Are we ready for another TV show based on a DC Comics property? Maybe the better question is: Is CBS ready for another TV show based on a DC Comics property?
Yesterday, Variety reported that the network has given a pilot production commitment to Bill Lawrence – the creator of SCRUBS – along with Jeff Ingold and writer Rick Muirragui for a show based on the SECRET SIX, a comic book written by Gail Simone. While the concept of the team was originally created in the 1960s, DC Comics brought the idea back in 2005, during the INFINITE CRISIS period.
SECRET SIX focuses on six villains who were brought together by the mysterious Mockingbird to complete various missions for their master under the threat of death to themselves or the people who they cared for. Simone’s original team was made up of Catman, Deadshot, Cheshire, Rag Doll, Scandal Savage and a Parademon. Other members of the group have included the Batman villains Bane, The Ventriloquist and Harley Quinn, as well as other lesser-known villains like Black Alice, Strix, Knockout, Lady Vic and others.
No word on who will comprise the team, though I’m betting Catman is likely. A lot of members of the team are likely off limits because of ties to other properties. I would think that Deadshot, Bane and Harley Quinn are out, along with the Parademon and probably Rag Doll, since he’s been cast as a character in Season 5 of THE FLASH. I think a team of Catman, The Ventriloquist, Knockout, Scandal Savage, Black Alice and Dwarfstar could make a good TV team, but I fully expect them to pull some people out of nowhere.
Unless they go with the 1960s and 1980s teams of people I’ve never heard of. Even then, they should include Catman. He’s a fun character.
But the reason this is a WTF post is the production. The creator of Scrubs doing a comic book based show? And for CBS? The network was the original home of SUPERGIRL, for just one season, before it moved to the CW to join the rest of the Arrowverse shows. CBS seems like such an odd fit for something like this, especially since the DC Universe streaming app is up and running and about to debut its first original show this weekend.
It’s an interesting proposition, and I hope it works. The stories Gail Simone told in her SECRET SIX books were amazing, and I wish she was still doing miniseries for the characters. But the combination here doesn’t sound like something that will get too far off the ground.