Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

[thecolorsblend]

Looks like I never responded to this. So...

I suppose it could be a composite assembled from different suits. The colour and texture of the bodysuit are closer to Cain's costume than Reeve's, as is the length of the cape. Cain was also the closest in height and build to Cavill, making his outfit the logical choice if they needed to recycle one.

For all I know, that could all be true.

I Googled it just now. Cavill is listed as 6'1". If Google is to be trusted, Cain is 6'.

I should say tho that I'm not sure I'm buying what Google is selling here. I've heard so many times that Cain is 5'10" that I don't even recall where it started. But I'm about 5'10" myself. And my memory of meeting Cain at a con is that we're about the same size. The photo he and I took together is... inconclusive as to which of us is taller. There's reason to question his posture as well as mine. But I can post it if anyone is desperate to see it.

Point is that I *THINK* Cain is closer to 5'10". And if that's true, then I'm at a loss to figure out how Cavill possibly could've worn a repurposed Cain suit for his screen test. I could be wrong. It's not like I know everything. But the few pics of Cavill wearing the screen test suit make it look a bit loose fitting on him. And there's just no way a Cain suit would be a loose fit on Cavill. I just can't see it.

As a side note, I met Welling, Schneider and The Baum from Smallville at that same con. In the pic I took with them, The Baum is clearly taller than I am and Google says he's 6' as well.

...

It's also possible that I'm way overthinking all this.

But since I'm here, I'm starting to wonder about Cavill's screen test. It rarely gets talked about and, afaik, zero footage of it has ever been released to the public. It makes me wonder if there's something going on with that which somebody wants kept under wraps. All we've ever gotten is a few pictures. Compare that to Bale, where we at least got a brief clip of him wearing Kilmer's old sonar suit.

[thecolorsblend]

h/t The Joker for posting this page from Wizard a while back.

The show's cancellation was confirmed here. And there's some interesting misinformation here. This misinformation has become very widespread. In fact, I even wonder if this is where the misinformation was born, frankly.



In short, the article claims that the wedding essentially killed the show. But like so many things, that's a drastic oversimplification.

In season 03, viewers widely expected the season to wrap up with Lois and Clark getting married. The Clone Saga From Hell (that's what the fans called it) seemed to be teeing up a proper wedding after the episode "I Now Pronounce You..." kicked off the saga in the first place.

Obviously, things went a different way.

And THAT is when ratings cratered for the show, never to recover. It wasn't the wedding that harmed the show. It was NOT having a wedding that did it.

But even there, the situation could've been salvaged. Lois & Clark had already proven that it was a survivor.

What ultimately tanked the show was Michael Eisner. Disney took the unprecedented (at the time) step of buying their very own network. Eisner made no secret of his desire to resurrect The Wonderful World Of Disney. Notoriously, the show aired at 8pm EST on Sunday nights on ABC.

Government name: Lois & Clark's original timeslot

After the merger, L&C was demoted to Saturday nights with pretty much zero fanfare or promotion from ABC. That timeslot was the kiss of death for a show like L&C.

But even Eisner's assassination attempt might not have been fatal. TNT had expressed interest in picking up the show. ABC might not have wanted it but there was hope. Very little is known about TNT's vision for the show. But one rumor has consistently been that TNT wanted a return to a more season 01 type of tone of a romantic comedy with a bit of sexiness. They believed this could've been a good addition to their Wednesday or Thursday night lineup of the time.

However, Cain and Hatcher themselves put paid to that idea. Cain wanted to do other things (particularly those that didn't require him to spend 16 hours per day on set) and Hatcher was pregnant. So, TNT settled for rerunning the show while production was put to bed once and for all.

There's good reason to question how much juice L&C really had in the tank after four seasons, two weddings and (apparently) a child on the way. But the show's lack of a proper series finale still stings to this day.

My point in all this is to say that it's an absurd oversimplification to blame the wedding in season 04 for L&C's decline when there were so many other forces ranging against the show.

All the same, thank you Joker for sharing those Wizard pages.

[Silver Nemesis]

I've always wondered if the production of Superman Lives influenced the decision to cancel Lois & Clark. Or was that not a factor?

[thecolorsblend]

I've always wondered if the production of Superman Lives influenced the decision to cancel Lois & Clark. Or was that not a factor?

