Joss Whedon developing Marvel SHIELD series for ABC

[Whiskey Tango]

It's definitely wise to avoid directly competing with any other popular geek shows. I only watch 2 or 3 shows and DVR them anyway so I have no idea what would be a good timeslot.

[Chewy]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...-whedon-389604

Elizabeth Henstridge and Iain De Caestecker have boarded the Marvel TV adaptation, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.

Henstridge will play science whiz Agent Gemma Simmons, while De Caestecker will play Agent Leo Fitz, a technology guru. The duo spend all their time together -- mostly bickering -- and are masters at a remarkably young age of their respective fields.

[flickchick85]

Nice to see the team's starting to fill out. Can't wait to see who they cast as the Clay Quartermaine-esque guy.

[Chewy]

Yeah it seems weird to me that the two characters I assumed were the leads are the last to be cast.

Must be seeing a TON of potentials

[Sawyer]

That's probably why they're the last to be cast. They want to take time and get it right.

[xeno000]

They did cast the lead first: Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson. All the rest are minions, so those roles are being filled last.

[Sawyer]

[xeno000]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

[Filmboy]

I'm really excited and can't wait for this tv series to debut next year. Hope it will be as good as Whedon's underated "Dollhouse"

[Wyrminarrd]

Originally Posted by Chewy

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...-whedon-389604

Elizabeth Henstridge and Iain De Caestecker have boarded the Marvel TV adaptation, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.

Henstridge will play science whiz Agent Gemma Simmons, while De Caestecker will play Agent Leo Fitz, a technology guru. The duo spend all their time together -- mostly bickering -- and are masters at a remarkably young age of their respective fields.

This really sounds like they are just copying the tech support characters in NCIS: LA

[DrDoom]

I've never seen any of those "Alphabet Shows" so it wont affect me, besides those seem like pretty generic/commonly used character dynamics

[The Question]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

Why the eye rolling? Didn't Whedon and Feige say Coulson was going to be the main character?

Originally Posted by Wyrminarrd

This really sounds like they are just copying the tech support characters in NCIS: LA

Two people who argue all the time but are also best friends/in love isn't something unique to NCIS:LA.

[Dark Raven]

I hope SHIELD doesn't turn out to have the same tone as NCIS though. That gets tiresome after a while with the likes of Dinozo, Abby, McGee and even Ziva doing their silly routine. And yet, that's almost like early Joss Whedon. I preferred the tone of JAG to NCIS where there was some humour, but not just silliness the whole time. I think NCIS was not only trying to distinguish itself from its parent show but also other series like CSI. Can't really comment on the tone of NCIS: LA as I don't really follow that.

[Pink Ranger]

Originally Posted by Dark Raven

I hope SHIELD doesn't turn out to have the same tone as NCIS though. That gets tiresome after a while with the likes of Dinozo, Abby, McGee and even Ziva doing their silly routine. And yet, that's almost like early Joss Whedon. I preferred the tone of JAG to NCIS where there was some humour, but not just silliness the whole time. I think NCIS was not only trying to distinguish itself from its parent show but also other series like CSI. Can't really comment on the tone of NCIS: LA as I don't really follow that.

I get what you mean; I find the "suburban justice" theme that permeates shows like NCIS and The Mentalist kind of annoying.

However, these shows have huge audiences, so with SHIELD, if it is done judiciously and draws a much bigger audience into the Marvel Universe we know and love, I'm all for it.

[Hunter Rider]

Originally Posted by Pink Ranger

I get what you mean; I find the "suburban justice" theme that permeates shows like NCIS and The Mentalist kind of annoying.

However, these shows have huge audiences, so with SHIELD, if it is done judiciously and draws a much bigger audience into the Marvel Universe we know and love, I'm all for it.

What does that mean?

[Pink Ranger]

Originally Posted by Hunter Rider

What does that mean?

It's a term basically I invented to separate different kinds of law enforcement shows, like The Shield, The Wire, NYPD Blue and Homicide: Life on the Street on one side of the spectrum, and then shows like NCIS, The Mentalist, Cold Case and Criminal Minds on the other.

At the purely high-level, plot-summary perspective, shows from both camps deal with the same horrific subject matter. But shows in the latter category give it a much lighter touch, with morally upright protaganists with sitcom-style personal problems, and the relatively serious nature of the crimes they investigate given a much more entertaining gloss than the grittier and more realistic-seeming crime shows.

I call it "suburban justice" because it essentially targets the sheltered, judgmental audience who generally lives in good neighbourhoods, who want to feel like they're watching something cool and edgy, but that doesn't scare them, challenge their values or alter their world view.

That makes me sound like a pretentious d-bag, I'll admit, so I will also add that I am a fan of The Mentalist and Leverage, so I think there's room for both types of shows.

[Hunter Rider]

Originally Posted by Pink Ranger

It's a term basically I invented to separate different kinds of law enforcement shows, like The Shield, The Wire, NYPD Blue and Homicide: Life on the Street on one side of the spectrum, and then shows like NCIS, The Mentalist, Cold Case and Criminal Minds on the other.

At the purely high-level, plot-summary perspective, shows from both camps deal with the same horrific subject matter. But shows in the latter category give it a much lighter touch, with morally upright protaganists with sitcom-style personal problems, and the relatively serious nature of the crimes they investigate given a much more entertaining gloss than the grittier and more realistic-seeming crime shows.

