‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Headed to Pilot, Has Whedon All Over It

Less than shockingly, ABC has approved a pilot of exactly the show we thought they would, although for some reason they went with the guy who directed the billion-dollar-grossing movie than our preferred horse in this race.

Joss Whedon will be co-writing it with Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen and also possibly directing. And it’s going to happen fast, too: Writing is starting immediately and it’s likely a pilot will be ready as a midseason replacement in 2013 at the absolute latest.

I’m of two minds about this. I’m not sure how Whedon’s TV shtick will hold up. Yes, Buffy was great. It also went off the air nearly a decade ago.

Let’s all take a minute to feel old.

Anyway, Whedon has shown himself to be a capable film director and writer; The Avengers was the best thing he’d turned out since the Buffy episode The Body and has pretty much set the guy, at least for a while, as a major Hollywood director.

But will his sensibilities translate to something that’s basically going to be a cop show? And how much leeway will he have? We’ll find out soon enough.