"Wonder Woman" to Remain Invisible

"Wonder Woman" to Remain Invisible

Television News

By our guest blogger, Nick Hanover

Despite a high profile attempt to bring "Wonder Woman" back to television, Entertainment Weekly is reporting that David E. Kelley has failed. Kelley, creator of tv's "Boston Legal" and "Ally McBeal," had hoped to resurrect the super woman last seen on TV in the '70s with a reboot he promised would be serious rather than campy.

Kelley is by no means the first well regarded creator to attempt to bring "Wonder Woman" back into the spotlight since Joss Whedon, no stranger to strong female characters, was previously attached to a film project for the property. EW's sources claim that at least part of the reason why Kelley's attempt at the franchise went under is due to high licensing fees and production costs.

Early on Kelley had stated that he would keep Wonder Woman's trademark lasso of truth and invisible plane and it's likely that the effects for such tools would have kept the show's costs prohibitively high. Nonetheless, AMC's "Walking Dead" was one of the highest rated shows of 2010 and it featured what was reportedly one of the largest budgets in television history for its pilot--it's also notable that it was adapted from an existing comic franchise.

While Kelley claims he's not done with the franchise just yet and will continue to work at bringing it to life, NBC's rejection of it last week would seem to be a death knell. Given the somewhat disappointing numbers of the similarly minded "The Cape" this could mean that superheroes will continue to be without a home on network TV. Unless, of course, ABC's plans for the Marvel franchise, including a reboot of "The Hulk," work out.