CW at TCA: Get the Scoop on CW’s New Fall Shows: Arrow, Beauty and the Beast, Emily Owens, M.D.
The CW has an exciting new lineup of programming that will be paired up with their successful current slate of shows this fall. Strategic indeed, the new comic book inspired Arrow will be paired with the network staple Supernatural, Emily Owens, M.D. will air after Hart of Dixie and Beauty and the Beast will follow the insanely popular The Vampire Diaries on Thursdays. Check out the highlights of each new show from the Television Critics Association press tour below! By Erin FoxARROW
Seven years on the island of misfit billionaires has left shipwrecked Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) a changed man. As in, changed into an emotionally damaged vigilante superhero, Green Arrow (but you can call him Arrow for short). But Arrow doesn’t want anyone to know what happened to him on that creepy island, or that he has become someone who creeps off in the night to fight the bad guys. He’s also dealing with one pissed-off ex-girlfriend (Katie Cassidy) and a mommy (Susanna Thompson) who may have some knowledge about the boat crash that stranded Oliver on that island.
Executive producer Greg Berlanti said it was very easy to find their Arrow. Stephen Amell was the first person who read for the part, and Berlanti realized if they didn’t snap him up instantly, another show surely would. Berlanti enthused, “And after we met Stephen and he auditioned, everyone else just paled by comparison. Usually when you go into the studio or the network, you bring multiple choices, and we didn’t do that. Every step of the way was Stephen, Stephen, Stephen, because not just physically, but talentwise, emotionally, he was always Oliver Queen to us.”
And we can say that while dudes may watch Arrow for the comic book aspect, the ladies will certain find a sexy, brooding, and extremely appealing lead in Amell.
Obviously comic book characters are everywhere on TV and in movie theaters. And Green Arrow was just featured prominently in the last season of Smallville by a different actor. But producers believe audiences are savvy enough to see multiple iterations of the same character. Executive producer Marc Guggenheim stated, “Your love for Michael Keaton doesn’t affect your love for Christian Bale, and Christian Bales doesn’t affect your love for Adam West. There are different iterations that are possible for any character. Look at the James Bond franchise, for example. No concerns there.”
Rabid fans may be wondering how closely the TV series will adhere to the world of the comic Green Arrow. Guggenheim said that while they did draw a lot of inspiration from the comics, including Green Arrow: Year One and Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters, the writers felt they could take some liberties to expand the world and relationships in Arrow’s vision. “It’s really a point of inspiration that sets up our world. We have already taken a fair number of liberties with the character. For example, in the comics, both of his parents are dead. We keep Oliver’s mother alive. Oliver didn’t have any siblings. We gave him a sister,” Guggenheim explained.
And as far as the structure of the show, fans can expect to see present-day escapades mixed in with flashbacks from the mysterious island. Executive producer Andrew Kreisberg told journalists, “There will actually be flashbacks in every episode. In the same way that in the pilot the flashbacks were in chronological order, every episode will be telling the chronological story of what happened to Oliver on the island so that ideally by the last episode of the series, the very last flashback will be him seeing the boat that rescued him in the pilot.”
Arrow premieres Wednesday, October 10, at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
EMILY OWENS, M.D.
Emily (Mamie Gummer) is a hot mess. Fresh out of med school, she’s a ball of insecurities on her first day as a surgical intern at Denver Memorial Hospital. The good news: Emily is rock solid as a doctor. The bad news: Her high school nemesis is working at the same hospital! And reminds her hot doctor crush about her high school nickname, Pits. Could you die?
Part medical procedural, part mean girls (or doctors), Emily learns, much to her chagrin, that a hospital environment is just like high school. So her struggle begins as she asserts herself as the great doctor that she is while also dealing with her evil nemesis and tough-as-nails boss. And don’t forget the inevitable love triangle that will consume her thoughts outside of work. (Oh, let’s face it, inside work too.)
Series star Mamie Gummer told journalists that she’s asked a lot about what she was like in high school. And, like her character, she was not the belle of the ball. Gummer said, “I’ve kind of blocked it out, but I have a good friend who is here with me today who affectionately reminded me that I was, yes, a dork. I was not a cool kid in high school. So, you know, it’s endearing. She’s a human being. She kind of trips and falls down, but she gets back up and you want the best for her.”
Emily Owens, M.D. premieres Tuesday, October 16, at 9/8 p.m. ET/PT.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Catherine Chandler (Kristin Kreuk) witnesses her mother’s murder, and right before she’s smoked by the bad guys, a beastly figure comes out of the shadows to save her. Nine years later, she’s an NYPD detective (seriously) who has struggled to make sense of her mother’s murder.
Through another case, she discovers the beast (whose name is Vincent, just as it was in the ’80s series of the same name) that saved her is in fact a human who has been genetically engineered to be a super soldier—but gone very wrong. Not quite the incarnation of beast you were thinking of seeing on the CW? Producers assured journalists at TCA that fans will be able to take the leap and embrace a beast that is more man than animal.
Executive producer Jennifer Levin said, “Most of the beasts in our lives don’t look like an actual beast. They are sometimes charming. There’s something that might draw us to them, and so there is that thing of what happens when you do fall in love with a beast, which is what we related to much more than having somebody who obviously was beastly from the outside. It was more beastliness that was on the inside that was more interesting to us.”
So with a beast as good-looking as Jay Ryan, a fair question would be, is it going to be difficult to keep Catherine from falling too fast for this damaged guy who is, in fact, a killer? And, what about the fact that she is a cop and has a job to do and ethical code to follow? Executive producer Jennifer Levin addressed this by telling journalists, “If you fall in love with a Dexter, what do you do? You want to get out, but you’re already half in, and he’s got this moral code, but is it his fault? I mean, is it a disease? So we’re going to play with all of that, but it’s obviously complicated.” And if CW does anything really well, it’s complicated.
Beauty and the Beast premieres Thursday, October 10, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
September 13, 2012 at 12:01 am, Judith said:
Jeff,We love the preview! Can’t wait to see the rest of the pietcrus. We also loved getting to know you and Jane.Patty and JimPS Our guests loved you too!!!!
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