Well, that was quite a neck-breaker. The Wonder Woman pilot script that we first wrote about in October seemed doomed to a life on the shelf after it failed to greenlight at any network and the writer, David E. Kelley, appeared to distance himself from the project. But just a few days ago, Kelley revealed optimism about the amazon princess' chances on television, and his suspicions were confirmed when NBC picked up the pilot last week.

The Wonder Woman news is characterized by industry observers as a surprise given recent turnarounds in NBC management, but the success of Kelley's Harry's Law on the network apparently hastened the decision to produce the pilot based on the DC Comics heroine.

We wondered in October whether Kelley's trademarked "exasperated and high functioning women entangle themselves in variously scandalous corporate shenanigans" approach to drama -- as exemplified in popular series like Boston Legal and Ally McBeal -- may or may not be a good fit for Wonder Woman, who in the comics is a regal and god-like princess from a mystical island of amazons and really not anything like a overstressed single female lawyer. Deadline reports that the nature of Kelley's script isn't quite either:

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.

A previous meeting of Princess Diana and the medium television in the 1970s was a major success for everyone involved, not least of which being star Lynda Carter, who remains a beloved figure in pop culture and fans' most popular choice to play Queen Hippolyta, Diana's mother, in any live action project based on the characters.

It will be interesting to see how this new project plays out, and whether the Wonder Woman pilot will be picked up as a series. In the meantime, you can get your live-action Wonder Woman fix in A Date with Diana, courtesy of Funny or Die.

[Via Deadline Hollywood]