FTC Notice Of Compliance: "Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own."
Besides DC's Legends Of Tomorrow, Warner Brothers through it's broadcasting partner for The CW, CBS, released the series premiere of Supergirl. Now for those of you who may not remember, during the late 1990s, Warner Brothers had it's own free over the air prime time television network called The WB. Viacom, which controls CBS and at least the television library of Paramount Television, which is why you will see CBS on Paramount Home Entertainment television titles like Star Trek even though Star Trek never was a first run television series on CBS, had it's own free over the air prime time television network called UPN. With certain shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer migrating from The WB to UPN in it's laters seasons, it is no surprise in hindsight that both Warner Brothers and Viacom would see the advantages of joining forces and so both UPN and The WB merged to form The CW. In New York City, where UPN had aired on WORTV 9, a syndicated network called My Network TV, which I believe is affiliated with FOX, began broadcasting in UPN's place. Meanwhile The CW has prospered since finding it's core audience in teenagers to twentysomethings. It has also become the home of the bulk of the DCEU television series with the exception of Gotham, which airs on FOX. The second season of Supergirl will be premiering on The CW, but the first season aired on CBS. CBS has become the home of many popular American sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory and with that program helping to bring "geek culture" mainstream, I suppose the powers that be thought that Supergirl would attract a wide audience, but CBS has also been known for it's impeccable news magazines like 60 Minutes and it's more adult themed dramas for years if not decades. Networks evolve. In the 1980s, NBC was widely considered the home of comedy and cutting edge dramas and prime time soap operas. ABC was not far behind it with dramedies, prime time soap operas and sitcoms too. The big three network paradigm would not get shaken up until the debut of the FOX network in the late 1980s.
My point in mentioning this all is because television has evolved and continues to evolve ever faster and in a world with so many programming choices. Thus it is no small accomplishment for even a brand name like Supergirl and DC Comics to last more than one season and get picked up by a sister network. Constantine ended in only a half season and that show should have been retooled and picked up because it was just beginning to distinguish itself and find it's voice among the plethora of similar supernaturally themed shows that aired on and still air on free over the air network television in the States today. Supergirl gives an origin story establishing Kara Danvers AKA Kara Zor-El, who works in National City where she has a demanding boss played by Calista Flockhart and dons her Kryptonian heritage by becoming Supergirl. Over the course of the first season, Supergirl/Kara meets associates of her cousin Clark and those he has known, which include James Olsen, Lucy Lane, Martian Manhunter, and even has an interdimensiinal crossover with The Flash. She also takes on various villains that include Reactron, Livewire, Non, Toyman, Bizarro Supergirl, Master Jailer, Indigo and Silver Banshee. Former Superman Actors from the 1990s and 2000s respectively, Dean Cain and Tom Welling also appear on the show.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment presents all twenty episodes of season one of Supergirl in a beautifully bright and robust 1080p full HD (1.78:1) aspect ratio and a full English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround Soundtrack across three Blu-ray Discs packaged in a single size Blue BD Case within a glossy cardboard slip. English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded as options on all three discs. Bonus materials include unaired scenes for three episodes on disc two and unaired scenes for four episodes on disc three. The bulk of the extra value materials include the 2015 Comic Con panel, a featurette on the Martian Manhunter, an exploration of the planet Krypton and a gag reel. An insert containing episode information and disc contents and a limited time redeemable coupon code for an Ultraviolet Digital Copy are included within the Blue BD case too.
Supergirl: The Complete First Season is available now on Blu-ray Disc and DVD, but sold separately, at retailers on and offline courtesy of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. I will have another DCEU TV series BD set review up tomorrow so stay tuned.
(C) Copyright 2016 By Mark A. Rivera.
All Rights Reserved.
