Hearing the occasional fan comment comes with the territory when you're a showrunnner, be it something positive or negative. Marc Guggenheim, one of the minds behind Arrow, addressed an example of the latter in a surprising way this past Monday. Responding to a fan who commented on how someone from the Arrow fan community had written to DC's Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns about removing him from the show, Guggenheim said he's sure that Johns and others have "lobbied" to accomplish that goal. However, now he's setting the record straight on what he truly meant in his statement. In his words:
Obviously, this is a typo on my part. There's a word missing from my reply. I meant to write 'I'm sure Geoff and a whole mess of other people have BEEN lobbied to remove me from the show.' 'Been' as in Geoff et al. are the ones being lobbied --- per the post I was responding to --- not doing the lobbying. Equally obviously, Geoff is the Chief Creative Officer at DC Entertainment. He doesn't need to lobby when he could just make a phone call. And since we're dealing with something appearing on the Internet --- which isn't reactionary at all --- I'll throw in one more 'obviously' for good measure: If Geoff, who is not only a creative partner but also a good friend, was actually in favor of me losing my job at Arrow, I wouldn't be so stupid as to confirm that publicly.
Marc Guggenheim clarified his previous comment to Bleeding Cool, saying that in his original response to that Tumblr post, he forgot to include the word "been" inch sentence concerning Geoff Johns and a "whole mess of other people." So instead of those individuals directly trying to get him fired from Arrow, he's not surprised if others have sought their help in seeing that he's removed. Guggenheim also noted that even if Johns was in favor of such a decision (which he could accomplish on his own without the support of lobbying and petitions), he would reveal that was the case to the public. So for now, it looks like Guggenheim doesn't have anything to worry about from higher-ups at DC and The CW, though it's unlikely that will weaken the stream of criticism directed towards him.
Although the first two seasons of Arrow were well-received for the most part, Seasons 3 and 4 earned mixed reviews, with sections of the fanbase not keen on the new directions the show has gone. Some may attribute the problems to too much focus on Oliver Queen's relationship with Felicity Smoak, a.k.a. "Olicity," while others maybe aren't keen on how loose the series is adapting the Green Arrow mythos, but for now, Marc Guggenheim is still one of the main figures leading the show. Since Arrow Season 5 only debuted last week, we'll have to wait and see whether things improve in the minds of Arrow's detractors. At the very least, the show is aiming to return to its Season 1 roots by having the main characters battle more grounded threats.
New episodes of Arrow air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST/PST on The CW.
