Broadcast TV Superman & Lois - Season 3 (The CW) (2 Viewers)

[Garysb]

If they have to cut back on the Superman stuff I would rather the show be about Clark and Lois as reporters without a Superman rescue rather than the angst of Superboy getting his powers and his brother dealing with not being super and finding his place in the world. Just my opinion.

 

[ponset]

Season 4. I hope the series location moves to Metropolis.
And Perry White and Jimmy Olsen have semi recurring roles.

 

[Garysb]

Per TVline the cast cuts are as bad as I thought they would be. Only the Kent family will be back . Lex Luthor will be added as a regular.

The seven cast members who have been cut: Dylan Walsh (as General Sam Lane), Emmanuelle Chriqui (as Mayor Lana Lang), Erik Valdez (as Lana’s ex-husband Kyle Cushing), Inde Navarrette (as Lana and Kyle’s daughter Sarah), Wolé Parks (as Superman’s ally John Henry Irons), Tayler Buck (as John Henry’s daughter Natalie) and Sofia Hasmik (as Smallville Gazette editor-in-chief Chrissy Beppo). TVLine has confirmed Walsh’s departure.

Additionally, Michael Cudlitz, who is set to debut this season as Lex Luthor, has been promoted to series regular for next season.

We’re hearing there’s hope that the departing cast members might recur or make guest appearances in the upcoming season.

Superman & Lois Bloodbath: 7 Series Regulars Cut Ahead of Season 4

'Superman and Lois' has dropped seven cast members ahead of the upcoming Season 4 — see who won't be back.

tvline.com

 

[jayembee]

If they have to cut back on the Superman stuff I would rather the show be about Clark and Lois as reporters without a Superman rescue rather than the angst of Superboy getting his powers and his brother dealing with not being super and finding his place in the world. Just my opinion.

Which was Deborah Joy LeVine's original intent for Lois & Clark back in the 90s. But viewers wanted more Superman, and it was clear that the ABC believed that making it more about Superman and Lois show rather than about Clark and Lois was the way to go. So LeVine was pretty much sidelined after Season 1, and the show became more of a Superman vs. Villains show.

It's also rather like Gotham, which was intended as a crime drama set in Gotham City, not a Batman show. Much like the comic Gotham Central. But everyone seemed to want it to be a Batman show.

 

[David Weicker]

So basically, we’re no longer getting Superman & Lois.

We’re now stuck with another brain-dead actioner of Superman vs Lex. Yet another season of a big-bad that wins out until the final episode

To me, the family dynamic and return to hometown feel is what made this unique and special.

 

[Garysb]

If the cut actors are willing and available, they may appear in some episodes. They would be paid as guest stars and not regulars so they might not be willing to come back. As has been mentioned Dylan Walsh (Sam Lane) apparently turned down a chance to appear on 3 episodes for Season 4. This is all rumor and speculation. As of this writing, none of the cut actors have been announced as returning as guest stars.

What I haven't heard is with all the budget cuts will there also be cuts on the creative side. Will expensive experienced writers be cut for cheaper less experienced ones. The storytelling, in my opinion, is what makes Superman and Lois above and beyond the previous Arrowverse shows, more so than the actors.

 

[jayembee]

As of this writing, none of the cut actors have been announced as returning as guest stars.

I wouldn't expect them to yet. Until the writers' strike is over, the scripts won't be ready for casting yet.

 

[Garysb]

Exiting Superman & Lois Star Reacts to Season 4 Dismissal

Superman & Lois star Wolé Parks (aka Superman’s ally John Henry Irons) responded to his Season 4 dismissal in an Instagram story early Thursday morning. “Looking for work,” Parks ca…

tvline.com

 

[NeilO]

The promotion of the new Lex actor confirms my previous suspicions.

All those reports indicate that we are getting practically a completely new show. I am prepared to be disappointed. Still, I expect it still will be better than the last few seasons of The Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Season 4. I hope the series location moves to Metropolis.

Given that all of the Smallville-based series regulars have been dropped outside of Clark and Lois's immediate nuclear family, it seems like it would make more sense for them to relocate than to explain why everybody else is relocating.

I like the whole cast, and I'm sorry to see any of them go, much less so many of them. That being said, presumably the writers have a plan to make the slimmed down show work, or Warner Bros. wouldn't have agreed to the new CW's terms.

