The ol’ girl may fly this fall after all: NBC has picked up the Wonder Woman pilot from David E. Kelley. Ironically, NBC was the final network to pass on bringing back the superhero over a week ago, but that was before the new regime was officially in place in light of the impending Comcast takeover. Robert Greenblatt is now spearheading primetime as chairman. (On Thursday, head of programming Angela Bromstad announced she was leaving).
The pilot’s cost may not be a concern to Greenblatt, the wunderkind who revitalized Showtime with critical faves like Dexter and Weeds. One factor that seemed to have sunk the Wonder Woman project the first time around was the price of rebooting the series, with the studio requiring a rich license fee to bring the iconic character back to life. But then, NBC has been down this road before: It rebooted Bionic Woman. Kelley’s take incorporated the superhero’s signature lasso, cuffs, and plane in the script, and insiders said it was a serious, non-campy take on the DC Comics character. For years, various writers and producers (including Joss Whedon) have tried to bring back Wonder Woman, but the character has proved difficult to resurrect.
Kelley is already executive producing Harry’s Law for NBC, the new drama starring Kathy Bates. The pilot, like all the others ordered by NBC during the current development season, will have to pass the final smell test this spring before its ordered to series in May.
In other business Friday, NBC also ordered a drama pilot from Michael Patrick King (Sex and the City), dubbed Mann’s World. It chronicles a celebrity hair stylist in Los Angeles.
Wonder Woman wasn’t able to lasso a new home.
Sources told Entertainment Weekly that all the major broadcasters have passed on the much-buzzed about project. Late Friday, NBC was the final network that declined to bring back the superhero.
Warner Bros. TV was actively shopping a script from David E. Kelley that updated the period tale about an Amazon princess who battled Nazis and other bad guys during World War II. One source close to the project said the Wonder Woman team won’t give up on the project, even though it’s “not moving forward at this time.”
One factor may have been the projected cost of rebooting the series, with the studio requiring a rich license fee to bring the iconic character back to life (in other words, nobody wanted it to be another Bionic Woman). The cost means that it’s unlikely a cable network could step up and foot the bill.
The character was last seen on the small screen in the 1970s series that starred Lynda Carter. Kelley’s take incorporated the superhero’s signature lasso, cuffs, and plane in the script, and insiders said it was a serious, non-campy take on the DC Comics character. For years, various writers and producers (including Joss Whedon) have tried to bring back Wonder Woman, but the character has proved difficult to resurrect.
Original Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter has ordered Megan Fox to stop "trashing" the superhero after the actress branded the character "lame".
TV bosses are planning to revive Wonder Woman, originally played by Carter in the 1970s, for a new small screen outing and Fox was said to be one of the actresses in contention for the role.
The Transformers beauty spoke out about the rumors, insisting she would never play such a part, telling Britain's FHM magazine, "She's lame. She flies around in an invisible jet, but she's not invisible. I don't get it."
And Carter admits she was annoyed by Fox's comments. She tells Fox news, "Megan Fox actually kind of trashed Wonder Woman. She said she thought it was dumb, like ‘What’s the big whoop making people tell the truth.’
"I like her, I just thought she shouldn’t trash Wonder Woman.”
But Carter is backing the idea of a new TV show, insisting Ally McBeal producer David E. Kelly is the ideal choice to develop the series.
She adds, "He’s great at the underlying comedy and character development. I spoke to him several weeks ago and he is perfect for it because he will really give the characters life. It’s not just going to be a cartoon or a comic book thing, which is really what I think we tried to do."
Wonder Woman is still heading to the screen, but instead of coming to a theater near you, the Amazon princess is returning to television.
Warner Bros. Television is developing a modern-day reboot of the classic DC comic book heroine and has lassoed an unlikely talent to potentially write and produce the superhero project: David E. Kelley, the showrunner behind legal dramas such as "Ally McBeal," "Boston Legal" and "The Practice."
The news comes after nearly a decade of attempts by Warner Bros. and producer Joel Silver to launch a big-screen version. Actresses ranging from Angelina Jolie to Beyonce Knowles to Megan Fox have thrown their hat in the ring for the starring role at one time or another.
In 2005, Warner Bros. announced Joss Whedon would write and direct the film adaptation. But Whedon said he never ended up being able to finish the draft, and two years later left the project.
"They just didn't like my take," Whedon said at the time. "It's pretty simple." (He is back in the superhero world, though, prepping "The Avengers" for a winter shoot).
Any new "Wonder Woman" won't likely have an easy road to the small screen either.
