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Two-Night Arrowverse Crossover Announced

The CW has announced that the 2017-2018 television season’s Arrowverse crossover event will take place over two nights at the Television Critics Association summer press tour.

The crossover event beings Monday, November 27 on Supergirl, followed by a special Monday episode of Arrow. The crossover continues Tuesday, November 28 on The Flash, then concludes on that night’s DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

CW boss Mark Pedowitz said that with The Flash and Legends already paired up on Tuesdays — and after discussions with producers and the marketing department — “We felt that it would be better and tighter in storytelling…. This was the best way to go.”

“Next year we may go back to four nights,” he allowed.

Pedowitz also made clear that unlike last year’s event, which technically started but barely took place on Supergirl, “It’s a full, four-episode crossover.” As for how one tops an alien invasion as a premise for the all-star team-up, all he would say is, “Romance is in the air.”

The Arrowverse’s very first crossover took place in December 2014 and started on The Flash and concluded on Arrow. In December 2015, Legends of Tomorrow villain Vandal Savage targeted Central City barista Kendra Saunders, triggering the involvement of Flash and Arrow heroes. Last year’s four-show, three-night event included Supergirl, as the many Superfriends battled the alien race known as The Dominators.

Daytime Divas Post-Mortem: What Would Season 2 Look Like?

VH1’s Daytime Divas ended its first season with a bang, a mic drop and a pair of handcuffs.

TVLine interviewed showrunners Mike Chessler and Chris Alberghini about the biggest twists in the season finale, as well as where the series would go in a potential Season Two.

Here are a few interesting excerpts from the interview:

You left us on a hell of a cliffhanger, considering a second season isn’t confirmed.

CHESSLER | Yes, we wanted to end on a big cliffhanger! It’s a fun, soapy show, and we’re obviously hoping there will be another season. Otherwise, we’re stuck on the cliff!

Have you heard anything?

ALBERGHINI | It’s still being discussed. There are big fans of the show, so we’ll just hope for the best.

How do you think Maxine would fare in prison?

ALBERGHINI | Well, Maxine’s a very dominant and controlling presence. She’s also very resourceful, and I think it’d be interesting to see a woman like that in prison, where her resources and access and influences are limited — at least initially. It’d be fun to see what she could make out of that situation. Not that we’re basing her on this, but I’d love to see how Martha Stewart’s first few days were.

As for Shawn, I’m no lawyer, but if he ends up coming clean about the murder, won’t they both end up behind bars?

CHESSLER | Maxine is a master manipulator. She’s very well-connected, and she’s always finding ways to get the end result she wants. I think there’s definitely some legal peril for both of them, but I also think Maxine is probably one step ahead of everything.

ALBERGHINI | We’re all very interested in Shawn and Maxine’s relationship. I’m interested in showing the complexity of it. What other secrets do they have? What else has one covered up for the other? Mother-son relationships can be just as complicated as mother-daughter relationships, so we’d like to explore that more.

Are Maxine and Mo actually “good” now?

ALBERGHINI | I would say they’ve reached a “friendly” détente. Each has gained a little more respect for the other. Each has been humbled by the other. And I think they feed off of each other. They improve their own game based on the other’s actions.

Last question, and this one’s really bugging me: Is anyone going to find out that Ramona’s been stealing from the set?

ALBERGHINI | No, we’re saving that for Season 2. [Laughs]

That’s a wrap for Season 1. And as always… lunch is on us.

Ricky Whittle Talks American Gods Season 2 at SDCC

American Gods star Ricky Whittle dropped some interesting spoiler morsels during an interview with TVLine at San Diego Comic-Con a couple of weeks ago.

Is a feline going to be smitten with Shadow Moon? Did Shadow Moon and Bilquis almost meet in Season 1? What about Laura’s great love and physical decaying? What other new characters will we be getting to know in Season Two?

Watch the following video for all the answers to those questions:

Midnight, Texas: “Lemuel, Unchained” Sneak Peeks

Angels, vampires, psychics, witches, assassins, racist biker gangs, ghost grandmas and a talking cat! Welcome back to Midnight, Texas.

The cast of NBC’s sexy supernatural summer series attended San Diego Comic-Con a couple of weeks ago. TVLine sat down with the cast and chatted with the cast about what’s to come.

Here are two sneak peeks from episode three titled “Lemuel, Unchained”:

Midnight, Texas airs Mondays at 10pm/9c on NBC.

