Posted in: Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: animation, craig mccracken, Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, preview, The Powerpuff Girls

The Powerpuff Girls, Foster's Getting Craig McCraken Reboot Series

Published Mon, 18 Jul 2022 13:35:11 -0500

by Ray Flook

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Stop the presses! The Powerpuff Girls are coming back! No, we're not talking about The CW's live-action modern take that crashed and burned (though apparently the concept is still in development). We're talking about animated series creator Craig McCraken (Wander Over Yonder, Kid Cosmic) developing a reboot of the series (as well as one for Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends) for Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe. Viewers will get to revisit the world of Blossom, Bubbles & Buttercup as they face off against a variety of villains comprised of familiar foes and new threats. Meanwhile, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends is set to return as an original preschool animated series, with a new cast of imaginary friends. Sarah Fell, vice president of original kids and family animation at HBSE, will oversee the development of both projects. "The Hanna-Barbera homecoming of Craig was an opportunity we could not pass up," said Sam Register, president of Cartoon Network Studios, Warner Bros. Animation & Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe. "Along with his unparalleled sense of fun and imagination, he's bringing two of his greatest works in 'The Powerpuff Girls' and 'Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends,' and we are so excited for these characters to be a part of the new legacy taking shape at the studio."

In May 2021, we learned that The CW had asked writers & EPs Diablo Cody and Heather Regnier to rework the pilot for Powerpuff, a modern sequel series take on the beloved animated series "The Powerpuff Girls." Chloe Bennet (Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Dove Cameron (Liv and Maddie), and Yana Perrault (Jagged Little Pill) were tapped to play Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup in a modern, live-action take that finds the pint-sized Powerpuff superteam now disillusioned twenty-somethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime-fighting but finding themselves needing to reunite to save the day one more time. Unfortunately, the reworking of the pilot has resulted in Bennet having to step away from the project.

Not long after the news came down that the pilot was being retooled, several pages of what is reportedly the script from the pilot leaked online- and to say that the response was not positive would be a righteous understatement. Amid all of that, The CW's Mark Pedowitz expanded further on the network's call for the pilot to go back to the drawing boards. "The reason we do pilots is sometimes things miss, this was just a miss," Pedowitz explained during Tuesday's network Upfronts call. "We believe in the cast completely, we believe in Diablo and Heather, the writers… in this case, the pilot didn't work."

Revealing that the original pilot "might've felt a little too campy," Pedowitz stressed that the pilot needed to be deserving of its source material when it comes to quality- so getting it right matters. "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," he explained.

Based on the Cartoon Network animated series of the same name created by Cracken, the live-action pilot was written and executive produced by Cody and Regnier. Executive produced by Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and David Madden with Erika Kennair producing, Maggie Kiley directed & executive produced the pilot, with Warner Bros. Television producing.

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