I call it "suburban justice" because it essentially targets the sheltered, judgmental audience who generally lives in good neighbourhoods, who want to feel like they're watching something cool and edgy, but that doesn't scare them, challenge their values or alter their world view.

That makes me sound like a pretentious d-bag, I'll admit, so I will also add that I am a fan of The Mentalist and Leverage, so I think there's room for both types of shows.

I can see your reasoning, I call those shows civilized murder mysteries lol.

[Pink Ranger]

Originally Posted by Hunter Rider

I can see your reasoning, I call those shows civilized murder mysteries lol.

See, when I hear that term, I tend to think of British period dramas like Hercule Poirot, where Lord Nigel Q. Featherbottom was found dead in the antechamber from the poison of a rare Chinese gypsy moth.

[Hunter Rider]

Originally Posted by Pink Ranger

See, when I hear that term, I tend to think of British period dramas like Hercule Poirot, where Lord Nigel Q. Featherbottom was found dead in the antechamber from the poison of a rare Chinese gypsy moth.

Well I do like me a spot of Poirot!

[Pink Ranger]

Originally Posted by Hunter Rider

Well I do like me a spot of Poirot!

"My dear Hay-ztings, zee evidence cleahly pointz to zee identity of zee murderrrrah."

[Dark Raven]

Originally Posted by Pink Ranger

It's a term basically I invented to separate different kinds of law enforcement shows, like The Shield, The Wire, NYPD Blue and Homicide: Life on the Street on one side of the spectrum, and then shows like NCIS, The Mentalist, Cold Case and Criminal Minds on the other.

At the purely high-level, plot-summary perspective, shows from both camps deal with the same horrific subject matter. But shows in the latter category give it a much lighter touch, with morally upright protaganists with sitcom-style personal problems, and the relatively serious nature of the crimes they investigate given a much more entertaining gloss than the grittier and more realistic-seeming crime shows.

I call it "suburban justice" because it essentially targets the sheltered, judgmental audience who generally lives in good neighbourhoods, who want to feel like they're watching something cool and edgy, but that doesn't scare them, challenge their values or alter their world view.

That makes me sound like a pretentious d-bag, I'll admit, so I will also add that I am a fan of The Mentalist and Leverage, so I think there's room for both types of shows.

But NCIS is very different in tone to the Mentalist or other shows like Castle or Hawaii Five-0. What I was getting at wasn't the light tone, but the fact that the characters on NCIS with the exception of Gibbs are all pretty much buffoons with extremely odd quirks. They have this odd speak (almost like mock Whedonesque) and while it might be novel at first, it because grating and annoying. I thought to call it Bellasario speak but in truth other than NCIS, most of Donald's shows haven't been like that at all.

The Mentalist, Castle and Hawaii Five-0 are all lighter and have humour, but they they're not all so eccentric like NCIS. That's why I was saying I don't want SHIELD to be like NCIS, because that is almost typical of early Whedon, before he has toned it down of late.

[Pink Ranger]

Originally Posted by Dark Raven

But NCIS is very different in tone to the Mentalist or other shows like Castle or Hawaii Five-0. What I was getting at wasn't the light tone, but the fact that the characters on NCIS with the exception of Gibbs are all pretty much buffoons with extremely odd quirks. They have this odd speak (almost like mock Whedonesque) and while it might be novel at first, it because grating and annoying. I thought to call it Bellasario speak but in truth other than NCIS, most of Donald's shows haven't been like that at all.

The Mentalist, Castle and Hawaii Five-0 are all lighter and have humour, but they they're not all so eccentric like NCIS. That's why I was saying I don't want SHIELD to be like NCIS, because that is almost typical of early Whedon, before he has toned it down of late.

Ah, I get what you mean. I guess I tend to lump NCIS with the rest of those shows is that it has many of the same hallmarks, including a central protaganist (Gibbs) who functions as and is treated as a semi-omnipotent god in his little circle. And that the supporting cast, as you said, seem to act as if they're in the Gilmore Girls rather than a crime show.

[The Question]

All of Joss Whedon's shows have quirky characters who make lots of jokes. Every single one of them. In abundance. Also, none of his shows are anything like NCIS.

[Dark Raven]

Originally Posted by The Question

All of Joss Whedon's shows have quirky characters who make lots of jokes. Every single one of them. In abundance. Also, none of his shows are anything like NCIS.

But Buffy and, to some extent Angel, did have characters who had really annoying speak, and it was as if it were a requirement that one had to speak like that to be on the show.

When you compare later shows like Dollhouse or Firefly, sure there were quirky characters, but they didn't generally behave like the majority of characters on Buffy (eg Xander, Willow, Anya, Cordelia etc) with the exception of the likes of Topher and others who were now more in the minority than the majority. Nathan Fillion's character was more serious than on Castle. And most of the cast of Dollhouse were quite serious, even though they did make a few jokes here and there.

By the time you get to the Avengers, the characters are still humourous but such a world away from the Scoobies. The characters on NCIS are almost Scooby-like in personality sometimes, which I find to be extremely annoying and acting almost like a bunch of saps.

[Hunter Rider]

I don't think NCIS is quite the way it's being described in here, Gibbs is certainly too good to be true in how he's always right and worshipped by his team, and Dinozo loves his movie references and lacks maturity, but there is more to the characters than that if you've watched long term.

Originally Posted by Pink Ranger

"My dear Hay-ztings, zee evidence cleahly pointz to zee identity of zee murderrrrah."

"Bravo mon ami!"