This is pretty fun. Marc posted the original pitch/outline for Arrow. There were definitely some changes and from my perspective they were for the better.
With Emiko coming on & all the FF stuff, Arrow is getting way too bloated, taking time away from the core characters. Why do you think the EPs are so reluctant to get rid of NTA? Are they assuming a strong fan base or something? I agree that Curtis should be gone & would prefer to see less Dinah & Rene. Do you think SA is tired of shooting & wants more time off? Seems like a no brainer to have more OTA but sounds like that will take time. Bring Overwatch & GA back at least. Great blog! Tx.
I think... the show is the show Anon. The showrunners/writers pick a road and they go down it for better or for worse. They film several episodes ahead and can’t turn on a dime based on fan response.
Arrow is seldom if ever written based on fan response. It’s physically impossible. All the things we love about the show were decided on before fan input (Olicity, OTA). The same goes with the things we don’t like. I think there’s a general game plan before the season begins. I’m sure the previous season’s failures and successes are taken into account, but then they pick a direction for the season and away we go.
I feel confident the writers know the NTA civil war storyline was poorly received. Hence the reason they are pretending like it never happened. I feel like this is their typical reaction when a storyline doesn’t work. They don’t really go about “fixing” it. They just act like it never happened. Oliver & LL’s romantic relationship is a great example. If it doesn’t work then the writers don’t waste anymore time on it. Those storylines end up on some mystical island where all the Suicide Squad characters, Sin and Walter live.
We’re always screaming for more OTA. Every. Single. Season. It’s like clockwork. But we get what we get. Arrow is going to give us as much OTA as they see fit. If screaming online for more OTA worked then well... we’d actually get the amount of OTA we want. But we don’t. It is what it is.
I don’t know the reasoning entirely behind it. On one hand, I’ve always thought the reason we are always begging for more OTA is because it is parceled out bit by bit. Everything on television gets old eventually, so if all we ever had for the last seven years was OTA all the time then I think it’s highly likely the audience would grow fatigued. OTA & Olicity are Arrow’s bread & butter, so if the audience grows tired of it then they’re up a creek because that’s the show.
I’m not talking about the deeply obsessed. It’s hard to imagine ever growing tired of Olicity or OTA, but we’re in a class by ourselves. ;)
Arrow always focuses on OTA and Olicity during the sweeps episodes (premiere, mid season, mid season premiere, final three eps and finale). It’s not a hard an fast rule, but I think generally they do. So, that always tells you how important they believe Diggle, Felicity and Oliver are. But then they intersperse it with other storylines and characters. A 23 episode season is a lot to fill.
It’s highly unlikely they would gut half their cast. Arrow has evolved to include more characters and we’ll never go back to the days of OTA only. To be fair, it was only OTA for a very very short period of time. This show is always adding and subtracting characters. They’ve never focused ONLY on the core characters.
Even in Season 1 and the highly loved glory days of Season 2 there was a shit ton of other stuff going on. If memory serves, Diggle & Felicity didn’t really score all that much screen time quite frankly. It was a lot about the Lance family, Thea, Moira, Roy, flashbacks, etc.
There’s always a lot of characters on Arrow and a lot of storylines cooking. I don’t feel the show has changed all that much in that regard. Nobody likes it when I say this, but I’ve been saying it for years and I’m gonna keep on saying it because it’s what I think. lol
I also think it can be tough as a viewer to gauge fan response. I may not like Curtis and the newbies but that doesn’t represent the Arrow audience as a whole. The majority of online fandom may feel one way but that doesn’t equate to the entire Arrow audience either.
I’m sure there are internal numbers we are not privy to. In fact I know there are because that’s how film/tv works. It’s entirely possible the NTA actors’ Q scores are high or some other data I don’t even know the name of is favorable. Something is working for someone somewhere.
But I don’t think our opinions have gone completely unheard. Felicity was driving the A storyline. Her focus increased a ton. They managed to keep a spotlight on Olicity even when they were physically separated. A feat I never imagined would happen. They have pulled back on both Curtis and Rene A LOT this season. Particularly Curtis. Rene’s main storyline was helping Felicity. More time with Felicity always equates to character rehab (I’m side eyeing Bl*ck S*r*en right now). But the pull back on Curtis and the rehab on BS & Rene has worked for me at least.
I agree there’s been a lot of Dinah. But that’s because they’ve introduced the flash forwards and she’s pulling double duty in present & future. She has the boring exposition job of filling all the other characters in on what happened in the FF. Dinah also has to sell this “Felicity is evil and dead” storyline, which just makes her sound judgey and mean. Maybe the writers chose her because she seemed like the newbie character fans liked the most or hated the least, based on your perspective.
They are holding off on the flash forward reveals with the core characters because they are the core characters. They writers understand all we want to know is where the hell Diggle, Felicity and Oliver are. Thus, they are dragging it out. Dramatic television is seldom if ever about making fans happy. Most of the time it’s just about torturing us.
It doesn’t automatically equate to good television. I think the flash forwards are too dark and we need to be given some hope asap. The big FF tease so we tune into 7x10 was, “Find out where Rene is!” Uhhh that is not going to make me run to my television, guys. Pass. I don’t care. I won’t care until it’s Diggle, Felicity and Oliver. On some basic level I think the writers understand that.
They will eventually bring back Overwatch and Green Arrow. The band will get back together because it’s a crime fighting television show about superheroes. Just because Oliver is working for Dinah in SCPD for a couple of episodes doesn’t mean they are chucking the entire concept of the show. But it’s mid season slump time and we gotta sludge our way through 7x11-7x16. If we’re lucky we’ll get some bright spots and solid drama. If we’re unlucky well... it wouldn’t be the first season we just don’t talk about 11-16.
Honestly, OTA concerns me less than Diggle. That’s the character I would like some focus on. An individual storyline where his character makes a damn bit of sense would be fantastic. Once Diggle figures out his shit then we can send him on home to Oliver and Felicity’s loving arms.
I agree the cast is pretty bloated, but the nice thing about bloated casts is it gives the writers plenty of characters to kill without touching our faves. What can I say? I’m a glass half full kind of girl. ;)
