The CW Renews Stargirl For Season 3, Kung Fu For Season 2
The CW behaved in typical fashion this week by renewing two of its shows at the earliest possible moment. Stargirl has been granted a third season despite it being months before its second is due to air, and their new series Kung Fu has been granted a return next season after just four weeks on the air.
With its lighthearted tone (despite real stakes and at least one actual death), Stargirl was welcomed by CW audiences in the summer of 2020, a time when people needed light entertainment. It would make sense to debut Season 2 over the summer as well, but currently the show is not scheduled to return until mid-August.
Kung Fu, about a Chinese-American named Nicky Shen and her potential connections to a mystic sword, began running last month. Allegedly this is a reboot of a 1970s TV series by the same name, but it’s mostly doing its own thing. People who aren’t aware of this have commented that “Kung Fu” is too generic a title. Given how far removed the show is from the Carradine version, and how far removed its audience is from the original in generational terms, I’m not sure what the revival of this name buys anyone. Perhaps the real point was to entice some rich old man into parting with investment cash — we’re probably not far off with that guess.
We’ve enjoyed Kung Fu so far, and the show feels pretty solid — with the exception of the unnecessary CW Love Triangle™ insert. To make matters worse Nicky only has acting chemistry with one of the interests — the other one is stiff as a board. If I could get a bill through Congress abolishing love triangles from TV shows, I would do it. Waste of time.
Kung Fu airs Wednesdays on The CW; Stargirl will return August 10.