Posted in: Comics | Tagged: arrowverse, blu-ray, john wesley shipp, The Flash

The Flash: John Wesley Shipp on Watching His OG Series After 34 Years

The Flash star John Wesley Shipp shared what it was like watching his original 1990 series straight through for the first time in 34 years.

Before he was able to reprise the role for the Arrowverse crossovers "Elseworlds" and "Crisis on Infinite Earths"… before he joined the Arrowverse's The Flash as both Henry Allen and Jay Garrick… John Wesley Shipp was Barry Allen, aka The Flash. Of course, we're talking about the 1990 short-lived but still-beloved CBS series that ran for one 22-episode season and co-starred Amanda Pays (Christina R. "Tina" McGee) and Alex Désert (Julio Mendez). Earlier today, Shipp took to Twitter/X to let us know that he was screening the series run for the first time in nearly 35 years and sharing some thoughts. "Man! I can see so much more. It's cool, like watching somebody else, discovering things I didn't know were there," he wrote, asking others who have watched it or are watching it now to share how they're feeling about it after all of these years (personally, we think it still looks great and was clearly a major influence on the "Arrowverse").

Here's a look at Shipp's tweet/x from earlier today – followed by a look back at what Shipp had to share about the original The Flash series while checking in with podcast host and actor Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) during his visit to Rosenbaum's Inside of You podcast (and don't forget that The Flash: The Original Series is available on Blu-ray as we speak)

In the following clip, Shipp opens up about how that emotional father-son prison scene with Gustin from the long-running Arrowverse series' start went a long way toward making peace with the past. There's a truly fine moment during the interview where Shipp explains how it was more than just a scene between father and son; that in many ways, it was also about one "Barry" passing the baton to another "Barry" and Shipp in some respects doing the same with Gustin.

From there, Shipp reveals some of the reasons why he believed his 1990s series had a rough chance at success, beginning with the idea that the pop culture landscape still wasn't as accepting of taking superhero films & shows as seriously as they do today. Shipp readily admits that as an actor, he was hesitant to audition for the role (though the writing won him over) at the time because actors didn't see wearing spandex as a viable career move (wow, how times have changed). In addition, the show wasn't cheap- actually, it was the most expensive show WBTV had produced up to that point, so expectations were high. Add to that some tough competition on the other broadcast networks at the time, and it sounds like it was the makings of an impossible hurdle for the show to ever clear. Here's a look at the clip where Shipp goes into more detail- definitely worth a listen:

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!