Supergirl Scoop: #Karamel & #Sanvers

The president of The CW defended Supergirl Season 2’s introduction and heavy involvement of love interest Mon-El on Wednesday at the Television Critics Association summer press tour.

After network chief Mark Pedowitz alluded to MIA Mon-El’s return at some point in Season 3, the TCA member who had asked him the question at hand opined, “Nobody wants that.” To which the network boss promptly replied with a smile, “I think people would disagree with you on that.”

Pedowitz went on to tell TVLine that he keeps an eye on all of his shows and “I understand there is some backlash to [Mon-El]. I am a big fan of Chris Wood and Melissa [Benoist], and they get along great. And you know what, it’s the right way to tell a story.”

But what about Sanvers? Especially since Floriana Lima dropped to recurring status after being a series regular.

At the Television Critics Association summer press tour showrunner Greg Berlanti was asked by TVLine if Lima’s new contract status would be perceptible to viewers. He answered with, “I don’t think so. Any character people love is not there as much as people want them there. [But] from my perspective, we will use her as much as we can. She’s wonderful on the show, and she’s got some real ardent fans, as she should…. We wanted more of her, but she’s got other things in the hopper, other things she wants to consider. We’d love to have her back as much as possible.”

Supergirl returns Monday, October 9 at 8/7c on The CW.

Black Lightning‘s Location Confirmed

While The CW’s latest superhero series Black Lightning might not be set in the Arrowverse (yet), we do have confirmation on the actual city location of the new series.

Black Lightning will be set in Freeland, a fictional city. The television series is filming in Atlanta.

Developed by executive producers Salim and Mara Brock Akil, alongside Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter, Black Lightning will showcase battles that are even more grounded in social justice than when Jefferson Pierce debuted as one of DC’s first African-American heroes in 1977.

Topics tackled by the series will include Black Lives Matter, race relations and police brutality. “This is an American story, this is not a black story… We’re going to be culturally specific, but universal in our themes so everyone can see themselves in these stories,” said Salim Akil in an EW interview.

In the interview they also discussed if crossovers with other CW DC series could occur.

One of the things that Black Lightning will do, and Jefferson will do, is be able to introduce the humanity of the people who are caught in these communities. So I didn’t want to distract from that, and I didn’t want to distract from us getting to know Jefferson, Jennifer, and Anissa, or Black Lightning, Thunder, and Lightning. I wanted people to get to know them first.

Now, you know, everything is possible. But hopefully this season everybody will just get to know them and get to respect them and accept them for who they are before we start making other moves.

But will there be crossover potential?

Yeah, I’m not opposed to it at all.

Black Lightning premieres in 2018.

Once Upon A Time Showrunners Explain New Curse

The times they are a-changin’ on ABC’s Once Upon A Time. The series will feature a massive time jump and a brand new location for its upcoming seventh season. But not only will our favorite characters survive the time jump and new location… they will also have to deal with a brand new curse which will be much harder to break free from.

The new curse is set by the series’ new villain Lady Tremaine (played by Gabrielle Anwar). “As often is the case on Once Upon A Time, there’s more than meets the eye to what we know about the character. Lady Tremaine doesn’t like Cinderella very much and she’s got an agenda. But there is something broiling beneath that’s personal and painful that is driving all of this,” says executive producer Adam Horowitz to EW.

“She’s somebody who wants to get to the top and will use any means necessary. So why it’s important for her to be royal, why it’s important for her to crush everyone else, is the story of the year. In true Once Upon A Time fashion, evil isn’t born, it’s made, and we’ll see that with her as well,” added executive producer Edward Kitsis.

As expected, the new curse has created a Storybrooke-esque town called Hyperion Heights in Seattle, Washington (aka the Land Without Magic). But don’t consider this town Storybrooke 2.0. Lady Tremaine has thrown in a twist. “We’re going to see in Hyperion Heights that the role Lady Tremaine has taken is very similar in terms of getting to the top, in terms of being a developer, who is this character who is trying to push out the fairy tale characters who are living in Hyperion Heights, gentrifying the neighborhood and bringing other people in,” says executive producer David H. Goodman.

Horowitz: “We’re in a city now. Hyperion Heights is part of Seattle the way Brooklyn is part of New York. It’s more densely populated and it’s filled with fairy tale characters and non-fairy tale characters and that’s another interaction and vibe that we didn’t really have in Storybrooke, where it was all the cursed people.”

