Super PC Girl

The new CBS series “Supergirl” is the story of Kara Danvers, Clark Kent’s cousin. She’s female, in case you didn’t notice. The producers hit you over the head with that fact throughout the show all the same.

A female superhero seems to be the sole reason “Supergirl,” which debuted Monday, exists. The world at large wasn’t waiting for the Superman story with gender reversal. It comes off as though the show’s producers deemed gender “important,” the message that women can be superheroes, too, a necessary one. Fully developed characters surrounded by fully developed characters … not so much.

First, the back story.

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When Kara was 12 she was spared from Krypton’s destruction and sent to Earth about two minutes after cousin Clark “to protect him.” Kara’s ship is enveloped in a space anomaly that holds her for a couple of decades, then releases her and sends her to Earth. Time stood still for her, so she’s now younger than her cousin, who has already become Superman.

Right off the bat this makes no sense. If Kryptonians could build two ships to save two kids, how could they not add a few seats? Were the people of Krypton sticklers for car seat regulations on spaceships?

Should the show’s ratings sag, expect plenty of “think pieces” about our sexist America culture.

Putting that aside, and you have to put a lot aside while watching the pilot, when they arrive on Earth Kara is now younger than her cousin thanks to that time hiccup. Superman, who is already Superman but for reasons only lawyers will understand can’t be called Superman on the series, drops the 12-year-old off with the Danvers to raise.

It’s a nod to the past here – Helen Slater, who played Supergirl in the 1984 movie dud, plays the mother. Dean Cain, who donned those signature blue tights in the 1990s TV series “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” is the girl’s father.

Now an adult (yes, they skip all of her upbringing), Kara works as the assistant to Cat Grant, a rich, one-dimensional caricature of a newspaper boss played by Ally McBeal, AKA Calista Flockhart. You can’t accuse Flockhart of bad acting because there’s nothing to act – just be mean, threaten to fire people and take credit for things your underlings do. Saying her performance was bad is like complaining about the taste of a pizza that never showed up.

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Supergirl is played by the likable Melissa Benoist and, as Jeb Bush correctly pointed out, she’s hot. She has some chops, there’s just not much to sink them in to here.

The only impressions left after watching the first episode are Supergirl is a woman … and Bush was right. While the first is clearly what producers were after, the second is what Hollywood and society often demand. If only Hollywood would have added a third element: a fully developed and interesting lead character.

The show only clicks, to the extent is does, because of Benoist’s charm. That the show hammers home her gender does her few favors. Still, PC drumbeat aside, you find yourself rooting for her even though you know she’s indestructible (which has always been the problem with Superman).

The show only works, to the extent is does, because of Benoist’s charm.

Feminism played a significant role in the creative process. The team behind the show told The Washington Post that it impacted many aspects of the series.

“We’re not really particularly interested in putting each other down and fighting each other,” said executive producer Sarah Schechter of the main female characters. “If they’re fighting, they’re fighting over philosophical or moral differences, not out of any sort of competition.”

“In the pilot we were determined to never cut away from her getting thrashed or beat up where we wouldn’t have cut away with a male character,” added co-executive producer Greg Berlanti.

Others in the pop culture arena are equally eager to see a feminist saga first and foremost. Liberal talker Stephen Colbert recently confessed on “The Late Show” that he teared up at the prospect of a “Supergirl” series.

Should the show’s ratings sag expect plenty of “think pieces” about our sexist America culture. It won’t be misogyny that killed “Supergirl.” No, the rush to put a female superhero on TV without regard to Storytelling 101 will be to blame.