Likes and Dislikes about Lynda Carter Wonder Woman

[Stanlos]

What are your likes and dislikes about Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman/Diana Prince?

Namely, the budget. 70s Things are going 70s their things, so the other problematic stuff was very much of the times which really showed once season 2 hit. But build-wise, I believe the show and especially Carter's approach to the character and the Amazons themselves are the best and worthy of porting into the books

[kcekada]

I like most everything about season 1 on ABC set in the Golden Age. I dislike most everything in the shows that aired on CBS set in modern times.

[DisneyBoy]

And yet they talk about the second season of the show as if it all "clicked" and became more successful...when it really lost all the elements of Wonder Woman. I've seen and read interviews where the folks behind the series act as though it all came together finally after the move. As if bowing to the trends made the show better.

There was more WW stuff in the first season than the second and third combined.

I supremely dislike that they didn't feature the Cheetah when there were multiple versions to choose from. She has an easy costume. Why not include her?

And weren't they also trying to bring in someone to play Nubia before the network jump messed it up?

[HestiasHearth]

The Silver Swan character wasn't created until 1981 (or '82?) after the series had been cancelled, but I agree that she would have been a welcome addition to the show. Who could have played her? It might have been neat to see Cathy Lee Crosby in that role!

Oops. I stand corrected.

I can totally see, especially in the context of this seventies show, Silver Swan being a famous disco or pop singer (Donna Summer and Linda Ronstadt come to mind) able to psychically control the masses with her voice as well as being able to pierce someone's eardrums in a fight.

If I were to cast a contemporary of Lynda's as SS, I think that either Tanya Roberts or Cheryl Ladd would have been cool as SS. Or Lynda's own Partners In Crime co-lead Loni Anderson! Why not?

[Mysterious]

And yet they talk about the second season of the show as if it all "clicked" and became more successful...when it really lost all the elements of Wonder Woman. I've seen and read interviews where the folks behind the series act as though it all came together finally after the move. As if bowing to the trends made the show better.

There was more WW stuff in the first season than the second and third combined.

I supremely dislike that they didn't feature the Cheetah when there were multiple versions to choose from. She has an easy costume. Why not include her?

And weren't they also trying to bring in someone to play Nubia before the network jump messed it up?

There was only Priscilla rich cheetah when the show aired in the 70s. Deborah Domaine the second one was created in 1980.

[wonder39]

And yet they talk about the second season of the show as if it all "clicked" and became more successful...when it really lost all the elements of Wonder Woman. I've seen and read interviews where the folks behind the series act as though it all came together finally after the move. As if bowing to the trends made the show better.

There was more WW stuff in the first season than the second and third combined.

I supremely dislike that they didn't feature the Cheetah when there were multiple versions to choose from. She has an easy costume. Why not include her?

And weren't they also trying to bring in someone to play Nubia before the network jump messed it up?

Re Nubia, the rumors were that Teresa Graves was thought of for the role, which was supposed to have happened if the series had stayed on ABC ( along with the 40s setting). ABC lagged on obtaining the show for it's second season and it went to CBS, where they dumped all the vintage stuff as it was too pricey ( costumes, cars, etc)....

I think regarding Cheetah, it might have been too goofy for audiences even back then. Maybe harkening a bit to much to the more comic Batman series from a few years earlier? I think they could have worked around that, by having her lean more " Priscilla" in cheetah prints, etc vs full costumed Cheetah

[Mel Dyer]

DISLIKES ON 70s TV WONDER WOMAN...

1. NOT bringing back the fabulous Jessica Walter, as Gloria Marquez, re-imagined as Diana's archnemesis, ..a power-hungry daughter of Baroness Paula and some Argentinian revolutionary, named Marquez!

2. NOT retaining Steve's secretary Eve Welch (Eve 'Brown' in the comics), to be developed into Diana's hip, black GF and occasional adventure companion.

3. NOT bringing back and including Beatrice Straight, as Queen Hippolyta, and the Amazons in more stories.

4. NOT giving Diana some flesh and blood people to love, protect, worry about and fight for - thus welcoming a greater emotional investment in the show, from all of us. My idea? Diana, Steve and Eve might have made an entertaining ensemble

5. NOT giving Steve a struggle or dark secret, that Diana can help protect him from. My idea? Steve's family, the Gaults, are sinister billionaire industrialists, with world domination ambitions and obsessions with destroying Wonder Woman and corrupting Steve - ala, Manchurian Candidate. The family's controlled by a disembodied, telekinetic BRAIN ..and Steve's sinister, WASPy mother. At the start of Season Two, it's revealed that Steve enlisted in the US Military to get away from them, and Diana vows they'll never get him back!

LIKES...

1. Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman

3. Cloris Leachman, Carolyn Jones, Beatrice Straight as Queen Hippolyta - loved them ALL! Of the three, I think Straight's tone was best for a frequently recurring part in a TV series, with the other two actresses possibly being too much.

2. Not bringing back Wonder Girl, because WG was too much

3. Ted Shackleford as Bryce Candle, the Man Who Couldn't Die

[DisneyBoy]

Wow. Steve's family dabbling in the occult Did that ever happen in the comics? Kind of a funny concept...

I'm not super familiar with the timing of character's debuts, so if Debbie wasn't around yet, then okay, they could have used Priscilla Rich. And don't tell me that would have been too campy - did you see that Bug Lady character they invented? Or the Gorilla WW had to fight? LOL! Yeesh.

