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The Starling City Times: News and Media about Arrow


Grammaeryn
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I debated posting this article in the Ratings thread or maybe even the Golden Arrow thread, but I think it probably belongs here...

'Lethal Weapon,' 'Arrow' Register Best Ad Viewability-Attention Metrics 
by Wayne Friedman  August 16, 2019
https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/339341/lethal-weapon-arrow-register-best-ad-viewabil.html

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Fox’s “Lethal Weapon” and The CW’s “Arrow” scored the best results when it came to ad viewability and ad attention during the second half of the 2018-2019 TV season, according to TVision.

The TV research company said those two prime-time broadcast shows “stood out as two of the best broadcast TV advertising opportunities of the year.”  

TVision measures second-by-second TV viewing using what the company calls “eyes-on-the screen” computer-vision technology.

It defines an ad viewability measure as the percentage of all ad impressions in which a viewer was “in the room” for two or more seconds. The ad attention measure is the percentage of all ad impressions in which the viewer was “looking” at the TV screen for two or more seconds.
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“Weapon” was the third-best when it came to viewability (a 88.2% score) and first for attention (65.9%). “Arrow” posted an 87.8% number for viewability (fifth place) and 57.8% for attention (6th place).

The top five in ad viewability were CBS’ “NCIS,” CW’s “Legacies," Fox’s “Lethal Weapon,” CW’s “In The Dark” and CW’s “Arrow.” Top ad attention shows were Fox’s “Lethal Weapon,” ABC’s “Speechless,” ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat,” NBC’ “Will & Grace” and Fox’s “The Passage.”

When it comes to ad attention, David Cohen, a TVision advisor and former senior executive at Magna North America, stated: “As we know, all impressions are not created equal. All impressions are not necessarily viewed by human beings that are attentive, receptive and ready to buy your product or service. In fact, one could argue in today’s complex media environment, genuine human attention is our most precious commodity.”

The data comes from 5,000 U.S. homes, January 1, 2019  to June 30, 2019, with demographic data self-reported by the respondents. All data is from viewers 2 years+ and includes live TV program plus three days of time-shifted viewing.
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As for cable shows, A&E’s “Zombie House Flipping” and History Channel’s “Ancient Aliens” did the best overall in both viewability and attention categories, earning top 10 results.

Syfy’s “The Magicians” posted the best score for ad viewability at 91.6%. TLC’s “My Big Fat Fabulous Life” had the best for ad attention at 58.6%.

Edited by tv echo
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This blu-ray will be released tomorrow (Aug. 20)...

Blu-ray Review: ARROW: THE COMPLETE SEVENTH SEASON
Kyle Nolan  August 19, 2019
http://www.noreruns.net/2019/08/19/blu-ray-review-arrow-the-complete-seventh-season/

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In all honesty, Arrow has never been my favorite of the DC TV series—I generally prefer the lighter tone of the other shows in the lineup to the dark and brooding nature of Arrow. That said, I actually enjoyed watching this season a lot more this second time around, now that I was able to binge the episodes one after the other, without the huge delay in between the weekly episodes. I think the show plays a lot better this way.
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The Blu-ray release of this seventh season includes all three hours of the season’s big Elseworlds crossover event, while the DVD release only includes the Arrow episode, “Hour Two”. ...
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The bonus material primarily consists of some deleted scenes, a gag reel, and three longer-form featurettes that encompass many of the DC TV shows. While these features are quite well done, they will likely be included on all of this year’s DC TV Blu-ray releases, so they will be repetitive for those who collect all of these shows, and some of the material may not be of great interest to those who don’t follow all of the series. ...
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Extras:
Bonus material is spread across all of the discs.

  • Deleted Scenes (9:15)
    Collection of 10 deleted scenes, found on the discs with their related episodes.
    -- Disc 1:  2 scenes from “Inmate 4587” & “Level Two” (1:22)
    -- Disc 2:  1 scene from “Elseworlds: Hour Two” (:53)
    -- Disc 3:  6 scenes from “Star City Slayer” & “Star City 2040” (6:18)
    -- Disc 4:  1 scene from “Living Proof” (:42)
  • Best of DC TV’s Comic-Con Panels San Diego 2018 (1:00:59)
    The cast and creators of four of the DC TV shows visit San Diego Comic-Con 2018. Includes interviews with the stars from the press line and at autograph signings, and clips from the shows’ Q&A panels. Participants include Supergirl (executive producers Robert Rovner, Jessica Queller & Sarah Schechter, Katie McGrath, Mehcad Brooks, Chyler Leigh, Melissa Benoist, David Harewood, Jesse Rath & Nicole Maines), Arrow (executive producer Beth Schwartz and stars Rick Gonzalez, David Ramsey, Emily Bett Rickards, Colton Haynes, Echo Kellum, Juliana Harkavy, and Stephen Amell), Black Lightning (EP Mara Brock Akil, director Salim Akil, and stars James Remar, Marvin ‘Krondon’ Jones, Nafessa Williams, Cress Williams, China Anne McClain, Christine Adams & Damon Gupton), The Flash (executive producer Todd Helbing and stars Danielle Nicolet, Hartley Sawyer, Danielle Panabaker, Tom Cavanaugh, Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Carlos Valdes & Jessica Parker-Kennedy), and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (executive producers Keno Shimizu & Phil Klemmer, and stars Jes Macallan, Matt Ryan, Nick Zano, Maisie Richardon-Sellers, Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, Dominic Purcell, Tala Ashe, Courtney Ford & Adam Tsekhman).
  • Inside the Crossover: Elseworlds (45:01)
    Host Hector Navarro sits down with the showrunners of the series to discuss the process of planning and executing this epic cross-over event. Also includes behind-the-scenes footage, and cutaway segments with interviews with DC Entertainment folks who discuss how the original comics dealt with alternate realities in the Elseworlds stories. Participants include executive producers Beth Schwartz (Arrow), Todd Helbing (The Flash), Caroline Dries (Batwoman) & Robert Rovner (Supegirl), consulting producer Marc Guggenheim, and from DC Entertainment, animation creative director Mike Carlin, co-publisher Dan Didio, co-creator of Batman: The Animated Series Bruce Timm, Warner Bros. Animation screenwriters Alan Burnett & Heath Corson, and Mad Ghost Productions writer/producer Geoff Johns.
  • Villains: Modes of Persuasion (38:05)
    The cast and creators of various DC TV series, including Gotham, Krypton, The Flash, Arrow & Supergirl, discuss the rationale and pathos behind the various shows’ villains, and how these characters are often the heroes of their own stories. Participants include Supergirl executive producer Robert Rovner, Krypton executive producer David Goyer, Gotham executive producer John Stephens, licensed clinical psychologist Andrea Letamendi Ph.D., Gotham staff writer Seth Boston, Arrow consulting producer Marc Guggenheim, Arrow producer Oscar Balderrama, The Flash executive producer Todd Helbing, and Gotham actors Robin Lord Taylor (“Oswald Cobblepot”), Cory Michael Smith (“Edward Nygma”) & Ben McKenzie (“James Gordon”).
  • Gag Reel (4:41)
    This gag reel finds the cast and crew flubbing lines, cursing, having issues with props, dancing, and just having fun on set.

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In its penultimate season, Arrow still finds interesting and exciting new storylines for its characters, including a leap 20-years into the future for the flash-forward side story. The season sees the return of some favorite characters as well as the introduction of some new ones. The Blu-ray provides excellent picture and sound as well as all three hours of the wonderful Elseworlds crossover event, plus nearly 158 minutes of bonus material.

Edited by tv echo
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6 minutes ago, tv echo said:

-- Disc 2:  1 scene from “Elseworlds: Hour Two” (:53)
-- Disc 3:  6 scenes from “Star City Slayer” & “Star City 2040” (6:18)

7x13 and 7x16 were one of my favorite episodes this season so I hope there are some goodies. If the deleted scene from the crossovers is a Felicity scene 😅 I'm getting my pitchforks sharpened 

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Hopefully, once the blu-ray comes out tomorrow, more deleted scenes will get posted online - or at least someone might tell us more about these deleted scenes.

Edited by tv echo
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1 hour ago, RS3 said:

7x13 and 7x16 were one of my favorite episodes this season so I hope there are some goodies. If the deleted scene from the crossovers is a Felicity scene 😅 I'm getting my pitchforks sharpened 

Well, 2 of them were already released (the Olicity one and then one about Curtis both for 713), so it'll be a toss up of the quality, but I wonder if the rest are from 716 (which I could picture a ton of places for deleted scenes for that), unless maybe there's an extra scene to catch up with Dinah or something for the end of 713.

Speaking of, 713's 3rd deleted scene

https://ew.com/tv/2019/08/19/arrow-season-7-deleted-scene-connor-roy-dinah/

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One of the questions that has lingered from Arrow season 7 is why Diggle’s son Connor Hawke (Joseph David-Jones) initially distrusted Future Roy (Colton Haynes) and Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) when they crossed paths for the first time in season 7. Well, we finally have our answer.

