Open Letter to David E. Kelley, Re: Wonder Woman FAIL

GeekMom TV and Movies
GeekMom11

Dear Mr. E. Kelley,

I know we’re not close. I mean, I haven’t watched one of your shows since Doogie Howser, M.D. But since you’re the one helming the new Wonder Woman TV show, which we here at GeekMom have been eagerly anticipating, we need to talk about a certain photograph released in Entertainment Weekly:

Image: Justin Lubin/NBC

Yes, I did check the date to make sure it wasn’t April Fool’s day. It isn’t. And the earnestness with which EW reports on this… ahem… costume makes me think that this is really the costume you’re going with for the show. You do realize that Wonder Woman’s an Amazon, right? A warrior? A crime-fighting superhero? Someone who kicks a lot of butt needs a wardrobe to kick butt in. Cheap vinyl doesn’t have a lot of give. Plus, don’t you have a decent budget for this show? This costume looks like you bought it on sale out of a plastic bag in the slutty Halloween aisle.

DC Women Kicking Ass has done a bit of photoshop work to make this outfit slightly more palatable, but I know you can do even better than that. Look into your heart while you’re still in preproduction. Do a little search on this blog for “Wonder Woman” and you’ll find more than a few hits. We’re fans, OK? We’re the ones that can make your show a hit, or a cult classic. If it’s good, we’ll watch it, we’ll buy it, we’ll show our kids. Here’s my advice: Make Wonder Woman awesome and powerful, and you’ll make it past the pilot. Target only the male 18-34 demographic, and we will bury you with our contempt and lack of viewing.

Why not clear your week and watch a Buffy marathon? I think it will help.

Thank you. That is all.

Signed,

A Concerned GeekMom

Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!

Related Posts

Lady Brigade – Apparel for the Female Veteran

Judy Berna

The Desktop Gremlins Book Is Out!

Jenny Bristol

Sydney Brickshow: Home Is Where the LEGO Is

Evil Genius Mum

11 thoughts on “Open Letter to David E. Kelley, Re: Wonder Woman FAIL”

  1. Thank you for this post, Amy! I was also really bothered by this costume. It seems like a bad omen for the quality of the show too.

  2. The first thing I said after seeing this (after getting over the fact it looks like something from a sexy catalogue) was WHAT’S WITH THE BOOTS?!?!

    Have they even done ANY research into WW? Jessamyn…I too worry about the quality of the show from seeing this.

  3. I’m IN the male 18-34 demographic, and if this is a sign of things to come with this show, I will most definitely NOT be watching it. It’s like he’s watched the 60’s Batman, and the Incredible Hulk (1978-82), and thought that was the only way to make a comic-based tv show.

    Mr. Kelley, if you’re not inclined to watch a Buffy marathon, at least check out Smallville. It’s more of a modern feel and flavour, but still has references to the camp from the canon of Superman and the JLA.

    1. Hang on, I just remembered, this is an NBC show, right? So they need to have this kind of costume advertised, and possibly use it for the first 4 episodes, to draw in the ratings from the Baywatch fans, then NBC is locked in, and they can get on with the real show. Otherwise it’ll just get canned anyways, right?

      So let’s all cheer for the Wonder Slut costume, and let out our inner latex fetishists… God, I can’t even continue this sarcastic diatribe – the suit sucks.

  4. STOP THE PRESSES!!! I think I’ve SERIOUSLY figured it out! One of Diana’s identities is to basically run a company that sells Wonder Woman merchandise. Perhaps, this is Diana modeling one of their Halloween costumes, that’s loosely-based on the actual character’s crime-fighting outfit?! No? At least NBC could always write that into the script so as to gracefully correct this design atrocity and deflect any further embarrassment, so to speak. Hmmm….

    1. In the recent Gail Simone run, WW did have a merchandise line. The profits went to women-oriented charities around the world. There was a great scene in a collectible shop where Black Canary said WW’s, um, assets were “the second most famous” among the superheroes.

      I assumed that meant Power Girl was #1. 🙂

  5. While being in their targeted demographic, I’ll admit that it could be better, but considering the trainwreck costume they are using in the comics now, it’s a vast improvement!

    [rant]
    “DC Women Kicking Ass has done a bit of photoshop work to make this outfit slightly more palatable, but I know you can do even better than that. Look into your heart while you’re still in preproduction. Do a little search on this blog for “Wonder Woman” and you’ll find more than a few hits. We’re fans, OK? We’re the ones that can make your show a hit, or a cult classic. If it’s good, we’ll watch it, we’ll buy it, we’ll show our kids. Here’s my advice: Make Wonder Woman awesome and powerful, and you’ll make it past the pilot. Target only the male 18-34 demographic, and we will bury you with our contempt and lack of viewing.”

    OK, what exactly do you want them to do, other than something “different”? It cracks me up that people lambast a show that NO ONE has seen, but very few offer solutions of what would make it better….

    “Make her awesome and powerful?” Umm, I’ll take ‘general randomness’ for $400, Alex. Is she not awesome and powerful because simply that pic? Have you read the script? And no, not the endless diatribe condemning the first draft (which HAS changed in some capacity based on the casting).

    To me, the costume actually goes overboard on “powerful” — she looks like a superheroine, albeit a little over the top. As for the “cheap, plastic look”, I think it does look a little too shiny, but that is prob due to the pic and photoshopping. Thor’s outfit looked similarly “stupid” in the first looks but on screen trailers show it looks MUCH better in “normal lighting”.
    [/rant]

    Give it a chance people and at least have an open mind. And if you think I’m some sort of suck-ass production shill, for the record, I kinda like the costume, i LOVE Adrianne casting, I LOVE the selection of Reiner as the director, I hated the first script draft (based on reviews), and I’m uneasy on the notion that DEK is heading this up (but have no other choise but to accept it).

    1. That is exactly what I’m talking about!

      Thank you for pointing out that this is a horrible picture! Mr. Photographer is to blame for this. Who is obviously lazy…….. if he had to use photoshop extensively post shoot. Which is quite obvious he did.

      Mr. Photographer, did you even bother to meter your lights?! And was that really the best angle you could come up with? I mean, really….?

      You made her look like a cardboard cut out.

  6. I grew up during the Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman era. Honestly, you guys, if you think that this vinyl tart can even come up to the tops of her boots, you’ve got another think coming. Really.

  7. This type of nitpicking is what KILLS comic/superhero network shows after half a season. I mean, seriously? Making her pants dark blue jeanish looking things instead of light blue vinyl is going to make the difference for you?

    Take a look at what WW was wearing in the comics until her recent costume change.

    Old
    http://dccomics.com/dcu/comics/?cm=17210

    This is Amish dress compared to what she wore in the comic book for the last 40 years.

    And the new costume in the comic book looks oddly similar to the photo for the show.

    http://dccomics.com/dcu/comics/?cm=16261

    Half the time you “fans” complain about screen adaptations not being true to the book and now you want something completely different. You all seriously need to get over yourselves and stop dooming these shows with your fanboi/fangrl zealotry.

Comments are closed.