If you needed a more clear example of TV-based original superhero shows, there is none more showing than this. NBC has decided to pull their two-part Cape finale from TV and only air the episodes online.

The series was on a steep decline in ratings since it’s start back in January, and NBC had even cut it’s original order of 13 episodes for the season down to 10. Now they have pulled this past week’s episode and have decided to air both parts of the finale online only. From TV Line:

The disappointing performance of both The Cape (which early last month saw its 13-episode order cut to 10) and The Event has caused much shuffling of NBC’s midseason schedule. At first, The Event‘s return from a winter hiatus was pushed back a week so that The Cape could wrap its run on February 28 with a pair of episodes. Instead, NBC made way for Chuck (no argument there!), leaving The Cape‘s finale unaired.

Continue Reading →

It’s been speculated for months, even before the idea of David E. Kelley’s Wonder Woman TV series was even on the table. But now, the Amazon Warrior finally has an actress to play her in the upcoming show: Friday Night Lights star Adrianne Palicki. From THR:

The project, from David E. Kelley Prods. and Warner Bros. TV, is a retelling of the DC Comics title in which Wonder Woman (Palicki), a.k.a. Diana Prince, tries to balance her life as a vigilante crime fighter, a successful corporate executive and a modern woman.

Palicki, who appeared as Tyra Collete in the NBC/DirecTV series Friday Night Lights, stars in the upcoming Red Dawn. Her most recent series regular role was Fox’s short-lived Texas-set drama Lone Star, which aired only two episodes last fall.

So here we are, over a decade later after names like Joel Silver, Joss Whedon, and plenty more have had their turn trying to invigorate the project in either film or TV, Boston Legal creator David E. Kelley is the one to finally bring the project to life.

Expect to see some publicity shots of Palicki in the (hopefully) classic Wonder Woman outfit soon enough, as the plan is to pitch the show to the network for next year’s pilot season.

If you’ve been following the latest news about the David E. Kelly Wonder Woman TV series you know it was conceived by the writing/producing veteran and then went out to networks looking for a home. At that time, it didn’t look like it was going to be successful at finding one and was going to be put on hold for a while.

Cut to today and it seems the show will find a home after all — at least in pilot form. How, you may wonder? Well, it seems new NBC entertainment president Bob Greenblatt decided he’s a fan of Kelly’s show and ordered a pilot.

According to reports, and differing from what we had heard before, the show is a “reinvention” of the comic character and features Wonder Woman (aka Diana Prince) as a vigilante crime fighter in L.A. but also a successful corporate executive and a modern woman trying to balance all the elements of her life. Mmm, it sounded better when it seemed the show was going to be more faithful to the original source material. Now it sounds more like Ally McBeal with superpowers.

Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing and it should have been expected given Kelly’s track record of shows featuring strong female characters. A lot of things still have to happen before the show makes it to the air so we’ll just keep an eye on this one and see what develops. Besides, now that it looks like the show may actually get going, we can start speculating and suggesting on much more important topics such as who should play the title character.

What do you guys think? Who should play Wonder Woman in the new series?

If you were one of the many Wonder Woman fans eagerly awaiting the debut of the new show featuring your favorite female Amazon, sad to say but you’re going to have to wait a bit longer. The TV reboot of Wonder Woman that we told you about previously is being postponed.

Set to be written and produced by big time TV guy David E. Kelley, the show had gone out to various networks after Kelly’s script was finished but as if often the case with high-profile and expensive projects like this (superheroes in WWII), the major networks decided to pass or couldn’t reach a consensus decision. According to reports, this is not a reflection on Kelly’s take on the material (which is said to be good) but more on the current state of network TV and the timing of the project.

Supposedly, here’s how things went. This will give you a bit of insight into how Hollywood works. The project was supposedly taken to the networks on Wednesday night. Fox and ABC passed and the CW couldn’t afford it. This left CBS and NBC. The execs at CBS could not make a decision and with no real person in charge at NBC yet (new chief of programming Bob Geeenblat has yet to start) it was a no go there as well.

So, for those keeping score, that was a pass (because we don’t like anything good), a pass (because we’re owned by Disney who owns Marvel), a too expensive, a we can’t make up our minds and a we can’t make a decision because we’re afraid to do so before a new boss starts. Yes, I added those little items in parenthesis but after being around Hollywood for many years I have learned to read between the lines.

