Supergirl Television Show??

This post has been updated and edited so many times I hope it still makes sense!

While I take every rumor on Bleeding Cool with a grain of salt, even I have to admit that the site is right way more often than it is wrong. And it seems it got this one mostly right.

And so you can imagine my reaction to this article about DC Entertainment and Michael Green pitching a Supergirl television show. Here is the link:  http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/09/03/dc-comics-actively-pitching-a-supergirl-tv-series-with-michael-green/

The article can be boiled down to this sentence: Bleeding Cool has been reliably informed by a comics/Hollywood contact that DC Comics is currently actively pitching Supergirl as a TV series, and [Michael] Green is attached. 

That one article seemed to blow up the internet with all the usual sites grabbing hold and entering an echo chamber where they were each reporting the others report. 

Then, there was an actual change to the simple Bleeding Cool rumor. It's hard to know who reported it first given the explosion of the update but I first saw it on comicbookmovie.com  You can read that report here: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/JoshWildingNewsAndReviews/news/?a=107093 

The bottom line of this latest report was the Michael Green wasn't involved and that the CW was not the landing site. I thought that was fine as Green's Kara was the angry isolated Kara and the CW might make it have the dark tone of Arrow or Gotham.

But then even more news broke! When was the last time you saw this much publicity and rumor about Supergirl!!!

Much like this middle report, it is hard to know who broke it first. But here is the Deadline.com report: http://deadline.com/2014/09/supergirl-tv-series-dc-comics-829364/

This report had more news ... or maybe more rumor. From that article:

[Arrow Producer] Greg Berlanti — the top producer is looking to transition another popular DC superhero character to the small screen. I’ve learned that Berlanti has teamed with Ali Adler, who worked on his ABC series No Ordinary Family, for a TV series based on Supergirl. 

The Supergirl show doesn’t have a name yet. I hear the producers are considering several options that need to be cleared, including Super and Girl. The project is expected to be taken out in a couple of weeks and pitched to the major networks the way WBTV and DC did with their high profile Batman prequel Gotham, which landed at Fox with a big commitment. The Supergirl series had been in the works at WBTV for some time with Berlanti and Adler. 

Now this at least smelled a little more legit than the vague first rumors. And having a couple of names like Berlanti and Adler is good news that this might have some legs. But ... and you knew there would be a but ... it sounds like the standard DC approach to their characters on any screen. There might not be Super or Girl in the title? It's like the WB won't name them by the superhero name. Can't have jokes. It's like they are embarrassed of the source material. I mean why can't it be called Supergirl? Will there be some sort of 'no flights, no tights' rule like Smallville? Why not just embrace the character.

And then more news on comicbookmovie.com - same link as above just updated further: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/JoshWildingNewsAndReviews/news/?a=107093

It sounds like it is really happening. It won't be called Supergirl. Adler is writing. And it is a "new interpretation of the Supergirl character" whatever that means. Geoff Johns is involved, which I am happy about because he has always done right by Kara (even if his new 52 stuff has been brutally grim).

Regardless, in the current climate of super-hero movies dominating the big screen and super-hero shows cropping up on all networks, the time seems right. Guardians of the Galaxy crushed the summer season. And Arrow and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are established on television with The Flash, Gotham, and Constantine right around the corner.

So why not Supergirl??

And there seems to be so much positive buzz about it. There hasn't been much 'why Supergirl' sort of downgrading of the character. Instead, there really has been an outpouring of 'yes, yes, yes'!

Well, I said it on Twitter when I read it and I'll say it here. I would love a Supergirl show. But I want it to be the right Supergirl show.

The tone of Arrow, the glum Smallville, the dark commercials for Gotham feel like the wrong tone. The New 52 Supergirl book envisioned her as a loner, disaffected, angry young girl. I don't know if I want that to be the image of Supergirl portrayed on the small screen.

On Smallville, the Kara character was fantastic, bolstered by her portrayal by the fantastic Laura Vandervoort. Kara had a bit of an edge to her, it is true. But that seemed to be a drive in her to fight for justice, battle evil, and do what's right. A passion. She was the perfect foil to the occasionally dour Clark who hid his powers forever.

Or how about something like Buffy The Vampire Slayer which seemed to walk that fine line between dark horror, comedy, and teenage angst perfectly without any one element becoming overbearing.

Call it "Kara" or "Super". Put her in Stanhope.

How about something like that ... pretty please?

Let's get a Supergirl show on the air. But the right Supergirl show.

Fingers crossed.