Though the 1975-79 TV series starring Lynda Carter remains the most memorable version of the character in pop culture, major networks have struggled to make female-driven action series work beyond NBC's "Heroes."
NBC's "Bionic Woman," which also is best known for its 1970s TV version, could haunt attempts to get a series launch, and Fox's "Dollhouse" struggled during its two seasons on Fox.
But if any place exists for a female-driven superhero series, it would be in TV land not film. While movies like "Daredevil" spin-off "Elektra," starring Jennifer Garner, bombed on the big screen, the small screen has been home to hits such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," a character which first failed as a movie, and "Alias," the spy series that starred Garner.
Original Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter has slammed reports she branded Sandra Bullock "too old" to play the superhero siren in a big screen remake - insisting the Oscar winner would be "great" in the role.
A host of A-list ladies have been tipped to take over from Carter, who starred in the 1970s TV show, in Joss Whedon's movie revival, including Megan Fox, Eliza Dushku and Beyonce Knowles.
But when Bullock was suggested for the lead, Carter was rumored to have slated The Blind Side actress - insisting a younger star should take on the action role.
But Carter is adamant she never made the comments - and would love to see Bullock front the film.
Speaking on TV show Good Morning L.A., she says, "There was an idea that Sandra Bullock should play Wonder Woman and I think it's a great idea. She's exactly the kind of a personality and somehow it got messed around that I had said she was too old. That's nonsense, it wasn't true. She's strong and feminine. And Wonder Woman has to be accessible."
Lynda Carter has officially passed the Wonder Woman baton to actress Eliza Dushku, insisting she'd make a great comic book heroine.
Carter, who played the iconic character on TV in the 1970s, insists the world needs a new Wonder Woman - and if reports suggesting director Joss Whedon is set to launch a new franchise with Dushku are correct, the original star would be thrilled.
She stated, "I've always liked Joss, and Eliza would make a great Wonder Woman."
Carter has even offered her services to help groom the next Wonder Woman.
She adds, "People worry about, 'I really helped with this movie and I didn't get paid,' which I could care less about. People don't usually contact the original people to find things out because they're afraid of being sued claiming it was their idea. I hope if they make the movie it makes a bajillion (millions) dollars, which means they'll continue to make them."
Beyoncé is ready for an Amazon-sized challenge -- the pop superstar wants to be the first actress to wear Wonder Woman's famed red, white and blue bathing suit on the silver screen.
"I want to do a superhero movie and what would be better than Wonder Woman? It would be great. And it would be a very bold choice. A black Wonder Woman would be a powerful thing. It's time for that, right?"
Beyoncé says that she has met with representatives of DC Comics and Warner Bros. to express her interest in a major role in one of the many comic-book adaptations now in the pipeline following the massive success of "The Dark Knight," "Iron Man" and the "Spider-Man" and "X-Men" franchises. Beyoncé's acting to career to date has included a comedic role in "Austin Powers in Goldmember" and two notable music world roles, the first as a quasi-Diana Ross character in "Dreamgirls" and as the defiant and heroin-addicted Etta James in the upcoming "Cadillac Records."
"After doing these roles that were so emotional I was thinking to myself, 'OK, I need to be a superhero,'" Beyoncé told me this week when I met her for an interview in a suite atop the Rivington Hotel in New York. "Although, when you think about the psychology of the heroes in the films these days, they are still a lot of work, of course, and emotional. But there's also an action element that I would enjoy."The recent success of sophisticated comic-book adaptations is the main reason for Beyoncé's interest, she said, but her focus on Wonder Woman was intensified earlier this year when she saw Lynda Carter's costume from the 1970s television show on display at the Costume Institute’s “Superhero” show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Beyoncé is in amazing shape right now (she had gained more than 20 pounds for the James role and came back from that leaner than before), but she said the Wonder Woman costume is an unforgiving one.
"I would definitely have to keep it right for that costume. The way that Lynda Carter wore it, she was sooo fine. She was amazing. I saw her costume at the Met. Her waist was unbelievable. It was pretty crazy, actually, her proportions. But I love Wonder Woman and it'd be a dream come true to be that character. It sure would be handy to have that lasso. To make everybody tell the truth? I need that. It would come in very handy."It's not clear if anyone will be able to deliver a Wonder Woman project 
anytime soon, however. The heroine, who debuted in 1941, is by far the most iconic superhero who has yet to reach theaters. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Hulk and the Fantastic Four have all had multiple bites at the Hollywood apple and Captain America and Captain Marvel, both of whom were featured in 1940s serials, have adaptations now in the pipeline, as do Thor, Flash and Green Lantern.
