Will AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D Live Up To The Hype?

Amid hype and growing excitement for the forthcoming television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. a larger question remains: Will the show deliver? And even bigger than that, will it crossover to the regular, everyday TV viewer who may not be a fan of the superhero flicks from whence it was plucked?

TV chief at Marvel, Jeph Loeb, says that the hype alone, although huge and gaining momentum, may not be enough to make it a hit on television. The show must appeal to a larger audience, not just those of us who follow every Marvel movie that comes out with passionate interest, but also the remaining majority who don’t even know what S.H.I.E.L.D is.

Casting has a lot to do with Marvel’s hope that the show will crossover to a larger audience. The main characters that have been cast are in their upper 40s and early 50s in order to make them more relatable to the average prime time audience, which is 53.4 years of age. Two of the main characters, played by Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson) and Ming-Na (Agent Melinda May) are easily recognizable by this age group, as well; Gregg was on The New Adventures of Old Christine and Ming-Na was on ER.

The show is also going to stay focused on characters and relationships, which many primetime viewers of ABC’s shows have come to expect. Both romantic and platonic relationships will fill the show, giving it a personal complexity, on top of the classic action/adventure fans of Marvel love.

From the teasers, commercials, and other leaks, it appears to be a theatrical quality series made for television. But a big budget doesn’t necessarily equal success. We’ll see if the steps taken by the producers and the network spell out a crossover success story.

-Erin M. Truesdale

References

Burlingame, R. (2013). Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Has to Prove Crossover Appeal, Admits Loeb. Retrieved from: http://comicbook.com/blog/2013/09/08/agents-of-s-h-i-e-l-d-has-to-prove-crossover-appeal-admits-loeb/