Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
Scott Carelli happened to be at Universal Studios when he was brought in to screen a TV show pilot that’s in contention for Fall 2011 airing. At first, he thought it was something like House, before realizing that it was the Wonder Woman plilot.
Turns out Scott is also involved with Geekshow Entertainment, and he just recorded a podcast where he talks about what he thought of the pilot. You can listen to the show here.
What did he think?
Although he says that the pilot is better than he thought it would be, he still found it to be “really average.” “It’s not horrible, but it needs a lot of work, to the point that I don’t know if it’s salvageable to make a good show out of it,” he says, although he notes that he would tune in again to see what would happen next. “It has potential,” he says.
He notes that Tracie Thoms as Etta Candy is one of the best parts of the pilot, and gives her two thumbs up. Adrianne Palicki as Diana/Wonder Woman is “really good” but Carelli says she doesn’t have very good material to work with. Not as nice reviews went to Justin Bruening and Elizabeth Hurley as Steve Trevor and Veronica Cale, respectively. “It was like watching a cardboard santdout,” he says of Bruening. “I can’t imagine why Diana would have left Themiscyra for this guy,” he continues. As for Hurley’s Cale, she is “over the top” and “not a character I’d want to see every week.”
Other tidbits:
– There no longer seems to be a fight sequence to “All The Single Ladies,” though that could change.
– Carelli says that the violence is really “over the top,” and that Wonder Woman kills without blinking an eye.
– The blue pants seen in the original publicity photo are nowhere to be seen. We do, however, see the pantsuit from the Hollywood Blvd. shoot as well as the traditional Wonder Woman bikini bottoms. “”The bikini bottoms work a lot better,” he says. “You actually feel like you’re watching Wonder Woman at that point.”
– He doesn’t mention the Myndi Mayer character or the computer geeks, which makes us wonder if they were cut out entirely. He does make it sound like this is a different script than the Dec. 15 version that leaked last year.
So, again, if you want to hear what he had to say, go here. This review isn’t very encouraging, though we know a lot could change between now and the time a show could premiere. If this Wonder Woman project doesn’t fly, hopefully some cooler minds will prevail and actually do an origin story like Smallville that wouldn’t require so much of a budget.
(And if anyone wants to show us the pilot to see what we think, WonderWomanTV can be reached at this e-mail address.)
My name is Edward and my English is not very good … so use a translator.
What I have to add is that it is the 70 anniversary of Wonder Woman, and this character has to be relaunched again to the public and new generations. The best birthday present is a new series of Diana preserving the origin and history of Amazon.
Supporters believe that it is possible to make a quality series and a story to gain much traction.
While hopefully I’ll get to see this myself at some point to make my own judgement, this is a really interesting perspective. If the project is not greenlit though, I don’t think going the ‘Smallville’ route would work for Wonder Woman, if they went back to do her origin it would be fine but starting at earliest at the contest where she becomes Wonder Woman.
Terrible review. I honestly question if he even saw the pilot since he mostly talks about what we knew. The detailed accounts he gives are all the already known/or seen parts and he adds nothing of detail about Cary Elwes’ character and what he does and yet gives him “sideways thumb”.
It’s important to note that his level of “quality” is Smallville so if you happen to think that’s a well written well acted show then you might give his review more credence or if you think it’s a poorly written, poorly acted live action Hanna Barbera Scooby Doo mystery of the week type of show then perhaps you’ll take this review less seriously….as I did.
I agree with MikoPike’s thoughts above. If the pilot doesn’t make it (which wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world), someone else down the line can always try again, only make a “true” origins story telling the whole tale of how Princess Diana came to become Wonder Woman. I still think that “Wonder Woman” may be chosen to be a mid-season replacement, especially if the pilot isn’t so Godawful as to be rejected out of hand; giving the production team a few extra months to work out the kinks and get it right the second time around may be just what the Amazon Princess needs.
Im hoping that this show will be picked up because I don’t want to wait for another 20 to 30 years for wonder woman to have her own show. I also don’t want the show to be similar to smalllville like Diana will wear her costume after 10 years.
I agree with both statements, I think if it doesn’t get green lit then they will have to start at a beginning point instead of rushing into the “Oh Dang , Im Wonder Woman and I have powers”, shick. I think if NBC really wants to pick up where “Heroes” Left off and forget what the hell “The Cape” stunt was all about, then they need to do a super hero that has character and can be believed by all who watch it. Just like Smallville , he developed into becoming Superman and went through real life teenage angst. I believe a good character that would relate to the kids and adults would probably be the character Batman. Unlike Smallville , this character would be on NBC but due to copyrights and stuff , i dont know how that would work. In all honesty you’d thinkw ith all the people going “Green” they would make a live action “Captain Planet” , series….lol… I know , I just brought up some early 90’s geek Saturday morning T.V. for you huh ?…lol…. Thats all I have to say about that. Peace- Jack
I debated whether to listen to this or not, but I downloaded it this morning and synced it to my iPod.
I knew I was right about that guy they got for Steve Trevor! I hope the character gets recast and the character rewritten.
If it’s not good, then it’s not good and it should be canned. I’ve waited this long, I’ll wait however long it takes for a good Wonder Woman on the screen.
Justin Hartley would be perfect as Steve Trevor and I hear he is not doing anything these days…….
What we all want to know is: is there a transformation sequence and if so, what is it?