Besides, between the lines is where all the interesting stuff happens anyway. And no, that pic of Lynda Carter has nothing to do with David E. Kelly’s Wonder Woman TV show. I just like it, so there.

DC Universe Online has got to be the most epic game in the world. Because of the hype surrounding it, and the constant delays, this game had better be the best thing we’ve seen since World of Warcraft, only better. We’re now getting a few tidbits as the beta is currently in progress that could prove just that.

One of the major elements to any successful MMORPG game is the upgrades for your custom character. It’s what drives millions of people to the WoW servers every day, and it could be what makes or breaks DCUO. We’re now getting a look at purchasable battlesuits that can be obtained by doing missions for specific characters.

The most specific examples the fine folks at Sony Online Entertainment have given us is the battlesuits obtained from missions with Wonder Woman and Black Adam. Check out the full trailer for the suits after the jump, and keep it here as we bring you the most up-to-date news from DC Universe Online as we await it’s early 2011 release date.

Continue Reading →

A new Wonder Woman project is in the works and this time it won’t be for the big screen and has nothing to do with Joss Whedon. Sorry fans. Instead, David E. Kelly, one of TV’s most successful creators of shows such as Ally McBeal and The Practice, has signed on to bring the character to the small screen in a new TV series.

The project, from Warner Bros Television where Kelley is based, and Warner Bros’ DC Entertainment, will be taken out to the networks shortly. Details on Kelley’s TV series are, of course, being kept under wraps and it’s not clear if the new Wonder Woman series will feature the old familiar Wonder Woman or the redesigned one announced earlier this year and now featured in the comics.

It will be interesting to see if Kelly can do for Wonder Woman what he did for his other shows. He managed to portray strong female characters who were likable and also infused his shows with a sense of humor. Plus, he always had a bit of his own personal social and political agenda come through.

I’m not sure if that’s the right way to go for Wonder Woman, but based on his past successes and obvious talent, I’m willing to give him a chance. Plus, with Smallville off the air after this season, we are in need of another superhero show to fill that void.

Regardless of the rest, the real question now is who can replace the iconic Lynda Carter, who portrayed the Amazon princess in the most successful TV adaptation which ran from 1975 to 1979, as Wonder Woman? There are a lot of talented actresses out there who may be right for the part, but who’s best? Let the speculation and predictions begin.

Massive changes are in store for DC Entertainment, as the company recently announced that it plans to relocate the multimedia side of the company from it’s current location in New York City to Burbank, California. The print side of the company is planning on remaining in New York.

This move has been rumored for months so the move comes as little surprise. Since forming a partnership with Warner Brothers a little over a year ago, the move to cement the relationship was a long time in the making,

According to the press release found on DC’s website,“This strategic business realignment allows us to fully integrate and expand the DC brand in feature films as well as across multiple distribution platforms of Warner Bros. and Time Warner…We are creating a seamless, cohesive unit that will bring even more great characters and content to consumers everywhere.”

Continue Reading →

Fans of the MMORPG DC Universe will be happy to know that today Sony Online Entertainment announced that two of their best-known vocal talents will be voicing two of their most popular characters.

Mark Hamill (Star Wars), who voiced The Joker for both the early ’90s Batman: The Animated Series as well as the hit game Batman: Arkham Asylum, will be returning as The Clown Prince of Crime; and Kevin Conroy, voice of Batman himself, also in The Animated Series and Arkham Asylum, will again lend his talents as the Caped Crusader.

In addition to Hamill and Conroy, a number of other well-known voice talents fill out the cast, among them Adam Baldwin (Firefly, The X-Files, Angel) will be providing the voice of Superman while Gina Torres, star of the ABC series Huge and previously the voice of DC favorites Vixen and Superwoman, will be playing the Amazon Wonder Woman.

Continue Reading →

After many years of happily reading John Romita Jr.’s work on Wolverine’s “Enemy of the State” Arc, Spider-Man and Kick-Ass, I was thrilled to be able to interview John Romita, Jr. (or JR. Jr.) for Marvel’s return to a bright, new day with the “Heroic Age.”

I caught up with the delightful John while he was working hard on the Avengers.  It seems this is one man who can draw and answer in-depth questions at the same time.

As always he was humorous, insightful, and well…in need of a nap.  Read on, true believers, and enjoy the latest from the desk of the modest legend himself.