In the exclusive deleted scene above from season 7’s “Star City Slayer” (a.k.a. the episode that revealed Katherine McNamara’s Mia was Oliver and Felicity’s daughter), Roy and Dinah ask Connor why he tied them up in the dilapidated bunker if he knows who they are. But that’s the thing, he really doesn’t know them.

“You people are just names to me. People my father used to work with,” says Connor. “There’s no telling what’s happened to you since then.”

Of course, if you watched the season, then you know things got better from here; however, what’s interesting about this scene is that Connor also hints that Future Diggle (David Ramsey) might not trust his former allies either. “Be happy that you were here with me and not with him,” says Connor, barely making eye contact with Arsenal and Canary.

What could he mean by this? As of right now, we do know that the eighth and final season will reveal more about Diggle family dynamics in the future. In July, the superhero drama announced that Russian Doll‘s Charlie Barnett was cast as the adult version of John “J.J.” Diggle Jr., who became the leader of the Deathstroke Gang following a rift between him and the rest of his family. “We’re going to have a bit of sibling rivalry in our future story line,” Arrow showrunner Beth Schwartz previously told EW.

This scene — along with more deleted scenes, a gag reel, and couple featurettes — is included on the Arrow: The Complete Seventh Season DVD and Blu-ray set, out Aug. 20. The Blu-ray set also comes with all three “Elseworlds” crossover episodes.

Edited by way2interested
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I have no idea why this writer concluded from the third deleted scene that Connor and Diggle don't have a good relationship in the future...

‘Arrow’ season 7: Let’s talk about those deleted scenes!
Lynsey Neill  August 19, 2019
https://www.purefandom.com/2019/08/19/arrow-season-7-lets-talk-about-those-deleted-scenes/ 

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💘Olicity💘
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This deleted scene features a little more context as to where Oliver and Felicity’s heads were at, regarding parenting William. And Felicity brings up some fabulous points, as she always does. William is fourteen, effectively the WORST age, and has been through a lot. One thing the season 7 premiere set up was William’s very justifiable and normal teenage angst. And in all honesty, I could of done with a little more sassy William season 7.
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And as the camera panned back for a full view of their kiss, we saw just how massive their counter is. And you know what should be happening on that counter besides the making of tartines?

Sex. Sex should be happening on that HUGE COUNTER.
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Toodles, Curtis!
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Curtis has always been a character that struggled with his purpose in life (I’d argue more than anyone else on the team). His marriage blew up because of it, and he can be self-righteous and insufferable because of it as well.
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His character is a shining example of how sometimes always looking for your purpose can cause you to become more lost than you’re already are. That constantly looking for something will cause the people around you to feel used, underappreciated, and inconsequential. And in turn, you’ll start to feel that way too.
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❤️Connor Hawke❤️
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This scene gives us some fairly important bits of information, and I’m surprised it was cut. It turns out Diggle and Connor do NOT have a good relationship (I thought otherwise considering Connor listened to Diggle about keeping Mia safe).

And why does Dinah think Mia is a killer? Because she fights people? You do that too, Dinah. Is there another deleted scene we don’t know about?

Anyways, I really liked Connor in this scene. He’s honestly such a fascinating character to me and I hope we get to see more of him, and get to explore his relationship with Mia, Diggle, and JJ a little more.

Edited by tv echo
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8 Things We Need to See in Arrow's Final Season
By Lindsay MacDonald | Aug 19, 2019 
https://www.tvguide.com/news/arrow-season-8-wish-list/ 

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1. Oliver's resurrection. Yeah, yeah, we know it's kind of cheating to wish for the show's most massive twist to be undone, but we've lived with the knowledge that Oliver is going to die in this final season for too long. If he does end up kicking the bucket, we're hoping that someone or something in the multi-verse can bring him back to life so we don't actually have to lose Oliver Queen for good.

2. A Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) cameo. Um, obviously! Arrow is not Arrow without Felicity, and we're expecting more than hoping to see her reappear before all is said and done. Whether that's in the afterlife during the series finale or not, we don't really care, so long as we get one last Olicity scene to send us off!
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3. A scene between Mia (Katherine McNamara) and Oliver. It's heartbreaking to realize that besides the few joyous months when Oliver was a new dad, Mia has never really gotten to spend time with her father. Here's hoping the laws of time and logic bend a little bit to allow Oliver to meet his grown-up little hero-in-training before all is said and done.

4. The return of Moira Queen (Susanna Thompson). The list of characters we'd like to see return in the final season is long (like ridiculously long), but the person at the top of that list is Oliver's mother, Moira Queen. After meeting the wrong end of a sword thanks to Slade (Manu Bennett) in Season 2, we haven't seen much of Moira on Arrow. Seeing as she played such a huge part in the first and second seasons though, it only feels right to give Oliver a scene with his dearly departed mother in the final season.

5. A mini Flarrow crossover. Everyone knows we're gearing up for the massive Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, but don't you miss the good old days when it was just Oliver and Barry (Grant Gustin) getting up to no good in mini-crossovers between The Flash and Arrow? The friendship between these two guys is one that deserves a little extra attention, don't you think?
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6. A backdoor pilot. It's no secret that with Arrow leaving The CW's lineup, the minds behind the Arrowverse are already busy plotting the next big series. Personally, we're still hoping that the Arrowverse Next Generation series we've been campaigning for all year is in the cards. We wouldn't be angry with a Birds of Prey spin-off either, but regardless, we're hoping whatever this new show is, it's a direct spin-off of Arrow, and that can only mean one thing — it's backdoor pilot time!

7. A wedding. Is it even truly a final season without a wedding?! Given that Oliver and Felicity are already hitched, there's not one obvious choice when it comes to who should get hitched in Season 8. Shippers gotta ship though, so we're nominating Thea Queen (Willa Holland) and Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) for this honor. While it's still unclear exactly where these two stand (in the present or future), we're hoping that before all is said and done we get to watch them tie the knot.

8. A final tribute to OTA. While every member of Team Arrow has become near and dear to us, there will always be a special place in our hearts for Original Team Arrow, aka Oliver, Diggle (David Ramsey), and Felicity. They've been thick as thieves since the earliest days of Arrow, despite their ups and downs, and frankly, if we had to pick a final scene for the entire show, we'd choose for it to be one featuring these three.

Edited by tv echo
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This scene gives us some fairly important bits of information, and I’m surprised it was cut. It turns out Diggle and Connor do NOT have a good relationship (I thought otherwise considering Connor listened to Diggle about keeping Mia safe).

I never got that from the clip at all. If anything, it shows that Diggle and Dinah don't have a good relationship and that maybe Diggle's grown a bit more worn through the years (Connor mentions in 719 that Diggle pushed him and JJ just like General Stewart pushed him), but even in 716 and 719 Connor ultimately seems fine (even proud of and relatively close) to Diggle.

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And why does Dinah think Mia is a killer? Because she fights people? You do that too, Dinah. Is there another deleted scene we don’t know about?

Lol because the whole group went to the Bunker with the assumption that Mia killed Felicity and was going to blow up the city and kill hundreds of people! William literally accuses her of doing it in the scene right before this one!

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There seems to be some discrepancy in reporting as to how many deleted scenes are on the Arrow S7 blu ray. The No(R)eruns.net review previously posted above said that there are a total of 10 deleted scenes (2 on Disc 1, 1 on Disc 2, 6 on Disc 3, and 1 on Disc 4). However, the first review below said that there are 6 deleted scenes per disc, while the second review below said that there are a total of 6 deleted scenes. I tend to believe the No(R)eruns.net review because they provided the most detail...

Arrow: The Complete Seventh Season Blu-ray: Ranking all the bonus features
by Sandy C.  August 20, 2019
https://hiddenremote.com/2019/08/20/arrow-complete-s7-blu-ray/

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Deleted Scenes: Six deleted scenes are included in each disc.

“Arrow”: The Complete Seventh Season Blu-Ray Review
Posted by Rodney On August 19, 2019
https://thegeekiary.com/arrow-complete-seventh-season-blu-ray-review/68591

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... But the best part of the flash-forwards is that we got to see older versions of our favorite characters, like Felicity, Dinah, Rene, and Roy Harper, all working together to save the day.

Another thing I loved about this season was Felicity’s character. With Oliver in prison, this season saw Felicity taking on a much darker shade of the peppy computer genius we’ve seen since season one. It wouldn’t be fair to say that past seasons have depicted Felicity as being more of a damsel in distress because she’s not. In fact, Team Arrow flounders without her technological prowess. But by stepping out from behind the screens of her computers, Felicity took on more of a no-nonsense, Oliver-like approach, to take down the dangerous villains that threaten Star City this season.

The character of Black Siren, a.k.a Laurel Lance from Earth-2, also provides a fun addition. And while I personally didn’t like her character in season six, the latest season shows Earth-2 Laurel struggling to fit into the purely good district attorney shoes left behind by Earth-1’s Laurel Lance. Black Siren started off as an antagonist, but I’m such a sucker for storylines where villains try to reform themselves and try to be the hero everybody else wants them to be.
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Special features:
The Blu-Ray set contains a total of 6 deleted scenes on the 4-discs, including one deleted scene from the second episode of the Elseworlds crossover special.

Edited by tv echo
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The beginning of this article was interesting, but then it became clear that the writer never watched Arrow...

