Super(girl) Media

[Trini]

Producer post-mortem:

As for James and Kara, we saw the door get opened for a potential relationship in Season 2. Where do you hope to take that relationship, given the roadblocks that James has had in past romances?

[Laughs] It’s a little satisfying to see [them kiss]. We wanted to pay off the chemistry that we’ve felt all season from them and see how we could set up the possibility of exploring a relationship. We’re definitely talking about [a relationship] in Season 2. Sorry, I’m being vague on purpose. [Laughs]

 

(Emphasis mine.) Ahahahahahahahaaaa! Sorry.

[nksarmi]

There are so many good things about this show - but James and Kara aren't one of them. I kind of hope they drop it.  Kara and Alex are the heart of this show - they need to keep the focus there.

[Trini]

'Calista Flockhart Is Supergirl’s MVP'

[Kromm]

'Calista Flockhart Is Supergirl’s MVP'

Honestly Melissa Benoist is. But Calista is a surprisingly close second place. 

[Sara2009]

Calista impresses me the most, but Melissa is great too. Most of the cast are quite solid.

[stealinghome]

I think Benoist is the MVP, but Flockhart is giving the show's best performance.

 

Flockhart and Leigh are tied for MVP runner-up in my book.

[Artsda]

 

We’re definitely talking about [a relationship] in Season 2. Sorry, I’m being vague on purpose. [Laughs]

Oh please no.

[Sara2009]

I think Benoist is the MVP, but Flockhart is giving the show's best performance.

Flockhart and Leigh are tied for MVP runner-up

in my book.

Basically, the women rule on this show.

I need to mention that I think David Harewood is doing a wonderful job too, though.

[Trini]

15 Things I’m Grateful to Supergirl For: I'm not quite as impressed with Jimmy as the author is, but everything else I wholeheartedly agree!

Quote

8. Thank you for Grumpy Space Dad. I made a lot of jokes in my early Supergirl recaps about Hank and his secret cyborgy ways, but the surprise reveal (clearly a midseason plot change but who cares) that he was actually J’onn J’onzz went straight to my DC fangirl hindbrain and basically sent me into hysterics. AND THEN the show doubled down on “stuff Jess likes” to position him as Alex and Kara’s father figure, hitting me right in my Annie feels and giving me a reason to burst into happy tears at least once an episode. And then he ate Chocos!!! LET ME LIVE, SUPERGIRL.

[mtlchick]

Long article from Deadline about the show's chances including possible move to Vancouver to reduce costs. http://deadline.com/2016/05/supergirl-season-2-renewal-move-vancouver-reduction-cost-cbs-cw-1201750208/ wow. It's a lot to consider. But if it means more cross overs then I'll be as excited as when Kara got free ice cream. 

[Trini]

Yeah, that article brings up some good points. Going to Vancouver would help financially, but I'd really miss the L.A. setting.

[Kendra]

Would all of the cast be up for moving? Chyler, Jenna, and Calista all have young children. And Peter has a pilot that might be picked up. I don't think he'd be able to work on both shows, if his pilot is picked up and Supergirl films in Vancouver. 

I certainly understand the desire to cut costs so moving the show to Vancouver isn't a terrible idea. It's just worrisome that it might cause a shake-up with the cast. 

Edited May 6, 2016 by Kendra

[MarkHB]

I've heard rumors, or at least knowledgeable supposition, that Calista might have a clause in her contract that allows her to get out if the show leaves L.A.  I can't imagine they'd risk that (and hell, it just looks so much better filmed in SoCal).  How much would they save if they had to move or recreate the CatCo and DEO sets?

[Kendra]

There is imo a reliable twitter source that claims Melissa is also one that has LA only in her contract. She said Melissa pushed hard for the pilot filming to be moved from Toronto to LA. She also just tweeted about the deadline article, stating the the cast being not please about the move was "stating it lightly." 

