CW confirms our worst fears, orders pilot for live-action Powerpuff Girls
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Not much made sense last year and much of it felt like a fever dream, so the fact that more than a few of us forgot that there was a Powerpuff Girls live-action show in development is understandable. It pains us to say that no, you didn’t imagine things: According to Entertainment Weekly, The CW has officially ordered a pilot for Greg Berlanti’s aged-up Powerpuff Girls. Here’s the premise:
“The Powerpuff Girls used to be America’s pint-sized superheroes, now they’re disillusioned twenty-somethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime fighting. Will they agree to reunite now that the world needs them more than ever? Based on the original Cartoon Network animated series and characters created by Craig McCracken.”
Naturally, nobody asked for this and out of all the countless things CW could turn into the next Riverdale, The Powerpuff Girls isn’t exactly what one would have in mind to be at the top of the list. Getting to see dispirited versions of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup might not sound promising, but here’s something that does: Diablo Cody is a writer and executive producer on the show.
At this point, it seems like every beloved childhood series has been given the “adult” treatment. Archie Andrew’s innocuous high school love triangle’s been turned into a sultry, supernatural show that makes absolutely no sense 99% of the time. Nancy Drew fucks. Sabrina’s the queen of hell. As the EP, Berlanti only continues to bolster his brand with shards of our childhood favorites. Well, here’s hoping the Powerpuff Girls show is more Jennifer’s Body than Riverdale.
That’s not the only pilot CW ordered. There’s also Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship’s supernatural series Naomi, an untitled drama produced by Jane The Virgin producer Jennie Snyder Urman, and a reboot of USA’s The 4400.
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Why are the American people allowing this to happen to our country? — joanie1018, New York, United States, time stamp unknown
Oh I’ve seen this before in the 90s –
and what of the, to quote Mojo JoJo, “pathetic Power Prof?”
He’ll probably have a strained relationship with his daughters. Blossom will likely be the only one who gives him a chance, while Bubbles will be the most hurt by him.
If this goes full breaking bad with Prof as Walter I might be on board.
I hope the show gives us a reunion of the greatest group of villains ever…THE BEAT-ALLS
Ooooh, Diablo Cody could have fun with this.GIVE US USoT S4!!!
It can’t be any worse than the rebooted cartoon.
Please don’t tempt fate like that. I can’t handle something worse than the reboot.
I really don’t like the sound of the “resent their childhood” angle, it sounds like it’s applying cynical real world logic to a whimsical cartoon world. The 2016 series was just bland.
This photo…makes me uncomfortable, haha
Sooooooo many wrong, wrong feelings… in my pants
Ahem. Hrm.HRrrMmm. Ahem.*crowd murmurs taper off. The maestro taps the stand 5 times.*Ahrm.I have the weirdest boner right now.*crowd applauds wildly, throws roses and hotel keys.*——-This has been a presentation of AV Club After Dark: Classic Disqus! edition.
Camila Mendes is the best!
i do not know how i should be responding to thisat all
Well, here’s hoping the Powerpuff Girls show is more Jennifer’s Body than Riverdale.I hope it will deal with the ethical ramifications of Professor Utonium and his irresponsible trend of human experimentation. Even China jailed the CRISPR baby guy, and Chemical X is way worse.
He sells chem X on the streets to rich white kids.
Honestly, I’d enjoy this if it were largely snark.
This still isn’t as crazy as adapting this:and getting this:
This makes me worried about that Netflix Last Airbender adaptation.
Didn’t they cancel that?
I’ve only heard the creators quit, which doesn’t instill confidence
NO.
Here are my guesses: Buttercup spends her free time fighting in an underground super-powered fighting ring, and her girlfriend’s a reporter of some sort. Blossom is trapped in a loveless marriage and is having an affair with Brick or something. Bubbles is a calculating and seemingly vapid social media influencer who takes pills to cover up her crippling depression and has had no meaningful romantic relationships in her life. They haven’t seen each other in years and only meet up after Professor Utonium dies. Guess we’ll see how close I am.
My daughter says the biggest twist they could pull is making Buttercup butch but straight, and having everyone else constantly presume she’s gay.
So, kind of like “The Umbrella Academy” but for Cartoon Network alumni.
