A year ago, I didn’t watch a single show on The CW. I had written off the network, sure that the quality of shows could not match those on some of the bigger networks. After all, looking in from an outsiders perspective, it seemed like their only requirement for actors was that they be incredibly good looking, which, admittedly, most of them are. But when I finally gave the network a chance, starting with Arrow, then The Flash, then The 100 and finally, Jane the Virgin, I realized that The CW had a lot more to offer than simply beautiful people. The shows on this network are diverse, ranging from dark and dramatic to light and fun, even incorporating some telenovela dramedy. There is something for everyone on The CW, and if you give it a chance, you might even fall in love with more than one show.
While on the surface Arrow and The Flash seem like incredibly similar shows, they’re actually quite different from each other. Sure, they take place in the same universe, but watching each of the two shows is an entirely different experience. Arrow is much darker than The Flash, in most part due to its brooding hero, Oliver Queen. Spending five years on an island (and Hong Kong and who knows where else) changed Oliver. He came back damaged, wanting to bring justice to those who had wronged his city. Instead of facing off against metahumans, he’s going after people who are harming his city for their own personal gain. Even the lighting of the show is dark to match Oliver’s mood the majority of the time. Happy moments for our hero are few and far between, and the only person who really brings light to his life, Felicity, is someone who he doesn’t think he deserves.
Compared to Oliver Queen, Barry Allen is not only the fastest man on earth, but also seems like the happiest man on earth. He too has experienced hardship, seeing his mom murdered and watching his dad go to jail for a crime that he didn’t commit. However, Barry had Joe and Iris, who took him in and gave him a home. Living with them was probably better therapy than living with Slade Wilson on the island. Even though Barry and his team are also fighting off villains every week, they have a little more fun with it than Team Arrow does, even going so far as to give the metahumans funny nicknames. The action and stunts that are ever present in Arrow are also present in The Flash, but at the end of the day The Flash is lighter than Arrow. The series offers far more laughs and moments that are purely supposed to be fun (you would never catch Team Arrow singing karaoke), and in general, Barry is a lot more optimistic.
The differences between the superhero shows were most evident in their two crosssoveer episodes, one taking place in Central City and the other taking place in Starling City. Seeing Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle in Central City instead of their dark, gloomy lair presented a noticeable difference. It was fun to see Diggle cracking jokes, to see Felicity in a place where the light matched the one inside of her, and to see even Oliver smile a few times. Likewise, it was intriguing to see Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin in Starling City, where they realized that things aren’t always bright and happy. Starling City showed them a darker side to the world and in turn made them take what they were doing more seriously.
Taking a step away from the superhero world, The CW features other shows as well, with a variety of genres and tones. Quite possibly the most unique show on the network is Jane the Virgin. Immediately becoming a hit for the network, this show brings drama and comedy together in an overly dramatic way that only a telenovela could pull off, and it makes no effort to hide that fact, often referring to the absurdity of situations that the characters find themselves in and, at times, even framing shots as though they are in a telenovela. Add in the fact that Rogelio actually is a telenovela star, and it’s obvious that the show embraces its over-dramatic tone, but Jane also has likable, funny characters, and a lot of heart, making it unlike any other show on The CW.
Just like no show combines drama and comedy like Jane the Virgin, no show combines drama and suspense like The 100 (although a crossover between those shows would probably not be as successful as the Arrow/Flash crossover). Week after week, The 100 delivers brilliant episodes, building the suspense and delivering shocking surprises. I find myself legitimately having to stop and pause The 100 when watching in order to fully take in everything that’s happening.
Not only does The 100 deliver on the suspense and drama front, they’ve also managed to create characters that we all care about. The series is rife with moral dilemmas and tough decisions that need to be made in order to survive, leaving us questioning even those characters that we love the most. The villains in this show aren’t like the villains in any of the other shows mentioned here; they’re not comic book nemeses or over-the-top drug lords like Jane‘s Sin Rostro. Instead, they’re just people who are trying to do what they think is best for their group. There is no black and white with this show, only a lot of gray area, which is what makes it so compelling.
What makes The CW one of the best networks on television right now is that it has such a variety of programming, and all of it is fantastic. They are firing on all fronts: comedy, drama, suspense, and action. People are responding to this as more and more viewers tune in to the network each week, and the hype for its shows only grows. For a network that used to be known only for its ability to hire attractive actors, The CW deserve to be acknowledged for the variety of great shows its has on air right now.
[Photos via The CW]
