'The Flash' sees an all time high in ratings thanks to 'Arrow' crossover; won't be featuring 'Supergirl' anytime soon, EP says

  • comments
  • print
  • email
Dec 04, 2015 05:30 AM EST

Television crossovers are like a gift to fans straight from the hearts of the writers and producers of the show. It's also great for ratings, as evidenced by the Wednesday episode of The CW's "Arrow," which garnered a high of 3.6 million viewers and a rating of 1.3 among adults aged 18 to 49, Entertainment Weekly reports. This new statistic is the show's biggest number since last year's crossover. On Tuesday, "The Flash" also saw a peak in ratings, reeling in 3.6 million viewers with a 1.6 rating. This is good news for The CW, which is preparing to introduce "Legends of Tomorrow," which debuts on Jan. 21.

While crossovers help promote shows, it's also a tricky feat for writers and producers, because characters from the same comic book brand, such as DC, may not necessarily share the same world and reality upon which a story is written. Andrew Kreisberg, showrunner of both "The Flash" and "Supergirl," recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter to shut down rumors about a crossover between the two shows he currently produces.

"There's always those late nights, delirious, semi-high on pizza where you're like, 'You know what would be really cool? If...,'" the writer and producer admitted. "But right now there is no legitimate actual plan to bring [The Flash's] Cisco [Carlos Valdes] onto Supergirl or to bring [Supergirl's] Winn [Jeremy Jordan] onto Legends [of Tomorrow]."

"First of all, we don’t even know if we could, legally," Kreisberg admitted. "And quite frankly, just making the Arrow-verse which is what we call Legends, Flash and Arrow work and then making Supergirl work, it's enough of a challenge without having to add a fourth player."

But just because there won't be any television crossovers between "Supergirl", which airs on CBS, and "The Flash", which airs on CBS' sibling network, The CW, anytime soon, CBS chief Nina Tassler told THR in August that they were open to crossovers in terms of marketing.

"I’m a little bit of a superhero geek and I have a lot of respect for what characters inhabit certain universes," Tassler admitted. "You can’t just pick up one character and let them fly over and appear in another setting. You really have to be respectful and mindful of what each universe says you can and can’t do."

Meanwhile, fans saw what seemed to be the last of Vandal Savage in this week's "Arrow," but after seeing Malcolm Merlyn gather his ashes and call him "buddy", will there be a resurrection for Savage? Executive producer Greg Berlanti told EW, "As of right now, it’s saved for Legends. Once Legends is born in January, there’s really no intersection on the other shows. Legends is its own wacky, crazy kind of thing that allows for some fun surprises in terms of who may visit and how because they’re flying through the timeline. But not on Arrow or Flash."

"Arrow" airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET, while "The Flash" airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. "Supergirl" airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBS, and "DC’s Legends of Tomorrow" will debut on The CW on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016.

Join the Conversation
Real Time Analytics