Why The CW's Live-Action Powerpuff Girls Failed, According To The Creator
If the long-running success of "Riverdale" and its crazy moments is any indication, the CW loves taking well-known characters and giving them a gritty twist. The series takes Archie (KJ Apa) and the gang and throws them into a Lynchian world of mystery both realistic and supernatural. When an adult version of "The Powerpuff Girls" was announced for the network, it seemed as though they would be given the same treatment.
For the young adult network, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup would be given traumatic pasts in a script full of pop culture references. Mercifully, this show never came to pass. While "Agents of SHIELD" cast member Chloe Bennet was cast as the leader Blossom, the series seemed, by all accounts, to be a disaster. Many elements contributed to the demise of the series, but the original creator of the iconic animated series has some thoughts about the weaker points of the adaptation.
"I had one meeting with [the CW] and I told them, 'When you turn them into adults, they're no longer the Powerpuff Girls because if they're adults, that's just three super girls who don't have to deal with being kids,'" Craig McCracken told Los Angeles Times. "That's a completely different show." The writer has often attributed the success of "The Powerpuff Girls" to the dichotomy of the series. Seeing school girls who have to be in bed by seven demonstrate hardcore fighting moves has always been the show's strength.
Apparently, the script wasn't doing the girls any favors
Craig McCracken wasn't the only person to have a visceral reaction to the CW's version of the characters. Fans too were astounded by what the potential live-action series had to offer. It wasn't just that the girls were older and more worldly. The pilot script had so much backlash against it that the network agreed to retool it.
"The reason we do pilots is sometimes things miss, this was just a miss," Mark Pedowitz reflected, as reported by Deadline. He acknowledged that the tone of the series might have been a bridge too far, going on to say: "You learn things and you test things out. In this case we felt let's take a step back and go back to the drawing board because this is a powerful property, it has engaged a lot of interest and we want to get it right before we put it out."
Fans are likely to agree that the version publicized was not what getting it right looked like. During this debacle, a collection of alleged script pages was leaked on Twitter, earning the ire of many devoted viewers of the original series. Movieweb published the now-deleted tweets, showing just how far from the source material the series appeared to be. Fans were offended at the campy tone and balked at the quality of the writing. This all but made the series dead in the water, a possible blessing for viewers of the original series.