Whoa are you suggesting that Bubbles and Octi aren’t going to make it!?
Mojo is the drug dealer supplying Bubbles opioid addiction.
And I’m betting they’ll get actresses who have a large CW fanbase already in order to try and duplicate Walker’s success. Hell, Walker being such a smash hit for the channel (It’s regularly getting 2 million viewers an episode, which only Flash could attain before and that was years ago) probably confirmed this to begin with.
My daughter’s life from ages three to six mostly revolved around PPG. She’s 24 now. I just told her about this and her only question is how soon she can watch it.
Normally I would say…”sure why not”. Yeah, not so much this time. This already sounds awful. Instead, enjoy the sounds of a boss version of the theme, by Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox.
That was dope as hell
I hope Craig cashed a big cheque.
Seriously, that quote of the news release you gave us sounds like something the original show’s creative team would have come up with as a goof for one of their episodes in like 1998.
Funnily enough…
Finally, we’ll see what happens when we get a Bubbles that is truly hard core, like she always knew she could be.
Will we get the corridor fight we need but don’t deserve?
I’m pretty interested in Jennie Snyder Urman’s nun show, as long as it’s a magic realist comedy-drama-sometimes musical, like her earlier series. Quoting from The Hollywood Reporter:The potential series centers on two millennial nuns: one a true believer and the other a new arrival who hasn’t taken her final vows yet. The two strangers become sisters on a spiritual journey to understand their own faith and their place in the Catholic church. And the original working title was gonna be “Cloister F*cked”.
And the original working title was gonna be “Cloister F*cked”.
Sounds like Pokémon porn.
That was where my mind went, too.
The working title obviously got cut because of the swear word. But it’s also funny that some folks raised Catholic, even those non-practicing, wouldn’t be able to say the f-word without feeling guilty, like me.
Everyone Batman knows drops F bombs now. All the ships have sailed.
“Naturally, nobody asked for this and out of all the countless things CW could turn into the next Riverdale…”In fairness, no one thought Riverdale was going to be the next Riverdale.
I thought Riverdale was bonkers awesome for the first couple of seasons, then I really lost interest halfway through last season and gave up on it. Finally ran out of shows to watch last month and went back and watched the back half of season 4 and right into season 5, and am SO glad I did. Basically, the show took the same arc of quality as the OC, I think. Lull in the third season, got rid of some characters, as good as ever now.That said, no way am I watching Powerpuff Girls.
Probably.
I can only imagine how the CW would implement the character “HIM” given that HIM was already a wonderful, insane character for a kids show and with their demonic nature likely would be the same even if the Powerpuffs are adults now. Would the network change anything, go with practical effects (makeup and prosthetics) or CGI? Also, are they going to touch on the fact that Ace from the Gang Green Gang hangs out with the Gorillaz now?
Also, if this is successful *fingers crossed* will we get a live action “Ed, Edd, and Eddy” adaptation? I feel like that would be easier than making the “Powerpuff Girls” live action, budgetwise. Could probably do it on a “Clerks” budget, give or take some jawbreaker expenses.
As long as it’s funny. Berlanti made Legends of Tomorrow funny, so this has to be more so.
Otherwise give it to the people who make The Boys, or in a perfect world Bryan Fuller.
Yeah, give it to Bryan Fuller…so he can work on it for a few months and then storm off over creative differences.
After going 200% over budget.
In a perfect world, he wouldn’t. 😉
It’s a good thing Craig McCracken is preoccupied with Kid Cosmic right now so he can’t see the horrible things WB has been putting his first-borns through.That CG Mojo Jojo is gonna look terrible.
I’m sure he’ll be mortified sobbing into the money he’ll get from this
The guy has gone on record as being pretty upset that the original characters were rebooted a few years ago without any feedback/involvement from him. I’m sure he’s getting paid a pretty penny for all this, but I do think he genuinely cares about his creation too
That’s nice. I’m genuinely happy when creators care about their babies long after it’s been over. I’ve read too many interviews where creators just seem kinda “meh” when their stuff gets rebooted. Or maybe I just want them to feel the same as me, whatever.
Yeah, I doubt he’s getting any royalties from this or that CN reboot
I’m guessing they’ll just get a regular ass human, put him in a suit and give him better-than-layperson-could-do-but-still-not-good chimp makeup/prosthetics.
