A sorta-super, teens-in-trouble era ends on CW

A TV era will end Wednesday (Aug. 23).
Not a great one — eras don’t have to be perfect – but one that often felt fresh and interesting: The CW network fed us a steady stream of heroes, super and semi-super.
There was Superman and Batman, Supergirl and Star Girl and Bat Woman. There was Flash and Black Lightning and Arrow and the “Legends of Tomorrow” crew. There was one show about zombies, one about witches, several about vampires, two about demon-hunters.
And there were ones about almost-ordinary teens in extraordinary situations. “Nancy Drew” (shown here) and “Riverdale” have their finales at 8 and 0 p.m. Wednesday.
The shows continued, even when ratings were low, because of corporate synergy: Warner Brothers owned DC Comics and co-owned the network. It could do adequate business in the U.S., then make a profit because superhero shows sell well overseas.
Then Discovery bought Warner, found itself in debt and began shedding the pieces. The CW ended up with new owners who are opting for cheaper shows. With a few exceptions, the CW super era ends with Wednesday’s shws.
Yes, the CW has also had plenty of shows with no links to comic books. A few of the network’s shows were brilliant, especially “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and “Jane the Virgin.” A few were truly awful, especially “Tom Swift” and the reality show “H8R.”
But most of these shows settled into a middle ground. They had talented young actors, strong production values and sorta-adequate stories. Most are produced by Greg Berlanti, who insists on high quality … and on turning many of these into murder mysteries. That’s fine for many shows (including “Nancy Drew,” which also adds supernatural touches), but it was odd for “Riverdale.”
This was based on the Archie comics, which are endlessly sunny. Quickly, that all changed. Jughead was a gang leader, Archie was cage-boxing in prison. Rioters burned down a school. Veronica’s dad was corrupt, Cheryl’s dad was a drug-dealer who killed his son, Betty’s dad was a serial killer.
An even bigger surprise came in this final season, when everyone was propelled back to the 1950s; only Jughead could recall current times … and his memory was soon wiped. Later, everything returned to the present.
Now the finale flashes ahead. Betty is 86 and wants to relive the last day of her senior year.
We’d be skeptical … except that Betty is played by Lili Reinhart, a particularly good actress. And lots of us would like to relive our senior year. Or even relive the days when you could find lots of not-too-bad CW shows that brought comic-book heroes to life.