Network executives weigh in on fans' influence on TV, movies
Fred Topel  August 19, 2019
https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2019/08/19/Network-executives-weigh-in-on-fans-influence-on-TV-movies/8071565978414/

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When do fans have the power to influence movies and television, and should they? Network executives and creators weighed in during the 2019 Television Critics Association summer press tour.
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In 2019, fans can collect signatures for online petitions, but no number of signatures will persuade HBO to reshoot the final season of Game of Thrones.

"The petition, I think, shows a lot of enthusiasm and passion for the show, but it wasn't something that we seriously considered," said Casey Bloys, president of programming for HBO.

In fact, Bloys saw the extremes to which disappointed fans would go as a positive.

"There are very, very few downsides to having a hugely popular show," Bloys said. "One I can think of is when you try to end it, many people have big opinions on how it should end and how they should see the characters' stories come to an end. I think that just comes with the territory."
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If the network isn't going to cave in to fans, the creators certainly won't.

"My job remains the same, which is to make something that pleases me and the people that I'm making it with," [Lost co-creator Damon] Lindelof said. "If I woke up every morning saying, 'I need to make creative decisions based on something that's going to make the fans happy,' I don't think that I could be successful in that endeavor."
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Arrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim, who is working on his own series finale this year, thinks a petition is only a gut reaction, and that time will be kind to the Game of Thrones finale as it has been to other series finales.

"The Sopranos series finale infuriated people," Guggenheim said. "To the same extent that Game of Thrones did, it infuriated people, and now I think it is considered generally beloved. The thing that frustrated people so much is now considered visionary. As far as Game of Thrones is concerned, I'm like, 'Check back in five years.' I think it'll be a different answer."
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Fans should be excited to learn that many of the creators of their favorite shows do listen to their feedback. The best way to get a message through to the creators of a favorite show is to be kind. The quickest way to get tuned out is to be mean, industry executives say.
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Guggenheim faced his share of angry Arrow fans online, too. Some were angry that he departed from the comic books and romantically paired Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) with original character Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards). Fans of Oliver and Felicity ("Ollicity" to the shippers) were then angry when he followed the comics and paired Oliver with Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy, and that's "Lauriver" to shippers).

"What it really tells me is the negativity you read on Twitter is really just a function of people just caring about the show so much," Guggenheim said.

Petitions won't change anything
Do fans influence the box office?
Fans alone can't save shows
They do listen to fans
Be kind

Edited by tv echo
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Not watching the show doesn't really bother me but not doing the the two minutes of research required to get the really basic facts right does. 

This statement

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Fans of Oliver and Felicity ("Ollicity" to the shippers) were then angry when he followed the comics and paired Oliver with Laurel Lance

only makes any sense if you don't realize he was paired with a different Lance in S2 and even then not much since Oliver and Felicity hadn't been officially paired yet. A Google search could have fixed this (and also maybe the spelling Olicity, I have no idea why but that really bugs me.)

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There is still this misconception that Arrow is (or should be) a purely superhero show (though, not sure what that means, except more comic book-y action). However, as former Arrow showrunner Wendy Mericle once said in an IGN interview: "It’s always a balancing act. And I feel on the show, having been there from the beginning, it’s always kind of been - there are really three elements. There’s a procedural element, there’s a comic book element, and then there’s the grounded, relationship elements. The show, I think one of the reasons it’s been such a success, is we’re constantly shifting grounds between the three of those." As we know, Arrow was originally intended to be a grounded drama without any superpowers...

Arrow: The Complete Seventh Season Blu-ray Review
By Eric Joseph  August 20, 2019
https://wegotthiscovered.com/tv/arrow-complete-seventh-season-bluray-review/

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So, while the Emerald Archer we know and love must live out his own version of Prison Break for seven episodes, the rest of the gang is seemingly existing over on NCIS: Los Angeles on the outside. Yeah, it’s like watching two distinctly different TV shows concurrently, which sometimes took me out of the experience. On the one hand, we did get to see guys like John Diggle (David Ramsey) and Curtis Holt (Echo Kellum) still fighting the good fight, but then they weren’t exactly Spartan and Mister Terrific for that period of time. When people tune in to watch Arrow, they want to see a superhero show, not a police procedural or something comparable.
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At first, I didn’t mind these [flashforward] segments, but I lost interest around halfway through the season. I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s just that these legacy characters didn’t resonate with me, nor do I like the premise that every corner of the Arrowverse falls into complete social disarray in ten or twenty years. If so, then what good did any of the heroes existing in the present really do?
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While I did very much enjoy that ["Inside The Crossover: Elseworlds" featurette] and the other bonus features, nothing is exclusive to this set aside from deleted scenes and a gag reel. That’s right, “Inside The Crossover: Elseworlds,” “Villains: Modes of Persuasion,” and “Best of DC TV’s Comic-Con Panels San Diego 2018” can all be found on other home video sets dropping this summer. If Arrow is all you’re picking up, then it won’t matter. But if you buy them all, you may find yourself frustrated.

Still, the pros supporting Arrow: The Complete Seventh Season far outweigh the cons. More often than not, this show continues being one of the best in the small screen superhero genre, and I’m sad to learn it’s soon coming to an end. That said, it’s recommended you add this set to your collection.

Edited by tv echo
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Arrow: The Complete Seventh Season (Blu-Ray + Digital)
Blu-Ray Reviews | By Creature of War on Aug 20th, 2019
https://www.readjunk.com/reviews/blu-ray-reviews/arrow-the-complete-seventh-season-blu-ray-digital/

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The early episodes of season 7 focus heavily on Team Arrow skirting the law to protect the city as well as Oliver holed up in Slabside Maximum Security Prison. I felt that there was some retread from the Flash throwing Barry Allen in prison a few seasons ago. Overall though, with everyone in prison now knowing that Oliver was the one that put them there as the Green Arrow, the episodes of “Arrow” were a lot darker and edgier than the “Flash” ones. Their respective teams had to fumble around to find a reason to be there but instead of just “doing science”, Team Arrow had to avoid their vigilante urges and explore other aspects as mentioned before. Team Arrow seemed to handle Oliver in prison better than Team Flash did because they knew that Oliver can handle himself where Barry was a fish out of water.
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While most of season 7 was some of the best that the series had to offer so far, one of my least favorite aspects of this season was when Oliver was released from prison and basically worked as a Star City police officer. I felt that this neutered the Green Arrow character for most of the last half of the season. Thankfully, in typical Oliver Queen fashion, he couldn’t stay away from the green leather and hood and put some distance between the police consultant and the superhero.
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Bottom Line: Season 7 has a lot going on and usually this means viewers are in for a long ride, but this season was more interesting, action-packed and had more of a sense of finality than other seasons. This may be in part to the announcement that season 8 will be “Arrow’s” last but I believe that most of that stems from some really good story ideas and a conscious effort to resolve plotlines quicker. Season 7 just felt more fun than many previous seasons.

Edited by tv echo
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Hmm...this seems to contradict the prevailing theory that S8 was hatched after EBR had already signed on to do her play: https://tvline.com/2019/08/22/arrow-season-8-without-crisis-crossover-no-felicity/amp/

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As such, before Season 7 even started, everyone knew that there would be a Season 8, with Amell on board for its 10-episode run.

“Trust me — networks do not do additional episodes of anything just for one event,” Guggenheim added with a chuckle. “But let me put it even more succinctly: Even if we weren’t doing ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ in Season 8, we’d still be doing a Season 8.”

The thing is, of course, that Emily Bett Rickards had already decided, independent of Amell’s own plans, that she would exit the series at the end of Season 7. “[Emily] signed a six-year contract that ran through Season 7. She nailed it, and then she was done,” Amell said. “Frankly, from my perspective, I really would have preferred that she stayed until the end. But from a professional standpoint, as one of her best friends, I get it.”

This makes me this that old TV Blind item about an original cast member leaving might have been her all along.

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9 minutes ago, Trisha said:

This makes me this that old TV Blind item about an original cast member leaving might have been her all along.

They never revealed it, I think, but it would be kind of bad reporting then since EBR wasn't an original cast member. Giving Tvline a benefit of the doubt I'm still going with it meant someone else.

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23 minutes ago, Trisha said:

This makes me this that old TV Blind item about an original cast member leaving might have been her all along.

Yup me too. She made such an impression in S1 they could very well have thought of her as an original cast member in their minds. It is only a technicality. I think a lot of people think of her as an original cast member since she is more valuable to the show than certain other original cast members.

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1 minute ago, Mellowyellow said:

Yup me too. She made such an impression in S1 they could very well have thought of her as an original cast member in their minds. It is only a technicality. I think a lot of people think of her as an original cast member since she is more valuable to the show than certain other original cast members.

Tvline wouldn't make that mistake though. It's literally their jobs to know the distinction and technicalities. And if it was EBR, they would have linked the original article with the article announcing her departure as the update like they usually do for blind items.

