Why didn’t the ‘Global Frequency’ pilot work?

  • News
  • December 7, 2010

Many who have seen the rejected pilot for Global Frequency have wondered why it
was never picked up as a series. Having just watched it, I think I can cite one
very good reason.

First, some background. Like many readers of graphic
novels, I am a big fan of the work of Warren Ellis. In particular, I enjoyed
his 2002 limited-run series Global Frequency
, which reads like a post-modern reinvention of Mission: Impossible. Though I’ve had a
DVD bootleg of the WB’s 2004 TV-series pilot for Global Frequency sitting on my shelf for a few years, I didn’t get
around to actually watching it until a few nights ago (completely unaware that,
following the successful feature adaptation of Ellis’s R.E.D., a new pilot for Global Frequency is underway).

The first pilot, which was produced by comic-book scribe John Rogers (now the showrunner on the
acclaimed TNT series Leverage), was a stylish hour of
entertainment. Adapted from the series’ first issue, “Bombhead,” it took a
number of liberties with the concept, but none that I considered ill-advised.
At the heart of the series were Miranda Zero (played by Michelle Forbes) and the
coordinator Aleph (Aimee Garcia).
Fronting the show, however, were two new characters, Sean Flynn (Josh Hopkins) and Dr. Katrina
Finch (Jenni Baird), who
ostensibly were intended to be the leads from week to week.

So, with all that going for it, why didn’t the pilot get
picked up?

There are a number of theories. One plausible explanation
I’ve heard is that the show lost its “rabbi” at the network (i.e., the
executive who championed its production). Such a setback might be enough to
sink any project, no matter how superbly it had been executed. It’s also
possible that, without someone advocating for the show inside the corporate
offices of the network, the series’ per-episode price tag simply was too high
for someone else to risk picking up its banner.

I think there might be another factor to consider,
however: the pilot itself was flawed.
Specifically, the writing staff fumbled the ending.

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