If you can’t make a Batman TV series for various legal reasons, I suppose the next best bet would be Green Arrow. They’re both about a rich, young playboys who operates as a dark vigilante at night. Only this option features a bow and arrow.

Dark and brooding is now the standard for any DC superhero

There has been a lot of news about this show for a few months now, but I don’t like posting rumors and possibilities. That happens all the time. But now we know for a fact that The CW network has picked up the pilot and has ordered a first season of the hour-long drama. No news on the number of episodes or when it will debut…this fall, most likely.

So that’s pretty cool. As successful as superhero movies have been, we haven’t had many superhero TV shows. Smallville made it through 10 seasons, which is probably more than most people expected. It’s clear that people are very much into superheroes. But will we get a good-quality Green Arrow show, like Smallville? Or will it crash and burn like The Cape?

Here’s the premise description of the show:

After a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen was missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the Pacific. When he returns home to Starling City, his devoted mother Moira, much-beloved sister Thea, and best friend Tommy welcome him home, but they sense Oliver has been changed by his ordeal on the island. While Oliver hides the truth about the man he’s become, he desperately wants to make amends for the actions he took as the boy he was. Most particularly, he seeks reconciliation with his former girlfriend, Laurel Lance. As Oliver reconnects with those closest to him, he secretly creates the persona of Arrow – a vigilante – to right the wrongs of his family, fight the ills of society, and restore Starling City to its former glory. By day, Oliver plays the role of a wealthy, carefree and careless philanderer he used to be – flanked by his devoted chauffeur/bodyguard, John Diggle – while carefully concealing the secret identity he turns to under cover of darkness. However, Laurel’s father, Detective Quentin Lance, is determined to arrest the vigilante operating in his city. Meanwhile, Oliver’s own mother, Moira, knows much more about the deadly shipwreck than she has let on – and is more ruthless than he could ever imagine.

That actually seems to stick relatively close to the story of Oliver Queen becoming Green Arrow, so maybe we have a chance at something solid. Changing the name to just ‘Arrow’ instead of ‘Green Arrow’ is dumb, but I can see why a studio would make such a change. I plan on writing a longer blog post someday about this, but I’m usually OK with cosmetic and aesthetic changes to superheroes if it helps them fit better into mainstream TV or movies. Though I also think studio heads and focus groups are morons who just don’t understand anything.

Obviously staying true to the characters didn’t hurt The Avengers from grossing $207 million dollars in their opening weekend, or $100 million their second weekend.

So I shall remain hopeful. Green Arrow was a popular character on Smallville, and he could easily be translated to the small screen. The bow and arrows will be easy to handle effects-wise, and his costume can easily be translated into something modern and realistic. I think that preview picture looks pretty damn cool. Plus his villains are all street-level guys, like him, who also don’t need any CGI or insane special effects.

The potential is there for a great show. It can be grounded, it can be serious and it can be dramatic. Let’s hope thy can pull it off.

Also between Hawkeye in The Avengers and this new Arrow show, this is definitely the year of the archer.