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Batwoman in the Media: Send the Bat Signal


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'How Batwoman Pays Homage to Batman While Forging Her Own Path'

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"That was one of the biggest challenges of the pilot because not only are you setting up this character and you're setting up a world of Gotham that people are already familiar with, but now, everything is through the scope of 'what does this character think about Batman, what do they think about Bruce Wayne?'" Dries tells IGN. "If a character hates Batman, you can instantly define them. If they love Bruce Wayne, you can define them. But you have to know everyone's point of view about this character who we're not showing. That is really, really challenging. The good news is, moving into the series [after the first episode], we have already established the mystery about Batman and what Gotham looks like. We can move past that, and it's literally us trying to move out of Batman's shadow as writers and, at the same time, staying reverent to the fact that without Batman, there's no Batwoman."

Luckily, Dries adds, the show's protagonist is equally reverent of Batman, which will be a throughline throughout the series. "Kate loves Bruce Wayne so much," she says. "She's a combination of haunted by him and also looking to him for inspiration. He's a character in the show even though he's not in the show."

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3 minutes ago, Trini said:

Many of the major outlets are picking up this story, originally from Ruby Rose's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tv/B25wG_PJlno/?igshid=1ax379ag09mhx

'Batwoman star Ruby Rose reveals she had emergency surgery after performing stunts'

'Ruby Rose Underwent Emergency Surgery Following ‘Batwoman’ Stunts'

This probably limits what kind of stunts they can do with Kate, at least outside of the Batwoman suit.

I don't think it so much limits what they can do with Kate, stunt doubles have done more work in other action packed shows in general. It may just make them be a bit more creative with how they shoot it (more Buffy style maybe?) 

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10 hours ago, Trini said:

Many of the major outlets are picking up this story, originally from Ruby Rose's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tv/B25wG_PJlno/?igshid=1ax379ag09mhx

'Batwoman star Ruby Rose reveals she had emergency surgery after performing stunts'

'Ruby Rose Underwent Emergency Surgery Following ‘Batwoman’ Stunts'

This probably limits what kind of stunts they can do with Kate, at least outside of the Batwoman suit.

I watched the video, and while I have enormous respect for everyone in that room and the extreme skills they have mastered, I was wildly amused that, after all the delicate work to get to her actual spine, the actual "fix it" work was apparently a very classy version of "tunk it with a hammah" to put things back in place.

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8 hours ago, MarkHB said:

I watched the video, and while I have enormous respect for everyone in that room and the extreme skills they have mastered, I was wildly amused that, after all the delicate work to get to her actual spine, the actual "fix it" work was apparently a very classy version of "tunk it with a hammah" to put things back in place.

Answering in Small Talk...

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Interview with Showrunner Dries at Collider: https://collider.com/batwoman-interview-caroline-dries-batman/

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How do you get out from under the shadow of Batman and establish this as its own show, in a way that people forget about him?

DRIES: We’re keeping Batman and Bruce a character within the show, even though we never see him. We purposefully invented that motif of her writing journal entries to him because he was such a fundamental part of her childhood. He’s an instrumental part of her as Bruce, and as Batman, he was there on the worst day of her life. She’s a combination of haunted by him, and also using him as a touchstone for inspiration. We don’t necessarily wanna walk away from him because he is the show, but at the same time, Batwoman is the next chapter of that. She has her own completely unique relationships, outside of him, and her own family drama, outside of him, and her own villains, outside of him. Slowly but surely, it’ll be less about Batman, but we’re not like necessarily shying away from it either, at the beginning.

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When it comes to other familiar characters in this world that you’ll bring in, at some point, how do you figure that out? Do you have a list?

DRIES: Yeah, every season, DC is like, “Here are some ideas, and here’s what you could maybe do,” and we’re cool to use those, so we use that as inspiration. And then, we’re like, what is Kate going through? Where was she, the last episode? What’s she doing now? What would be a good complication to that? Let’s give them a face. This is what the villain’s agenda is. Is there a DC villain that’s like this, that we could adapt? That’s usually how the process goes.

