Back door pilots have a storied history in television. Whether it’s Charlie’s Angels, The Office, or even the Bill Bixby Hulk television show. Each of these shows attempted a back door pilot with little success in the form of Toni’s Boys, The Farm, and Thor’s appearance in The Incredible Hulk Returns, respectively. Such is the case with the Arrow spinoff Green Arrow and the Canaries.
Set in the year 2040, Laurel and Dinah must recruit Mia Smoak to take on her father’s legacy and save Star City once again. I had been really excited about this pilot, but unfortunately found it very underwhelming. Usually, a backdoor pilot is supposed to advance the plot of the main series while setting up the premise of the perspective new show. Green Arrow and the Canaries felt too much like a standard pilot that they threw into the season out of necessity. (which doesn’t feel too far off if Producer Marc Guggenheim’s comments are to be believed) Sure Katherine McNamara was great, but there were too many plot contrivances that brought the episode down. Despite this, I genuinely thought this show was a lock for the network. After a while, that appeared not to be the case and now we have confirmation.
A recent report from Deadline states that The CW has officially passed on Green Arrow and the Canaries. There were attempts to have it run alongside The 100 spinoff on HBO Max, but those plans, at least when it comes to the Arrow spinoff, are now off to the table. While there have been talks of wrapping up the story in some way, those ideas seem nebulous at best. Regardless, I really hope the producers avoid situations like this in the future.
Are you glad Green Arrow and the Canaries won’t be nesting in Star City? What did you think of the back door pilot? Should there even be a wrap up for these characters at this point? Let us know on our social media pages!