[stealinghome]

Honestly, if the show needs to massively slash budget, Flockhart is going to be the first to go anyway. I love her as Cat and love what she brings to the show, and think she is giving the show's best performance, but I'm also quite sure she is very, very expensive. Dumping her salary would free up a lot of money.

[Trini]

They might be able to re-work the show without Catco, but I'd hate to lose Cat. She was one of the things the show got right.

[Shades of Scarlet]

On 5/6/2016 at 8:48 PM, Kendra said:

There is imo a reliable twitter source that claims Melissa is also one that has LA only in her contract. She said Melissa pushed hard for the pilot filming to be moved from Toronto to LA. She also just tweeted about the deadline article, stating the the cast being not please about the move was "stating it lightly." 

Where's that tweet?  I can't find it on her Twitter account.  Oh, or did you mean that the reliable twitter source said this, not Melissa?  Linky, please!  

[Kromm]

Not that Calista has any great love for L.A. I think (she and Harrison Ford seem to duck it a lot), but I'm sure it's far preferable to her than Toronto. So they might not even have to lose her just to save money. She could walk. I suppose if they were moving the show to Wyoming... (yes, that's supposed to draw a laugh)

Edited May 7, 2016 by Kromm

[secnarf]

3 hours ago, Kromm said:

Not that Calista has any great love for L.A. I think (she and Harrison Ford seem to duck it a lot), but I'm sure it's far preferable to her than Toronto. So they might not even have to lose her just to save money. She could walk. I suppose if they were moving the show to Wyoming... (yes, that's supposed to draw a laugh)

Lucky then that Vancouver is on the other side of the country than Toronto.

Regardless, I doubt they're going to relocate the show if it means losing MB and/or CF.

[Kendra]

9 hours ago, Shades of Scarlet said:

Where's that tweet?  I can't find it on her Twitter account.  Oh, or did you mean that the reliable twitter source said this, not Melissa?  Linky, please!  

This first link is for "WhatsFilming" twitter account where they make a comment about Tom Cavanagh mentioning Supergirl moving up to Vancouver. If you read the replies to the tweet, there is some stuff mentioned about Melissa not wanting to move. 

https://twitter.com/WhatsFilming/status/727622776220061696

This other account I personally believe to be reliable. This girl knows all about who and what is filming in the Vancouver area and has been correct time and time again. I'm pretty positive she is somehow connected to YVRshoots which reports what actors and movies/TV shows are filming in Vancouver. Melissa/Blake fans know of her because was the first to report that Blake (Melissa's husband) had a new movie that would be shooting in Canada. She knew weeks before a casting announcement was even made. She's a very good person to follow if you want to know filming information for anything in Canada. Anyway, she says this...

https://twitter.com/lemon_buzz/status/727655882457128964

and then she says this after the deadline article was released...

https://twitter.com/lemon_buzz/status/728414661440245760

[Shades of Scarlet]

Thanks, Kendra.  I understand you're just passing on what you saw, which I genuinely appreciate, but I have a lot of logical issues with what the lemon_buzz person posted.  

First, Melissa was a relatively unknown quantity when the show started production, at least in terms of being recognized as able to carry a show.  (Not anymore, though!  Damn.)  I seriously doubt that she had the clout to get the "pilot moved from Toronto," and that's not a knock against Melissa.  All but the most-recognized TV stars would be unable to affect production in such a way.  If Warner wanted to move the pilot's filming to Los Angeles, I'm sure they did it for reasons that made sense to them, not because of any wishes expressed by anyone in the cast.  The story would make slightly more sense - but still fail the logic test - if Callista was the one behind the supposed move, but ascribing it to Melissa is unfair to her and borderline ridiculous.    

