Series Review: "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." (2013-20).

"Not all heroes are super" in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. This television series created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen, based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D., and produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television. The series was set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and it acknowledges the continuity of the franchise's films and other television series. Agent Phil Coulson from the film "The Avengers" returns to lead a small, highly skilled group of agents into the field.

In 2009, after The Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel Entertainment, they announced that a Marvel Television division was being formed under Jeph Loeb. In July 2012, Marvel Television entered into discussions with ABC to make a new series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In early August, Joss Whedon was announced to be involved in the series' development. Whedon had written and directed the successful MCU film The Avengers (2012). At the same time, Whedon, along with his brother Jed and sister-in-law Maurissa Tancharoen, met with Loeb to pitch him their idea for the series, with meetings in the following days with ABC Studios and ABC network. In late August, ABC ordered a pilot for a series called S.H.I.E.L.D., to be written and directed by Joss Whedon, with Jed Whedon and Tancharoen also writing. Disney CEO Bob Iger greenlit the series after watching the Marvel One-Shot short film Item 47. In April 2013, ABC announced that the series would be titled Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. In May 2013, it was officially picked up for a full season of twenty-two episodes. Jed Whedon, Tancharoen, and Jeffrey Bell served as the series' showrunners. Joss Whedon assisted them before he started work on the sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). In May 2014, the series was renewed for a second season. In May 2015, the series was renewed for a third season. In March 2016, the series was renewed for a fourth season. In September 2016, discussing the eventual end of the series. In May 2017, the series was renewed for a fifth season. The writers intended for the final episode of the fifth season to serve as both a season and series finale, with some elements that could be adjusted based on whether the series was renewed for a sixth season or not. Despite this, in mid May 2018, the series was renewed for a sixth season. In November, the series was renewed for a final seventh season.

The series stars Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Nick Blood, Adrianne Palicki, Henry Simmons, Luke Mitchell, John Hannah, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Jeff Ward, David Conrad, Ruth Negga, Saffron Burrows, Bill Paxton, Patton Oswalt, Kyle MacLachlan, Dichen Lachman, Edward James Olmos, Spencer Treat Clark, and Powers Boothe. The performances were generally acceptable, and I even warmed a little to the rather obvious and predictable charms of Gregg and company, but there was no spark evident in anything that went on.

Even as the show sounds like other TV shows and movies, it is also utterly strange, its premise literally ridiculous and intriguingly metaphorical.

Simon says Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. receives:

Also, see my review for The Avengers and Agent Carter.