The Flickcast: Marvel takes the entire Avengers line of titles into “The Heroic Age.” You’ve been paired up with Brian Michael Bendis on the core “Avengers” title; is your opening run contained to the first arc or two, or do you plan on being involved for the foreseeable future?

John Romita, Jr: In the first year I’m doing it [Avengers] for a minimum of 2 arcs and I’m enjoying myself.  If the book is still doing well, I’ll do it for a second year.  It’s so difficult, though, that I may not survive the first year— it’s intense work.

I have to finish 25 pages in the next 17 days.  So, after doing Avengers, I may want to sleep for a year.  But doing the Avengers with Bendis is an amazing experience.  If I get through the year and I’m still healthy enough, I will do another one.

TF: What are the benefits and challenges of drawing iconic characters like Thor, Spidey, Iron Man, Wolverine, and Captain America vs. drawing characters you create?

JR: Oh, that’s on a strictly selfish scale, it’s much more fun to do a character you create because you create them and there’s a lot of gratification for that, but working on iconic characters is like driving your father’s classic car, it’s spectacular and fantastic, but it’s better off when it’s your own.

Continue Reading →

Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something interesting. Otherwise, on to the links!

• Mel Gibson is, apparently, still a racist. Who knew? Oh yeah, we did.

• You will not see any more Sex and the City movies. Yes, try to console yourself.

• Do you like Toy Story? How about porn? If so, this is for you.

• The Twilight Saga: Eclipse opens bigger than The Dark Knight. Suck it nerds.

• In other movie news, people really hate The Last Airbender.

• Here’s a preview of that show where people act stupid and have stupid nicknames. Which one? Take you’re pick.

• Apparently, men are attracted to women with small feet. Really, it’s science and stuff.

• Apple is apparently reworking the Apple TV yet again. When do we abandon this device and move on?

Continue Reading →

It looks like DC Comics has decided to make a few changes to one of its most enduring characters. To commemorate the 600th issue of the Wonder Woman comic, the publisher has decided the character needs a makeover.

Wonder Woman‘s costume is being changed to reflect her new origin by the incoming creative team of J. Michael Straczynski and artist Don Kramer. The costume was designed by Jim Lee, one of the top comic artists in the industry who was also named co-publisher of DC Comics earlier this year.

“She’s been locked into pretty much the exact same outfit since her debut in 1941,” said Straczynski in the article . “If you’re going to make a statement about bringing Wonder Woman into the 21st century, you need to be bold and you need to make it visual. I wanted to toughen her up, and give her a modern sensibility.”

In addition, DC reportedly wants to make the character more contemporary and more suited for and “international film franchise.”

“The original costume was the American flag brought to life,” said Lee. “This one is a little more universal.”

In the rebooted origin story conceived by Straczynski, unknown forces have changed history by destroying Wonder Woman’s island home in the past. Now, she was raised in the outside world by a few surviving Amazons, giving her greater ties to both humans and Amazons. She is also less powerful than before, but her powers may return as things progress.

Check out larger versions of the new Wonder Woman after the break, courtesy of Deadline. Wonder Woman # 600 is out in comic stores today. Are you happy with the changes to Wonder Woman or do you think they should have left her alone?

Continue Reading →

For years, members of both genders have cowered in the shadows with their secret interest in what goes on behind the closed doors of Clark Kent’s apartment, or on the wedding night of Spider-Man and Mary Jane. Kevin Smith even built a career on the former. Now, fans everywhere will get to witness as the two worlds of Porn and Comic Books cross over.

With the rise in comic book popularity, there also comes the realization from the adult industry (finally) that there is a market for this type of movie. Using the protection of the “parody law”, stating that anything deemed a parody can not be considered an infringement on copyright, industry leader Vivid Entertainment recently announced their newest Superhero imprint.

“The parodies under this new imprint will pay tribute to the world’s most popular comic heroes,” said Steven Hirsch, Founder/Co-chairman of Vivid. “Axel already started pre-production on a parody of Superman, which will be followed by those of The Green Hornet, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Captain America, Thor, and The Incredible Hulk.

We made the decision to create the imprint after working with Axel on “Batman XXX: A Porn Parody”, an Axel Braun Productions movie to be distributed by Vivid. Axel truly did an amazing job with it, and we agreed that together we could mine the really rich treasure of superheroes and have a lot of fun doing it.”

Continue Reading →