Originally Posted by
simbob4000
No, the whole selling point was: Marvel TV show...from the guy that made Marvel's The Avengers. The show being about characters that feel so unimportant to the goings on of their "world", and the show just generally being terrible, is likely why it was hemorrhaging viewers. You could also say the selling point was getting to see this spy organization that's been popping up in action, but instead of following characters that seemingly matter...you know, like stuff usually does, where just following some Z team. Following a Z team wouldn't need to be a bad thing, Brooklyn Nine-Nine does this, but that show also understands it's about a Z team.
I said nothing at all about the show needing to be about pre-existing characters. Although the idea that they would run out of material fast if it were that is silly, like they couldn't just make up things for them to do.
Coulson was never an everyman character. He was Tony's straight man, he was the guy unfazed by everything he saw...everything. Then Whedon came along and messed that up by making him a bubbly Cap fanboy, and giving him quippy things to say, and just making the character kind of goofy.
Yeah, they had great foresight. It's why nothing at all happened for most of the first season. I know Winter Soldier was something that changed the show, but that doesn't mean nothing should have been going on before.