As comic book fans all know, producer David E. Kelley famously developed and directed a pilot starring Wonder Woman for NBC, but the Peacock network infamously passed on picking it up. At the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour (there to promote his new medical drama Monday Mornings), he spoke to the Hollywood Reporter about the CW’s now in development series Amazon, which would showcase a younger, more inexperienced hero.
He had a lot of positive things to say as well as some thoughts on his failed pilot, which starred Adrianne Palicki as the titular Amazon. Here are some highlights:
Regarding Amazon, he stated, “I still believe it’s viable for a television series. I think it’s ripe to do it.”
Speaking about his own Wonder Woman pilot, he regretted not getting a chance to correct the flaws. “We made mistakes with ours. My only regret is we were never given a chance to correct them. We had a lot that was right about it and a great cast. In time, we could have fixed what we had done wrong, we just didn’t get that chance. All my series have been a work in progress to a certain extent where you figure them out by episodes three, four or five.”
He further ellaborated, “The genre was very different for me and I had a lot to learn; my learning curve probably would have gotten better… it’s a genre that I have a lot to learn about. At this point in your life, everybody should do something that they’re scared of; I was a little scared of it, I remain a little scared of it and be happy to wade into the fear again.” And when asked if he would tackle a different super hero franchise, he said, “I’d probably call Joss Whedon and beg him to try and do it with me!”
To be fair, Kelley’s take on the Amazon Princess was certainly flawed and the plot was a snooze, but there was potential there and the cast was actually pretty good, especially Palicki, who did the title role justice. I believe Kelley, when he said that had the series been picked up, they would probably have learned from their mistakes and made changes as they went along. Unfortunately, we’ll never know what might have been, but with the suprise success of Arrow, not to mention a little show called Smallville that ran for a good decade, things look promising for Amazon, provided they maintain or exceed the same level of quality. And include lots of pretty actors. That’s crucial.
