NBC's Constantine

One more post for the night:

Also premiering this season is Constantine on NBC. I've only caught one episode so far, but the series looks interesting. As expected, it has a lot of similarities to the CW's Supernatural in terms of its monsters and magic, and I hope it is given the chance to develop on its own and shed some light on the darker recesses of the DCU.

CW's The Flash

The new series The Flash premiered earlier this season on CW as a spin-off to Arrow, now in its third year. The freshman series recounts the origin and early adventures of the Scarlet Speedster. There is some influence of the New 52 in terms of the setting and aspects of Barry Allen's back story, but it is an engaging story nevertheless. Allen is a really likable character (and a smart dresser), and it is interesting to see how the rogues are being introduced into the DC Live-Action Television Universe (what a mouthful). Some are freaks of the week (as in Smallville, which borrowed the idea from The X-Files) created by the accident/experiment that turned Barry into the Flash, but others seem to develop because of his presence in Central City. Still other characters are named after established DC metahumans (Vibe, Killer Frost, and Firestorm, according to Wikipedia), and one wonders when they too will emerge. There are also the ongoing mysteries of the yellow blur (presumably the Reverse Flash) and his identity (Eddie Thawne--the last name is right--or Harrison Wells--he is from the future and seems willing to do anything to keep Barry on track--or someone we've yet to see) and what exactly the future holds for our hero. Finally while the casting of an African American actor as Johnny Storm in the new Fantastic Four film seems to make little narrative sense (and to have attracted a lot of fan ire), the race-blind casting of Joe and Iris West appears to have received little comment. Both characters blend right into the mythos rather than just being a nod to diversifying the cast (as also seems to have been the case with the new Aqualad introduced for the Young Justice series and then the comics), and their presence offers the added possibility of a black Kid Flash (he is Iris's nephew) in the future and, perhaps, an interracial marriage for Barry.