So the sky is blue. Fire is hot. ‘Powerless’ got cancelled. Just naming blatantly obvious things that come as no surprise to anyone. The best part of ‘Powerless’ was the epic opening credits, and that is never a good sign for a show. A complete creative overhaul following the release of the original pilot is never a good sign for a show. To be fair, all along
To be fair, all along I really, truly tried to give ‘Powerless’ a chance in my reviews, and even the last episode that aired I felt showed some promise and some real improvement, but it was too little too late. Getting rid of the original creative forces behind the concept is never a good sign for a show. ‘Powerless’ had so many things going against it, it would have taken a truly heroic effort by the writers, directors, cast and crew to make the series work, and sadly, they just were not up to the task. Don’t get me wrong, you could tell there were many in the bunch trying their hardest to make ‘Powerless’ happen, and they delivered the best of the series (looking at you especially Alan Tudyk), but the show was hampered by DC’s crazy rules about character usage, its inability to figure out whether it was an office comedy show set in the DC universe or a DC comic-book show that also happened to have some office comedy.
And let’s talk about characters. I am TIRED of network sitcoms where someone has decided that “funny” is defined by idiotic behavior, numbskulls who make inane, ill-informed, selfish decisions for cheap laughs, and have no character development, no thoughts of consequences, and no connection to reality. ‘Powerless’ had side characters that suffered immensely from this issue, which is part of why they were so forgettable that I struggled to even remember their names when reviewing episodes every week. Characters like that are not relatable, and ultimately not capable of getting big laughs, because they’re poorly written, and that more than anything is what killed ‘Powerless,’ poor writing. They could have survived the location change, the show-runner change, the character changes, all of that if the writing had been strong. Instead, we got flimsy 2-dimensional characters struggling to hold up lame plots about Superhero fantasy leagues. Shame on you NBC, DC, and ‘Powerless.’ In the end, the show got what it deserved.
Shame on you NBC, DC, and ‘Powerless.’ In the end, the show got what it deserved.
Source: TVLine
Nick is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, who belongs to the privileged few who enjoyed the ending to ‘Lost.’ For more of Nick’s thoughts and articles, follow him on Twitter.
