NBC Picks Up David E. Kelley's 'Wonder Woman', Michael Patrick King's Drama

Wonder Woman will fly this pilot season after all. New NBC entertainment president Bob Greenblatt capped a day of high-profile pilot pickups with a surprise order to David E. Kelley's Wonder Woman reboot. Additionally, he formally greenlighted another hourlong project from an A-list showrunner, Michael Patrick King's Mann's World. Both shows hail from Warner Bros. TV. Meanwhile, the commitment to the J.J. Abrams/WBTV-produced drama Odd Jobsstarring Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn, whose script came in very late, is being rolled to next season when it will be applied to the same or new Bad Robot project. And Greenblatt has passed on the Josh Schwartz/WBTV supernatural drama Ghost Angeles starring Rachel Bilson.

WBTV took Kelley's Wonder Woman spec out to the networks in the first week of January. At the time, NBC was the most interested but, with Greenblatt still on the sidelines, the network couldn't commit to the type of license fee that the studio was seeking in order to do the show Kelley had envisioned, and WBTV decided to shelvethe project. With Greenblatt now firmly taking the reins and Kelley just delivering one of the most promising new series for NBC this season, Harry's Law, NBC stepped up to greenlight Wonder Woman. The project is described as a reinvention of the iconic D.C. comic in which Wonder Woman -- aka Diana Prince -- is a vigilante crime fighter in L.A. but also a successful corporate executive and a modern woman trying to balance all of the elements of her extraordinary life.

Mann's World, which King will also direct, is a one hour drama following the complicated life of Allan Mann, a celebrity hair stylist in glamorous Los Angeles as he navigates the complexities of his business, his family life, and his goal to stay relevant in a world that moves quickly. The project is already casting.

The orders for Wonder Woman and Mann's World come hours after Greenblatt greenlighted musical pilot Smash, based on an idea by and executive produced by Steven Spielberg.

BREAKING: Angela Bromstad To Leave NBC

   In the first executive fallout from the pending post-merger restructuring at NBC, Angela Bromstad, primetime entertainment president for the network and sister studio UMS, will be leaving. She told her staff about her departure this afternoon. There had been rumblings that Bromstad may not be part of the new NBC programming team under new entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt after the Comcast/NBC Universal merger is completed next week, but Comcast's November announcement of NBCU's post-merger executive structure made a point of listing her as staying on.
(There was a potential scenario, in which Bromstad would take over her old job of running UMS should Greenblatt decide to give it more autonomy.) 

   If she hadn't left on her own, Bromstad would have probably been pushed out within the next week or so, sources said. Greenblatt had reportedly been telling people that Bromstad "will be gone within 48 hours" of him starting at NBC. The latter will now probably happen next week when the Comcast-NBCU merger is finally approved. And in another sign that she was probably not going to factor into NBC's future executive plans, Bromstad didn't hold a Q&A session at TCA last week. This is the second time Bromstad leaves a top NBC post after a new chairman is brought in. In 2007, she was pushed out as president of UMS when Ben Silverman joined the network and moved to London to run NBCU's U.K. production office. She was brought back 2 years later in the aftermath of Silverman's exit. Bromstad's departure streamlines NBC's creative hierarchy, with Greenblatt in full control of the network's programming. 

   The move also fueled a new round of speculations about former Showtime SVP original programming Danielle Gelber or 20th Century Fox EVP Jennifer Nicholson-Salke possibly joining NBC. While a Gelber appointment is considered unlikely, Nicholson-Salke, who is now under contract at 20th TV, could eventually join Greenblatt though not right away, sources said. In May, Bromstad would have celebrated her 15-year anniversary at NBCU. She joined the company in 1994 as director, miniseries and TV movies. After a five-year stint in the longform department, she moved to series, serving as VP series at NBC Studios, SVP drama for NBC and eventually co-head and head of UMS predecessor NBCU TV Studios. 

Here is Bromstad's email to her staff:

Today I wanted to let you know that I'm leaving NBC Universal. I cannot possibly sum up my thoughts and emotions in an email but suffice it to say I have tremendous respect for the company and for the people with whom I have had the privilege to work with and know during my time here. I take great memories and friendships with me and I wish you all the best going forward.
Angela Bromstad