Now that ABC has been forced to scrub ‘Roseanne’ from their fall lineup, another show is jockeying to replace it– ‘The New Warriors’. The series, based on the Marvel Comics characters, was ordered straight-to-series by Freeform, formerly known as ABC Family. However, after the pilot was turned in, Freeform opted not to pick it up, leaving the show’s creators to shop it around to another outlet. Much like the misfit super team at its core, that search has not been successful. But with the sudden need to fill ‘Roseanne”s primo Tuesday night 8pm time slot, could this be the perfect home for this Marvel sitcom?
Considering the circumstances behind ‘Roseanne”s cancellation, a show featuring a super diverse cast could be the perfect solution. The cast certainly thinks so and have taken to social media to drum up support… or to at least plant the seed in executives’ heads.
How about a show about a powerful computer scientist girl with one of the most diverse casts on TV and they all just want to make the world a better place? (Don’t mean to make this about me, buuuut the world needs this show.) https://t.co/fy5C5vLqYi
— Milana Vayntrub (@MintMilana) May 30, 2018
Ahem ahem – 'Marvel's New Warriors' Is A Perfect Solution To The Problem Of The 'Roseanne' Vacant Slot via @forbes https://t.co/Vv32oOYrrD
— Matthew Moy (@TheMoyWonder) May 30, 2018
How about putting an African American woman with telekinetic powers on?! Highly trained African American Ninja?! Team them up with Squirrel Girl, Mister Immortal, Speedball and Microbe?!!
Seems like #poeticjustice https://t.co/fTdaIcScQI— Jeremy Tardy (@jeremy_tardy) May 30, 2018
Milana Vayntrub was cast to play Squirrel Girl (a.k.a. Doreen Green), while Matthew Moy played Microbe (Zach Smith) and Jeremy Tardy played Night Thrasher (Dwayne Taylor). Rounding out the cast are Derek Theler as Mister Immortal (Craig Hollis), Calum Worthy as Speedball (Robbie Baldwin) and Kate Comer as Debrii (Deborah Fields).
Kevin Biegel developed the program and was to serve as showrunner. He also wrote the script for the pilot. Because ‘New Warriors’ was initially ordered straight-to-series, all ten scripts for the first season were already completed.
ABC, which is owned by Disney, who also owns Marvel Entertainment, has only had moderate success adapting Marvel properties to television. ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ is going into its sixth and likely final season. It was never a ratings bonanza and is expensive to produce, so the fact that it has lasted this long is something of a miracle. Period drama ‘Agent Carter’ attracted a loyal fan base, but fared even worse in ratings than ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’. And the less said about ‘Inhumans’ the better.
Producer Bryan Fuller suggested a return for his former ABC cult favorite ‘Pushing Daisies’. But ‘Pushing Daisies’ was an hour-long program, so some finagling would have to be done for it to take ‘Roseanne”s 30-minute time slot. On the other hand, ‘New Warriors’ was always meant to be a 30-minute sitcom, so it could conceivably slip right in easily.
It’s never been clear why Freeform passed on ‘New Warriors’, but the cable network is throwing a lot of support behind another Marvel-based series, hour-long drama ‘Cloak & Dagger’.
It must be pointed out that in 2015, ABC tried adapting another Marvel property, ‘Damage Control’ as a sitcom that never materialized. NBC attempted a DC Comics-inspired comedy, ‘Powerless’ last year, but after completely overhauling the premise after a weak pilot, the finished product was a flop and was cancelled before the first season had even aired in its entirety.
But as the saying goes, “If at first you don’t succeed…”
Would you still like to see ‘New Warriors’?