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33 minutes ago, Trisha said:

Hmm...this seems to contradict the prevailing theory that S8 was hatched after EBR had already signed on to do her play: https://tvline.com/2019/08/22/arrow-season-8-without-crisis-crossover-no-felicity/amp/

Here are the facts:

- They knew Stephen wanted to leave after s7 since he warned Berlanti in s6

- They knew Emily wanted to leave after s7 because contracts

- Stephen & Emily are friends and must have talked about this before their decisions were made official 

-  Stephen found out about the show's renewal while filming s7 and he said he thought the show could go on without him implying they were thinking about it. 

- Berlanti offered them new contracts for s8. Emily refused because of her play or xy reasons. Stephen didn't. So they stopped trying to write Emiko as an Oliver replacement and that's why her storyline was so inconsistent.

Verdict: 50% lies, 50% truth and sooo much ego. 

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53 minutes ago, Trisha said:

Hmm...this seems to contradict the prevailing theory that S8 was hatched after EBR had already signed on to do her play: https://tvline.com/2019/08/22/arrow-season-8-without-crisis-crossover-no-felicity/amp/

Quote

Speaking with TVLine at TCA this month, series lead Stephen Amell confirmed that he had decided “midway through Season 6 — basically over the Christmas break — that it was time to be done, and I broached that subject with [Arrowverse overlord] Greg [Berlanti]…. I assumed that it was going to end at the end of [Season] 7, but Greg’s smarter than me and he had a really good idea for a limited run in Season 8.”

As such, before Season 7 even started, everyone knew that there would be a Season 8, with Amell on board for its 10-episode run.

At that point in time — well before the Arrowverse EPs would start breaking the story for 2018’s “Elseworlds” crossover — Guggenheim notes, “We didn’t know that we were going to be doing ‘Crisis’ in Season 8. And one thing I would love to clear up is this misconception I’ve read online that ‘Crisis’ artificially extended Arrow’s life span, that the only reason we did a Season 8 of Arrow was to set up ‘Crisis.’ That’s just patently untrue.

I would find MG's above comments more believable if Elseworlds wasn't essentially a prequel to COIE. As such, they would've had to have started preliminarily planning Elseworlds (S7 crossover) during the latter half of S6, which means also preliminarily planning COIE at the same time.

Edited by tv echo
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I feel like this is all just a mess. Though something tells me I wouldn’t want to know what S8 would’ve looked like if it wasn’t leading to Crisis simply because of the likely ridiculous explanation they’d have to come up with to keep Oliver away from Felicity and Mia, assuming we’d still have Mia as a character and the FFs.

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I think he's playing with words. Like, "no, s8 was not only for Crisis!" since they were probably going to continue Arrow/s8 but without SA (which SA hinted before was an intention around s6). So he'd be technically right, it's just that once they got SA for s8 and decided to do Crisis (which was way earlier than MG is implying) , s8 became about setting up Crisis, which is the major online complaint that has Beth (and SA) and MG giving contradictory answers with how much Crisis affects s8.

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34 minutes ago, way2interested said:

Tvline wouldn't make that mistake though. It's literally their jobs to know the distinction and technicalities. And if it was EBR, they would have linked the original article with the article announcing her departure as the update like they usually do for blind items.

Really? I didn't know that. I thought they were another one of those sites that lets their randos write any articles they like. There are so many of those around.

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29 minutes ago, way2interested said:

Tvline wouldn't make that mistake though. It's literally their jobs to know the distinction and technicalities. And if it was EBR, they would have linked the original article with the article announcing her departure as the update like they usually do for blind items.

I think there’s too much weight being put on “original cast member” - she was around since episode 3 and people basically consider her one of the originals. The blind was posted in Oct 2018 and said the actor in question would be done at the end of that current season which means that whatever show it’s referring to, the new season that starts in the fall will be missing a main cast member. It seems like most of the big cast shakeups (at least the long-planned ones) have already been announced. I guess we’ll see if TV Line links to the blind in any other casting story in the next couple of weeks, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t ever reveal this one. Wouldn’t be the first time. 

16 minutes ago, RS3 said:

- Stephen found out about the show's renewal while filming s7 and he said he thought the show could go on without him implying they were thinking about it. 

- Berlanti offered them new contracts for s8. Emily refused because of her play or xy reasons. Stephen didn't. So they stopped trying to write Emiko as an Oliver replacement and that's why her storyline was so inconsistent.

In the articles comment section Matt M responded to someone with “The decision to have a short Season 8 and Stephen deciding to stay on were concurrent/the same conversation. No one is saying there was any scenario where Arrow goes on without him.” I’m guessing he got that from MG. So either MG or SA are stretching the truth. My guess is MG

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Good interview with KH (article includes video clips from this interview)...

INTERVIEW: ‘ARROW’ ACTRESS KELLY HU TALKS ASIAN ROLE MODELS, WHITEWASHING AND CHINA
COHAN CHEW   23 AUGUST 2019
https://www.weareresonate.com/2019/08/interview-arrow-actress-kelly-hu-talks-asian-role-models-whitewashing-and-china/

Quote

Recalling a memory from her childhood, Hu said she was inspired by a scene from Gene Kelly’s 1953 musical Singing In The Rain. “I was sitting at home one day watching singing in the rain and there was a scene where all of these movie stars come out of the car and walk on to the red carpet,” she recollected. ” I was mesmerised and and I remember running into the kitchen and telling my mom ‘I’m moving to Hollywood, I’m gonna be a superstar’. She was just like ‘okay just finish school first’.”
*  *  *
“Growing up I didn’t have a lot of role models,” she said. “There were not a lot of Asian actresses to look up to. Nancy [Kwan] one was one of the few. She did Flower Drum Song and The World of Suzie Wong. I didn’t realize until many many years later that Susie Wong was a hooker but um but you know those are the those are what we had. That’s what we had to look up.”
*  *  *
Having seen it all in the film industry, Hu said whitewashing is certainly present. However, she encourages fellow Asian actors to not be deterred from the industry because of it.

“There are so many things so many you know factors that couldn’t stop a person from being an actor and if that’s what is keeping you from being an actor that you think that there’s too much whitewashing and that you might not be cast, then don’t become an actor. That’s just one of 50,000 reasons that they’re not going to cast you.”

She added that acting must come from passion and rejection is just part of the process. “I think acting is one of those things where you have to love and want it so much that there’s nothing that’s going to stop you from doing it,” she said. “Whether it’s parents telling you you can’t do it because they’re not going to support you or whether it’s you being worried about this whitewashing… if those are the reasons then don’t do it.

“You’ve got to want it more than anything else because there’s so much rejection and so much that you have to put up with that that if you know if that’s the one reason that you’re not going to be an actor.”
*  *  *
“This is an industry like anything else,” she continued. “You know we we try to think in Hollywood that we are teaching people moral values and giving them sort of eye-opening experiences but in the end it always just comes down to money. ”

Thus, Hu’s advice to the Asian community is to support projects that promote Asian leads to demonstrate that they are bankable. “As Asians, whenever there is somebody in a role that looks like us we have to go out and support that project and show that Asians can make money as as lead characters,” Hu said.

Edited by tv echo
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13 minutes ago, Trisha said:

I think there’s too much weight being put on “original cast member” - she was around since episode 3 and people basically consider her one of the originals.

If so, then it's bad wording on their parts, even some of the comments were confused since Matt reiterated that it was an original cast member in the comments and some people were like "it can't be EBR since that would not be right?" to no reply XD. I always just assumed the blind item was SA if anything, I guess.

13 minutes ago, Trisha said:

In the articles comment section Matt M responded to someone with “The decision to have a short Season 8 and Stephen deciding to stay on were concurrent/the same conversation. No one is saying there was any scenario where Arrow goes on without him.” I’m guessing he got that from MG. So either MG or SA are stretching the truth. My guess is MG

Yeah, that;s definitely bull since SA talked in the past about Arrow going on without him and even assumed before signing on to s8 that it would.

Edited by way2interested
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Legendary Artist Neal Adams Says Arrow Is One Of TV’s Best Shows
By Eric Joseph   August 21, 2019
https://wegotthiscovered.com/tv/legendary-artist-neal-adams-arrow-tvs-shows/

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Adams, as you may be aware, is undoubtedly one of the quintessential artists to ever work for DC Comics, having lent his powerful pencils to the likes of Batman, Superman and Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Knowing that he kept up with earlier seasons of Arrow, I wanted to learn what he thought about more recent offerings, what with the series soon coming to an end.

Here’s what he said during our discussion at Michigan Comic Convention:

“It’s a great show. It’s one of the best shows on television. I haven’t kept up with it lately, but that’s only because Donald Trump is hogging the news, and it’s very hard to watch shows like that when MSNBC comes on and tells us what the latest disaster Mr. Trump has been perpetrating.”
*  *  *
Well, considering how Neal and his former creative partner Denny O’Neil were at the forefront of socially conscious storytelling in comics with the aforementioned Green Lantern/Green Arrow, it makes sense that he keeps up with the news. But as he continued, the compliments directed at Arrow didn’t stop:

“Periodically, I’ll get to the other shows and tune in, but the show’s always a good show. They keep on trying new things and throwing my characters on the show, like Ra’s al Ghul, because they figure ‘what the hell? Nobody else is doing it. Why don’t we do it?’ It’s amazing what they do with that show.”