As for the "she will not move" comment, I simply can't credit that based on one source - and indeed it's virtually the only source on the Internet making such a claim.  In the spirit of full disclosure, while I don't know Melissa and have never met her, because of where I'm located and the industry that I'm in, I know plenty of people with Hollywood connections, including someone who knows Melissa and Blake Jenner well enough to call Blake, at least, a friend.  (This person, to whom I'll refer using the male gender but could be female, knows Melissa less well but has met her at least ten to twelve times.)  Neither my colleague nor anyone else (per my colleague and his friends, and others I know in the industry) has a bad word to say about Melissa: apparently her performance as Kara, namely how sweet and adorable she is, is not really too much of an act.  (Except for certain scenes in "Falling.")  She's not a diva.  She loves playing Supergirl.  The idea that she would scotch the whole show and throw a bunch of people out of work by refusing to be on the show if it moved production to Vancouver*, from which plenty of TV stars "commute" regularly - it's not as far from Los Angeles as New York is, not even close - doesn't really scan.  Is it possible?  Sure.  Is it likely?  Not really.  Incidentally, Blake is currently filming a movie in New York.  It happens.  (*I recognize that some crew members will no longer work on the show if it moves to Vancouver due to basic TV production realities.)   

Anyway, we'll know soon enough, but as an unabashed fan of this show I really hope they move it to the CW, mostly so we can be done with CBS screwing with it on an annual basis and it can become an established property like Arrow and The Flash.  I doubt most of us will even notice the presumed budget cuts provided they figure out a way to keep Callista on board (Warner picking up her salary, perhaps?), and Warner won't have to pay itself the reported $3MM licensing fee for the Supergirl character, so surely that will help.  If they stay in Los Angeles, so much the better for everyone.  My fingers are firmly crossed that they find a way to work this out.                

[Kendra]

11 hours ago, Shades of Scarlet said:

Thanks, Kendra.  I understand you're just passing on what you saw, which I genuinely appreciate, but I have a lot of logical issues with what the lemon_buzz person posted.  

First, Melissa was a relatively unknown quantity when the show started production, at least in terms of being recognized as able to carry a show.  (Not anymore, though!  Damn.)  I seriously doubt that she had the clout to get the "pilot moved from Toronto," and that's not a knock against Melissa.  All but the most-recognized TV stars would be unable to affect production in such a way.  If Warner wanted to move the pilot's filming to Los Angeles, I'm sure they did it for reasons that made sense to them, not because of any wishes expressed by anyone in the cast.  The story would make slightly more sense - but still fail the logic test - if Callista was the one behind the supposed move, but ascribing it to Melissa is unfair to her and borderline ridiculous.    

As for the "she will not move" comment, I simply can't credit that based on one source - and indeed it's virtually the only source on the Internet making such a claim.  In the spirit of full disclosure, while I don't know Melissa and have never met her, because of where I'm located and the industry that I'm in, I know plenty of people with Hollywood connections, including someone who knows Melissa and Blake Jenner well enough to call Blake, at least, a friend.  (This person, to whom I'll refer using the male gender but could be female, knows Melissa less well but has met her at least ten to twelve times.)  Neither my colleague nor anyone else (per my colleague and his friends, and others I know in the industry) has a bad word to say about Melissa: apparently her performance as Kara, namely how sweet and adorable she is, is not really too much of an act.  (Except for certain scenes in "Falling.")  She's not a diva.  She loves playing Supergirl.  The idea that she would scotch the whole show and throw a bunch of people out of work by refusing to be on the show if it moved production to Vancouver*, from which plenty of TV stars "commute" regularly - it's not as far from Los Angeles as New York is, not even close - doesn't really scan.  Is it possible?  Sure.  Is it likely?  Not really.  Incidentally, Blake is currently filming a movie in New York.  It happens.  (*I recognize that some crew members will no longer work on the show if it moves to Vancouver due to basic TV production realities.)   

Anyway, we'll know soon enough, but as an unabashed fan of this show I really hope they move it to the CW, mostly so we can be done with CBS screwing with it on an annual basis and it can become an established property like Arrow and The Flash.  I doubt most of us will even notice the presumed budget cuts provided they figure out a way to keep Callista on board (Warner picking up her salary, perhaps?), and Warner won't have to pay itself the reported $3MM licensing fee for the Supergirl character, so surely that will help.  If they stay in Los Angeles, so much the better for everyone.  My fingers are firmly crossed that they find a way to work this out.                

