Tell-Tale TV Series Premiere Panels: Powerless

NBC’s latest comedy is super-adjacent.

Powerless focuses on normal people in Charm City whose lives are being constantly interrupted by super heroes and villains. While other shows focus on making sure the good guy comes out victorious, Powerless reminds us that the guy whose car just got crushed in the middle of a battle doesn’t really care who won.

See what members of our staff had to say about the premiere, and be sure to join the discussion by leaving your thoughts in the comments!

Our panelists are:

• Lissete Lanuza Sáenz, associate editor for Tell-Tale TV
• James A. Windley, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Christine Laskodi, associate editor for Tell-Tale TV
• Katie Houlis, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Milka Väinämö, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV

Did you enjoy the premiere?

Milka: I cannot believe I am saying this, but I didn’t. After the cast for Powerless was announced, I listed it as one of my most-expected upcoming shows, and now that I have seen the pilot, I must say I am extremely disappointed.

Because I love Alan Tudyk and Danny Pudi, I will give the next few episodes a chance, but overall, I can say that this pilot was MAJOR letdown for me.

Christine: I did! I think it’s definitely cheesy, and sitcom-y, but I tend to like that. I find it comforting, in a weird way. And like Milka said, I adore this cast — Alan Tudyk, Danny Pudi, Ron Funches… that’s a heavy hitting group for me.

Lizzie: No, which is a disaster, considering the first version of the pilot was my favorite thing I screened at SDCC. They re-shot the thing completely and went from a charming The Office-meets superheroes comedy to…I’m not even sure what it’s supposed to be now.

All I know is that the characters are now stereotypes, the best jokes are gone, Emily is bland instead of spunky, and Alan Tudyk’s character has lost any appeal he ever had. PLUS, THERE’S NO ROMANCE.

Katie: I thought it was just okay. I wanted to like it much more than I actually did. The cast is wonderful, but they just don’t have much to work with in these characters.

I know half an hour isn’t a lot of time to get to know them, but I feel like they were barely developed in the pilot. I didn’t really form an attachment to any of them. The entire episode felt weirdly rushed and choppy.

James: My friend actually asked me what I thought of it because we’re both huge Alan Tudyk fans and my answer was “soft pass.” I liked the premiere enough to keep watching, but unless there’s, like, no competition on any other channel in that time slot and my Hulu queue, Netflix queue, and Amazon queue are all somehow magically empty, I’m not going to make time for it.

Lizzie, my guess is that they re-shot the pilot to make it different from Marvel’s Damage Control, which was originally on the docket but is now stuck in development hell, and it definitely showed. So I’ll stick around for one or two episodes to see if it gets better with this turned around concept because I really do love Alan.

What’s the show’s biggest problem?

Milka: There was just way too much going on at the same time, and it is still quite unclear to me what this show actually tries to be about– is it going to be about the superheroes, about the dynamic between the employees at the lab, about the inventions?

Also, Powerless is promoted as a sitcom, but the pilot didn’t even manage to make me chuckle.

Christine: I said it above, it’s a little cheesy. The “maybe someday we’ll work for Batman” *wink wink* was almost too much. I think I need to see more to make a really informed decision about it.

Lizzie: That it was brilliant before, and now it sucks? I can’t separate myself from how good the show was before, I really can’t.

But – I guess the worst part is that the characters are not original, they’re stereotypes that we’ve seen again and again, with nothing to differentiate them from previous versions.

Katie: I don’t really care about any of these characters. Again, I know half an hour isn’t a whole lot of time, but still, by the end of the pilot, I should at least care about ONE person. I also agree with Milka — there is way too much going on at the same time.

James: Like everyone said, Powerless was more Directionless. It felt like everyone was moving from beat to beat without having much fun or providing their characters depth.

Vanessa Hudgens’ character was overly spunky to the point of one-dimensionality, and Danny Pudi was just a ruder Abed. In fact, mostly everyone was just mean and a little bitter.

But why? We know why Vanessa showed up, but why do the rest of them work there, especially if they hate their lives and apparently haven’t invented anything for quite sometime?

Who or what do you want to see more of?

Milka: I expected Powerless to be less about the superheroes and more about the “normal” people who work behind the scenes in a world where superheroes are something the general public is used to. After the pilot, I don’t really know what to say, but I guess in general I would like to see more of what actually happens at the Wayne Enterprises and less of the superheroes.

Christine: I both agree and disagree with Milka. I think it is about the normal people, and that’s what I liked most and also want to see more of.

I like the idea of the people who are annoyed by falling buildings and broken windows because of superhero drama. I think that’s a hilarious concept. We did get that in this premiere, but I want to see even more of it.

Lizzie: Nothing. I want the show to be canceled, so my memory of the brilliant original pilot doesn’t have to be tainted by this…thing. Or, fine, I want more of the Emily of the ORIGINAL pilot. Can we do that?

Katie: It’s not so much what I want to see more of, but what I want to see less of.

Judging from promos and what I had read before the premiere, I was expecting more of an Office-type show that just happened to be set in the DC Universe. I think the comedy would be stronger if they lightened up on some of the superhero stuff and made the references subtler.

I want more of the funny inconveniences caused by the superheroes and less of the superheroes themselves, if that makes sense.

James: Agreeing with everyone, I’d like to see more of how their lives are affected by superheroes without seeing the superheroes. A couple of storylines here or there about someone’s mom being held hostage by Lex Luthor (who is apparently POTUS?? There’s GOT to be something you can do with that!), or like, the guy who got hit with Joker toxin—how’s his day going?

I’d also like to see a bit more interaction between Van Wayne and his secretary/assistant, Jackie.

What was your favorite quote/moment from the premiere?

Milka: The credit sequence. And seeing Danny Pudi, even though at this point I can’t even remember the name of the character he plays anymore.

Christine: Everything and anything that Ron did. The inflatable suit, his Superman kryptonite window, the box of sex robot legs… everything he did and said made me laugh. (Though, to be fair, I’m biased – I’m a huge Funches fan.)

Lizzie: “He was crushed by rubble before he started. I’d like to think of that as God firing him.”

Katie: “You talked to Bruce Wayne about me?” “No, I texted him. He’s hard to reach. But look at his reply!” “‘Stop using my HBO Go password.’”

Also, the opening credits sequence was very cute and clever.

James: Definitely the opening credits. I said aloud, “aw, that’s cute” and was hoping that it would be a glimpse of the show, but alas.

Jackie is probably my favorite character. Unlike the rest of the cast, she managed to be snarky without being overly rude and her lines were pretty great. And the quote that Katie gives made me elle-oh-elle as well.

Powerless airs Thursday at 8:30/7:30c on NBC.

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