Edited by Trini
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Final rating numbers:

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Batwoman (The CW) –  0.5/  1.86 mil.


https://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/daily-ratings/tv-ratings-sunday-oct-6-2019/

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The series premiere of the CW’s new, Ruby Rose-led superhero series scored a 0.5 rating in adults 18-49 with 1.80 million viewers. That makes it the CW’s most-watched series premiere since “Black Lightning’s” debut in January 2018.

https://tvline.com/2019/10/07/batwoman-ratings-season-1-premiere-cw/

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The CW’s Batwoman swung into action on Sunday with 1.8 million total viewers and a 0.5 rating, up 20 percent in audience from Supergirl‘s year-ago season opener in the time slot, while steady in the demo.

https://deadline.com/2019/10/colts-win-sunday-night-football-ratings-down-batwoman-kids-say-the-darndest-things-debut-1202754054/

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The CW’s Batwoman premiered to a 0.5 adults 18-49 rating and 1.8 million total viewers, on par in the demo and up in viewers from the debut of Supergirl and Charmed on the same night last fall.


The consensus seems to be that it's a decent debut - by CW standards.

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4 hours ago, Delphi said:

Weird, I remember when shows were canceled over those numbers.

Seriously. Compare those numbers to the ratings for Firefly and Sports Night (to take two "random" examples).*

*Still bitter after all the years? Me? Not at all.

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8 hours ago, Delphi said:

Weird, I remember when shows were canceled over those numbers. 

3 hours ago, Loandbehold said:

Seriously. Compare those numbers to the ratings for Firefly and Sports Night (to take two "random" examples).*

Yeah but to compare shows from 1998/2002 which was a pre-any sort of streaming world isn't really a fair comparison. So much has changed in terms of not only the amount of content but the number of content providers (instead of just networks and cable) that it's no wonder that shows with lower ratings survive now - they're surviving against a lot more than what's primetime on the Big 4.

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3 hours ago, shantown said:

Yeah but to compare shows from 1998/2002 which was a pre-any sort of streaming world isn't really a fair comparison. So much has changed in terms of not only the amount of content but the number of content providers (instead of just networks and cable) that it's no wonder that shows with lower ratings survive now - they're surviving against a lot more than what's primetime on the Big 4.

Oh, yeah, I know. But, I'm old so the bitterness remains. 

And, hey, you youngun's, get off my lawn!

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Interview with Skarsten: '‘Batwoman’s Rachel Skarsten On Alice’s‘ Underlying Motivation’ With Kate, What’s Next & More'

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What’s it like for you to explore two very different sides to this one person?

Rachel Skarsten: I love playing the bad guy, but I also truly believe that most people don’t wake up one day and are spontaneously evil human beings. I feel that those people have gotten to that place because of so much hurt and so much brokenness in their own life, and it has sort of molded and shaped them into what they are in the present day. I think it is really interesting to go back and explore what all those things were that made them into the person. But then also from the perspective of playing any character, I find there’s a redeemable quality to a bad guy in a show when you understand how they got there or you understand their motivation for doing something evil because of their path. Having that redeemable quality, I think gives a likability to that character. I always liken it to Walt Whitman in Breaking Bad. He was so brilliant in making you root for him. Despite the fact that he was doing all these horrific things, you were rooting for him.

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Meagan Tandy and Rachel Skarsten interview: 'Batwoman's Meagan Tandy and Rachel Skarsten Tease Their Characters' Upcoming Arcs'

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PS: How has playing these characters challenged you?

RS: A lot of times when you're learning lines, there's a flow to it, and there's a logic. But Alice's dialogue is challenging, because a lot of it is nonsensical. She also takes an incredible amount of energy to inhabit. I find myself quite tired at the end of the day. I'm already an introvert, but I've become very introverted. I go home like, "No one speak to me. I need some silence."

MT: Sophie has challenged me to address my own vulnerability, as well as authentically tell this story. Because it's so much more than an acting job. There's a bigger picture here. It's not a challenge as in, "Oh, my God." It's more of like, "OK, I have to do this, and I want to do it right." I hope people will be able to identify in some way.

