Those of you who were hoping to see the new “Wonder Woman” TV series will be disappointed to learn that the show won’t air on any of the networks. Deadline.com reported that none of the four major networks — ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox — picked it up.
If you are wondering why it won’t appear on the CW — well, they couldn’t afford it. I was surprised about the part with the CW. What kind of series was David E. Kelley (the man who was going to bring the Amazon princess back the screen) planning that would lead the CW to be unable to afford it? I was actually expecting the CW to pick it up to replace “Smallville” (which will end this May after 10 seasons).
Here are summarized reasons for the other networks not picking up the series:
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* CBS didn’t pick it up because of a split decision by the CBS executive team. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will never pick it up. Maybe they will decide pick it up after all, just a little later.
* Deadline.com reported that when it came to Fox’s interest, “it was never considered a fit for Fox and was taken out to the network mostly out of courtesy.”
* Regarding NBC, Nellie Andreeva from Deadline reported: “The fluid situation at NBC, where new programming chief Bob Greenblatt is yet to take the reins, made it impossible to get the type of license fee that the studio was seeking in order to do the show Kelley had envisioned. So a decision was made not to go with the show at this time.” From the way I see it, it’s still possible that they would pick it up after things with Greenblatt are solved.
* The reason ABC didn’t pick it up was because of a possible DC-Marvel clash. Marvel was bought by Disney last year for $4 billion and Disney also owns ABC. The network is considering several Marvel-related projects, including a new “Hulk” series that was reported last year. Also, a show about Marvel female superhero Jessica Jones is in development with Twilight writer Melissa Rosenberg. The potential of having two comic competitors on the same network wasn’t something ABC was interested in doing.
So this takes with the project back to square one. Maybe now that bringing “Wonder Woman” back to small screen didn’t go as Warner Bros. had hoped, they might try to bring it to the big screen instead. And perhaps David E. Kelley thinks the same way and his idea for the TV series could evolve into a movie instead.
Stay tuned for more information about “Wonder Woman.” In the meantime, discuss and leave your comments at the right. Are you disappointed that none of the networks picked it up? Will it be picked up later? Could this mean that Warner Bros. will try doing a movie out of it?
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Follow Andy Behbakht on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Haoh93.
That’s a shame
I must say, I was kind of looking forward to it, then I remembered the resurrection of Bionic Woman, and I feared the new Wonder Woman. Anything worth doin is worth doin right and if networks are passing, its for a reason. When and if it comes to be, it has to be built for success…RIP Bionic Woman
Sucks the major networks passed on it. I hope kelly doesn’t give up and maybe makes some changes to his script and maybe try for a cable network.