If you’ve been keeping tabs on The Flash recently, you may already know that tonight’s midseason finale will be extra special. The CW agreed to allow the episode to run for two minutes extra in order to help The Flash achieve the exact vision the show wanted for the winter finale. Executive producer Andrew Kreisberg credits the network for going out of its way to prevent some of the show's better moments from ending up on the cutting room floor.
“We really credit Mark Pedowitz and everyone at The CW for being so supportive of us. They didn’t want a single minute to get lost, so they gave us the extra time. It really benefits the episode because there really is not a wasted moment in it. It would have been a real shame for one of these great moments to wind up in the dust bin and not be a part of making this episode as amazing as it is.”
The executive producer also says the two minutes will be integral to the series, which has been teasing Reverse Flash in recent promotional materials. The first confrontation between Barry Allen and Reverse Flash is definitely coming tonight and Kreisberg tells Collider that it was super important for the show to reward the audience with the midseason finale.
“Having Barry have his first confrontation with the Reverse Flash in this episode was always part of the plan. We love mysteries and we love the audience being intrigued, but at the same time, we also feel that it’s incumbent upon us to reward the faithful fans enough in the show by providing some answers, every once in awhile.”
With all of the Reverse Flash stuff coming, it’s a good thing the show will have a few extra minutes to tell its story tonight. At a glance, it doesn't seem like a few extra minutes would be a big deal. After all, HBO’s Game of Thrones has lengthened multiple episodes in the past. In addition, this season’s Sons of Anarchy episodes have all been extremely long, running for 90 minutes instead of the usual hour. While the two aforementioned TV shows’ extra minutes might seem more impressive, it’s actually a huge deal that the CW made the extra time.
Unlike other channels, network TV positions all of its primetime hours on a strict schedule, making money off of lucrative advertisements during that time. When Sons Of Anarchy extends an episode, it goes into a different timeslot and ads are sold on that extra time. But with tonight's episode of The Flash, the network is either going have to make scheduling changes with The Flash and tonight's other series Supernatural that are an extreme inconvenience and will involve a lose of revenue. So, kudos to the CW for taking the hit and remember to alter your DVRs so the episode tapes until 9:02 instead of 9:00. Or, to be as safe as possible, you can just tape Supernatural afterwards.
The CW’s The Flash airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET.
