Marvel took its first modern forays into television with “Agents of SHIELD” and “Agent Carter” on ABC. The former ran for seven seasons and had a solid audience even if critics weren’t particularly enamored.
“Agent Carter”, on the other hand, only got two seasons, but the series drew decidedly more acclaim and an even more devoted following but simply never got the kind of ratings for a network series that could keep it on the air.
Hayley Atwell reprised her role of Peggy Carter in the film in the wake of the events of “Captain America: The First Avenger”. In it, she goes to work at the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) alongside Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) and his butler Edwin Jarvis (James D’Arcy). The friendship would lead to the creation of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agency.
Then ABC president Paul Lee was an advocate for the series and gave it a second season, after which it was cancelled. Reflecting on the changed TV landscape now, Lee tells The Wrap he is quite confident the show simply arrived too early to be appreciated and the lack of the ability to truly crossover with the Marvel films hurt it:
“Look, structurally, don’t forget, it was at a time when Marvel movies and Marvel TV were separated. So I think one of the reasons it would do better today is that the platform is used to it. And it would have sat brilliantly amongst those. But it was a great early suggestion of where the Marvel brand could go and very useful to everybody.
I think also were it done today, there would be more synergies between the television and the movies, both creatively, and also in terms of storyline and otherwise. But we were thrilled to do ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ and ‘Agent Carter,’ because they blazed a path that was very profitable for the Walt Disney Company over time.”
The show scored rave reviews for the various performances and period setting and remains available for anyone to stream on the Disney+ service.
