TV pick: Flash v Arrow

The Flash and Arrow.

While superhero fandom awaits the heavyweight title fight that will be Batman v Superman on the big screen next year, tonight DC comic-derived television shows The Flash and Arrow screen their two crossover episodes back to back.

The shows screened in the United States on following nights this week but New Zealand viewers are getting them in one two-hour dollop.

Newcomer The Flash is a spin-off from Arrow, which is now in its third season. There's already been a slight crossover including Arrow's Oliver Queen and genius hacker offsider Felicity Smoak appearing in Flash episodes.

So are these supposed allies - and their respective teams - opposing each other as the promotional trailers have suggested? Well (spoiler alert) it seems that The Flash is not himself and that's the reason the two end up going at it.

The shows involve location swaps with Central City (home of Flash) and Starling City (home of Arrow) both getting visits from their teams in the episodes. That's likely to result in an intriguing clash of the tone of the two shows - the fantastic freneticism of The Flash v the earnest action of the Emerald Archer. Expect sparks.

When: 8.30pm, tonight
Where: TV2
What: Two-hour crossover special

Also ...

• This season of Downton Abbey comes to a close with a 90-minute special episode tonight (8.30pm, Prime).There's a wedding on the cards but family tensions on both sides threaten to derail proceedings. Plus, Branson comes to a heart-wrenching decision, and the storm clouds that have been gathering over Anna and Bates finally burst.

• New apocalyptic US series The Last Ship comes to TVNZ OnDemand this week, and stars Eric Dane (McSteamy from Grey's Anatomy) as Captain Tom Chandler, the man in charge of U.S.S Nathan James. This vessel has been sailing deep in the Antarctic for months when they discover a global pandemic has wiped out half the world's population. They must find a cure, and keep it out of the hands of exploitative forces.

• Te Radar is back this week in another series of Radar Across The Pacific (Sunday, 7pm, TV One), in which he's doing the hard job of discovering some of the most wonderful spots in the Pacific.

• And you can check out Sol3Mio performing at Wellington's Michael Fowler Centre on Saturday night, 10pm, TV One. The Live In Concert Special was filmed in September, and features 22 songs including operatic classics like La Danza, plus crowd favourites Ten Guitars and O Sole Mio.

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