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It should be no surprise that the DCEU wasn't the first attempt at creating an interconnected universe of characters from DC Comics. Though one attempt at creating a Wonder Woman TV show was destined to fail. Even though shows like Smallville found success on television, a show surrounding Wonder Woman couldn't find the same footing. So why exactly did they fire this version of Wonder Woman, and what could it have led to within DC Comic properties?
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Today, the TV landscape is dominated by superhero shows
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After the meteoric rise of Smallville, the Arrowverse ballooned to as many as six interconnected programs
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running at once on the CW. And yet, there was another very near miss
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that could have radically altered the superhero television landscape if it had gone to series
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a little TV show that would have starred Adrian Pilecki as Wonder Woman
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I know you want vengeance, but let's say that to me. I'm kind of good at it
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Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman. These three characters make up what are colloquially referred to as the Trinity of DC Comics
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They're the three most well-known and recognized characters the company has ever published
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Originally co-created by William Moulton Marston and artist H.G. Peter, Wonder Woman became an overnight sensation
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And yet, despite her globally recognized status, she has not had nearly as many adaptations as the other members of the Trinity
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Superman was a beacon to the world. Why aren't you? That looked like it was all going to change when longtime TV writer-producer David E. Kelly
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the mastermind behind Ally McBeal, The Practice, and Boston Legal teamed up with Warner Brothers
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to develop a take on their beloved superheroine to define her for the 2010s. Now, remember
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this is in the days before anything and everything with a cape was just handed in instant green light
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Shows like Smallville and Birds of Prey had been adapted, but the hit ratio of comic book properties that had made the transition to live-action TV was still very low
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Despite some failed movie adaptation attempts, Wonder Woman had not successfully appeared in live-action since The Linda Carter Show
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which lasted for three seasons back in the 1970s. If you ever need me I appear wherever or whenever It was with great fanfare and excitement that in March of 2011 Entertainment Weekly ran a major expose revealing the costume and a few stills from the show
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There's only one problem. The costume looked bad. While the idea of putting Wonder Woman in pants has popped up in the comics every few years
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the idea of making them weird neon blue lycra, that was definitely a step in a different direction
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Like my outfit, officer? This outfit opens doors for me. It's gonna open that one, isn't it
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And that strange stutter step of it's almost what you want would prove to be the guiding ethos of the entire project
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Which is probably why when David E. Kelly's script was taken to market, every single major network passed on the project
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Except for NBC, the seemingly least genre-oriented network at the time. The plot of the show centers on Diana, a.k.a. Wonder Woman, as she attempts to stop a would-be
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arms dealer, Veronica Kale, from creating a superhuman army and selling the biotech to
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the U.S. government. It also follows Diana's work life as a CEO, heading up a company that
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also makes weapons and crime-fighting gear. Here's the kicker, though. The way they pay
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for this equipment is by selling action figures, merchandise, and dolls of Wonder Woman
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You should call me an action figure. Can you believe that? You are an action figure. You designed your costume to specifically look like one
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Unlike Smallville, this version of the Wonder Woman mythology is not so much an origin story
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or a slow build watch the hero evolve into themselves show. It's more a legal drama where there's a few shots of a person wearing spandex
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fighting poorly trained extras. We follow three distinct personas for our protagonist
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Diana Themyscira, CEO of the Themyscira Corporation. Diana Prince, normal person who has a cat in an apartment
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and Wonder Woman, the timeless superhero. Does the show juggle these three separate personas for Diana in an interesting and exciting way
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No. It just confusing and boring like most of this pilot Having an alter ego is the equivalent of self schizophrenia Can you help me out here Absolutely not Every second of the show just drips with David E Kelly not being a fan of the material
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It's kind of fascinating to watch. He's aware that you need to show the costume, have some fights, and showcase some of the
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basic hallmarks of the character, but there's no insight into her as an ambassador or a
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warrior or a feminist icon. For some reason, Kelly zooms in on two attributes for Wonder Woman
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loneliness and her vigilantism. The first one reads as very strange because she's constantly surrounded by people
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And yet everyone's always talking about how they're worried about her and concerned that she's not doing well
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You don't need to worry about me, Henry. I'm Wonder Woman. But that's not half as strange
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as the way this show tries to handle post-9-11 policing. At multiple points in the episode
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it's pointed out that our legal system is flawed, unjust and easily corrupted
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that torture is absolutely justified. The show's perspective on this idea is deeply disturbing
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It's almost positioned as Wonder Woman's divine right to circumvent our legal system
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in order to save the common man. This pilot feels like David E. Kelly watched The Dark Knight once
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liked that it had nuanced political overtones about the nature of policing in the 21st century
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and said to himself, what if we did that but just really reductive and dumb
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With the country in a double war, facing a double-dip recession and double-digit unemployment
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they might have more important things to do than to probe my work habits. Is there a Wonder Woman story to tell about the failings of our legal system
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or current governmental apparatus? Yes, absolutely. In fact, it's been done in the comics many times
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Greg Rucka literally wrote a whole story about if Wonder Woman's lasso of truth would be admissible in court
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But that's just not what this is. Ultimately, in May of 2011, NBC passed on picking up the show to series
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and most viewers who've watched the leaked show agree that it was probably for the best You can see that this show would have been a step back for the genre as a whole Wonder Woman perfect God forbid she make a mistake It not like we should expect the world
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to accept her being human. The one silver lining is that David E. Kelly
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has ostensibly come out saying all of this. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2013
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Kelly said, we made mistakes with Wonder Woman. My only regret is
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we were never given a chance to correct them. We had a lot that was right about it
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and it was a great cast. In time, we could have fixed what we had done wrong
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In that same interview, Kelly blames the very quick production time and lack of resources for many of the pilot's problems
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However, the finished product's biggest issues aren't shoddy and unfinished special effects
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It was a basic lack of understanding about the character that generations of fans love
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What does Adrian Pilecki think? I think we just missed the mark. Like a year later is when Marvel and DC blew up, especially with television
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We were just like a year too early. could they have retooled everything
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Yes. Many shows significantly evolved from the pilot to the first episode
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but unless they had parted ways with David E. Kelly, this just seems highly unlikely
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which is obviously the thought process of the big wigs at DC because almost immediately after NBC didn't pick up Wonder Woman
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they began development on a Wonder Woman show titled Amazon, which would have been distinctly more in the Smallville mold
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They brought on Alan Heinberg, longtime TV professional and critically acclaimed Wonder Woman comics writer
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to craft the show. Ultimately, Diana hasn't made another appearance on the small screen since
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having been adapted to the big screen in 2017. And while your mileage may vary on how successful
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you view the two theatrical outings as, one thing is for sure, if 2011's Wonder Woman had been picked
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up to series, we would still be dealing with the fallout of its lack of understanding of the main
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character, bizarre political views, and poor structure. It would have permanently changed
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everything about the DCU on TV. And thankfully, we did not have to endure that
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