We’ve heard precious little about the upcoming Avengers tie-in TV show S.H.I.E.L.D., but today we’ve received a few words from the head of ABC concerning the style of show, including exactly how much writer Joss Whedon will stay involved.
According to those in attendance at the Television Critics Association winter press tour this morning, ABC boss Paul Lee had plenty to say about S.H.I.E.L.D., and he was speaking as though the show was already ordered (which it’s not).
Lee mentioned that Joss Whedon has written more than just the pilot, and that Whedon has already coordinated his schedule to enable him to work on the show along with his Marvel Cinematic Universe responsibilities.
“He’s already working on the scripts for the series,” said Lee. “We will have to work. We shot it in Los Angeles to make sure that he is free to work across his feature life and his television life, but I love to see Joss who of course has made many great television shows in his day, enjoying television as much as movies. That’s flattering for us. We love that.”
We’ve speculated that the show would be aiming at a fall 2013 series premiere, and Lee has now confirmed our suspicions. Although the pilot has yet to be seen by anyone who’s last name isn’t “Whedon,” it has peaked the interest of the power-holders at the station.
“We haven’t seen the pilot,” said Lee. “We fast tracked that before the others. We’re going to see it before the others. We’re very hopeful that goes to series and we’re going to market it. We hope it will get both males and females. By the way, the script’s great. I don’t want to jinx it.”
We’ve heard excruciatingly little about what to expect from the tone of the show. The announcement that Clark Gregg would be reprising his role as Agent Coulson has given us some kind of an idea, but Lee has given us hope for a true return to Whedon small-screen joy. “The truth about Joss is he has some great relationships in it so there are a lot of really funny male/female relationships that go through it,” said Lee.
“But it’s also Joss too and there’s a lot of action. Look, what we do do, I talk about the emotion of the network, that it’s smart with heart. There is something which I talk less about, that’s very real about this network, is we have more co-viewed shows. Absolutely Marvel has the ability to bring the whole family around it,” said Lee. “You know how Joss is so high/low? How he’s able to be intense and epic and suddenly funny/silly? He’s got that ability to be super-entertaining.”
Judging from what we know, Whedon has sold his life to Disney/Marvel until 2015 when Avengers 2 hits theaters, so it’s safe to assume that everything we see in the unprecedented lead-up to the sure-to-break-records blockbuster will be very much his labor of love. If the script for the S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot is any indication, we can expect a very Whedonesque Phase 2.
Source: Crave Online, TV Line
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