6 Ups & 3 Downs From The Arrowverse In 2018 (So Far)
1. Too Many Episodes
One problem that plagues the majority of shows on network television is the significant number of episodes that must be produced. Unfortunately, the Arrowverse isn't exempt from this. With Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl having to produce 23 episodes a season in order to run all-year round, it's no surprise that the standard begins to decline as the season goes on. All of the shows have struggled with this in the past but it was more obvious than ever this year.
The Flash was unfortunately the biggest loser this year. After bringing in Clifford "The Thinker" DeVoe as this season's Big Bad, the writers had to concoct a narrative which allowed the arc (and DeVoe's master plan) to run all year round. What we got was a convoluted plot in which DeVoe needed a specific bus of metahumans for his evil plans. As a result, there were countless episodes devoted to Team Flash's attempts to track down every single "bus meta". With each episode focusing on a different metahuman, the majority of the season was effectively a series of filler episodes.
Elsewhere, Supergirl started off strong with a compelling Big Bad in Reign. But when it returned for the second half of its season, the standard began to slip because of the simple fact that there were too many episodes. Due to this, the writers were forced to come up with unique ways of delaying the final battle until the season finale. So Kara's return to Argo City and Reign's premature destruction were simply plot devices in order to drag the story out a little longer.
We're living in an age where the strongest shows on TV produce a relatively small number of episodes. Even The CW's own Legends of Tomorrow alters between 13 and 17 episodes a year. So why can't the network afford the same treatment to its other Arrowverse shows? There are far too many episodes each season and it continues to dilute the content. If there's anything that The CW can learn from 2018, it's that, in this case, less is definitely more.
Did you enjoy the Arrowverse shows this year? Tell us in the comment section below!