Edited by tv echo
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Blu-ray Review: ‘Arrow: The Complete Seventh Season’
Richard Marcus  August 23, 2019
https://blogcritics.org/blu-ray-review-arrow-the-complete-seventh-season/

Quote

While the premise of wealthy individual turned vigilante in pursuit of justice is an old trope, Arrow adds some new dimensions to the mix. Instead of the hero being a lone wolf type, here he not only works with his own team, he also turns to other heroes in the DC universe for help in time of real need.
*  *  *
While “Season Seven” features the action and adventure fans of the series have come to expect, they will also appreciate the new level of introspection the show introduces. In the build-up to its eighth and final season next year, the show dug deep into the idea of what makes a hero and what keeps them going in the face of adversity. Even when it might be easier just to walk away, Oliver and his team don’t back down, no matter the personal cost or who they’re facing.

Edited by tv echo
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1 hour ago, Trisha said:

In the articles comment section Matt M responded to someone with “The decision to have a short Season 8 and Stephen deciding to stay on were concurrent/the same conversation. No one is saying there was any scenario where Arrow goes on without him.” I’m guessing he got that from MG. So either MG or SA are stretching the truth. My guess is MG

Matt can be so painfully unaware when it comes to show speculation, let alone BTS shenanigans, and he also has a sensitive streak when his articles get negative feedback even when it has nothing to do with his journalism. IMO if this was a direct quote from MG, he would have added the quotes. But let's say MG did say that. Even though both SA and MG have lied before, SA hadn't much to gain from pushing the same narrative we all saw happening on screen. MG read and replied to angry tweets about s8 solely existing to serve crisis a few weeks ago, so his infamous defensiveness jumped out.

Also... MG might know better, sure,  but I highly doubt the network would say no to 10 additional episodes, especially with SA on board, if it means he can promote a crossover that's supposed to launch yet again another show (and if it prevents Batwoman from getting ratings that reflect its early reviews). SA is the lead who has the most reach with the comic book fanbase since GG is barely involved in promoting his own show. The timing for their longest-running show ending at the same time as Batwoman's launch during their biggest crossover event since they're involving Black lightning too; it's all so very convenient and not at all planned. 

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Watch Superman race Oliver around the Smallville farm in The Flash deleted scene
By Chancellor Agard August 23, 2019 
https://ew.com/tv/2019/08/23/the-flash-crossover-scene-superman-oliver-race-smallville/

Quote

There’s one training sequence from last year’s Arrowverse crossover that we didn’t see — until now.

In the above exclusive deleted scene from The Flash‘s hour of the “Elseworlds” crossover, Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) races Oliver (Arrow’s Stephen Amell) — who gained Barry’s (The Flash‘s Grant Gustin) super-speed after Dr. John Deegan tinkered with reality — around Smallville‘s iconic Kent Farm set. While the Man of Steel seems to be having fun, the same can’t be said for Oliver, who doesn’t understand the point of this exercise. So, Clark uses this as an opportunity to teach the temporary Scarlet Speedster an important lesson about mastering his newfound powers — and does so without shooting his pupil in the back!

Watch the clip to see the hard-earned wisdom Clark shared with Oliver.

Edited by tv echo
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If you've been tracking Arrow news, then you know that there have been a lot of articles written based on KC's comment during an SDCC press interview that she pitched a Birds of Prey spinoff series...

Quote

-- KC: "Hopefully, you know, maybe they'll do - who knows, anything can happen, another spinoff. (Interviewer: "Birds of Prey?")  I'm trying. Um, I think that would be awesome. I pitched it. I think they should. It's time for women. Come on, we got this!" (SDCC, Jul. 20, 2019: Jul. 21, 2019 Rama's Screen video of KC and JH interviews, page 1 of Spoilers thread and page 5 of Spoiler Discussion Final thread)

Birds of Prey: Why The Proposed Arrowverse Show Is Unlikely To Happen
BY MATT MORRISON – ON AUG 23, 2019
https://screenrant.com/birds-prey-arrowverse-tv-show-not-happening/

Quote

It was reported recently that The CW would be seeking a new superhero series to replace Arrow, which would premiere in the Fall of 2020. Actress Katie Cassidy Rodgers, who has played the character of Laurel Lance on Arrow since season 1, proposed a Birds of Prey show fill this gap in the schedule. The exact details of the pitch are unknown, but would presumably involve Cassidy Rodgers playing some version of Laurel Lance leading a team of female crime-fighters.
*  *  *
Ironically, the biggest obstacle standing in the way of a Birds of Prey television series is the upcoming Birds of Prey movie. Scheduled to open in theaters in February 2020, Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) will star Margot Robbie, who will be reprising her role as Harley Quinn from the 2016 Suicide Squad movie. Robbie is also a producer on the film and, having been offered her pick of projects for a Harley Quinn focused movie, reportedly insisted on making a Birds Of Prey film, so as to boost the profile of some of DC Comics' less-recognized heroines.

The general attitude of Warner Bros. over the past decade has been that they do not like to have multiple versions of the same fictional characters existing in different live-action properties at the same time, for fear of confusing audiences. This led to Arrow being forced to abandoned a long-planned arc involving their version of the Suicide Squad and their killing off their versions of Deadshot and Amanda Waller. This tradition still seems to be in effect, with Warner Bros. denying the Arrowverse shows the right to depict Batman in any capacity in anticipation of the upcoming release of The Batman.

While The CW has found some clever workarounds to the policy

Spoiler

(such as officially casting Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne rather than Batman in the upcoming Crisis On Infinite Earths event),

it seems unlikely that Warner Bros. will allow the same flexibility when it comes to Birds of Prey. ...
*  *  *
Another cruel irony lies within the fact that the key objection fans of the Birds of Prey comics have to the upcoming movie could also be a problem for a proposed Birds of Prey television series; namely that there is no Oracle. The original Birds of Prey comics centered around a partnership between the wheelchair-bound detective and hacker Barbara "Oracle" Gordon and master martial artist Dinah "Black Canary" Lance. While the team expanded after writer Gail Simone took over the book, recruiting Helena "Huntress" Bertinelli and then other DC Comics superheroines, the core of Birds of Prey has always been the relationship between Barbara and Dinah.

The Arrowverse acquired their own Oracle in the form of white-hat hacker Felicity "Overwatch" Smoak, who had been intended to become paralyzed and was even teased as Oracle. While the idea of a Birds of Prey series teaming Felicity with at least one of the Canaries has been suggested before and was explored in Arrow, season 7, episode 18, "Lost Canary," it would be impossible for that to happen in the wake of Felicity leaving the show in the Season 7 finale. With actress Emily Bett Rickards having moved on to other projects, the new Birds of Prey show would have to introduce a new Oracle figure to emulate the original comics. This would leave this new character facing an uphill battle in trying to win over fans of both Barbara Gordon and Felicity Smoak.

WARNER BROS. IS ALL ABOUT THE BIRDS OF PREY MOVIE
NO ORACLE = NO BIRDS OF PREY
CASSIDY'S "TIME FOR WOMEN" ARGUMENT RINGS HOLLOW

Edited by tv echo
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TV Line include Arrow's season 2 in their roundup of the best seasons of TV from the past decade: https://tvline.com/gallery/best-tv-seasons-of-decade-photos/the-scientist-16/

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With the series’ framework established and Oliver acclimated to vigilantism, the Arrowverse’s flagship series went all in with its sophomore run — and in doing so, planted seeds for its richest storyline threads. The mourning of Tommy (for which Oliver will forever blame himself), the introduction of Sara/Black Canary and then Nyssa, Barry Allen’s debut, Slade and Roy bring compromised by Mirakuru, Oliver’s choice between Sara and Shado and then Moira and Thea…. Season 2 hit the bull’s-eye again and again.

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This interview with Stephen was published in an Australian newspaper when he was here in June and it seems like he was expecting the show to continue on after his exit, which doesn’t exactly line up with what Marc is saying in the TVLine article.

https://thewest.com.au/entertainment/tv/arrow-star-bids-farewell-in-perth-ng-b881237159z

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When Arrow star Stephen Amell touches down in Perth on Friday for the Supanova Comic Con & Gaming expo, it will mark his last official appearance as the much-loved DC Comics character.

In March, the Canadian actor live-streamed a tearful announcement on Facebook revealing to devastated fans that he would be hanging up his bow and arrow this year. 

While he had been planning his exit for some time, he admits he was surprised that Arrow’s yet-to-be-filmed eighth season would be its last.

“It was very unexpectedly emotional because I had known our plan to end the show, or at least my plan to be gone from the show, for quite a while,” he told AAA. 

“But I didn’t know about the plan to end the show after my departure; I thought there was a possibility that the show would move on beyond me, so it was actually quite surprising.

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Some Arrow comments (including one that aggravates me) and some insider info in this MG interview...

‘Carnival Row’ is not the next ‘Game of Thrones.’ Its showrunner wouldn’t have it any other way
By YVONNE VILLARREAL   AUG. 23, 2019
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2019-08-22/amazon-carnival-row-marc-guggenheim 

Quote

[MARC GUGGENHEIM:] ... I always said comparisons don’t serve us well. We’re our own thing. But people have to write reviews, people have to write articles, and it’s the low-hanging fruit. It’s funny. I think with every project I do, there’s some barrier to entry. ... With “Arrow,” the barrier to entry was it’s a not well-known comic book character, who in the comics wears a Robin Hood hat and has a goatee and has a boxing glove arrow. ...