I actually did wonder if she was confusing Calista with Melissa as the actress from the show that "had production moved from Toronto" because "she won't move." And I do agree that it sounds far fetched that Melissa would have the power to move the show back to LA. Especially at the time the pilot was filmed. I do however believe there may be some truth to Melissa (and other cast members) not being thrilled about the idea of moving to Vancouver to shoot the show because even that was mentioned in the deadline article. I think filming a movie for more like 1-3 months out of the year is a lot different than filming a TV show which could be more like 8-9 months out of the year. Especially when it wasn't the initial plan for the show to be shooting away from home. And since Melissa is the lead and in virtually every scene, it would be harder for them to work out some kind of two weeks on/two weeks off type of schedule so that she could return home often. 

Thanks for sharing your inside information regarding Melissa as a person. I've been a fan of hers for a long time so I know she absolutely is NOT a Hollywood diva. Which is why I also don't think Melissa would ever scotch the whole show and throw a bunch of people out of work simply by refusing to move. Even *if* she isn't thrilled about the move, I am fully confident that she will do whatever needs to be done to keep the show going. If that means moving to Vancouver, then so be it. She will go.

Right now my money's on it staying at CBS, but moving production to Vancouver. As a fan of all the Berlanti DC shows, I'm excited about that because it would be easier for more crossovers! 

[stealinghome]

My thing would be, even IF Benoist has it written into her contract that she can opt out if they try to move production out of LA, is that a clause she would really exercise if it came down to it? IF they have it in their contracts, Calista Flockhart and maybe Chyler Leigh I could understand, since they both likely have oodles of money from previous network gigs and are established enough "names" in the TV/acting world. But--and no offense to her because I think she's great--Benoist likely has neither the financials nor the reputation to where that would be any sort of savvy career move (unless she has another network TV gig and/or a huge movie lined up). I'm just skeptical that even if she has the location stuff written into her contract, she would actually walk away. When push comes to shove, no basically unknown actor walks away from a leading gig on a network show in a notoriously difficult and fickle industry.

Now, the cast being pissed at a potential relocation to Vancouver? That I can easily buy, in fact I'd be surprised if it WASN'T the case. I'd be pissed too, tbh! Regardless of what happens, I just hope the actors use the irritation to demand better writing from the writers. 'Cause THAT is what ultimately will or will not save the show after S2.

Edited May 11, 2016 by stealinghome

[Artsda]

Would the cast rather it be cancelled? I can get not being thrilled, especially when some have children like Chyler, Calista, Jenna. But I doubt ny of them and Melissa will "refuse" to move. They can commute like everyone else that does.

[Trini]

Melissa to be honored at the Saturn Awards:

Quote

Other honorees include Melissa Benoist, who will receive the Breakthrough Performance Award for her work on CBS’s “Supergirl”

... John Barrowman, of CW’s “Arrow” and the cult hit “Torchwood,” will host this year’s Saturn Awards in Burbank on Wednesday, June 22.

[regularlyleaded]

YAY! Supergirl got it's renewal, but with a caveat - It's moving to the The CW AND keeping everyone, including Calista (according to early reports). You can read more here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/supergirl-season-two-cw-892629

For my part, it seems a shame to lose SoCal as the backdrop for the show (though I completely understand the budgetary reasoning for moving), but at least it's coming back with all my faves still aboard and that's really all I wanted. YASS!

Edited May 12, 2016 by regularlyleaded
because grammar

[Delphi]

Ugh,  I really didn't want Vancouver.   I liked watching the sunny  southern cali setting.   Plus the budget is going to get shot to hell.   I'd rather have a shorter episode order on cbs.

[stealinghome]

Happy for those involved with the show, but I guess that puts paid to my hope that the writing will become more adult in S2. Sigh.

