Powerpuffs fail the day
Test screenings of Powerpuff, The CW's live-action reimagining of The Powerpuff Girls, have not been successful. In fact, the pilot was received so poorly that it's been withdrawn, and is to be completely rewritten.
While some new titles are set to premiere on The CW as part of its 2021-2022 fall slate, the anticipated Powerpuff live-action reboot did not make the cut and will be reworked and repiloted. The CW’s Mark Pedowitz expanded on the decision, noting that holding the series back will provide an opportunity to do right by it. “The reason we do pilots is sometimes things miss, this was just a miss,” he said during The CW’s upfront press call on Tuesday. “We believe in the cast completely, we believe in Diablo and Heather, the writers… in this case, the pilot didn’t work.”
Alexandra Del Rosario, ‘Powerpuff’: The CW Boss Mark Pedowitz Expands On Decision To Rework, Repilot Live-Action Reboot: “This Was Just A Miss”, Deadline
What is claimed to be the leaked script is pretty terrible. If it's real, The CW have shat all over the girls, Utonium, and their relationship. It's almost wantonly spiteful in its revisionism, and reading it makes me sad. Why did they have to do that? (sad)
Pedowitz doesn't clarify what led The CW to conclude that the script was the only problem with the pilot, other than it might've felt a little too campy.
Was the test audience simply let down by the script and its execution? Or does this reflect a rejection of the live-action concept as a whole? And, if that were the case, could The CW ever admit it to themselves? We shall likely never know. After all, The CW, eh kids?
But at least we now understand how the all-white girls became diverse. They were reverse-diversified in the cartoon! Presumably by that uncreative hack, Craig McCracken, who merely stands on the shoulders of giants like Diablo Cody and Heather Regnier. (rolleyes)
Oh, and Buttercup's the five-percenter. I should've guessed, really.
The Twitter account that leaked the script has received a copyright strike, increasing the chances that the script is indeed genuine. Oh dear.
Two years have passed and, using the Hollyweird writers' strike as cover, The CW has taken the opportunity to can the whole venture. Phew! (phew)