‘Hourman’ To Join The CW’s Stable Of DC Comics Superhero Dramas

The CW seems like it's one step closer to being the DC network.

Arrow is already one of the network's top-rated shows, The Flash is on the way, and now, the network is developing a series based on the Golden Age hero Hourman.

Here's how The Hollywood Reporter describes the concept for the series:

Hourman centers on a brilliant-yet-troubled pharmaceutical analyst who discovers that the visions that have plagued him since childhood are actually glimpses of tragic events occurring one hour in the future. Determined to win back his ex-wife and son, he heroically prevents these tragedies from unfolding, finding both purpose and redemption along the way.

Of the three versions of Hourman that have appeared in comics (which include an android from the 853rd century) this version sounds the most like the original Hourman created by Ken Fitch and Bernard Baily in 1940, Rex Tyler, though the magical visions are altogether new. There's nothing in the description about Miraclo, the "miraculous vitamin" created by Rex that gave him the amplified strength and speed he used to battle crime for 60 minutes at a time, but it's interesting to see that the protagonist is indeed a "pharmaceutical analyst." That's the whole basis for the "hour" part of his name in the comics, but this show sort of sounds like a really sped-up version of the 1996-2000 CBS series Early Edition. Hourman fans will note that the hero's son is mentioned in the synopsis, though, which is intriguing as the second Hourman was Rex's son Rick.

The show's got at least one major name working on it. Michael Caleo, developer of the (now-canceled) NBC series Ironside and writer of a fifth-season episode of The Sopranos, is penning the pilot.

[Via ScreenCrush]