Monday, May 23, 2011

This is exactly why I say DC is being stupid about Wonder Woman.

Blog@Newsarama:
When it came to the most talked about pilot they were shopping around, Roth said he thought Wonder Woman was a very “well crafted” pilot. “But after seeing the announcement of the NBC schedule, I now understand and agree with [NBC Entertainment Chairman] Bob [Greenblatt] that it doesn’t necessarily fit particularly well with their schedule,” said Roth, “As well crafted and contemporized as it was, it was a big and radical shift for viewers to embrace this new idea — and that may, to some degree, have had to do with why it didn’t make it.”

When asked if Wonder Woman would be seen in another form, on another network besides NBC, Roth answered, “To be determined. I’m just not sure yet; we haven’t given it a lot of thought.”

One of the classic, iconic comic book characters of the 20th Century, the most recognizable female superhero in our culture, is a "big and radical shift" for viewers to embrace.

Oh, and this project got more press and excitement than ANY of the shit they'll be flinging at us next fall based purely on the name Wonder Woman but they haven't given any thought to trying another adaptation.

This is stupid. It's very clear people want some form of Wonder Woman, they were hungry for news of it. They devoured every picture and release and casting decision. People want to watch Wonder Woman.

You're supposed to be fucking businessmen. You are on top of a fucking gold mine, but you're standing around at the entrance looking at your map trying to find some copper.

6 comments:

  1. "People want to watch Wonder Woman.
    "

    We were even eager to see what this show was going to be like - David E. Kelly, horrendous plastic costume, atrocious WW with self-image issues notwithstanding. THAT's how much people want WW. Ass-holes.

    And I just love how suddenly the idea of a WW show is "radical" and "risky". PUH-LEAZE.

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  2. This......this hurts my head. NBC is now on the hook (in an ideal world of course). Every new show that comes out this fall, it will be compared with WW. So, I'm not sure how many that did pick up, but if all of them fail (and knowing NBC, it probably will), they would have massive egg-on-face for this blunder.

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  3. Hello Ragnell:- I do find the capacity of big business to refuse to make huge amounts of cash from the paying public somewhat confusing too. Given how highly-recognisable a property Wonder Woman remains despite decades out of the glare of the mainstream, I would have thought it was just common sense to take some serious lead-in time, hire and stick with some serious talent, and then, all things being equal, make lots of money.

    Of course, I don't care about folks with money making more of it. But I would love to see Diana on the screen again, and I refuse to believe that the property can't be made to work. Over here, the BBC and the media spent 15 years declaring that Dr Who couldn't be made to work for a modern-era audience. To the rest of us unburdened with power, the whole issue was, as used to be said, a no-brainer.

    These heroic characters survive in the public imagination because they DO work. More Wonder Woman, please!

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  4. Chin up, Ragnell! We've just seen the closest thing we've ever had to a live-action Wonder Woman big-screen movie hit the theaters this month, and it's been a blockbuster success.

    I'm talking about "Thor".

    Think about it.

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  5. They wouldn't have passed on the show if the pilot were worth watching.

    I don't know if I'd read the quote as that Wonder Woman was a big shift (she's a household name), so much as everything NBC suits did to "contemporize" the character was the "radical" shift in question. These guys aren't going to just fess up to their own mistakes, but they will contextualize a bit. Ie: In trying to adjust the character for TV, they overshot and the results were appalling. Basically, they could see that all the things they added to the show made the character unappealing and worse, and they knew they'd get crucified by the fan community. They actually care about this stuff these days, which, given the 80's and 90's, we should be thrilled they passed if they knew the show was a dud.

    I'm a Wonder Woman fan and reader. I want WW on TV or in movies. I even liked Adriane Palicki just fine. I did not want the show with the wacky teen-aged sidekicks in the basement, the color-coordinated jets, the ill-defined Wonder Woman corporation, etc...

    But, yes, I will buy the pilot on iTunes when it inevitably gets released.

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  6. I'm not sure that the half dozen people that read angry femfan comic blogs were enough of an audience to support a show that looked like like it was only marginally better than The Cape. Oh wait...were you gals banking on all those chicks that bought WW cosmetics to support the show along with you? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! You sweet kids.

    Sincerely,

    John V

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