CBS Gives Series Commitment to Greg Berlanti and Ali Adler’s ‘Supergirl’

CBS has donned its cape and is ready to conquer the superhero market, giving a series commitment to scribes Greg Berlanti and Ali Adler’s “Supergirl.”

“Supergirl,” which is based on characters from DC Comics, comes from Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television and is exec produced by Berlanti, Adler and Sarah Schechter. It’s based on the story of Kara Zor-El, who, like her famous cousin, escaped Krypton amid its destruction. She’s been keeping her powers a secret since arriving on Earth, but now — at age 24 — she decides to embrace her superhuman abilities and be the hero she was always meant to be.

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The project gained much fanfare when news broke of its development earlier this month. Berlanti, who has seen success with the superhero genre with his CW show “Arrow” and, presumably also with its upcoming spinoff “The Flash,” has stated that he understands there’s a dearth of female-led shows of this genre, telling Variety “we’re well past due for those kind of characters in film and TV.”

With this purchase, CBS has ensured that all the broadcast channels are either airing or developing a show based on comicbook characters. Aside from Berlanti’s CW properties, ABC has “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” and its upcoming female-led spinoff “Agent Carter.” Fox and NBC are unspooling “Gotham” and “Constantine” this season, respectively — both of which are based on DC characters. This winter, the CW will also unveil “iZombie,” a procedural based on a title from DC’s Vertigo imprint. Fox also recently gave a put pilot commitment to “Lucifer,” which also sources material from Vertigo.

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Cable and digital markets are also getting into the act, with TNT offering a pilot production order for “Titans,” which is based on younger characters in DC’s universe, and Netflix partnering with Marvel on a hefty package that includes four shows based on different characters from that universe and a crossover miniseries. Still, the most successful current show of the genre is AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” which is based on an Image Comics series and continues to break ratings records for the channel.

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