I am really curious what plans were in the works for the 2nd season, like this business with Nubia. How would they have handled her? Would there have been more Nazi villains, or more comic villains? Would Drusilla have returned? Would the romance with Steve have gotten more serious?

It's a shame they didn't get two seasons in WWII before having two seasons in the 70s, just to balance things.

[Mel Dyer]

Wow. Steve's family dabbling in the occult Did that ever happen in the comics? Kind of a funny concept...

I'm not super familiar with the timing of character's debuts, so if Debbie wasn't around yet, then okay, they could have used Priscilla Rich. And don't tell me that would have been too campy - did you see that Bug Lady character they invented? Or the Gorilla WW had to fight? LOL! Yeesh.

I am really curious what plans were in the works for the 2nd season, like this business with Nubia. How would they have handled her? Would there have been more Nazi villains, or more comic villains? Would Drusilla have returned? Would the romance with Steve have gotten more serious?

It's a shame they didn't get two seasons in WWII before having two seasons in the 70s, just to balance things.

The Bug Lady was Dr. Janus, aka Formicida.

Actually, something like 'evil, occult Steve' did happen in the 70s comics, when Steve became something called the Dark Commander, ..a demogorgon, who threatened to conquer and destroy the world, with his demon armies. The Dark Commander arc didn't involve Steve's family, though, because, since WWII, ..no one's bothered to give him much of a background. The Gaults and 'Gault's Brain' specifically are a sinister industrialist family, introduced in one of the greatest episodes of the CBS series - no relation to Steve, though.

[Koriand'r]

The Bug Lady was Dr. Janus, aka Formicida.

Actually, something like 'evil, occult Steve' did happen in the 70s comics, when Steve became something called the Dark Commander, ..a demogorgon, who threatened to conquer and destroy the world, with his demon armies. The Dark Commander arc didn't involve Steve's family, though, because, since WWII, ..no one's bothered to give him much of a background. The Gaults and 'Gault's Brain' specifically are a sinister industrialist family, introduced in one of the greatest episodes of the CBS series - no relation to Steve, though.

https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Tracy_Trevor_(Prime_Earth)

[Robanker]

Corny, but it made my mom happy. That's worth enough for me to be eternally nice to the show. She had a hard life, so anything that cheered her up (Lois and Clark being another example) gets a lot of slack from me as a result.

It's very loosely based on Wonder Woman, and while Lynda was spectacular for that iteration (and, my god, was she lovely. Hell, still is) the show is very uneven.

I can't name specifics since it's been a very long time since I sat through it, but maybe that means it's time for a rewatch.

[Gaius]

Corny, but it made my mom happy. That's worth enough for me to be eternally nice to the show. She had a hard life, so anything that cheered her up (Lois and Clark being another example) gets a lot of slack from me as a result.

It's very loosely based on Wonder Woman, and while Lynda was spectacular for that iteration (and, my god, was she lovely. Hell, still is) the show is very uneven.

I can't name specifics since it's been a very long time since I sat through it, but maybe that means it's time for a rewatch.

The WW'77 comics (by Mark Andreyko) and the team-up with Batman'66 are actually pretty decent reads if you don't feel like going back to the show.

[kcekada]

I don't think we'd ever have seen Cheetah in full costume, but Priscilla could have been brought in and told the same basic story. Cheetah was an enemy because of her treacherous actions -- not because she was ever someone who could challenge Diana in a fight. I still feel that way about her today -- she's not in Diana's class.

The people running the show may have been slightly embarrassed by the comic book aspects of the ABC run. But without it, the show just became more about espionage -- and much less interesting. It was basically trying to be Diana Prince: Wonder Woman -- the same mistake made by the Cathy Lee Crosby movie that preceded the Lynda Carter version.

I recall my entire family liking the WWII era stories. None of them felt the same about the modern era. I think that modern era could have worked if they had retained some elements of Wonder Woman -- aside from just the character and Steve Trevor (even though he was the son of the original). The Bionic Woman was a very enjoyable series from this era -- largely based on espionage. But it had better stories and supporting cast.

[WonderScott]

Likes
Lynda’s portrayal of Diana.
The Wonder spin transformation.
Andros
The Skrill
Zardor
The IADC
Diana Prince’s chic 70s fashion.
The Diana Prince identity.
Gault (I love a brain in a jar villain and this one had an eyestalk to boot!)

Dislikes
Lackluster villains and no classic Wonder Woman foes… but that’s the 70s for you.

[DisneyBoy]

Also, plots involving kids. Wasn't there an episode about a roller-coaster? I mean...why Were they trying to make it more of a kids show and that was their way of doing it? Because a lot of the plots involved gangsters and spies and rather boring adult types...but then you'd have some really juvenile kids stories in there too.

Also, they had a tendency as the show went on to only bring in Wonder Woman in the last minute, to just tie the bad guys up. Who wants to watch an hour-long show without the title character in it until the last 60 seconds??

I'm especially disappointed they didn't write a finale of some sort. The show was obviously transitioning away from the Steve/Diana stuff in the last season, so maybe they could have wrapped that relationship up. I mean...they had Diana buddying up to the son of Steve Trevor, with whom she was in a romantic-ish relationship...and then...nothing?

Lyle obviously wanted off the show, but to have Diana sort of pursuing a father and son...and to make that narrative choice and then leave it unresolved? It goes to show they had no plan as to what they were writing.