On saving “Arrow” from “jumping the shark”
I knew at the end of Season 6 [it was time to end “Arrow”], because I started to realize that I had done everything on the show that I wanted to do. I played all my cards. I realized that if the show was to have any sort of longevity beyond Season 6, some new voices and new blood had to come in. Beth [Schwartz, the show’s executive producer and showrunner,] and everyone injected the show with this new life, but the question was, “OK, how much longer do we want to do this?” I think it was something we all sort of collectively came to, but it was both collective and separate. It was kind of like this secret. Once we all started talking to each other, it’s like, “Oh yeah, you’ve been thinking that too? Oh yeah. You’ve been wondering that also?” It just came about very organically.

A couple years ago, I think it was the end of Season 4, I realized, “Oh, I know how to keep the show on the air for 20 years,” at least as far as some of the fans. Each episode would be self-contained. It would just be Oliver, Diggle and Felicity in the bunker, or solving a case of the week, with a billed supervillain of the week. ... The problem was, that was never the show any of us were interested in doing. I don’t think the actors were interested in doing a show where their characters didn’t evolve and change. I know I certainly wasn’t interested in writing a show with characters [who] didn’t evolve and change. Once you make the decision that the show is going to be constantly changing and not be the same thing, week in week out, year in year out, you are immediately building in an expiration date, because then you always have to do something new. At some point, you do run out of things that are new, and that’s when the show starts to lag and become ... that’s when you risk jumping the shark.
*  *  *
How being a showrunner is like being a lawyer
I would say it informs me on a thematic level, and it also informs me on a practical level. Thematically, one of the things I think that’s great about law school is I can’t really think of any other academic endeavor where you’re not just learning facts, you’re learning how to think, and you’re learning how to think differently. And you’re mainly learning empathy. You’re learning how to view an issue from more than just your own perspective. And that is an absolute boon when it comes to writing, where you need to write from various different perspectives. From a practical standpoint, as a showrunner, it’s invaluable. Negotiating, problem-solving, thinking logistically, learning how to write fast. My secret weapon is I write very fast, and that’s because having to write a 50-page brief in a night is not unheard of when you’re a litigator. So you learn very quickly not to be precious about your writing. You also learn how to make decisions fast.

Two tricks for keeping one’s writing well-tuned
Before I go to bed at night, when my head hits the pillow, I will write a scene in my head. That’s usually going to be the first scene I write in the morning, so it’s kind of pre-written, which makes the day go by easier. The other thing I do is I will either read a script or watch a movie — pieces of it. I’ll watch a couple of minutes or read a couple pages of something that I call a “tuning fork,” something that is similar to what I’m working in that’s sort of just like a singer trying to hit the right note. “This is a good one.” Like, this is the note. This is the thing that is compatible with what I am writing” at that moment in time, and I find that to be very helpful.
*  *  *
Why it’s so much harder to break into the TV business today
For one thing, there’s far more writers. The competition is huge. For another thing, I was able to break in by virtue of my law career. My first two jobs were on law shows. That’s another genre headed to the West — that has gone away, for the most part. So it would be incredibly, incredibly challenging. Someone once said to me, “Breaking into television is a lot like breaking out of prison.” The methodology that one person uses doesn’t work for everybody else.

I’m a big believer in reading and writing. People ask, “Should I go to film school? Should I take a writing class?” and as someone who didn’t go to film school and didn’t take a writing class, I always impose my own experience on them. I always say, “I really feel like you learn by doing and you learn by seeing it done, and even a bad script will be educational.” The next thing I say is, “Develop and hone your craft.”

Unfortunately, I feel like nowadays in America we’ve replaced ambition with entitlement, and the thing that I see in a lot of young writers who ask me advice are, “I wrote the script. Why can’t I get an agent?” Well, write more than one script. Keep writing scripts. Very, very, very few people nail it the first time out. It really does take time to master the form, and it’s only when you master the form that you can start injecting some artistic expression into it. And that artistic expression needs to be unique. ... The town is filled with competent writers. Some competent writers will get work, but the vast majority won’t because writers are not hired for competency. They’re hired for their voice. It’s the one unique thing that you have to offer that no one else that you’re competing with can. So what I always tell young writers is, “Hone your craft. Work to find that script that says who you are as a writer. What makes your voice so unique that it has to be heard?” And that’s hard to do. It’s really, really hard to do. But when you can do it, you will never lack for work.

ETA: I don't understand MG's one-dimensional thinking. You can have episodic episodes and have the characters evolve and change over time. You can have episodic episodes and have season-long arcs. It also sounds like he's dissing procedural TV shows (and maybe dissing OTA fans).

Edited by tv echo
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This is very interesting...

Here’s why Taylor Swift’s “The Archer” is the anthem for ‘Arrow’ season 8
Lynsey Neill   Aug. 23, 2019
https://www.purefandom.com/2019/08/23/heres-why-taylor-swifts-the-archer-is-the-anthem-for-arrow-season-8/ 

Quote

“The Archer” is a new song on her album Lover, and the title alone makes me think of Arrow and our sweet bean Oliver Queen. But the song itself goes beyond just the title in describing Oliver Queen and his season 8 journey. And I’ll prove it:
*  *  *
Combat, I’m ready for combat
I say I don’t want that, but what if I do?
‘Cause cruelty wins in the movies
I’ve got a hundred thrown-out speeches I almost said to you
*  *  *
Oliver Queen is moving forward after the events of the season 7 finale. He’s ready for whatever “Crisis” has to offer or take away. Oliver has spent the majority of his life fighting. I guess the question becomes how he will go on having to leave his heart behind.
*  *  *
I want contentment for Oliver Queen. And I think a final “combat” can get him there.

I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost
The room is on fire, invisible smoke
And all of my heroes die all alone
Help me hold on to you
*  *  *
This paragraph really exemplifies what Oliver is going through in season 8. He’s worried about the people he left behind. It keeps him awake. He’s worried about dying.

However, he’s stronger if he remembers them.
*  *  *
All the king’s horses, all the king’s men
Couldn’t put me together again
‘Cause all of my enemies started out friends
Help me hold on to you
*  *  *
“Help me hold on to you” the one person who’s a constant within all this change. The one person who I will always love. The one who’s his heart, and Arrow‘s heart.

Felicity.

I’ve been the archer, I’ve been the prey
Who could ever leave me, darling
But who could stay?
(I see right through me, I see right through me)
Who could stay?
Who could stay?
Who could stay?
You could stay
You could stay
*  *  *
A lot of people have left from Oliver’s life. Either by choice or by circumstance. “How can you do that?” is a natural response. But to a self-loathing Oliver, “but who could stay?” comes even more natural to him.

You could stay, Felicity. And when I can stay with you, I’ll find you. Or you will find me.

Edited by tv echo
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18 minutes ago, tv echo said:

I don't understand MG's one-dimensional thinking. You can have episodic episodes and have the characters evolve and change over time. You can have episodic episodes and have season-long arcs. It also sounds like he's dissing procedural TV shows (and maybe dissing OTA fans).

I don't think he's dissing them. It just sounds like he's not a fan of VOTW or procedurals, which is just his opinion, and it just shows that he sees character growth as being tied to main plots evolving (which, yeah, isn't necessarily true, but is still an opinion). He knows some people will like it but he, and according to him others on the show, didn't, so that's why they didn't want to.

That being said, he clearly also doesn't get jumping the shark, since Arrow technically did it several times (metahumans, using the LoA, magic, Ray's intro,etc.).

Edited by way2interested
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With Three Major Series Ending, The CW Reaches a Turning Point
by Timothy Donohoo – on Aug 08, 2019  
https://www.cbr.com/with-three-major-series-ending-the-cw-reaches-a-turning-point/ 

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This year will mark the end of an era for The CW, with many of its most popular series' ending. Arrow, which jump-started the network's line of DC superhero shows, is ending with its eighth season. Meanwhile, Supernatural will finally end its run, going out as the longest-running series on the network.

On top of these shows ending, it's been announced that The 100 will also end with its upcoming seventh season. As these shows all enter their final chapters, let's look back at what made them stick around for so long, and where the network will go in their absence.
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ARROW
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Starting in 2012, Arrow once wore its inspiration from Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy on its sleeve. Since then, it's branched out to spawn an entire "Arrowverse" for numerous other DC Comics characters, all the while evolving the character of Oliver Queen. The show has adapted various elements of the Green Arrow comics, featuring versions of storylines written by creators such as Mike Grell, Judd Winick, Jeff Lemire and Ben Percy.

Though the network had DC superhero shows before, such as Birds of Prey and Smallville, those shows notably lacked good costumes and the grittier tone to superhero storytelling on the small screen that Arrow has made a staple. It also filled a big gap left by Smallville, which ran for ten seasons.