And the Tremaine twist is: “Lady Tremaine learned the lesson that Regina didn’t, which is don’t keep them all together where one day they can find themselves, push them the hell out! You push them the hell out and you gentrify the neighborhood and you bring in a cold press juicer and they can’t afford it anymore, then you won’t worry about the Pied Piper finding, you know, Alice,” added Kitsis.

[WPGP gif_id=”6321″ width=”600″]

Goodman: “[Lady Tremaine] is sort of Regina-prime and she’s trying to figure out a way to scatter these fairy tale characters to the wind so they can’t be together, because as we’ve always seen, when these characters get together, they always figure out how to beat the bad guy. Not giving anything away what the curse is, but she’s learning and standing on the backs of these other curses that have come before her to be as effective a villain as possible.”

But wait… Lady Tremaine has the power. Lady Tremaine is separating the fairy tale characters. So is it official that she cast the new curse?

Kitsis: “We said very clearly in the pilot of Once Upon A Time that Regina cast the curse. What you’ll see this season is we don’t necessarily say that in the premiere.”

So, who cast the new curse?

Once Upon A Time returns Friday, October 6 at 8pm/7c on ABC.

H/T: EW

Marvel’s Runaways: Everything You Need to Know About Hulu’s First Marvel Series

Hulu officially entered the comic-book arena when it handed out a formal series order to Marvel’s Runaways, from executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage.

Based on the comics by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, the live-action Runways tells the coming-of-age story of a disparate group of teenagers who “must unite against a common foe — their parents.” For those unfamiliar with the source material, the parents in question are revealed to be part of a crime organization known as “The Pride,” which hosts an annual “charity” gathering that serves as a meeting place for nefarious time-travelers, wizards, mad scientists, aliens and mutants.

Here’s the official show synopsis:

Every teenager thinks their parents are evil. What if you found out they actually were? Marvel’s Runaways is the story of six diverse teenagers who can barely stand each other but who must unite against a common foe – their parents.

The actors cast as the Runaways include:

Gregg Sulkin as lacrosse star Chase Stein, a brilliant engineer trapped in the body of a dumb (hot) jock;

Rhenzy Feliz as “loud-and-proud nerd” Alex Wilder, who longs to “reunite his childhood group of friends”;

Lyrica Okano as angsty Wiccan Nico Minoru, whose goth style masks an inner loneliness;

Virginia Gardner as Karolina Dean, whose “veneer of privilege and perfection” is challenged by her “newfound eagerness to explore her identity and pursue her own desires”;

Ariela Barer as Gert Yorkes, a “purple-haired, bespectacled, contemporary riot grrrl”;

and Allegra Acosta as Molly Hernandez, “the youngest and most innocent member of her friend group.”

The actors cast as “The Pride” include:

— James Marsters and Ever Carradine: Victor and Janet Stein, parents to Chase. He’s an engineering genius who has lofty expectations for his son — and when they aren’t met, retribution can be fierce; she’s a perfect PTA mom harboring a brilliant mind of her own, and who longs for more from her life.

— Annie Wersching and Kip Pardue: Leslie and Frank Dean, parents to Carolina. She’s a poised and skilled leader whose charisma draws in devoted allies and followers. He’s a former teen star who rode a short-lived movie career and is now teeming with insecurity.

— Kevin Weisman and Brigid Brannagh: Dale and Stacey Yorkes, parents to Gert. He’s a bioengineer whose deep love for his family oftentimes falls short as far as knowing the right things to say to his daughter. Stacey, too, is a bioengineer, and utilizes a more progressive approach to her parenting style.

— Ryan Sands and Angel Parker: Geoffrey and Catherine Wilder, parents to Alex. He’s a hulking presence who can effortlessly shift from approachable father to intimidating strategist; she’s a successful lawyer, deliberate and calculating in both her words and actions.

— Brittany Ishibashi and James Yaegashi: Tina and Robert Minoru, parents to Nico. She’s a perfectionist “tiger mom,” as well as a brilliant innovator and ruthless CEO; he is a gentle and brilliant beta, “the Woz to his wife’s Jobs.”

Here’s a sneak peek trailer:

Hulu has set November 21, 2017 as the premiere date for the 10-episode first season of Marvel’s Runaways.