NBC Picks Up David E. Kelly's Wonder Woman Pilot

[Hepcat]

Good grief..........this is going to be a disaster. Who's the target audience for this?? The 70s show with Lynda Carter worked because it was played for camp. I mean COME ON.............the lasso of truth. Bullet-deflecting bracelets?? Invisible planes?? It HAS to be played for camp to work, and this seems like they're taking it SERIOUSLY.

I disagree. Can any superhero really be taken seriously? Yet the superhero movies and TV series that have best passed the test of time were not played campy but straight.

[judd]

A number of sites are reporting NBC passed on the Wonder Woman series.  It's too bad the pilot didn't work out.  I think the character has potential.

Maybe we'll get to view the pilot someday.

[CreepysFan]

   

Given the current standards of modern Television, I'm really not surprised that NBC passed on this.  Guess we can still watch stupid mind destroying reality shows.   

[Scatter]

I disagree. Can any superhero really be taken seriously? Yet the superhero movies and TV series that have best passed the test of time were not played campy but straight.

Batman wasn't played for camp, or hasn't passed the test of time? Or both?



The point is, Batman, Superman, The Green Hornet, The Hulk, Ironman, etc, etc COULD be played straight. How are you going to play it straight when WonderWoman uses her freaking bracelets to stop an Uzi attack? Are you going to play it straight when she throws her Golden Lasso Of Truth around a criminal and he is forced to confess?? Or subdues the enemy by tossing her Tiara Of Destruction at them? How about her invisible airplane?

Batman, Superman, The Green Hornet, The Hulk, Ironman.............none of them are saddled with these ridiculous accoutrement. Even the silly supervillains can be laid aside without doing damage. Superman will still have his powers. Batman won't change. Better yet, a new spin can be put on the villains as was done with Heath Ledger's The Joker.

But the things we're talking about are definitional to WonderWoman. The bracelets, the Lasso, the inviso-plane. Take them away and you no longer HAVE WonderWoman. Keep them, as you MUST, and they CANNOT be played straight without the entire production looking asinine.

Nobody is going to buy WonderWoman stopping bullets with her bracelets. Or wrapping a gold rope around someone and forcing them to spill the beans. Or flying through the air in a sitting position at the helm of an invisible airplane. You're going to be FORCED to play that stuff for camp.

Either way, you're going to get laughter. Playing it straight while WW flails like an idiot stopping bullets with her bracelets, or uses her hemp lie detector (etc etc) is GOING to get laughs.

Playing it for camp is going to get laughs too.

The difference is, in only one of those scenarios is the laughter going to be INTENTIONAL, and keep the sponsors, and give the show a chance to hit.

We're all either going to laugh WITH this show or AT this show. As it stands, the probability of the latter occurring is far more likely. I would confidently assume that the network and potential sponsors saw that as well, and that's precisely why the show went into the trashcan.

[Hepcat]

Batman wasn't played for camp, or hasn't passed the test of time? Or both?

The Batman show did not really pass the test of time. It was despised by hardcore Batman fans until just recently for portraying their hero as a buffoon to the mass market. The fear among comic fans when the eighties movie version was planned was that the movie would take its cue from the TV show. It's only been the effects of nostalgia that have softened comic fans' condemnation of the TV show in recent years. 

As far as Wonder Woman's powers go, super speed and magic are old hat. There's nothing more or less bizarre about those than the powers of superheroes going back as far as you want. Personally I think Captain America is the silliest and most asinine hero of them all. Somewhat augmented strength and a shield and he seeks to do battle with entire companies of armed men.

[Scatter]

The Batman show did not really pass the test of time. It was despised by hardcore Batman fans until just recently for portraying their hero as a buffoon to the mass market. The fear among comic fans when the eighties movie version was planned was that the movie would take its cue from the TV show. It's only been the effects of nostalgia that have softened comic fans' condemnation of the TV show in recent years. 

The Batman TV show was a cultural phenomenon that is still a juggernaut today. In every genre and niche there are going to be reactionary purists. And that's not a bad thing, since it provides a corrective when things get too far afield. But to suggest that the TV show did NOT stand the test of time because this "niche within a niche" group of purists didn't like it?? Come now, kitty. It's STILL an industry unto itself 45 years after hitting the airwaves.

[Scatter]

Personally I think Captain America is the silliest and most asinine hero of them all. Somewhat augmented strength and a shield and he seeks to do battle with entire companies of armed men.

I'm with you that CA is not feasible as a TV/movie hero............for PRECISELY the same reason I don't believe WonderWoman can be played straight. Now, I love Captain America as a comic book, and I'll likely go see the movie when it hits WalMart.