 

[jayembee]

That being said, presumably the writers have a plan to make the slimmed down show work, or Warner Bros. wouldn't have agreed to the new CW's terms.

Given that (a) the WGA strike has been going on a month and a half now, and (b) how long it took the CW to announce the renewal, I doubt that the terms were ironed out before the writers stopped work. So, basically, anything they already had cooking would likely be based on what they were planning on with the usual cast.

So, once the studios and WGA work out the new terms, then the writers room will have to figure out how to continue with the massively diminished cast. Essentially re-starting Step 1.

 

[Garysb]

I doubt any of the seven characters will be written out in the last 2 episodes of Season 3. If any of the actors agree to return as guest stars at the beginning of Season 4, whenever the writer's strike ends and if there is no actors strike after June 30th, then their characters can get a proper send off. If not Season 4 might open with the Kents already in Metropolis . There might be a mention, an update, or happy ending for some of their friends in Smallville but otherwise they are living their lives off screen.

John Henry was not as involved in the Bruno Mannheim storyline as I thought he would be based on the Season 2 scene between Diggle and John Henry. He really had less of a story this year than Natalie . I expected flashbacks to this world's John Henry and perhaps a bonding with his sister on this world. Instead we pretty much just got his reaction when he found out that Natalie was in love with Bruno Mannheim's son.

 

[NeilO]

The return of Lex Luthor was impressive. Lois should have tried to get more information from the Mannheims to keep Lex Luthor in prison. He is one nasty customer.

If they are going to carry Lex Luthor over through the whole of next season, I really don't know how they can maintain that. I hope it is a shorter arc as I don't know how watchable it will be. I think it is clear he is going to try to kill Superman. Presumably the season finale cliffhanger will leave Superman near death. What would make sense to me is if there is a short arc with Luthor trying his immediate revenge comeback. This is resolved and Luthor either goes into hiding or pretends to be respectable to come up with a better plan which slowly unveils itself and builds to the end of the season.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The return of Lex Luthor was impressive. Lois should have tried to get more information from the Mannheims to keep Lex Luthor in prison. He is one nasty customer.

There's an interesting directness to this version of Lex Luthor. He sees an objective, and goes straight at it. That's an unexpected change of pace from the usual depiction as a schemer.

If they are going to carry Lex Luthor over through the whole of next season, I really don't know how they can maintain that. I hope it is a shorter arc as I don't know how watchable it will be. I think it is clear he is going to try to kill Superman. Presumably the season finale cliffhanger will leave Superman near death. What would make sense to me is if there is a short arc with Luthor trying his immediate revenge comeback. This is resolved and Luthor either goes into hiding or pretends to be respectable to come up with a better plan which slowly unveils itself and builds to the end of the season.

It seems pretty clear that he's going to try and use the resurrected Superman from the bizarro world to kill Superman in the finale. He obviously won't be successful, even if it ends up being a near thing, so he will have to be a different kind of threat in the fourth season.

Already, Jordan parading around town as a superhero and Lex Luthor showing up on their front porch provides reasons for them to leave Smallville, to keep Jordan's secret and keep their friends and family from becoming collateral damage in Luthor's feud.

 

[NeilO]

It doesn't happen often, but a thunderstorm tonight interrupted the season finale on my Dish Network DVR. No idea how much was skipped so will attempt to watch it streaming later in the week. Oh, well.

[In the morning] I streamed the same ads about 4 times to get to the point where the signal broke up. Saw the one scene that I missed and then went back to my DVR. That was an intense cliffhanger.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

On one hand, I'm definitely glad that we're getting another season after that doozy of a cliffhanger.

On the other hand, while some of the characters' exits are set up in this finale, none of them are really in a position to just be gone altogether in the next season premiere, especially since the ending pretty much dictates that it will have to pick up immediately after where this one left off.

