HOW NBC'S POWERLESS WILL USE RECOGNIZABLE DC SUPERHEROES
"I don't think they’ve said anyone's off limits" says NBC exec.
BY ERIC GOLDMAN
At the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour today, I asked NBC executives Robert Greenblatt and Jennifer Salke a bit about Powerless, the DC Comics comedy pilot the network is working on, set in an insurance agency in a world where superheroes are a fact of life.
ABC and Marvel are simultaneously developing Damage Control as a potential series, which has a similar scenario (a comedy, set at a construction company inside the Marvel universe), but Salke would only say of the competition, “I can't worry about other networks' comedies, but ours is great.”
“Powerless is [from] Ben Queen, a writer we love who I'd worked with for many years,” Salke noted. “DC came in with a pitch and they're very committed to... This is a world where superheroes are not only just on green screen out the window of this insurance office, but they're also running into you on the street and wreaking havoc. The idea isn't that it's the creme de la creme of the superheroes. It's a world where there's a whole population of superheroes with all sorts of all challenges themselves. So you're seeing quite a range of characters in that realm in addition to our great, kind of grounded human ensemble.”
When I asked if DC was open to at least mentioning big name superheroes like Superman and Batman on the show, Salke replied, “Oh yeah, they've namedropped everyone. I don't think they’ve said anyone's off limits.”
While the majority of the ensemble may be normal humans, Salke did reveal there was at least one DC hero in the pilot, remarking, “Just creatively, what I've seen so far of the pilot, the main superhero that's featured is not one of those [Batman or Superman-type heroes], but it's someone recognizable.”
Greenblatt added that when it comes to DC heroes in Powerless, “Also, they're in the background. They're wallpaper I suppose, as opposed to they're not the main characters in the show, so you may see them blowing up a building out the window or something.”
Said Salke, “You're definitely hearing about them about them because they exist in the world. It's a question of speaking parts and it's a wide range of superheroes.”
This sounds like it could be a fun show. Subscribed.
