Today was perhaps the biggest day in DC Comics’ television history as three of that company’s comic books landed pickups at The CW and NBC.
Not to be completely outdone by the competition, Marvel Studios’ first TV series, “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” has reportedly been renewed for a second season. On top of that, ABC has also ordered “Agent Carter,” a period Marvel series focused on Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) from Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
The “Agent Carter” series was inspired by the Marvel One-Shot short film, Agent 47, which took place in the ‘50s immediately before Peggy Carter became one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D. and its first director. “Agent Carter’ will take place in 1946, shortly after World War II as Peggy takes on secret missions for Howard Stark while maintaining her administrative cover at Strategic Scientific Reserve, a covert organization.
It’s widely expected that “Agent Carter” will premiere near midseason in the “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” time slot to minimize any repeats and skip weeks before “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” reclaims the time slot early in 2015. ABC initially floated that strategy for the “Once Upon a Time” spinoff, “Once Upon a Time In Wonderland.” However, ABC ultimately abandoned that strategy and “Wonderland” was one of this season’s casualties.
“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” suffered ratings declines throughout its freshman season as it struggled creatively and went up against the “NCIS” juggernaut at CBS. However, “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” has tremendous value to Marvel, Disney and ABC as a marketing platform for the Marvel Studios films. For the second season of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” only The Avengers: Age of Ultron is scheduled to come out during that time frame. Therefore, it’s likely that “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” will heavily promote that sequel and possibly tie into it.
ABC will officially announce the rest of its series pickups later this month.