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Blu-ray Review: Arrow: The Complete Seventh Season
August 25, 2019 Craig Byrne
http://www.greenarrowtv.com/blu-ray-review-arrow-the-complete-seventh-season/

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The Episodes: Arrow Season 7 was the first to have long-time Arrow writer/producer Beth Schwartz as showrunner, and as such, there was a slightly different feel to the show than seasons before. Schwartz and her writing team of Arrow veterans and newcomers did a fantastic job, especially when it came to fleshing out [most of] the supporting cast characters for Season 7, starting with giving Dinah (Juliana Harkavy) and Rene (Rick Gonzalez) more purpose and direction after the irritating OTA vs. NTA “war” in Season 6.
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Arrow Season 7 also flips an old show trope into another direction as the show has flash forwards rather than the flashbacks of old. A lot of familiar faces are in the future, including a returning Roy (Colton Haynes), but also, we meet adult versions of William (Ben Lewis) and Zoe (Andrea Sixtos) as well as one of the season’s biggest highlights, Katherine McNamara as Mia Smoak, daughter of Oliver and Felicity. I enjoyed McNamara’s work on Shadowhunters but Mia seems to be a perfect role for her. And while the show’s makeup team did a pretty good job aging, say, Roy, a shorter haircut really didn’t do the trick in making Emily Bett Rickards’ Felicity into a 50-year-old, which was a bit distracting. Finally, after a great guest starring turn in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Season 1, Joseph David-Jones is back as Connor Hawke!

Going back to the present day, Oliver’s time in prison leads to “The Slabside Redemption” which featured one of the best action sequences in the series’ history; I can also reveal that John Diggle (David Ramsey) has indeed been added to the “Olicity reunion” at the episode’s end. The whole “Ninth Circle” villain plot is a take-it-or-leave-it plot for me. The reveal of who “the new Green Arrow” was, was fantastic and well done, as was the casting of the person who played her (Sea Shimooka). But… unlike, say, Slade or Prometheus, what exactly the Ninth Circle was, never really resonated with or scared me, if that makes any sense. On a more interesting note, there were some good moments for Laurel (Katie Cassidy Rodgers), offering some redemption for the Black Siren, and I’m curious to see where her story goes next.
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Finally, we as fans learned near season’s end that Emily Bett Rickards and her character Felicity would be leaving Arrow after Season 7, and the season finale “You Have Saved This City” is her last. I rewatched this episode on the set — the high definition of Blu-ray looks great, by the way — and I think I enjoyed it more now that we know a little bit about Season 8, but at the time, I had the [perhaps unpopular] opinion that for a show that is supposed to be “the grounded one,” Felicity’s story had such a sci-fi end. Having her go into hiding with Mia makes sense. Having her missing while Oliver tries to find her is grounded. But Oliver going away to stop a multidimensional Crisis kind of threw the grounded nature of this series out the door. And yes, I get it that this is the same show where Oliver and Barry switched bodies in the crossover. Eh. I’m not sure. We will see. Stephen and Emily acted the heck out of it, though, both turning in great performances.
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The Extras: The best extra on this set is the “Inside the Crossover: Elseworlds” featurette which includes a sit-down interview Arrow’s Marc Guggenheim and Beth Schwartz, Batwoman’s Caroline Dries, Supergirl’s Jessica Queller and Robert Rovner, and The Flash’s Todd Helbing. They are being interviewed by Hector Navarro who does a solid job even if his presence and the location of the interview reminds one of all the wasted time watching the painfully bland launch of “DC Daily” on DC Universe. ....

Edited by tv echo
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THE FLASH CROSSOVER CRISIS: GREEN ARROW'S PERFECT SHOT Misses the Mark if You Don't Watch the Arrowverse
Tommy Williams  August 26, 2019
https://geektyrant.com/news/the-flash-crossover-crisis-green-arrows-perfect-shot-misses-the-mark-if-you-dont-watch-the-arrowverse

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I have not watched any episodes of Arrow or The Flash. However, I did recently read The Flash Crossover Crisis: Green Arrow’s Perfect Shot from Barry Lyga. It is based on the Arrowverse and if you’re a fan of the shows, you’ll like it a lot more than I did. Overall, I felt like the book was “meh.”

If you’ve never watched the shows, Lyga tries to clue you into things that have happened as they come up. This is usually very helpful like when characters are brought into the story. It talks about how Iris is Barry’s wife and Felicity is married to Oliver, etc. This is very useful. There were a couple of times where specific moments in the show (I assume they happened in the show anyway) are mentioned and then we’re given details on it. This wasn’t so helpful to me simply because these moments typically have nothing to do with the actual story. The moment is usually brought up in a passing moment, so we don’t need to hear about how the Flash defeated this villain or that villain in the past when it has nothing to do with the current story. There are moments like this that are important though, so it’s not all these moments.

I also felt like this book was trying to do too much. There are about three storylines in this book. I know that this is the first book in a crossover event but leaving 2/3 of the storylines unfinished left me feeling like nothing happened in the book. It’s not that the storylines are inherently bad either. They are all decent story ideas and two of them are very closely related. However, that third one sticks out like a sore thumb and feels a little forced. Maybe the way it resolves will prove me wrong.

Let’s focus on the positive. As I mentioned before, Lyga does do a good job of explaining important details that you wouldn’t know about if you hadn’t watched the shows or maybe you forgot. Also, it’s a quick read. If you’re a fan of the shows, I’m sure that the interactions between Team Arrow and Team Flash are a million times better. Without watching the shows, I enjoyed the chemistry of the characters and kept forgetting that they don’t always interact.

If you like the Arrowverse, Green Arrow’s Perfect Shot is probably a great read. If you haven’t seen the Arrowverse, it’s a bit more hit or miss. You can pick it up now at your favorite book stores.

Edited by tv echo
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On 8/24/2019 at 9:00 AM, tv echo said:

This is very interesting...

Here’s why Taylor Swift’s “The Archer” is the anthem for ‘Arrow’ season 8
Lynsey Neill   Aug. 23, 2019
https://www.purefandom.com/2019/08/23/heres-why-taylor-swifts-the-archer-is-the-anthem-for-arrow-season-8/ 

The song also works from Felicity's perspective during the time after Oliver left.  She's had most people in her life leave her.  Even Mia after she found out she was still hacking.  And all her best buddies on the team for a time were enemies and even in hiding while they technically weren't enemies, they clearly weren't friends.   I can imagine Felicity pacing the floor late at night feeling like a ghost afraid she'll never see Oliver again.  

So yeah , good song for Arrow, season 7 and on.  

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On 8/24/2019 at 8:47 AM, tv echo said:

knew at the end of Season 6 [it was time to end “Arrow”], because I started to realize that I had done everything on the show that I wanted to do. I played all my cards. I realized that if the show was to have any sort of longevity beyond Season 6, some new voices and new blood had to come in. Beth [Schwartz, the show’s executive producer and showrunner,] and everyone injected the show with this new life, but the question was, “OK, how much longer do we want to do this?” I think it was something we all sort of collectively came to, but it was both collective and separate. It was kind of like this secret. Once we all started talking to each other, it’s like, “Oh yeah, you’ve been thinking that too? Oh yeah. You’ve been wondering that also?” It just came about very organically.

Oh so after you set up the most hated villain (in an apathetic way) and a storyline despised by almost everyone (that destroyed goodwill for the NTA for at least some of us forever) and someone new comes to take over, that's when you decide, yup, the show is running out of steam. 

He didnt' consider that people were thinking about it needing to come to an end BECAUSE of how crappy he laid out the second half of the season?  They rushed through several good storylines in season six and focused extra attention on ones they should have sped over.  I feel it's an ego thing to say the show is over cause he's run out of ideas.  And he really misses the point on how the occasional VotW can free up the characters and the show to inject episodes with more interpersonal character moments and growth.  Only writing towards story arcs rushes past these moments.  Arrow was a show perfectly positioned to be able to have a perfect balance of the two kinds of storytelling but long before season four we stopped getting the joy of seeing the OTA do what they do best together except for rare all to brief moments.  

I wonder how much of these reflections are retroactive thoughts and opinion remade in order to make where he is now look more intentional.  To explain away some large fails like not taking more advantage of the undeniable chemistry of the OTA as a team BEING a team each week.  

I think the spin irritates me more then not getting more of the OTA

Edited by BkWurm1
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You may recall that SA said the shared universe should still be called the Arrowverse after Arrow ends...

The Flash's Grant Gustin Says It's Ok to Keep Calling It the Arrowverse
By KOFI OUTLAW - August 30, 2019
https://comicbook.com/dc/2019/08/30/the-flash-grant-gustin-says-arrowverse-vs-flashverse-after-arrow-ending/ 

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With Arrow season 8 being the series' final chapter, many fans have been wondering just what the "Arrowverse" will be called, now that Arrow is no longer part of it. Well, The Flash star Grant Gustin is now weighing in on the subject, and says that even with the loss of Stephen Amell's Oliver Queen and Arrow, the franchise is still okay carrying the title of "Arrowverse."

Here's what Gustin had to say in his interview with ComicBook.com during San Diego Comic-Con, when it was pointed out that he will be the senior actor in the franchise. When it was suggested that the franchise could be retitled as "The Flashverse," Gustin quickly shot the idea down, stating, "It stays the Arrowverse. It's fair."