But a rejection of CA as a viable modern media hero, when his accoutrement are FAR less silly than WW's, (who you DO accept as a viable modern media hero) seems a bit incongruous.  After all, police and military STILL use shields today. But I can't recall  ever hearing about anybody from the police or military getting a confession by wrapping a Golden Lasso around a perp, or honoring some brave officer with a Medal Of Valor for saving his comrades by deflecting gunfire with his bracelets.

[Hepcat]

The Batman TV show was a cultural phenomenon that is still a juggernaut today.

May I remind you that "cultural phenomenon" and "good" are not one and the same thing? Comic book fans, myself included, will readily concede that the Batman TV show was indeed a cultural phenomenon, but will still insist that his depiction was a travesty and that the show therefore sucked.

...or honoring some brave officer with a Medal Of Valor for saving his comrades by deflecting gunfire with his bracelets.

I'm with you on that point. I think bracelets on a man would be gay. But they're perfectly acceptable on a woman. So why therefore should Wonder Woman not deflect bullets with these bracelets when the Flash catches bullets in his hand?

But a rejection of CA as a viable modern media hero, when his accoutrement are FAR less silly than WW's, (who you DO accept as a viable modern media hero) seems a bit incongruous.

But I thought you liked Wonder Woman Lynda Carter's accoutrements.

And you seem to have liked the Wonder Woman TV show from the seventies. Well I wouldn't term that one "camp" anyway, particularly not the last two seasons which were set in the present. It wasn't even close to having the level of self-deprecating humour that the Batman show from the sixties had. Would you be opposed to that type of portrayal of Wonder Woman again?

And how about Serinda Swan, who played Zatanna on Smallville, as Wonder Woman?

[zombiehorror]

I don't see how any thing in Wonder Woman is any sillier than anything that one has to suspend disbelief for in any other comic book or comic book film?!?!

[depressedlarrytalbot]

And how about Serinda Swan, who played Zatanna on Smallville, as Wonder Woman?

Is that a trick of the light?

[FACTO2]

Personally I think Captain America is the silliest and most asinine hero of them all. Somewhat augmented strength and a shield and he seeks to do battle with entire companies of armed men. 

I never thought they'd pull off Thor but they did.  I'm sure Cap will be just as good if not better.

[Hepcat]

And Thor was great fun despite the hypothesis demanding the suspension of belief!

[Fester]

Looks like it ain't gonna happen, folks.


http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/nbc-passes-on-wonder-woman-pilot--2972

[Scatter]

May I remind you that "cultural phenomenon" and "good" are not one and the same thing? Comic book fans, myself included, will readily concede that the Batman TV show was indeed a cultural phenomenon, but will still insist that his depiction was a travesty and that the show therefore sucked.

We weren't talking about your opinion of the show. We were discussing your contention that Superheroes played for camp don't stand the test of time. And Batman clearly does. Nothing on TV was ever campier. Whether you personally liked it or not is irrelevant. It stands the test of time.

I'm with you on that point. I think bracelets on a man would be gay. But they're perfectly acceptable on a woman. So why therefore should Wonder Woman not deflect bullets with these bracelets when the Flash catches bullets in his hand?

Well, I'll concede that the bracelets are silly, but LESS silly than the Golden Lasso Of Truth. Can't wait for the defense of that one. 

But I thought you liked Wonder Woman Lynda Carter's accoutrements.

I likes the accoutrement Lynda Carter carried to the role. And they had nothing to do with the bracelets, lasso, or inviso-plane.

And you seem to have liked the Wonder Woman TV show from the seventies.

No, I liked Lynda Carter from the seventies.

Well I wouldn't term that one "camp" anyway, particularly not the last two seasons which were set in the present. It wasn't even close to having the level of self-deprecating humour that the Batman show from the sixties had. Would you be opposed to that type of portrayal of Wonder Woman again?

We'd differ on the camp quotient.........it's not as sharp as Batman, but it's there. It's not a matter of opposition to a type of portrayal as much as an opposition to trying to force a square peg into a round hole. Material this innately cornball played for straight drama is like casting Paris Hilton as Shakespeare's Ophelia. It will wind up comedy whether you want it to or not.

And how about Serinda Swan, who played Zatanna on Smallville, as Wonder Woman?

Still doesn't touch Lynda Carter. I wouldn't watch it for Serinda, but I watched WW whenever I did solely for Lynda.



Sigh...........

[Scatter]

And Thor was great fun despite the hypothesis demanding the suspension of belief!

However, there are rumblings in the internet geek Thor purist camp who just HATE it.