It’s been said plenty of times - It’s a great time to be a comic book fan. Studios are cranking out comic book movies year after year. Some brilliant, some decent, and others…well…it’s a great time to be a comic book fan. We’ve got movies and TV. Once upon a time CBTV shows consisted of Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno in The Incredible Hulk or Lynda Carter in Wonder Woman. And who can forget live action shows for Captain America and Spider-Man?
Today, there’s a groundswell of CBTV. If you frequent message boards and websites such as this you’ve heard just how much fans are enjoying these shows. You may even believe these shows are just as popular as their movie counterparts or the franchises they spun off from. But an insightful article in The Hollywood Reporter explains that isn’t the case.
In Summer Superhero Blockbusters Expose Comic Book TV's Weakness,
Michael O'Connell and Lesley Goldberg examine why network executives are so in love with superheroes. While The Avengers: Age of Ultron nabbed the second best opening weekend of all time, $191.3M, and has grossed $716M globally and counting, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is averaging a modest 1.5 rating amongst the key 18-49 demographic.
"These shows sample well in the beginning, but the genre doesn’t seem to be drawing people back on a week-in, week-out basis," says Sam Armando of media-buying firm SMGx. Marvel and DC fans have plenty to choose from as seven hourlong shows made it to air on major networks during the 2014-15 season. But none can be considered a massive hit.
"They don’t appeal to a wide audience," gripes one top talent agent, noting the increasingly crowded marketplace as another problem. Armando agrees: "We’re getting to the point where there might be too many options in the genre — at least on broadcast."
Captain America spinoff Agent Carter was renewed for a second season while Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is set to return for a third. Writer John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) is developing a project at ABC, said to be a reinvention of a familiar hero. And AoS stars Adrianne Palicki and Nick Blood were this close to getting their own spinoff before ABC scrapped the idea.
Since it clearly isn’t about ratings, much of the push can be chalked up to politics. Marvel has been an ABC sister company since 2009, and AoS marked the first offspring in Disney CEO Robert Iger’s ongoing push for creative synergy. But why isn’t Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb enjoying the type of success Kevin Feige is? It’s believed part of the reason is the shows’ thin association with the films.
With the exception of guest appearances from Jaimie Alexander, Cobie Smulders, and Samuel L. Jackson, AoS has offered little more than “name dropping” and news reports about the aftermath of the events in the films.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier directly impacted season one of AoS but the lack of actual Avengers and their blockbuster-budget effects on the show is evident.
Elsewhere we have the talks between Fox and Marvel over a live action X-Men series. (Fox owns the movie rights but not the television rights).
DC is faring better than Marvel, if only in the number of series on the air. They found success on Fox this past Fall with Gotham, though the Batman-less origin story is finishing the season with half of the live ratings it saw in September.
And even with a 70 percent boost from time-shifting, the pricey DC effort will end the season barely among the top 25 broadcast series.
The Warner Bros. owned CW has thrived with its DC adaptations Arrow, The Flash and iZombie. But the network has a lower barometer for success than ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS. For example, Flash is the CW’s highest rated series with an average 1.7 rating in the key demo, the same as Fox’s Red Band Society, which was cancelled after thirteen episodes.
Arrow and Flash spinoff, Legends of Tomorrow, just got its green light and Supergirl, starring Glee’s Melissa Benoist, has already been ordered to series over at CBS.
Consider sitcoms like Mom and Black-ish and aging reality series The Bachelor and Big Brother draw more viewers and better ratings than broadcast comic series. One place where progress might be more feasible, if harder to measure, is in streaming. Netflix’s five-series pact with Marvel gave audiences Daredevil just last month. A second season is on the way and researchers trying to decipher Netflix ratings have cited it as the most sampled original this year.
Some insiders believe it’s only a matter of time before execs start taking a serious look at the ratings. NBC has already cancelled the supernatural thriller Constantine after one season.
"Would any network but ABC order a spinoff of a show like S.H.I.E.L.D? Probably not," suggests Armando. He does see one rationale for doubling down on the Marvel gamble: "ABC wants to bring in men without alienating the women who contributed to their growth. This kind of program, especially something female-fronted, has the opportunity to do that. They see room for another swing to get it right and sustain some success."
How’s your favorite CBTV show doing? Check below.