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Ratings dipped in the second episode, not unexpected, though.

https://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/daily-ratings/tv-ratings-sunday-oct-13-2019/

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It was a less steady night for the CW, starting with “Batwoman,” which dropped from its premiere’s 0.5 rating to a 0.3 with 1.46 million viewers.

https://tvline.com/2019/10/14/batwoman-ratings-season-1-episode-2/

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The CW’s Batwoman in Week 2 drew 1.46 million total viewers and a 0.3 rating, down 21 and 40 percent from its premiere and matching the lowest demo number Supergirl did all of last season in the Sunday leadoff spot.

Edited by Trini
curse you, typos!!
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TVLine's take on Fall TV's scheduling on a network by network basis:

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SUNDAY: Batwoman (averaging nearly a 0.4) thus far is up a tick from what Supergirl did in the leadoff spot last season, while the Girl of Steel (1.05 mil/0.3) has improved on what Charmed was doing (850K/0.26) in the later time slot. All told, Sundays this fall are up 8 percent in the demo and 24 percent in total viewers, and Batwoman is currently drawing the largest audience and second-best rating of any CW series. Now if Supergirl can just stabilize…. (RESULT: HIT)

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1.04 (preliminary) ratings:

https://tvline.com/2019/10/28/supergirl-ratings-season-5/

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Opening The CW’s night, Batwoman (1.26 mil/0.3) added total viewers in Week 4 while steady for a second straight week in the demo.

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/tv-ratings-batwoman-sunday-night-football-world-series-1203385481/

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“Batwoman” was up against two unfamiliar foes in the NFL and the World Series in the Sunday night TV ratings, yet the CW show managed to remain stable week-to-week.

The Ruby Rose show scored a 0.3 rating among adults 18-49 and was watched by 1.26 million total viewers, almost exactly the same as in both metrics last week. ...

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TVLine interview with Rachel Skarsten, with some teases for the rest of the season:

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TVLINE | What will we learn about Alice’s origin story this week?

Until recently, when we got another episode that I’m quite a huge fan of, this episode was definitely, for both Ruby and I, one of our favorites to shoot because we got to delve into Alice’s past and really understand why she is the way that she is. And for me, that’s my favorite part about Alice. I love playing a bad guy, but to play one who is redeemable or at least has the possibility of redemption is enjoyable on an entirely different level.

I reference this a lot, but like Walt Whitman in Breaking Bad, you find yourself rooting for him even though he’s doing the most horrific things, and that’s really fascinating to me. I think Alice, hopefully, has that quality, where she’s murdering people and yet you’re like, “Maybe she can be redeemed?”

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2 hours ago, Trini said:
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TVLine interview with Rachel Skarsten, with some teases for the rest of the season:

I reference this a lot, but like Walt Whitman in Breaking Bad, you find yourself rooting for him even though he’s doing the most horrific things, and that’s really fascinating to me. I think Alice, hopefully, has that quality, where she’s murdering people and yet you’re like, “Maybe she can be redeemed?”

Something about this quote sounded wrong. Then I remembered Walt Whitman was a 19th century poet and the name of a bridge (that’s neither here or there). One of Whitman’s books is a plot point in Breaking Bad, but I’m assuming RS is referring to Walter White. 

Also, I’m struggling to remember a time when Walter White was redeemable.

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Interview with Brendon Zub (Dodgson); talks about filming Batwoman, and his career a bit.

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The show seems to be finding its footing still. Do you feel that the show [will successfully establish itself] as its own pillar of the Arrow-verse?

The way they've structured the first season of Batwoman, they kind of planned for the 13 episodes, but when they were looking at the 22 or 24 episodes, they're thinking in thirds.

The series will get much more exciting and cliff-hanger-y and stuff around episode eight or nine.

It's definitely settling in a bit, but there's a lot happening. Each week we're surprised when we get the script, and we see what's happening. There's going to be some big surprises in the first third that will be jaw-dropping.

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'Rachel Skarsten Shares Her Take on Alice's Traumatic Backstory'

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So we finally get the truth about where Beth's has been since the crash and instead of it being like "Oh, she was in a coma," this is a very upsetting backstory.

