“A Little Too Campy and Not Rooted in Reality”: ‘Powerpuff’ Reshoots Pilot for Live-Action Adaptation of ‘The Powerpuff Girls’

by Conan Simmons – June 22, 2021 – 9:48 pm

Popular animated series ‘The Powerpuff Girls’ is getting the live-action remake treatment but not without a bump in the road. Originally planned for the 2021-22 Fall season, now the show looks like it won’t air until early 2022.

The CW network, home of most of the series adapted from DC comics, is currently in production on the pilot episode for a new series entitled ‘Powerpuff’. It is an update of the highly successful cartoon series that will feature the three superpowered Powerpuff Girls now in their 20’s and dealing with growing up.

The new series is being executive produced by Greg Berlanti, who oversees most all of the DC comics shows on the CW from ‘Supergirl’ to ‘Batwoman’ and more, so we can expect a very similar tone as the CW doesn’t vary widely from show to show keeping the overall concept of the channel consistent.

‘Powerpuff’ is starring Chloe Bennett as Blossom, Dove Cameron as Bubbles and Yana Perrault as Buttercup.

Most fans may know the stars from previous television success. Bennet was previously seen as Quake on the hit show ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’. Dove Cameron was a star of Disney tv shows. Yana Perrault previously starred on the Broadway stage in the musical ‘Jagged Little Pill’ and will be making her screen debut with this series.

‘Powerpuff’ is being penned by Oscar winning screenwriter Diablo Cody and Heather Regnier. Director Maggie Kiley is also an executive producer for the series.

The problem that caused the pilot episode into reshoots emerged when a copy of the script leaked online via Twitter. The script is horrifically cringe inducing and does not bode well for the series. However, the script leak is not being blamed for the reshoots.

“The reason we do pilots is because sometimes things miss, and this was just a miss.” CEO of CW Mark Pedowitz said without confirming the authenticity of the leaked script. “Because we see enough elements in there, we wanted to give it another shot,” giving reason why the network is not giving up on the series.

As to why the reshoots in the first place, Pedowitz said “Tonally, it might’ve felt a little too campy. It didn’t feel as rooted in reality as it might’ve been.”

The original cartoon series, as created by Craig McCracken, focused on three laboratory created superpowered little girls who flew around beating up villains like the brain-helmeted Mojo Jojo. Hard to imagine it as campy and not being rooted in reality.

The leaked script focused more on them being in their 20’s and with a bit too much focus on their sex lives plus dialogue that seemed more like poorly written fan fiction hoping to stir up controversy by using terms like “woke”. The authenticity of the script has not been verified but it’s hard to believe a competent writer, much less an Oscar winner, would have penned it.

Personally, I don’t believe the leaked script to be real because if it is they have a lot more problems than being “too campy” and “not rooted in reality”.