NBC Greenlights ‘Wonder Woman’ Pilot From David E. Kelley

David E. Kelley the creator of such definitive court room dramas as ‘The Practice’ and most recently ‘Harry’s Law’ is turning his hand to the comic book realm for TV. Wonder Woman is the iconic character from DC Comics who’s been a favorite of the superhero universe since her creation 70 years ago. Though despite her popularity almost every major network passed on the opportunity to produce the new pilot. The licensing fee was said to be costly and this was thought to have been a major stumbling block considering the genre is something of a risk ratings wise.

From Warner Bros Television, the pilot for the new Wonder Woman was written by Kelly on spec who found adapting the comic creation both complex and enjoyable. After meeting with DC entertainment to modernize the character for TV, everything seemed on track. Though when the script was taken out to ABC, Fox, CBS and the CW in early January, they all passed. Understandably for ABC who’s Parent Disney owns the Marvel comic stable, it would’ve been a conflict of super-hero interests.

The last network the pilot was shopped to was NBC who also passed on the project. However it’s recent merger with Comcast saw Robert Greenblatt enter the peacock boardroom taking over from Angela Bromstad. He’s a shaker and mover that was responsible for revamping Showtime with ambitious shows like ‘Dexter’ and ‘Weeds’, and it’s said that the decision to greenlight the pilot was likely Greenblatt’s.

The Wonder Woman character has been awaiting a modern overhaul for some time. Film versions have been in development hell at Warner Bros for over a decade and at one point Joss Whedon and producer Joel Silver were poised to bring the amazonian warrior to the big screen.

The most successful adaptation was the TV series starring Lynda Carter, which ran from 1975-1979. It first aired on ABC and was set during the second world war. Co-starring Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor, the pilot episode was a big success and later episodes emphasized her signature twirling transformation. The show however was expensive to produce and after ABC failed to renew the show, it was picked up by CBS on the condition that it was updated to the present day. Whilst the seventies setting is the most fondly remembered, the story and characters became increasingly bizarre. Nonetheless for most fans Lynda Carter has become synonymous with the character.

Check out the opening credits for season 2:

Wonder Woman first appeared in the 1941 issue of All Star Comics and recently underwent a controversial makeover that saw her costume get a more up to date design. Don Kramer was the artist behind the revamp for the 600th issue of the comic book series. The new outfit gives her a more contemporary style that fits into today’s world even though Lynda Carter was the vision of beauty in the classic costume. Wonder Woman’s new look is intended to be more practical as a superhero crime-fighter and it’s believed this will serve as inspiration for David E. Kelley’s updating.

But expect Kelley’s version to be markedly different form the classic series or even the animated adventures, not to mention having plenty of witty dialogue. Described as a reinvention of the iconic D.C. comic, here’s what been said about the new project:

Wonder Woman — aka Diana Prince — is a vigilante crime fighter in L.A but also a successful corporate executive and a modern woman trying to balance all of the elements of her extraordinary life.

David E. Kelley recently talked about writing the new Wonder Woman pilot:

I had a lot of fun writing it… It’s a huge project… It’s a very complicated piece, which is the most fun thing about it.

While the order for the pilot doesn’t guarantee a new series, if it turns out well then it may just become a fixture of TV. There’s quite a few superhero shows on the airwaves at the moment, ABC has the enjoyable ‘No Ordinary Family’ and NBC recently debuted its well designed though somewhat ratings challenged, ‘The Cape’.

Wonder Woman could be a worthy addition to the superhero line up along with current adaptations that are in development including ‘The Incredible Hulk’, ‘Raven’ and ‘Jessica Jones’.

Look for Wonder Woman to debut later this year or early 2012.

via: Deadline