Do the writers of Arrow intentionally write melodrama?

Okay. Episode 7.12 Emerald Archer may have been the best episode of the series. They need to take more creative liberties like that. Messing with the standard format and adding levity heightened every strength of the show.

Now that this topic has popped up to be noticed by me, I will respond to @WildDog post, way late. By now, he probably already knows, Flash gets worse before it gets better. For me, anyway, the show tends to go downhill, and then rise back up again, like a roller coaster ride. There are times I give the show, and a whole, 4 stars, and other times, I am so disgusted that I take three of those stars away, only to give them back again the next season.

MACJR

As for Arrow, I have nothing more to add than what has already been said, and what I have said elsewhere on these forum pages. It too has been a roller coaster ride, but more like a midnight run, rather than a daytime ride.

As for the drama and melodrama, well, it can get too soap opera at times, but unfortunately, so can I. :wink:

MACJR

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@macjr and so can we all. :laughing:

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All TV networks cater most of their programming to appeal to a particular target audience. The CW’s target audience is women ages 18-34 which is why many of their scripted shows feature soap opera elements, a cast that usually falls in that same age range (the exception being parental/mentor characters), and strong female characters.

@Beagle That’s all very true, but it doesn’t really explain the differential in the use of melodrama between the different CW shows. Arrow includes a significantly higher melodrama quotient.

Additionally, Arrow’s share of live same day stats skews towards male age 15-34. Which further complicates the question. Are you claiming that more melodrama is injected into the show to attract more female viewers, because the show’s audience is primarily male and the CW would prefer it be female viewers?

I didn’t know that about Arrow’s stats but now that you mentioned it, it’s possible that suggestions by network executives could be one of the reasons behind the writers adding extra melodrama on Arrow. It wouldn’t be the first time network execs made decisions about a show because it wasn’t bringing in the network’s intended target audience. One of the examples that comes to mind is how Paul Dini said Cartoon Network cancelled shows that weren’t attracting the young demographic that buys toys.

Another possibility is that the melodrama is merely the way the writers try to humanize Oliver. He was pretty brutal back in season 1, and maybe the soap opera drama was just an attempt to make him more relatable and eventually it just became the overall tone for how they wrote the show.

Or perhaps the answer is simply that the writers are responding to the feedback from some of more vocal fans who want the soap opera styled relationships and stories. Oliver and Felicity weren’t a thing until groups of fans flooded social media with Olicity ships.

Until the show writers decide to comment about it, I guess we’ll never really have an answer for why Arrow is so much like a soap opera.

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Oh man, Star City 2040 is the corniest thing ever. I really hope this isn’t a backdoor pilot. If it is, they better cut down the posturing, or I don’t know that I will be able to handle it. I’m all full on this cheese.

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Heard rumors that those flash-forwards may indeed be a backdoor pilot. I am not at all enthusiastic about a show based on the 2040 Star City.

MACJR

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@BatmanOfZur-En-Arrh uh where have you been, pal

@DCComicsCrisis I’ve been around. You miss me?

:joy::joy: “Days of Our Lives for super-hero television” nice lol.

I do agree though, with what everyone is saying. Arrow used to be my favorite to watch. Flash is always a bit cringey. I gave up on Legends of Tomorrow. I just couldn’t take it anymore. They had me in the first two seasons, and then I just said deuces :v:. Went back to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and never looked back…

The only clever thing about Flash this season is Noras story arc with the Reverse Flash. But I hate how early they drop the bomb on this!! Let the viewer have NO CLUE please… Let US KEEP GUESSING. So now that the “cats out of the bag” with Nora and Eowbard, all we have to be :scream: about is Barry’s melodramatic reaction.

I miss the ambiguity in these shows.