14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this month, CBC announced that the “Supergirl” series they had been working on for a very long time, which had been picked up for a full season, would premiere in the fall. A lengthy trailer for it (see below) was also released, offering fans a first look at the DC Comics character played by Melissa Benoist.
The pilot episode of “Supergirl” was announced for November, but eager fans who feel like they just can’t wait that long now have the chance of seeing it - illegally so.
“Supergirl” leaks 6 months ahead of release
Deadline confirms that the pilot episode is already available on pirate sites in full. News comes from Excipio via Variety, with Excipio noting that the leaked pilot doesn’t have any watermarks. It popped up online at 3AM ET on Friday, May 22, 2015.
With the first episode of a new series surfacing online so many months before the official release, you might be tempted to think that the people at CBS must be pulling their hair in desperation. After all, if you look at what happened with the “Wolverine” movie, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” which leaked in full before post-production was completed, you know that such mishaps can put a damper on public interest in the project.
However, “Supergirl” is not a movie and the leak didn’t affect the entire season, just the pilot.
In some cases, like it happened with CW’s “The Flash,” which also saw its pilot episode leak 3 months before the premiere, this can be a blessing in disguise. The first episode of this series became the network’s most watched premiere of all times, and the series is still bringing solid ratings.
Not an accident, skeptics say
So, when we have such a clear example of a leak that proved to be beneficial to a series, no wonder people are saying online the “Supergirl” leak isn’t accidental either.
It could be just a very smart stunt put together by CBS, which would allow it to gauge audience reaction to the new series. Think of it like of advance press and / or audience screenings for movies, but dressed up in different clothes.
Then there’s this to consider: in this day and age, positive word of mouth is proved to be many times more effective than old-fashioned marketing strategies, so if the “leak” leads to positive hype, CBS has a guaranteed strong first season.
In the end, it’s a risk worth taking.
