Powerless...In The Face of Cancellation

Tonight's episode of Powerless will not be seen tonight so that NBC can air encores of Trial and Error...

I liked Powerless. I thought it was cute. I suppose this means I was one of the quarter-million viewers it averaged when it aired on Thursday nights. That was a problem. I think network sitcoms MUST average between 5 and 12 million to get a full season commitment or even a renewal. It doesn't help that the show's lead-in, Superstore, offered the same kind of material and was a program owned by the network...why renew a sitcom they don't own when they can renew a sitcom they can profit from when the reruns are offered in syndication/cable TV?

Powerless had some ambition. If you're not one of the quarter-million viewers who watched it, I'll try to summarize: the show was a sitcom set at a security company that specialized in the research, marketing and development of consumer safety products. The big twist was that it took place in the world of DC Comics superheroes and the company name was Wayne Security, so this meant we had a second Batman TV series currently on the air that did not feature Batman, but featured a peripheral branch of the massive umbrella corporation Wayne Enterprises. Or Waynecorp. Or Wayne Industries. Or the Wayne Foundation..recalling offhand, I'm sure it's Wayne Enterprises, or "W.E" for short. The "Wayne" in charge of overseeing Wayne Security was Van Wayne, a cousin of Bruce, played by Alan Tudyk. Van Wayne could be a reasonable man, but is an immature, incompetent, egocentric buffoon at heart. Enter Emily Locke, the company's new R&D director and show's heroine, played by Vanessa Hudgens, who often had to play straight man to the quirks of Van and her officemates (played by Danny Pudi, Ron Funches, Christina Kirk and Jennie Pierson).

Most of what I just described sounds like the premise a standard sitcom formula with a new element to give it some originality. The weakest thing about the show is that it needed more time to figure out how to mingle it's mashup of genres...and the frustrating thing, here, is that the most-recent episodes hinted that the cast and crew were just starting to find their way...and the network pulled the plug.

There are 3 episodes left to air; I suspect NBC will probably burn them off in a mini-marathon on a Saturday or Sunday night after May, when they need to air some new material after the returning shows have aired their "Season Finale". Could it be revived on another network? Maybe, but I think it might find a happier home on a streaming service like Netflix...or, rather conveniently, the recently-announced streaming service set to debut in 2018 from DC FILMS and Warner Brothers that may or may not have been created to capitalize/compete with Marvel Studios' Netflix offerings..

I would say that it wasn't until the 6th episode that it felt like everyone had their feet planted, so there's a possible 6 (I could be generous and make it 8, but that's kind-of moot) out of 13 episodes in the debut season that are solid and show potential being realized. Not bad.

People who saw the first 2 episodes and bailed were willing to admit that the show does have an awesome title sequence: actual comic book covers featuring DC superheros in action would zoom in to reveal caricatures of the cast members incorporated into the background, with the exception of Jackie - Christina Kirk's character. It turns out that a background character on Norm Breyfogle's cover illustration bore enough of a resemblance to use as-is, so...does that mean you could get her autograph on that comic if she ever attends a comic book convention?

Whedonesque Batgirl

Warner Brothers might just be keen on making DC Films make nothing but Batman movies...or Batman-related movies. A Batverse.

Maybe you saw that timetable/game plan a few years ago, which predicted we would have everyone but Blue Beetle and Ambush Bug getting their own movies, but they can't get anything off the ground except for Wonder Woman, which looks fine to me, if lacking an interesting villain in it's trailer. Wonder Woman does have a rogues gallery...just not a well-defined one. There's Aries, the Greek god of war...Circe the witch...Dr. Cyber - who looks like C-3PO in drag...Dr. Psycho, who's kinda like Yosemite Sam as a mad scientist..Giganta - a giant woman who was evolved from a gorllia (Silver Age comic book wackiness - gotta love it)...and of course..drumroll...The Cheetah, a screwloose socialite who either mutated into a leopard-like woman..or wears a leopard costume stitched up from leopard pelts. That's a sizable chunk of evil. Maybe that's for the sequel...which I'm sure will be greenlit...after the opening weekend figures debut..and if the rotten tomatoes are fresh enough. Otherwise, the only other films likely to get made with DC's 1st tier superheroes are a contractually obligated Justice League 2 and The Batman, which has a big "?" on it. It's going to get made...I think...

Meanwhile, two films featuring Harley Quinn are in the works - a sequel to Suicide Squad and Gotham City Sirens, based on a short-lived Paul Dini-written series that focused on Harley, Poison Ivy and Catwoman - the flip side of Birds of Prey, which features Batgirl, Black Canary and the Huntress. There was some inkling that Batgirl would be appearing in Sirens representing the side of angels amidst the bad girls, but that rumor faded away...

...and then we get the news that Joss Whedon is in talks to do (write, direct, produce) a Batgirl film - specifically based/inspired by Gail Simone's Batgirl stories from the New 52 era that recently ended. What's significant about that run is that it had Barbara Gordon make her comeback in costume after 20+ years wheelchair-bound due to a getting shot by the Joker in The Killing Joke. 4 other characters were depicted donning the Batgirl batsuit within a ten-year period in naughties before Flashpoint allowed for some adjustment in Barbara's health status*. Within the timeline of the comic book continuity, it means she hadn't been Batgirl for 3 years. I'm not sure if Whedon would adapt any particular stories...none of them were particularly memorable - it was really all about Barbara being Batgirl again, because everyone in the real world thought...rather cynically...that her return was unlikely, not because she had gained significant character development as Oracle, but because TKJ was written by Alan Moore..and copies of that comic still sell better than most new comics..that's like a golden goose, y'know. But that's all very cynical, calculated speculation. It was great seeing that everyone was wrong and a female superhero could have the comeback treatment like any other male comic book superhero.

Now for the fun bit...WHO is going to play Batgirl? Who might Joss have in mind? Will this movie get made? He directed two Avengers movies! How could DC Films not want him?

My top choice is Felicity Jones. Then Anna Kendrick. Then Alexandra Daddario. They're all A-list Hollywood actresses who I can picture playing Barbara Gordon well. What do you, the readers of this blog post think? Any other candidates for the domino-masked daredoll? Feel free to write in the comments.

*Ah...The Flash...messing with the timeline when he's out of bubblegum to chew on.