FX orders Powers to pilot

The comic book series Powers (which you can read about here if you're unfamiliar with it) has been in development as a TV series for a while and now it's been ordered to pilot by FX. Kevin Falls, who was showrunner of Journeyman, wrote the pilot script.

 

NBC cops vs evil mages
FX cops vs supervillains?

 

That's amazing... didn't they announce this like two years ago? I just assumed it was dead.

 

It was never announced. There was an attempt I think to get it on F/X IIRC but that failed. This is the latest attempt. Bendis appears to be pleased so this looks like it might finally get off the ground. I'll be checking it out, have always been interested in the comic.

 

Another sf/f cop show? I guess if they keep trying, eventually something will click. The only time I liked a show in this genre was Pushing Daisies and that's because it was so different from the norm and imaginative, not something that happens a lot in TV.

I know nothing about the comic book, but it would be cool to see Alison Mack and Michael Rosenbaum in something together.

 

"Powers" is more a superhero based cop show. Nothing like "Pushing Daises".

 

The overall genre I'm talking about is "sf/f cop show," by which I mean anything sci fi or supernatural, anything with a law enforcement angle. There's just too much of it, considering what's being ignored: SPACE OPERA! Why can't we get one space opera? Why does sf/f always need to have a law enforcement angle? The lack of imagination just rankles me.

 

If the show is half as good as the comic, I'll be happy.

 

Yeah. I'd like to see a space opera right now. The lack of one is jarring. I know there's SGU but that's ending soon. There is BSG-Blood and Chrome next year but not really a space opera in a traditional sense.

 

Deadline Hollywood is reporting that the Kevin Falls pilot script isn't the one being used. Instead they're using a script by Charles Eglee commissioned late last year. Eglee served as an Executive Producer on The Walking Dead and The Shield. The pilot for Powers is set to be directed by Michael Dinner, who directed the pilot for Justified and co-directed the pilot for Sons of Anarchy. Dinner, Eglee, and Circle of Confusion, the company behind The Walking Dead, will executive produce Powers.

 

My colleague Dave Mack offered an interesting hypothesis to me a while back: that viewers seem to respond more to shows about characters working to help solve other people's problems than they do to shows about characters dealing only with their own problems. So the formats that perennially succeed are ones about characters whose jobs involve helping others: cops, doctors, lawyers, detectives, superheroes.

After all, what gets on TV isn't a matter of imagination alone. It's about what viewers want to see, what gets a large enough audience to be profitable, or at least affordable, to make. And the bulk of what works with a mass audience tends toward certain norms. The trick is to find a way to be creative within those norms.

And I have to disagree with you here; I haven't read Powers, but I think the idea of doing a show that's set in a superhero universe but focuses on the ordinary cops within that universe is definitely an imaginative idea. It's not automatically unimaginative to use a familiar format like a procedural, if you find a fresh way to use it. A lot of people assume that something has to be all-new to qualify as imaginative, but really, most imagination is about taking existing building blocks and finding new ways to put them together. Most superhero stories focus on the superheroes' perspective; what's imaginative in that context is focusing on the civilians who have to deal with the consequences of living in a world of superheroes. Something like Damage Control, Gotham Central, or Powers. Heck, even My Super Ex-Girlfriend was imaginative in concept, if mediocre in execution.

 

Sounds plausible. Also, viewers have gotten so used to cop shows that it's a comfortable format for them.

It's a slight variation on something that's been done a lot on TV. Not as imaginative as I'd like to be, but better than yet another plain vanilla cop show, I suppose.

 

"Powers" isn't really your typical cop show. Christian Walker (the main character) used to be a former superhero who was stripped of his powers and now works in the homicide department that investigates cases dealing with super-powered people. Deena Pilgrim (Christian's partner) harbors a secret (I won't reveal it here) and is not your typical cop either. The comic meshes procedural cop shows with superheroes quite seamlessly and is pretty dark at times. I've not read the comic in a while but it used to be one of my favorite. I'd highly suggest checking it out before making any kind of judgments.

Out of My Vulcan Mind provided "Powers" wiki article for those to check out in his post

 

I skimmed that article but nothing popped out at me as being innovative and different. But if they cast the show well, it could work just fine.

 

Why does it have to be innovative and different? It's a critically acclaimed comic that is getting adapted for television. Both Christian and Deena interact with the superheros in the "Powers" world. This is kind of like "Astro City" mixed with "NYPD Blue". The characters are very much routed with the heroes. I'm looking forward to this show.

 

You can't tell how innovative a show is from such a brief, superficial description. It's a matter of execution.

And saying that a new show is too unimaginative because it's a procedural is like saying a new poem is too unimaginative because it's a sonnet or that a new work of art is too unimaginative because it's a mobile. Procedural is just a category. It describes structure, not content.

 

Some people don't care for whole categories of artwork. Maybe they don't think a mobile is "real" art. Or they're sick of seeing a damn mobile every time they turn around, because they live in a museum where the museum director has decided that half of everything they display has to be a mobile!

But if they cast the show well, it'll probably be okay.

 

Katee Sackoff is pursuing the role of Deena Pilgrim in "Powers".

http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2011/03/01/katee-sackhoff-pursuing-powers/

I hope she is seriously considered as I think she'd be fantastic in the part.

 

I said it before, I'll say it again: she sucks. I hope they look elsewhere.

 

I don't know the comic, but, the Pedigree is looking pretty Good. Producers, Directors, and Writers from Walking Dead, Justified Pilot, Sons of Anarchy Pilot, The Shield.... Now we have Katee Sakoff in an Action role that a comic fan believes she is perfect for.

Sounds like it's worth my time to follow up on the Pilot.