The fact that I saw this pilot on YouTube instead of on Television pretty much says it all.
Now any comic book fan worth his or her weight is aware that superhero themed unaired pilots are a long-standing tradition and every year or so one of two surfaces at the comic conventions.
This year however we get Wonder Woman. I am a bit confused as to why this show did not work. I mean first, there has already been a successful wonder woman series on TV. Second, even though they didn’t last, Birds of Prey and Bionic Woman (both shows with female leads) at least got a chance to air on TV for a while to see if they could work.
So why did Wonder Woman not get past the pilot stage?
Could it be because shows like Bionic Woman and Knight Rider failed to rekindle the magic the original series had. Was it because Heroes, No Ordinary Family, Birds of Prey, and The Cape showed that maybe we do not want comic book themed prime time shows?
After viewing the pilot, I concluded that it just was not an interesting show. It seemed like two different shows trying to fight for the same space and they both ended up losing in the end.
The show is about Wonder Woman fighting crime in Los Angeles. She has at her disposal all of her Wonder Woman tools, the magic lasso and bullet proof bracelets. However, they also decided to give her a crime lab, a fleet of mini jets (That aren’t invisible) and a staff of a hundred people operating a multimillion dollar Wonder Woman empire.
Why did they make Wonder Woman the female Tony Stark? I have no Idea. However, I think it is why the show didn’t work. Having her be a businessperson was unnecessary and really only made the show dull.
They also shoehorned in that Wonder Woman has a secret and lonely life as Diana Prince… Where she lives in a one-bedroom apartment with a cat a watches the CW. Honestly I would have preferred to see more of her as Diana Prince, quirky girl with glasses and a cat, and less of her as Wonder Woman, CEO.
I am not going to get into the actress or the costume because everyone has already dissected those issues. Personally, I thought she was good and the costume was OK.
I just thought that with Smallville finally ending after 10 years that maybe Wonder Woman was going to take its place. But maybe television is better suited for crime dramas, medical and law mysteries and sitcoms.
This isn’t the first time Wonder Woman has had a failed pilot, check out the video below that predates the Linda Carter series. They originally tried to make it more of a comedy.