Spoiler: Possible fates for the departing series regulars given where they're left after this season finale

• Given that Dylan Walsh turned down the show's three-episode offer, the easiest way to write him off would be for Sam Lane to die at the hands of Lex's goons. It would make the stakes for Lois and her family more personal.
• John Henry and Natalie are being set up to go work for the DoD, so it makes sense for them to just go through with that plan. But it would be easier if they stuck around for an episode or two to say their goodbyes.
• With Kyle and Chrissy having a kid together, perhaps they relocate somewhere else to start their family. Doesn't really track given Chrissy's ownership stake in the Gazette and Kyle's love for Smallville and lifelong townie status.
• Perhaps Lana and the girls relocate too, either following John Henry and Natalie to Metropolis or following Kyle and Chrissy so that Sarah and Sophie can be in their half-sibling's life. This makes even less sense than Kyle and Chrissy relocating, since Lana is literally the mayor of Smallville.

The bottom line is that I don't see how they can handle all of those cast departures in a satisfying way.

 

[jayembee]

Well, that episode was a nut-buster.

Spoiler

(1) As soon as Sam Lane introduced his new girlfriend to the kids, I knew that she had to be working for Luthor. I'm assuming he's going to be killed off to explain why Dylan Walsh won't be in S4.

(2) As soon as Luthor examined Bizarro's hand and said, "He's growing," I knew that he'd end up becoming Doomsday. It seems fitting, given that a lot of people believed that the "Boom...Boom...Boom" in the X-Kryptonite mines was a hint that Doomsday would be coming, and it ended up being Bizarro instead. I wonder if the writers had this planned all along.

On edit: Sorry, I hit post before adding the spoiler tag.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Well, that episode was a nut-buster.

Spoiler

(1) As soon as Sam Lane introduced his new girlfriend to the kids, I knew that she had to be working for Luthor.

]

I'm assuming that she is supposed to be Miss Teschmacher, given that Lex's other goon is named Otis.

Spoiler

(2) As soon as Luthor examined Bizarro's hand and said, "He's growing," I knew that he'd end up becoming Doomsday. It seems fitting, given that a lot of people believed that the "Boom...Boom...Boom" in the X-Kryptonite mines was a hint that Doomsday would be coming, and it ended up being Bizarro instead. I wonder if the writers had this planned all along.

I agree that it seemed fitting, for the reasons you stated. There were two questions that leaped out at me this episode, however:

Spoiler

1. Why is Lex so confident that Doomsday will continue to do his bidding after Superman is dead? He's turned the undead Bizarro Superman into an unkillable monster, but in the process he's been literally torturing him for months. Once Superman is dead, what's going to stop Doomsday from coming after Lex?
2. While Bruno Mannheim's experiments have made him stronger and more monstrous with each time that he dies, he's still at the core a Bizarro Superman with many opposite strengths and weaknesses from Superman proper. Given that fact, when he had Superman on the ropes, why would he fly him up out of the atmosphere into the direct sunlight? That's just recharging Superman's batteries and draining his own.

 

[NeilO]

I agree that it seemed fitting, for the reasons you stated. There were two questions that leaped out at me this episode, however:

Spoiler

1. Why is Lex so confident that Doomsday will continue to do his bidding after Superman is dead? He's turned the undead Bizarro Superman into an unkillable monster, but in the process he's been literally torturing him for months. Once Superman is dead, what's going to stop Doomsday from coming after Lex?
2. While Bruno Mannheim's experiments have made him stronger and more monstrous with each time that he dies, he's still at the core a Bizarro Superman with many opposite strengths and weaknesses from Superman proper. Given that fact, when he had Superman on the ropes, why would he fly him up out of the atmosphere into the direct sunlight? That's just recharging Superman's batteries and draining his own.

I was wondering both of these questions as well. There has to be something we don't know about.
Though perhaps a bigger question - this episode takes place a month after the previous one, why was there no word about someone (Lois, Sam, Clark, ???) getting information from Mannheim to try to put Luthor away again? Just a "Mannheim believes that's his insurance policy against any retaliation by Luthor. He won't cooperate further."

As far as continuing without the departing cast, it seems like a tall order.

My guess it that the season opener will start several months later with whatever the new status quo is. We will get a flashback to the first resolution of the cliffhanger and we'll briefly hear something about the departing cast.

 

[David Weicker]

What a brain-dead piece of crap finale

First the putrid ‘training’ montage. Then the last ten minutes of completely boring awfulness

And given this was in the can, but the renewal was last minute, it would have been a totally f’ed up series finale

Did some Snyderverse writer infest the creative staff.

And with the writer’s strike and CW’s schedule quirks, this is what we’re stuck with for maybe a year.