[Artsda]

I wouldn't have minded if they lost Jimmy with the switch over. 

[stealinghome]

Or Winn or Lucy. Sadly, those three are probably now the characters we're going to focus on even more. Urg.

[regularlyleaded]

3 minutes ago, Delphi said:

Ugh,  I really didn't want Vancouver.   I liked watching the sunny  southern cali setting.   Plus the budget is going to get shot to hell.   I'd rather have a shorter episode order on cbs.

I feel ya. I don't mean my SoCal preference to be a slight towards Vancouver or BC in general, because I've visited that area and it's beautiful. But, I felt sunny SoCal just fit the personality of Supergirl and I'd be lying if I said I won't miss the SoCal locations.

9 minutes ago, stealinghome said:

 

Happy for those involved with the show, but I guess that puts paid to my hope that the writing will become more adult in S2.

 

Well, I'm hoping that since the production team (showrunners, producers, writers) and cast is staying the same (because it's still produced by WBTV, so it's only changing where it airs and where it films) that it can improve on what it's already built and not degenerate into some sort of trite, schmoopy, pre-teen targeted mess.

 

7 minutes ago, Artsda said:

I wouldn't have minded if they lost Jimmy with the switch over. 

Ya...not gonna lie...I feel the same.

I'm choosing to focus on the fact that Melissa, Chyler, Harewood, and Calista are still all aboard and relishing in that because, really, those are the characters I care about. 

[Starfish35]

Matt Mitovich of TVLine is saying (in the comments) that Calista Flockhart's involvement is not confirmed ("nothing concrete to report either way").  And it looks like Deadline initially reported that she was staying but then took it out in their article on the renewal.

http://tvline.com/2016/05/12/supergirl-renewed-season-2-moves-the-cw/

http://deadline.com/2016/05/supergirl-moves-the-cw-renewed-season-2-melissa-benoist-1201754579/

Edited May 12, 2016 by Starfish35

[mtlchick]

Suddenly the CW crack that Cat made in the Flash crossover is 30% more meta. 

Vancouver aside (because how many locations can the CW REALLY recycle?)  I'm glad it is getting a second chance.  CBS never seemed like the right fit for it anyway.  

[Katydid]

I've got mixed feelings about this for most of the reasons already mentioned. I enjoyed last season, but sometimes I feel like they've been pushing (forcing even) this show too hard from the beginning.

I also was secretly hoping they'd drop Winn just because I want Jeremy back on Broadway rather than being stuck across the continent doing his 3 minutes of weekly screentime on SG. 

Edited May 12, 2016 by Katydid

[MadyGirl1987]

Yay for second season! Hopefully this will mean more Flarrowverse crossovers. I am still wanting to see Cisco geek out over meeting Kara And maybe Superman(with his face not shown of course).

[Kendra]

This is the best move imo. There is no way the show would last more than one more season on CBS. Now it at least has a chance to have a longer run. Season one was only "okay" for me anyway so I'm completely open to any retooling they want to do! As as long as Melissa and Calista (even it's only limited) are on board, I'm fine with this. I'm excited to see what shake-ups are going to be made. 

I'm also not really bothered with the effects being lower quality or whatever. I watch Flash and LoT just fine and am not bothered at all. If Supergirl can deliver at least that quality of effects then I won't have any issues. 

[VCRTracking]

At least there in Vancouver, while not French Canada, Melissa will still be around more people who will say her last name in the correct way. Instead of  "Miss Ben-oyst you're needed on the set!" she'll hear "Miss Ben-wah you're needed on the set!"

ETA: thanks to Mark HB

Edited May 13, 2016 by VCRTracking

[MarkHB]

22 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

At least there in Vancouver, while not French Canada, Melissa will still be around more people who will say her last name in the correct way. Instead of  "Miss Ben-oh-ist you're needed on the set!" she'll hear "Miss Ben-wah you're needed on the set!"

She actually pronounces it to rhyme with "moist".

