With ABC president Paul Lee speaking to the press today at the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour, questions naturally arose about the Marvel Comics projects in development at the network.
Said Lee, "We're extremely excited by having Marvel in the fold. We've developing aggressively both AKA Jessica Jones (based on the Brian Michael Bendis comic book series, Alias) and The Hulk. Hopefully we'll have two very good choices to look at around the pilot season next year."
Referencing ABC's new shows this coming season, which include a couple more genre series, Lee remarked, "We were having a lot of fun this summer when I took my two sons to Comic-Con and they actually enjoy my sessions, which never happened when I was on ABC Family, because I was there with The River and Once Upon a Time. But yeah, if we got The Hulk my kids would finally be proud of me."
Guillermo del Toro talks about The Incredible Hulk TV series
I asked Lee about the fact that still, Hulk – which Guillermo del Toro and David Eick are developing -- was quite a shift for ABC, with their focus on female-centric series. Replied Lee, "The network, yes, it's got this core target of shows like Revenge and Desperate Housewives and Pan Am, but we do family entertainment, I believe, more naturally than the other networks. We have more co-viewing [family] shows – something like 13 out of the top 20. Once Upon a Time is a really family entertainment show."
"Family entertainment, Hulk is a classic example of it," remarked Lee. "You remember No Ordinary Family wasn't our best moment and yet it was the highest co-viewing show of the year. So I absolutely think there's room. I think Charlie's Angels is an example of it. I think Last Man Standing is an example of It, for great family entertainment. And that's a sort of wider band around our central target."
That wasn't all Lee had to say about Marvel on ABC...
Click here for his surprising news about a Marvel character appearing on an ABC series already on the air
