Agents of Shield SEASON ONE (1 - 7)

The one hour live television series format of Agents of Shield was derived off the shoulders of Clark Gregg.  From day one, when his friend Jon Faverau called him up directly, back in 2006 to discuss a part in his next film project called Iron Man, Gregg would spend the next six years appearing in 4 of the 6 marvel phase one films.  The catalyst that created an ocean of popularity predates the theatrical release of the Avengers movie.  On September 13^th 2011, The DVD release of Thor with the Marvel One Shot featurette, followed by the October 25^th, 2011 DVD release of Captain America: First Avenger Marvel One Shot featurette .  Drew fan chatter over their love for Phil Coulson, the initial intent of the one shot was to give an additional connection to the films beyond the post credit scenes. According to Joseph Loeb the President of Marvel Television at the time; social media and fan reaction brought an active discussion of bringing forth a television spin off with Joss Whedon  at the helm;  who was in the midst of editing the Avengers movie, and who was also a seasoned veteran of creating television content.  The powers that be decided to craft out a way to continue the mythology of storytelling on a weekly episodic television series, while continuing to keep pace with the ever changing landscape of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

 On May 4^th, 2012 fans where a gasp at the demise of Coulson, a new wave chatter began, a movement of disbelief, t-shirts would appear at the varied conventions and comic-cons ,displaying ‘Coulson Lives’.  On November 2012 at the New York Comic-Con, Joseph Loeb made an appearance and with a standing room audience he gave a sort of eulogy for Agent Coulson with a presented video highlight reel.  It was at the end of the presentation when Kevin Feige and Joss Whedon made a surprise live streaming video appearance to the fans, indicating that Coulson lives and he will be back in his own television series. Marvels Agents of Shield. This announcement began a full one year build up before the release of the series in the fall of 2013. The premiere day on ABC had the largest rating in network history at that time of 13 million views for the pilot episode, and 22 million by the end of the week when streaming and the Sunday replay airing was tabulated

The first several episodes gave us a small glimpse of each character, and understanding of their role in the team; but it was in episode six called Fzzt, when the show began to show heart.  Fzzt differs tremendously in the writing and action. The plot and over-all story gets concluded within the first thirty minutes of the episode and unbeknownst to the viewer.  What we are given real stakes; a member of the team gets infected, that is our Mcguffin, and it becomes the actions, motivations, and interactions amongst themselves, with that hanging sense of dread that becomes compelling story. The villain of the week, the special effect or gimmick is put aside to have real human interaction and storytelling.  The series has built up just enough back-story and exposition for us to now be invested in these characters.  On top of episode six, the entire first season has been fueled by a giant mystery box, that a legion of fans have been wanted answered since May 4^th 2012, How did Agent Phil Couslon survive after the battle in New York or is that the real Phil Coulson?