[Minneapple]

I may give this show a try again in the wake of this news. I think Supergirl was a poor fit on CBS, like maybe they didn't quite knew what to do with it. Give Jimmy and Winn some personality and let's do this.

Quote

I'm also not really bothered with the effects being lower quality or whatever. I watch Flash and LoT just fine and am not bothered at all. If Supergirl can deliver at least that quality of effects then I won't have any issues. 

Honestly I think the Flash and Arrow do a great job with the effects even though their budget must be about a tenth of Supergirl. Somehow Supergirl came off looking like the lower-budget show.

[Shades of Scarlet]

1 hour ago, VCRTracking said:

At least there in Vancouver, while not French Canada, Melissa will still be around more people who will say her last name in the correct way. Instead of  "Miss Ben-oh-ist you're needed on the set!" she'll hear "Miss Ben-wah you're needed on the set!"

She does have French ancestry on her dad's side if memory serves, so her last name no doubt has French origins and was probably originally Benoît (with the circumflex standing in for a now-missing "s" as in many French words) at some point in the distant past, so your pronunciation guess isn't entirely wrong. 

However, she pronounces it Beh-NOIST.  

Edited May 13, 2016 by Shades of Scarlet

[CabotCove]

Quote

(Warner picking up her salary, perhaps?), and Warner won't have to pay itself the reported $3MM licensing fee for the Supergirl character, 

Why and to whom?

Supergirl had the best  DCTV superhero season of 2015-2016 (IMO), Im glad its get a chance to have a 2nd season, so deserved. Just realized its going to Smallville's former home (The CW), in  a way its welcome home Supergirl, 

Edited May 13, 2016 by WildcardC

[regularlyleaded]

You know, I've read in multiple articles that it cost about $3 million per episode to produce Supergirl. But that cost is actually below average of what networks paid in 2015 per episode for TV shows (the average was $3.5 million. Source here and infographic). According to that same report, Arrow and The Flash both cost 3.5 million per episode to make. So if it's to be believed that it cost $3 million per episode to make Supergirl (in LA) then I can't see that their budget would be hugely slashed by moving to The CW because the cost is already below Arrow and Flash budgets (which have lower ratings than Supergirl). And now that Supergirl filming is purportedly moving to Vancouver, it should be getting (up to) ~25% in tax credits for filming there (as opposed to LA) which lowers that $3 million per episode cost right off the bat (so to speak).

Of course, all of the above is contingent on the information I've read to be accurate (or at least in the ballpark).

2 hours ago, Starfish35 said:

Matt Mitovich of TVLine is saying (in the comments) that Calista Flockhart's involvement is not confirmed ("nothing concrete to report either way").  And it looks like Deadline initially reported that she was staying but then took it out in their article on the renewal.

 

Hmm. Yes, I see that TVline and Deadline haven't gotten official confirmation that Calista is onboard. That certainly gives me pause, but I went and re-checked the Hollywood Reporter article and it's pretty specific about it in their report. From THR "Following a strong take-off, the show co-starring Calista Flockhart — who, despite being adamant about working in L.A., agreed to remain on the series with its move to Vancouver [...]" 

As usual we'll have to wait for official details to be released.

In the meantime, he's more info from David Harewood's Twitter  "22 episode order. Vancouver. CW. Details to come."

Edited May 13, 2016 by regularlyleaded

[Shades of Scarlet]

1 minute ago, WildcardC said:

Why and to whom?

 

I think you're asking about the licensing fee for the character, right?  Warner Entertainment makes the show and owns DC Comics.  It charged CBS $3 million per episode for the rights to use the Supergirl character.  Apparently, the bean counters at CBS thought that was too high a cost (whatever) even though the show - despite slanted reports to the contrary - actually did very well, particularly for a superhero show, in the ratings.  However, the show will still be owned by Warner and now shown on a network that Warner part-owns, so the licensing fee should not be charged to anyone and will no longer be a budgetary factor. 