Rachel Skarsten: Yes. And I think it's interesting because there's a little bit of a backstory in the comics, but it doesn't really delve into it. And I like that Caroline [Dries, showrunner] created this whole backstory for Alice and what came out of this incredible trauma, really. It gives this whole different motivation for Alice and why she'e evil now, which I love. I talk so much about Alice being, you know, this sort of redeemable, or possibly redeemable, bad guy, which I really like to play. Even as an audience member or viewer myself, I like that in my bad guys. So I was very happy about this.

...

Yeah. Having Alice/Beth be the sister and the daughter really amps up the whole dynamic. This is shattering the entire Kane family. It really is the weirdest family drama you could imagine.

Yeah, it is! And The CW does those very well. My favorite family dramas have always been from them. People ask me about this character, "Is she like the Joker, like Harley Quinn?" And there are inspirations from both characters obviously, but I think when you add in the familial dynamic, it sort of complicates things more and adds layers to the motivation behind why she's so bad. And for me, that completely changes who this character is and makes her actually quite individual.

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'Batwoman‘s Nicole Kang on Heroines, Role Models and Representation'

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Asian-american women on a genre show. It’s something Kang is just as excited by and grateful for as we are. “Yes!” Kang exclaimed when we dove into the topic. “And, like two Korean actors,” she added. “Which is unheard of, which I think is the most exciting part.”

Neither the role of Mary nor her mother, defense magnate Catherine, was written as specifically non-white. “I think it was not written that way but Caroline [Dries] and Greg [Berlanti] have always and asked ‘what’s the most diverse choice,'” Kang noted. “In the spirit of the series…who are these people in Gotham and this city and how can we challenge or reveal or explore more types of people who live in this place.”

Kang, who worked previously with super-producer Greg Berlanti on the Netflix  You was cast early on, before they had found an actress for the part of her mother. “I remember my manager calling me and telling me ‘they’re really looking for your mother right now and they’re having a tough time,'” Kang recalled, sharing that producers briefly considered opening casting back up to non-Asian actors. “And I remember being like ‘okay…interesting.'”

Elizabeth Anweis  was actually one of the first choices for the role, but producers had worried Anweis looked too young to play Kang’s mother but was ultimately cast. “Total bonus that we were also both Korean,” Kang saidd, gushing about how inspiring it has been to work with Anweis, who felt many times in the past like giving up and experienced being passed over for white actors. “That’s really amazing to me, generationally. I think it’s really really exciting, And I get to be a character with a mother on the show, and that’s so cool.”

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17 hours ago, Trini said:

Elizabeth Anweis  was actually one of the first choices for the role, but producers had worried Anweis looked too young to play Kang’s mother but was ultimately cast.

I’m shaking my head at this because white actors who look too young to play parents are cast all the time, but when they’re looking to cast a second Asian character verisimilitude is important so she has to look the right age (and this ignores the fact that a lot of Asians tend to look younger than their age). I’m glad it worked out.

Edited by BaggythePanther
Fixing grammar
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Meaghan Tandy interview at TVLine, previewing the next episode:

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TVLINE | What do you think Sophie thinks about the whole Batwoman thing? Her ex wearing head-to-toe Kevlar-and-rubber, running around in a red wig….

I’m pretty sure there’s a part of Sophie that finds it to be very sexy. [Laughs] But she’s also just alarmed. These first seven episodes, at least, play the note that Sophie is scared for Kate, so I’m not sure she’s at home like, “Oh, that’s so cool!” She’s more afraid for Kate.

TVLINE | I have frankly been wanting to feel a lot more inner conflict from Sophie, after reuniting with this woman whose heart she broke years ago. Will we see more of that this Sunday?

Oh, yes. You are absolutely going to finally see Sophie literally break down, because she is dealing with not only these realities about Batwoman but now she is also being questioned about, “Why did you do that back during military school?” And not only that, now her husband is like, “Hey, tell me the truth….” There are three different things going on in Sophie’s world, and she has to deal with them all in 42 minutes on Sunday.

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