[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Stuart

I don't understand why DC is working so hard to keep it's TV shows and films separate.

Greg Berlanti has complained about it a few times, and apparently finds it quite restrictive. He was even apparently told that he could not include Superman or Batman in Arrow. OK, so Superman wouldn't really have fitted in, but Batman, being a fellow multi billionaire playboy/vigilante would have.

If done badly, it can be cheesy as anything including references to movies or even other TV shows in a show, but if it's done well (as Marvel have done with Agents of Shield), it can add a lot of depth to an ongoing story. Hell, the story with Lady Sif in AOS Season 1 was arguably a turning point for the series, where it stopped being some slightly weird Police Procedural drama with Aliens and turned into a series that I personally love.

But DC seem to view TV and Films as two totally seperate things. For instance, I read that because of the upcoming Suicide Squad movie, the Arrow production team were forced to remove the Suicide Squad from the TV series. They never were allowed to directly reference Harley Quinn, although apparently Tara Strong (who played her in some of the cartoons and the last three Arkham games) appeared in the background in one Arrow episode dressed as Harley Quinn, but was never directly referenced in the script.

I'd hardly call it good. The last season was pretty poor and a bit of a mess.

Wasn't dead shot in Arrow too?