Producer Greg Berlanti might've jumped the shark when he teamed with actress-producer Diablo Cody to pitch a live-action reboot of the Cartoon Network series, The Powerpuff Girls.
However, after 2 years of development, CW, now under the ownership of Nexstar Media, decided to scrap the project. Overnight, a trailer for the failed reboot surfaced online, featuring T-Mobile pitchman Donald Faison (ex-Scrubs) as Dr. Drake Utonium, and Nicholas Podany (ex-Hart of Dixie) as Mojo Jojo, Jr., as father & son are human in this version.
Update, 12:21 pm (ET): WB has put in a copyright claim on the trailer, so we have to use this logo:
When Powerpuff was in development, we talked about this a bit over at Saturday Morning Archives, and correspondents there were almost unanimous in their disdain for the project. Berlanti is no longer producing shows for CW, as he's moved his tack elsewhere (i.e. Found, for NBC), and out of the superhero business. At last check, Craig McCracken, the Powerpuff Girls' creator, had pitched a fresh animated reboot for CN/Max, but nothing's come of that, either.
At least they brought back Tom Kenny to narrate the trailer.
No rating.
2 comments:
I watched the trailer a couple hours ago before WB's claim, and while it was certainly nowhere near what I would've wanted a live action version to be, I believe I could've enjoyed an eventual show in the same way a small but dedicated group consumed "Riverdale." Basically, retain just enough elements of the original to be recognizable, then run wild with new continuity until it eats itself alive; not great TV, but eminently consumable. Tom Kenny reprising the Narrator was a real "chef's kiss." I do like the idea that, in-universe, the original was a "whitewashed" account of the "real" Girls' lives, creating a convenient excuse to flood sets with merchandise with their cartoon looks. (And I would've gladly welcomed later merch waves with depictions of the CW characters in the old cartoon style. Reconciling Mojo and Son would've been a hoot!)
The problem a lot of fans had, and I'm in that group, is that you're taking a saccharine superhero satire, and darkening it for no real reason. WB pulled the video to preserve the copyright to the franchise, and I think they were a little skittish about having another "Riverdale"-type show so soon.
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