Edited by tv echo
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Podcast interview with Ben Lewis! ...

Episode #117 – Ben Lewis + Carnival Row
August 27, 2019 Nicola Austin
https://wehaveahulk.co.uk/episode-117-ben-lewis-carnival-row/

-- Interviewer congratulated Ben Lewis on his promotion to series regular for Arrow's eighth and final season and asked how he celebrated the news. BL: "How did I celebrate? That's a good question. It was kind of a - I don't want to say that it was a drawn-out process. I mean, I thought it was - I think I thought it was probably going to happen. And, you know, I'd heard some whispering and rumors that it was going to happen. I'm trying to think when I actually found out officially. I don't even remember. I guess I heard different things from different people. It looked like it was going to happen, but I don't actually remember when I officially, uh, when I officially got the news. By that point, I think, because I had my - I had my hopes up that I would become a series regular. I think by that point it was more a feeling of relief than anything... I think I anticipated it was going to happen, so had it not, I would've been quite disappointed. I wish I had a better story for you, but I don't even remember."

-- On the immense fan reaction to the 2040 storyline, BL: "It's been really positive, at least from what I've seen. I think that, to be honest, when - for me, when I joined the cast, I was expecting - I mean, I knew that there was a really passionate, very vocal fanbase for the show. And I think I thought just, you know, because it's the - because it's the internet, um, and there's always, you know, a wide, diverse range of opinions, I think I was expecting a little more trolling, to be honest. I mean, I didn't expect that the reaction that I - at least, I received would be so almost unanimously positive, which was, like, really, really affirming and lovely, uh, for me, you know? I mean, of course, I did - I have come across certain people who - who are very attached to, um, the OG characters, as, of course, they would be, and, uh, to Jack, you know, who played William at a younger age, and I totally understand how and why people want to see more of him. Um, but the fact that they've been so open and, um, embracing of me, as well as Kat and JoJo and Andrea, um, has been - has been really lovely, sort of nothing but positives."

-- On what it's like being part of the Queen family, BL: "It's funny, I - yeah, I definitely feel that sense of familial legacy, as the fans sort of never fail to, um, remind me of it. I mean, every day I feel like I get - you know, I feel like I get tagged in photos, sort of compilations or collages of - of - of the family, um, and I know, obviously, how much Oliver and Felicity, um, mean to the fans, you know, being - being part of that family and now Kat being a new part of that family. Yeah, it's just been a really lovely, uh, welcoming fanbase to walk into."

-- On how he and KM prepared to play on-screen siblings, BL: "Right. I mean, I think that is - I think we really didn't prepare. Honestly, like, I met her, um - I met her on set the day that we shot her scenes in episode 8, I think it was, of last season, her first, uh, her first episode. That was the first time we met. And luckily, we got - we got along really well, um, and the writing, I think, from the beginning was so, um, good. Those characters were so well-defined. So it was easy to sort of play the contrast and the sort of odd couple dynamic, you know, from the very beginning. It was sort of all there in the writing. Um, and I think, for me, I have - I have a younger sister, who's - who's Kat's age. She's actually a little bit older than Kat, but, um, you know, I have a sister who's nine years younger than me and who I - so I know very much what it's like to, um, have, uh - I know very much what, you know, first-hand what that dynamic is like between a brother and a younger sister. You know, you don't always see eye to eye. There's certainly, um, challenges and, you know, uh, quibbles along the way. But, um, underneath that, there's - you know, the foundation of that is a lot of love. So that's been really, kind of my favorite part of playing opposite her and playing these characters, is just sort of the unearthing of and sort of, like, the discovery of the familial, um, sibling love that's underneath all of that sort of squabbling... I think that the thing that's exciting for both of us is figuring out how to play siblings who were raised essentially as only children. You know? And how to - how we sort of find each other and connect to each other and, you know, how we grow to mean a lot to each other."

-- On whether there is anything he can say about the final season, BL: "I can tell you pretty much nothing, I'm pretty sure... Yeah, nothing.

Spoiler

But, um - but I can tell you that I start shooting episode 5 tomorrow. So we're already sort of - we're moving at a good clip. I mean, it feels like we just started, and we're already starting episode 5. And so, I guess the crossover starts, I think, episode 8? So we're not too far off now. But they don't tell us a lot in advance, you know? Like, I don't really know anything about, um - I know barely anything about what's going to happen in episode 6, let alone episode 8 and, you know, the crossover. I don't even know if I'm going to be in the crossover. I hope to be in some capacity, but I have no idea." Interviewer: "It would such a shame if you weren't!" BL: "I agree, I agree. So if it doesn't happen, the fanbase has permission to start trolling because I want to see it too." BL then mentioned that he knew a couple actors on the other Arrowverse shows, who he would love to work with, like Camrus Johnson, Rachel Skarston, Ramona Young and Jesse Rath. However, he acknowledged that there was only a "limited amount of storytelling real estate" to go around. He also mentioned that he did a movie with Brandon Routh around 10 years ago, but they didn't have any scenes together. He hadn't spoken to BR since, but he found a pic of them from the 2010 premiere of that movie, and he and BR has a nice little instagram exchange over it.

-- On any favorite moments with the close cast, BL: "Last season was really great for me because it was sort of a slow roll-out, getting to work with different actors and different characters sort of week to week, you know? Like, I started the show obviously just working with Colton, uh, on the - on Lian Yu, which was great, because I had actually - I actually knew Colton a little bit ahead of that and I knew he was such a sweet guy... So I felt really comfortable, and that sort of relaxed me, knowing that I was going to be entering this new job and working alongside him. I knew that we would have a good time and that he would sort of, you know, make me feel comfortable, so that was - and he really did, so that was great. Um, and then slowly rolling out, getting to work with Juliana, who's one of my favorites... Such a lovely person. Um, as well as introducing Andrea's character, um, who's also just like one of my favorites. And then, yeah, throughout the season, just sort of getting to work with more and more people... Honestly, every person that I worked with in the cast, uh, was great. I couldn't have asked for more...

Spoiler

And even this season, I can't say who specifically I've gotten to work with who's new this season, but there are some new - there are some new people, um, not necessarily new to the show, but new to me. So, um, it's just - that trend has just continued...

All the actors involved in the show have been great, and that's pretty rare, you know, for everybody to be sort of pretty consistently great to work with."

-- BL then commented on the aging of the characters. He expected CH to look like an old castaway who's 20 years older than William, but instead he joked about how "unfair" it was that Old CH looked "better than me." BL then added: "Same with Emily. She looked incredible. Um, Juliana. Incredible. Um, Rick, I know the wig was a little controversial, but he looked great too, I thought."

-- On whether he'd be up for a Star City 2040 spinoff, BL: "I would definitely be up for it. I mean, I feel like, you know, I feel like we're just scratching the surfaces with these new characters, and the writers have put so much into the creat - developing them... Yeah, I think it would be a shame if sort of we never, uh, saw Adult William or Mia or Adult Zoe and Connor beyond this final season of Arrow... But it's the Arrowverse, you know, so everything's interconnected, so even if there's not a spinoff, that's not to say we wouldn't sort of, you know, pop up in the Arrowverse in some other capacity... But don't get me wrong, I would love to do a spinoff, and I - I hope that it happens. But I think that the fans, like you said, who are - who want to see that, I hope that they are vocal about it online, because their opinions do not go, uh, unnoticed by us or by the creators of the show or by the people at The CW. So I think that the more vocal the fanbase is - if they want it, the more vocal they are about it, the more likely it is to happen."

-- On his fave DC hero or villain, BL said that he loves Batman but felt that answer is "so generic." He then mentioned the Penguin and Catwoman.

-- On whether he's working on anything else at the moment or whether it's all full-speed ahead on Arrow for now, BL: "I mean, it's full speed ahead on Arrow for now. I recently shot a very small part in a movie called Covers with, uh, Dakota Johnson, which was really cool. I loved the script for this movie so much and I just wanted to be a part of it in some small capacity. I was very excited that I got to do that and that that worked out with my Arrow schedule... Again, it's very small, it's like a one-scene role. But that will be coming out next year, and I'm excited about that. And, um, I also - I write myself, so I have a couple of scripts that I've written that are sort of in various stages of development... We'll see... Like I said, I hope that beyond November, there's more Arrowverse stuff to come, but yeah, we'll see."

Edited by tv echo
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5 Times Celebrity Wrestlers Impressed Us (& 5 Who Didn't At All)
BY ERIC  – ON AUG 31, 2019  IN WRESTLING
https://www.thesportster.com/wrestling/celebrity-wrestlers-best-worst/ 

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10  Impressed - Stephen Amell
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Playing a superhero on TV, Stephen Amell needs to be in top-notch shape. As the Green Arrow on Arrow, Amell has been known to do some of the show’s death-defying stunts by himself. He was also a self-confess die-hard wrestling fan.

At SummerSlam 2015, he got to bridge the two worlds when he teamed up with Neville against Stardust and the Cosmic King Barrett. This led to Cody guest-starring on Arrow and the. Amell joining the Bullet Club and then at last year’s All In event, he worked a singles match against Christopher Daniels.

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