Wonder Woman will return to the small screen on NBC this fall– this we knew. And just announced is its main cast, namely Diana herself, Adrianne Palicki. If you watched the couple of episodes of LoneStar that aired (another Fox show cancelled before its time), you may have seen her. Ditto for if you’ve been watching Friday Night Lights. Want to see her right now? You’re in luck, since Netflix has the first four seasons available for your streaming instant cue needs, as does Hulu have a selection of episodes.
Michael Ausiello’s TV Line blog reported that the character of Wonder Woman will be reimagined (gawd I hate that word) by David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal, Boston Legal) into not just one but three roles:
• The titular crimefighter, “reinvented” here as an L.A.-based vigilante
• Alter ego No. 1: Diana Themyscira, a mega-billionaire CEO
• Alter ego No. 2: Diana’s “plain Jane” assistant, Diana Prince. (Good luck with that one, makeup and wardrobe!)Other key players to be cast for Wonder Woman include Steve Trevor (now a lawyer for the Justice Department and a onetime paramour of Diana T.’s); Themyscira Industries’ press secretary, Mindy; and Veronica Cale, an eeeevil scientist poised to be WW’s primary adversary.
Ausiello also points out that Palicki at 5′ 11″ will be tall enough to fill the Amazonian princess’s boots, but I’m not so worried about the casting (it actually makes me hopeful! Again, she was GREAT in Lonestar! Everything was great in that show!) as I am worried about this reinvention. This could be bad. Not The Cape bad, but bad enough.There’s a reason this pilot couldn’t find a home, and that’s largely because this has the stink of bad makeover all around it.
Given Kelly’s pedigree and track record, this just sounds much more like Ally McSuperhero than anything I’d want to watch. (As an aside, remember that Robert Downey Jr started his comeback in the final season of Ally McBeal, so not all hope is lost.) But Wonder Woman has never been popular because she’s just “a young girl trying to balance life’s priorities in the big city.” Every single part of that is antithetical to the ethos of Wonder Woman. She’s a f#$%ing Amazonian princess who when she isn’t defending her home island from mythical creatures of Greek and Roman lore, she’s kicking ass of everyone from Nazis to corporate evildoers to. . .anyone who gets in her way.
But undoubtedly network executives like what they’ve seen before, and they think Ally McSuperhero is going to be better than other failed adaptations like the WB’s gawd-awful Birds of Prey. No matter how hot those girls were, no matter how much I like the comics, I was NOT watching that show after the first three episodes left me annoyed and bored.
The Daily Beast got a look at the script and widely panned it. I can honestly say this is not looking good, but you don’t have to tie me up in the lasso of truth to get me to admit that.
Given fan backlash over a simple costume redesign, will fans have any hope for yet another reboot?