Here's why Marvel's TV shows are mostly dogsh*t
Not at all surprising news this morning is that Disney+ has reversed course on Marvel‘s Wonder Man, cancelling the Yahya Abdul-Mateen II show despite giving it a second-season renewal in March.
No reason has been given for the cancellation, but this, from Deadline, speaks to the likely reason: viewership.
Season 1 launched with all eight episodes on January 27, bringing in 618M minutes viewed in its opening week, per Nielsen. That put it at No. 8 among streaming originals for the week of Jan. 26-Feb. 1, though the title appeared to skew older with 41% of viewing concentrated in the 35-49 age range — more than any other Top 10 title that week.
It follows a pattern for Marvel TV shows, with very few live-action series going on to second seasons. Some intentionally designed that way. So far, Loki and Daredevil: Born Again are the only two live-action Marvel series on Disney+ that have run for more than a single season.
Early on, Marvel were almost kicking goals with its original TV shows. Marvel dazzled me with the scale of its early shows like Falcon & The Winter Soldier and Hawkeye. WandaVision started out strong with really unique creative, with the wheels falling off a little once the show introduced more traditional Marvel-style storytelling mid-season.
Ultimately, these shows are a result of, and a victim of, the era in which the Marvel TV strategy was borne.
The idea made sense at the time. These were planned as big budget, serialised extensions of the Marvel movies, which had been so dominant through the 2010s. As a TV show, they were intended to feel like a trade paperback collection of comic books rather than a traditional TV show.
They were largely showrun during the earliest stages by the directors rather than the series head writer, which isn’t usually how it is done in TV. This was all in service of the shows feeling more cinematic and less like traditional TV.
But the shows debuted post-pandemic, with a cultural shift underway. They launched at a time where TV series were pushing back against being “a ten-hour movie” and were becoming more like a traditional episodic TV show. Just like in the good old-days.
It didn’t help that they were also being pushed out at a time where public sentiment has it that Marvel had lost its creative mojo. So, releasing a bunch of TV shows that weren’t quite meeting audience expectation at the same time as the movies were failing to do likewise, it left audiences with the perception that the problem at Marvel was too much product.
Too much product isn’t the problem with Marvel – these is rich, vibrant universe of characters and story possibilities. The problem for the TV shows is largely the same problem as the movies have: Despite how rich and vibrant the storytelling potential is, all of these films looked the same with the exact same political and cultural perspectives.
The TV shows had an additional problem. They were just too over-cooked, dour, and lacked humanity.
This week we are seeing the new Spider-Man movie, Brand New Day launching in cinemas. Audiences seem to be loving it. The director of the new film is Destin Daniel Cretton, the same guy who co-created Wonder Man.
Audiences generally liked Wonder Man, but with the show disappearing out of the streaming top 10 after its first day of release, I’m wondering what the completion rate was for the series and how many viewers were recommending the show to friends and family.
The difference between Spidey and Wonder Man is that Spidey is a film about a man dealing with lost friendships and a lost romance that he would give anything to rekindle. Wonder Man is about an aspiring actor who always gets in his own head and blows auditions, while also exhibiting super powers at a time where he is trying to be cast in a new movie about a superhero named Wonder Man.
One a relatable action adventure show about a guy, a girl, and his best friend. The other a meta dramedy about career failure.
Wonder Man is the sort of experimental show that a studio should make when everything else is working and audiences are receptive. It’s not what you release while audiences are wary of your product, while you also have a pretty thin slate.
Superheroes are ultimately about romance and wish-fulfilment. Two thematic areas that have largely been missing from these bloated Marvel shows that have all put a clever premise at the center of its storytelling without delivering the fundamentals.
News Desk
Disney is selling its 50% stake in A+E Global Media (A&E, History, Lifetime and A+E Studios) to co-owner Hearst for north of $1 billion in an all-cash deal. This is Disney getting out of linear. Read: Deadline
Netflix is being sued for $105m after an unencrypted hard drive carrying the unreleased Nicolas Cage/Ben Kingsley WWII film Fortitude was stolen from its Sunset Bronson Studios office. Producer Simon Afram says he spent seven years and $45m on the film; Netflix says it doesn’t own the rights but has taken “extra measures” to support the team, and there’s no sign yet of a leak. Check behind Ted’s couch, maybe? Read: Variety
HBO has picked up Alan Opts Out, a half-hour comedy from Suburgatory creator Emily Kapnek and Rooster producer Bill Lawrence, adapting Courtney Maum‘s novel. They would want it to be good because reviews for a show with a title like that write themselves. Read: Deadline
Netflix and AMC Global Media have struck a five-year, $500m co-exclusive deal for the entire The Walking Dead universe — all six spin-offs and some 371 episodes.. Read: THR
Disney‘s ABC has asked the FCC to reject petitions seeking to deny licence renewals for eight of its stations, calling the proceeding an “extraordinary and unprecedented” attempt to punish the network for programming Donald Trump dislikes and warning that non-renewal would be “outright censorship.” Read: Variety
Paramount+ has greenlit a Clueless sequel series, with Alicia Silverstone back as Cher — now a business owner and mother who feels clueless all over again when her daughter hits high school. The O.C. and Gossip Girl creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage are writing it. Read: THR
Starz and the BBC have greenlit You Are Here, an eight-part adaptation of David Nicholls‘ bestseller starring Claire Foy and Matthew Macfadyen as two lonely midlifers thrown together on a Coast to Coast walk. Read: Futon Critic
Joe Miñoso, who has played Joe Cruz since the pilot, is leaving NBC‘s Chicago Fire during its 15th season. Read: Variety
Christine Romans launches a two-hour daily program, Current, on NBC News Now from 4 August, covering breaking news, politics, business and tech, with a “50 States in 50 Days” affiliate franchise. Read: Variety
Ben Affleck won the $1m top prize on a celebrity edition of the US ABC‘s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, teamed with Jeopardy! champ Jamie Ding, for his Eastern Congo Initiative — a year after Good Will Hunting co-star Matt Damon took the same prize. Read: Deadline
Trailer Park
Cupertino debuts on CBS Oct 8.
A lawyer (Mike Colter) is cheated out of his stock options by his former employer, a tech start-up. Refusing to back down, he joins forces with another recently fired attorney (Rachel Keller) to represent those taken advantage of by the tech elite and help them fight back in a high-stakes battle against the Goliaths controlling Silicon Valley.
Sterling Point debuts August 5 on Prime Video
After discovering she's inherited a remote island in Canada from the estranged grandfather she was never allowed to meet, 17-year-old Annie Jacobson decides to investigate, pulling her into a world of buried secrets, unexpected sisterhood, and the complicated family history she was never meant to find.
Ricky Gervais Alley Cats debuts August 7 on Netflix.
Outrageous misadventures run wild as feral cats cause chaos on the streets in this no-holds-barred animated comedy from Ricky Gervais.
The Ribbon Hero debuts August 8 on Netflix.
When the monstrous Nergal devastates her kingdom, Princess Sapphire reawakens as the Ribbon Hero and fights to save her new home from the same dark fate.
Leanne is back on Netflix for season 2 August 27.
Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes debuts on Netflix August 12.
Tracing Charles Manson's rise as a cult leader, the 1969 murders, and his trial, using unreleased prison recordings, interviews, and archival footage.
Soy Luna: Lets Roll Again is streaming now on Hulu.
At the peak of her professional freestyle skater career, Luna suffers a terrible accident and disappears from the skating world.
That’s the newsletter for the today.
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