Multiple Hollywood trade sources are reporting that NBC is passing on David E. Kelley’s TV series reboot of Wonder Woman. The Wonder Woman pilot had more buzz than just about any TV project for the upcoming season, but reports indicate that a network screening of the pilot episode directed by Jeffrey Reiner (see “Jeffrey Reiner to Direct Wonder Woman Pilot”) “went poorly” according to The Hollywood Reporter and Entertainment Weekly.

Inexplicably the network appears to prefer to keep another David E. Kelley series, the basement-rated Harry’s Law starring Kathy Bates, on the air rather than take a gamble with the higher profile Wonder Woman remake. 

Warner Bros., the parent company of DC Comics and producer of the Wonder Woman pilot, did manage to create a controversy with the release of pictures of Ms. Palicki in an “updated” costume, the salient features of which appeared to be disco-style leggings and boots (see “A First Glimpse of the New Wonder Woman”). Reaction on the Net was so negative that the studio decided to give the Amazon warrior at least three different costumes (see “Warner’s Tweaks Wonder Woman Costume”).

But fanboys shouldn’t beat themselves up over this cancellation. In the end it was less about fan reactions to costumes and more about the network’s unwillingness to gamble on a remake. Although the rebooted Hawaii Five-0 has done really well this year, recent remakes of shows that have much more in common with Wonder Woman, such as the Bionic Woman and Knight Rider, have been conspicuous failures. It appears that the network decided to roll with a low-rent loser (Harry’s Law) rather than make a showier play for a series with more potential upside but, which if it flopped would have been a much more conspicuous failure. But really, choosing Kathy Bates over Adrianne Palicki?