My excitement for Superman & Lois‘ season four renewal was short-lived when I found out more than half the cast is being cut. It didn’t upset me too much about the fourth season being only 10 episodes. This season is only 13. And with so much TV out there, sometimes shortened seasons are welcome — if they do it right. You can’t do any filler episodes in a short season (I’m thinking about The Flash‘s final season here). But it’s still enough time to have an entire arc. Just look at streaming shows. Or even look across the pond to England. All its shows are short seasons (or series, as they call it).
The problem for me is taking out so many characters changes the show. Lana Lane Cushing (Emmanuelle Chriqui) is such a big part of the show. She’s also one of my favorite characters. And she’s one of Clark Kent’s (Tyler Hoechlin) few friends. So basically, the Kent family will have no friends in the new season. It’s already odd that they have so few friends, but of course, that’s because more actors cost more money.
Superman & Lois have created so many stories with these characters. I love Lana being the mayor. Sam Lane (Dylan Walsh) plays an important role at the DOD. The series may be getting rid of all of that for next season. I like the new storyline with Jonathan Kent (Michael Bishop) working at the firehouse with Kyle Cushing (Erik Valdez). There’s still a chance that these actors will have recurring roles on the show, but it just won’t be the same.
We’ve already been told season three will end in a cliffhanger. So it is a relief that it’s been picked up for another season. But the show has to wrap up these characters’ storylines. They can’t just be off-screen, especially if they are part of that cliffhanger. These characters can’t be written off without any explanation. This needs to be decided before an end of a season.
But studios are more interested in profit than they are in art. There’s proof of this with the writers’ strike. There is no show without writers, but they would happily use AI to get rid of them. Executives get paid so much. More money than they even need. Why not spend that on the writers?
It’s a shame that Superman & Lois won’t get its due in its fourth season. The reduced episode count isn’t as big of a deal to me as having all the characters that make the show what it is.
It’s seriously an end of an era at The CW. All these shows that we fell in love with. Some were on when it was The WB. Gilmore Girls, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and the list goes on. There just won’t be this kind of content on The CW once the current four shows end. All American, All American: Homecoming, Superman & Lois and Walker are the last of these shows. Let’s treasure these shows while we have them. It’s not likely Nexstar will keep them around long.