[wevel]

8 minutes ago, Shades of Scarlet said:

the show will still be owned by Warner and now shown on a network that Warner part-owns, so the licensing fee should not be charged to anyone and will no longer be a budgetary factor. 

But by the same token, when the show aired on CBS this season, wasn't that $3m/ep licensing fee helping to pay for production costs?  If it's all in-house now, then WB Studios will have to come up with a budget that fits what it expects to recoup from airing the show on the CW.

[Minneapple]

Not sure how the whole licensing thing works, but CBS also part-owns the CW. Would they still have to pay some kind of licensing cost?

[stealinghome]

I don't think so--if I'm reading it right, a lot of what I've read seems to be indicating that because the WB co-owns the CW, that the licensing fee will no longer be charged, since it would be the WB paying itself.

Which makes me think that the licensing fee per episode and the cost per episode must have been separate. Which makes sense based on some of the numbers I've read--the pilot is reported to have cost 14 million (!!!!). It's hard to believe the pilot could have been 14 and normal episodes just 3.

[CabotCove]

Quote

Warner Entertainment makes the show and owns DC Comics.  It charged CBS $3 million per episode for the rights to use the Supergirl character.  Apparently, the bean counters at CBS thought that was too high a cost (whatever) even though the show

Well I kind of agree, $3mil an episode is a lot and there was also the show's production budget to take care of.

Edited May 13, 2016 by WildcardC

[regularlyleaded]

8 minutes ago, Minneapple said:

 

Not sure how the whole licensing thing works, but CBS also part-owns the CW.

 

In partnership with WB, which owns DC Comics. So in my understanding (and someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), no, there are no more licensing fees because WB is part owner of The CW and therefore doesn't have to pay to broadcast their own IP on a network they share ownership.

CBS was previously paying licensing to WB because WB has no stake in the CBS network itself so for CBS to air a WB owned IP it had to license the property from them, hence the licensing fee.

Edited May 13, 2016 by regularlyleaded

[Lady Calypso]

I'm happy about the renewal, but the move over to The CW, while understandable, is probably going to change some things. I worry a bit about Cat Grant sticking around as a regular. Calista might stay around for season 2, but I can see her deciding to not move and have her role cut to recurring status. Which would mean less Cat Grant. I personally don't blame her, as going from California to Vancouver is not easy to do each week, but it will still be disappointing. I also wonder about the other actresses and actors who may have other responsibilities like young children and who either don't want to or can't do the weekly commute to Vancouver. 

Honestly, the only actor I'm willing to sacrifice is Mehcad Brooks. His Jimmy is just plain boring and as much as I enjoy the diversity aspect, his character fits the least with this show. He's mostly just there. At least with Winn, he can easily become a DEO agent and help with his skills there. Jeremy Jordan has proven himself to me, since I absolutely loathed Winn for the first nine episodes of the show. I'm impressed that Jeremy, a Broadway actor I've enjoyed, changed my opinion so quickly, and the show wrote Winn better since the Toyman episode. 

Overall, I see that there are benefits with the move (cheaper, allowance for crossovers with Arrow, The Flash, Legends), and it'll be more successful on The CW. But there are definite risks (less budget for special effects, not that they were great in the first place, plus the risk of losing characters due to the actresses and actors willingness to locate to Vancouver to film) so I guess I'll give it some time and see how things progress for the next couple of months. 

[Shades of Scarlet]

1 hour ago, wevel said:

But by the same token, when the show aired on CBS this season, wasn't that $3m/ep licensing fee helping to pay for production costs?  If it's all in-house now, then WB Studios will have to come up with a budget that fits what it expects to recoup from airing the show on the CW.

No, not really.  The way you're looking at it is eminently logical but not the way that things work.  No one paying the licensing fee either has no impact on production, or at best it helps because it helps to ensure the show's long-term viability.  

The major assist is the move to Vancouver, which may completely offset the budgetary impact given that the show will receive a Canadian tax credit and just be cheaper overall in terms of overhead costs.