CW Looking For "The Right Hero"?

[Kestrel]

^ I think doing a series based around Stars could work, especially on the CW. She could use some decent villains, but in terms of family and supporting characters she's in good shape.

Weren't there rumors of a Raven series?

Christopher wrote:

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A series about a forensic scientist solving crimes? What an innovative idea for a television show!

[C_Miller]

I've had the idea in my head for a Mr. Terrific/Dr. Mid-Nite team up comic where they solve crimes that have metahuman elements to them. Two of them get called in for stuff like that. idk. It could work as a TV show.

Kestrel wrote:

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^ I think doing a series based around Stars could work, especially on the CW. She could use some decent villains, but in terms of family and supporting characters she's in good shape.

This. Stargirl I think would be great.

Kestrel wrote:

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Weren't there rumors of a Raven series?

There was...

As for Raven, which was talked about last year, Pedowitz said "that was before I got to the company."

[Lindley]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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Are there any superheroes created specifically for a female audience? I can't think of a single one, but if they exist, that's a good way to start.
...

-The main character should be around age 18 and have lots of regular human friends of the same age group.

-The main character will have no or minimal adult supervision.

-The main character will be female. This could be a normal female in love with a male superhero, or a female superhero who is torn between her normal human boyfriend and another (bad) superhero character (also male). Whatever the configuration, there will be a love triangle.

-There can be gay characters, in fact I'd expect that, but odds are remote that the main love triangle will be anything but het.

-Even if the show starts with one lone superhero, more will show up along the way.

-The superhero(es) will have some angsty aspect to their powers that they can moan and cry over, and write about in their diary. The superhero doesn't have to be a literal vampire, but they should be a metaphorical one in the eternal-angst sense.

Well, you've just described Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Unfortunately that's not coming back any time soon.

[Temis the Vorta]

Lindley wrote:

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Well, you've just described Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Unfortunately that's not coming back any time soon.

And I don't even watch Buffy! But that's just more evidence that the CW should create a new version of the show, but with something other than actual vampires at the core, because apparently Buffy is a perfect distillation of The Successful Formula(TM) (no big surprise the show was successful).

Have a "slayer" who hunts aliens, ghosts, zombies, anything. Just leave out all the identifying details like proper nouns and nobody will have any grounds for a lawsuit. Can't copyright a formula.

[Admiral_Young]

CW already has a vampire show though, one with a somewhat popular following, along of course with "Supernatural" in it's final season and the upcoming "The Secret Circle".

They're already remaking a "Buffy" film which has caused the ire and wrath of many Buffy and Joss Whedon fans. Creating a rip off (that is essentially what you're talking about Temis you've just worded it carefully) would incite even more fans. LOL. One of the reasons why Buffy was a successful show was because of her creator and the people that he put in place to write her adventures. It wasn't just executing a "formula".

[Temis the Vorta]

The Buffy remake is a movie, and what I'm describing wouldn't be recognizable as belonging to the Buffy universe, because I was thinking of The Vampire Diaries when I wrote that. I just took TVD and added a superhero character to it, while being careful to keep to the CW style.

If Buffy fans think of TVD as a Buffy ripoff, I haven't heard about it, but apparently it's just "Buffy minus superhero element." It even has a vampire hunter in it, but he's a grownup guy and he kinda sucks at his job, at least thru S1 which is all I've seen.

If describing the formula of one show accidentally maps to the formula of an entirely different show, that just goes to show that it's a solid formula that could be used successfully in any range of shows without any fan uprising due to new shows being a copycat.

One of the reasons why Buffy was a successful show was because of her creator and the people that he put in place to write her adventures. It wasn't just executing a "formula".

It might have not been the reason for the show's success, but there's no denying that there's a formula there. Otherwise, how could I describe the formula at the heart of one show and have you recognize that formula a different show that I've never seen and therefore couldn't describe?

[Lindley]

While I'm hesitant to make any sweeping statements that will probably be disproven by example immediately, my general impression is that Buffy did a lot to create and define that particular formula.

[Sindatur]

Lindley wrote:

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While I'm hesitant to make any sweeping statements that will probably be disproven by example immediately, my general impression is that Buffy did a lot to create and define that particular formula.

Yup, it was a WB show, and CW spun off from a WB merger.

Circle closed

[Temis the Vorta]

Which explains why CW has latched onto the Buffy formula (probably not original to that show, but certainly popularized by it) and will no doubt continue to exploit it profitably. Next up: The Secret Circle, with witches being closer to superheroes than vampires are. There's certainly room for a costumed-superhero take on the formula, too.

[Sindatur]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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Which explains why CW has latched onto the Buffy formula (probably not original to that show, but certainly popularized by it) and will no doubt continue to exploit it profitably. Next up: The Secret Circle, with witches being closer to superheroes than vampires are. There's certainly room for a costumed-superhero take on the formula, too.

Witches = Charmed; also a Teen-angst formula WB show before/during the merger

[Admiral_Young]

I never said that "The Vampire Diaries" was a "Buffy" rip off I was saying that your proposed idea could be construed as a "Buffy" rip off. Besides which I think Jetfire and the original article are talking about traditional comic book superheroes. They've been looking to replace "Smallville" with something. This talk of supernatural heroes is not the same thing...a curious notion though...would fans jump on board a John Constantine series? Or would that be too similar to the shows I mentioned.

Here is a full article on what Mark Pedowitz has planned for The CW as a whole; http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/show...e-network.html

[edit] Another with more of the same; http://www.aoltv.com/2011/08/04/tca-...utive-session/

About 'Ringer'

All this is on top of the highly anticipated return of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” queen Gellar in the network’s new thriller “Ringer,” inherited from CBS, which did not pick it up. And he said the show would not suffer “one bit” from the different budget of a smaller network.

Re-makes & superheroes

But with a new president -- Pedowitz , a former ABC exec, replaced Dawn Ostroff earlier this year -- comes new possibilities. Pedowitz said he was a fan of remakes, citing “90210” as success, and said plans for a new superhero to charm audiences in a “Smallville”-less world was still to come. Ostroff had first hinted at last year’s TCA press tour that the network was looking to other DC superheroes to fill the void.

“We’re looking next year to do superheroes,” he said. “If the right superheroes comes to be.”

Bringing back comedies

Pedowitz said he was open to bringing the laughs back to the CW “if it’s the right thing.”
...
"We'll move very slowly," he said. "We'll do it very selectively."

You should read the whole thing.

[Admiral_Young]

Yep. From what I got out of that article it seems the new head of CW wants to get away from the "Smallville" formula which was created to serve Miles and Gough's "No Flights, No Tights" mantra and was never meant for any kind of other show. This has just been fans incorrect speculation that another series involving a superhero would follow that same follow. We'll see though. Have heard zero buzz about the proposed "Raven" series (I wouldn't have been surprised if that was pitched under Dawn's last few months) and "Blue Beetle" seems dead. Besides which DC has more things to worry about right now than any other TV projects.

[Lindley]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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the CW should create a new version of the show, but with something other than actual vampires at the core

Well, that's Veronica Mars.