And PPGs themselves will be normal looking humans, instead of the bulbous eyed, handless and footless human approximations we see in the cartoon.Oh, and we’ll see Ms. Bellum’s face all the time.
Is Diablo Cody’s name attached to a show or movie supposed to mean something today? She had that breakout hit with Juno and followed up with Jennifer’s Body. I guess Young Adult was ok? If they were going to revive a popular kids cartoon into a live-action vehicle, I think Totally Spies, now in their 30’s would’ve been a better premise.
The thing is, you can’t really sex up Totally Spies for the CW audience. The only option available is to make their grab bag of fetish pandering even more explicit than network TV will allow.
because…Totally Spies was already sexed up to begin with?
The CW has an audience?
A choir, yes but an audience?
Tully was underrated, I thought. And people said good things about United States of Tara (though how much of that is down to Toni Collette singlehandedly carrying things, as she always does, is up for debate).
It was also Brie Larson’s breakthrough role, if I’m not mistaken.
Oh, Jesus. Diablo Cody is still a thing?I’ve quote Dr. Evil before in regards to her, I’ll quote him again:“There’s nothing more pathetic than an ageing hipster.”
her movies with Charlize are far different than Juno. people grow with age, it doesn’t have to be pathetic you know?
I don’t care enough about her to find out. First impressions matter, and Juno was the most painfully affected attempt at being hip……homeskillet.
missing out bud. I honestly believe if she wasn’t a woman she wouldn’t have gotten so much flack from so many people for a debut film.
You must also believe, then, that if she were a man she couldn’t have launched a career off being a Midwestern truck stop stripper.
she has lots of hits lol? I feel people love hating on Diablo Coady, and when you compare her to other men in her profession they also only create something every few years.
Young Adult and Tully were great. I never watched The United States of Tara but it got great reviews.
I remember in the mid 2000s, when seemingly every single 70s/80s property was getting rebooted into mediocre to bad movies, I’d think about how sorry I felt for the 80s kids/or fans of those franchises, to see their cherished memories dredged up and run through the Hollywood mill to make soulless product that made you question if the original property was ever good. And then I’d think grimly about how in just a decade or two it would be my generation’s turn.And now it’s here. God help me it’s here. I mean, I know this isn’t the first thing to be pulled from the late 90s for an adaptation different from its source material, but I think this is just the one that struck me as something that should not be and woke me up. Please just seal me in a fucking tomb for the next decade so I don’t have to roll my eyes at every new reboot of something I once loved. When I awake maybe I can watch a reboot of some show that Gen Z is really into, blissfully oblivious of how unhappy they are with the new version.
Live action Paw Patrol will certainly live up to the source material!
So, have they done live action versions of Totally Spies and Kim Possible yet?
Wasn’t there a live action Kim Possible movie? That may have sucked, or simply been completely forgettable?
Both sucked AND totally forgettable. It was incredibly dismal.
“Live action Powerpuff girls”… So basically this?
Is Diablo Cody really worth mentioning? Maybe if you said Coen Brothers or something…
Oh god. “Disillusioned” and “resentful” aren’t words that should be attached to a Powerpuff Girls show.
If they want to do live action, it should be cast with 8-10 year old girls and be filmed firmly tongue in cheek like one of the Disney Channel superhero shows like Henry Danger. Just over the top goofy.
I hate all of this. Cynics vomiting their vileness all over innocence.
I feel like these angstfests that exist solely to say “what if something fun was actually SO EDGY AND DARK” have had less and less of a shelf life. Riverdale was breathlessly hyped and even compared to Twin Peaks (admittedly a show that also had a lot of hype and then a public rejection, but for me a much better one) before completely falling off most radars without about a year. Sabrina didn’t even manage that trajectory, as from the very first season people were uneasy about it. Katy Keene (which I guess was not meant to be dark anyway) was canceled after a season. Nancy Drew has mostly gotten a shrug from people. They have had the opposite trajectory of the CW superhero shows, where Flash built on Arrow’s success and helped create a genre.
Can’t they just leave the poor Powerpuff Girls alone? That bullshit reboot was horrific, and this somehow sounds like it could actually be worse.
Oh, just, no. Please stop.