avengers theatrical movies, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. (2013-15), Guardians of the Galaxy (2015-19), Marvel’s Spider-Man (2017-20), and Big Hero 6: The Series (2017-21), which is set after the events in the 2014 theatrical movie of the same name. Marvel Super Hero Adventures (2017-20) aired on the Disney Channel.

In 2021, Disney Junior debuted Spidey and His Amazing Friends.  Disney+ premiered What If…?, based on the comic book of the same name, which imagines what would happen if things in the Marvel Universe happened differently Hulu aired M.O.D.O.K. and Hit Monkey.  All were renewed.  In 2023, the Disney Channel debuted Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, which was also renewed.

Upcoming Marvel animated series include…

X-Men ’97 (Disney+) is a revival of the popular X-Men: The Animated Series (1992-97), and the plot will continue where the original series left off.  It will probably debut in late 2023 or 2024.

Marvel Zombies (Disney+) is a four-episode animated miniseries, which is a spin-off of sorts from a What If…? episode about an alternate universe where a virus infects our favorite Marvel heroes, turning them into the walking dead.  A small group of survivors must find a way to defeat them.  Marvel Zombies will be rated TV-MA, and is expected to be released sometime in 2024.

Spider-Man: Freshman Year (Disney+) will explore Peter Parker’s early years on his way to becoming Spider-Man in a style that celebrates the character’s comic-book roots.  There have been numerous delays since this project was first announced in 2021, but it will probably air in 2024.

Other Super Hero Animated Series (not DC or Marvel)

Superheroes in the form of animals and robots (both extremely popular among young kids) proliferated the early days of Saturday morning broadcast TV and syndicated cartoons.

1960s/’70s: On the anthropomorphic front, Mighty Mouse Playhouse (CBS 1955-67) is credited with putting Saturday morning cartoons on the map.  Terrytoons’ most popular character made the transition from film shorts to television, and the company was sold to CBS in 1955. 

It was followed by Batman and Robin parody, Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse (syndication 1960-62), Underdog (NBC/CBS 1964-67), Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel (NBC 1965-67), Dynomutt, Dog Wonder (ABC 1976-77), and The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle (CBS 1979-80).

On the robot front, three series based on Japanese manga, and in the style that later became familiar as anime, debuted in the U.S. during the early 1960s – Astro Boy (1963-66), 8 Man (1963-64), and Gigantor (1963-66). Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles (CBS 1966-67) was a U.S.-based series with a robot lead.

At its peak, Astro Boy was watched by 40% of the Japanese population.  Gigantor is credited as featuring the first humanoid-like giant robot guided by remote control.  In 8 Man (often titled, Tobor, the 8^th Man in North America), a murdered  detective’s life force is transferred into a virtually indestructible android body, which can shape shift and fly at incredible speeds.  Tobor, of course, is Robot spelled backward.

There were some animated non-DC or Marvel superhero shows in the 1960s with actual human characters – Roger Ramjet (syndication 1965-69), Space Ghost (CBS 1966-68), The Mighty Heroes (CBS 1966-67) – CBS, and Birdman and the Galaxy Trio (NBC 1967-69).

Here’s a look at some non-DC or Marvel animated series from the 1980s through today, which includes the rise of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, He-Man and She-Ra, reboots of past hits, ad-supported cable, and streaming.

1980s:  Astro Boy (syndication 1980-81), The New Adventures of Gigantor (syndication 1980-81), He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (syndication 1983-85), She-Ra: Princess of Power (syndication 1985-87), Bionic Six (USA 1987), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (syndication/CBS 1987-96), Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures (CBS 1987-88).

1990s:  Captain Planet and the Planeteers (TBS 1990-96), The New Adventures of He-Man (syndication 1990), Toxic Crusaders (syndication 1990-91), Darkwing Duck (Disney 1991-95), Mega Man (syndication 1994-96, The Tick (Fox Kids 1994-96), Street Sharks (syndication 1994-97), The Mask: Animated Series (CBS 1995-97), Todd McFarlane’s Spawn (HBO 1997-99), The Crow: Stairway to Heaven (syndication 1998-99), The Powerpuff Girls (Cartoon Network 1998-2005).

2000s:  Teamo Supremo (ABC 2002-04), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Fox 2003-09), Astro Boy (syndication 2003-04), One-Punch Man (Adult Swim 2015-present).

2010s:  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Nickelodeon 2012-17), My Hero Academia (Adult Swim 2016-present), The Powerpuff Girls (Cartoon Network 2016-19), Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters (Netflix 2017-18), Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Nickelodeon 2018-20), She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Netflix 2018-20), The Rocketeer (Disney Junior 2019-20).

2020s:  Kid Cosmic (Netflix 2021-22), Birdgirl (Cartoon Network 2021-present), Invincible (Prime Video 2021-present) – Prime Video, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (Netflix 2021, Action Pack (Netflix 2022-present).