I've never seen a source for the movie having anything to do with the show's cancellation.

But quite a few parties wanted to see the show end. So, it's possible that Tim Burton (or Jon Peters or any number of others) could be an unindicted coconspirator. The show was cancelled in 1997 and the original release date for the movie was supposed to be summer of 1997, iirc, so the timing is certainly convenient.

[Gotham Knight]

I've always wondered if the production of Superman Lives influenced the decision to cancel Lois & Clark. Or was that not a factor?

I've never seen a source for the movie having anything to do with the show's cancellation.

But quite a few parties wanted to see the show end. So, it's possible that Tim Burton (or Jon Peters or any number of others) could be an unindicted coconspirator. The show was cancelled in 1997 and the original release date for the movie was supposed to be summer of 1997, iirc, so the timing is certainly convenient.

I think it was mostly a ratings decision. Despite its strong showing in the first 3 seasons, the viewership tanked in the 4th season. It is believed that the marriage of Lois and Clark cooled things off, as the primary audience liked the romantic chase. After the two leads were wed, the ratings plummeted. The show finished in 104th place and despite already having a renewal that was 2 years old, they got pulled.

[thecolorsblend]

I think it was mostly a ratings decision. Despite its strong showing in the first 3 seasons, the viewership tanked in the 4th season. It is believed that the marriage of Lois and Clark cooled things off, as the primary audience liked the romantic chase. After the two leads were wed, the ratings plummeted. The show finished in 104th place and despite already having a renewal that was 2 years old, they got pulled.

Take a look at post #41 in this thread.

[Gotham Knight]

I think it was mostly a ratings decision. Despite its strong showing in the first 3 seasons, the viewership tanked in the 4th season. It is believed that the marriage of Lois and Clark cooled things off, as the primary audience liked the romantic chase. After the two leads were wed, the ratings plummeted. The show finished in 104th place and despite already having a renewal that was 2 years old, they got pulled.

Take a look at post #41 in this thread.

I don't think it is an absurd oversimplification. Lois and Clark's main draw/appeal to the masses was that it was a hip romance drama led by 2 charismatic twenty something actors whose characters are mired in will they/ wont they tension. Also it was show that declined in quality after the first season. Season 2-4 were bad.  I don't see a conspiracy.

[Silver Nemesis]

I'd like to outline a fan theory concerning the unnamed paperboy in Batman Returns, played by Sean Whalen.

This hapless youth braved the winter cold to sell issues of the Gotham Globe to snarky apathetic butlers. The last time we see him is right before the Red Triangle Gang emerge from the giant present. He started out on the bottom rung of the newspaper business and almost got killed because of it.

My theory is that this paperboy is none other than Skip Wallace from the Lois & Clark episode 'Super Mann', also played by Sean Whalen. I think Skip was so scarred by his experiences in Gotham that he quit working for the Gotham Globe and went to work for The Daily Planet in Metropolis. Perry took pity on Skip because of his past trauma, and because Skip's mother was friends with his wife Alice, and gave him a job in the newsroom.

What Perry didn't realise was that Skip blamed Max Shreck for the violence he'd witnessed in Gotham. Skip was a poor young man trying to earn an honest living, while Max was a rich tycoon orchestrating chaos from his ivory tower. Skip was smiling when he watched Max hand out presents to the crowd, but he felt betrayed when the extent of Shreck's corruption later came to light. Max's fondness for Yiddish slang did not go unnoticed by Skip, who transferred his newfound hatred of Shreck onto Jewish people in general. From that point on Skip distrusted rich people and Jews, so when the opportunity came to join an anti-Semitic socialist uprising he leapt at the chance.

And what was his first act as a member of the NSBA? To take control of The Daily Planet, effectively rising to the top of the newspaper business and avenging himself for all those unsold copies of the Gotham Globe he was forced to peddle in the dead of winter. I'll bet he had a list of enemies written down somewhere, and at the top of that list would've been the snarky English butler who mocked his profession when he was first starting out.

And all because of what he went through that one dark Christmas in Gotham.

[thecolorsblend]

Works for me. I'll buy it. Considering the party's street origins, it doesn't take much imagination to see why Skip (and others like him) would've been courted heavily for membership.