With McG no longer available to help out producer David E. Kelley in his "Wonder Woman" pilot for NBC, it looks like our Amazon heroine will get a boost from a strong name in the genre.

Jeffrey Reiner -- who directed the pilot episode of the "Battlestar Galactica" spinoff "Caprica" as well as five episodes of NBC's struggling "The Event" -- is expected to take the helm of "Wonder Woman," according to Dateline.

"Wonder Woman," by the way, almost didn't make it. All the major networks passed on the project, citing that the licensing fee asked for by Warner Bros. and DC was just too steep. However, NBC -- desperate to find something on its schedule that can work -- stepped in and bit the bullet to take on the project.

That has since been a bonus for the network, especially since Kelley's other current project for NBC -- the Kathy Bates-starring "Harry's Law" -- has become the network's biggest (and most stable) success this season.

Yet, NBC has a horrible track record when it comes to superheroes and the like. "Heroes" was by far the biggest most recent hit for the network, but that show quickly slipped off the radar, and was unceremoniously cancelled last season. NBC also has tried its hand in other shows -- mainly remakes -- like "Bionic Woman" (with its own "Battlestar Galactica" connections) and "Knight Rider," both of which lasted just single seasons.

Reiner got his big break directing episodes of the children series "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" in the early 1990s, before doing work for "The Sentinel" for UPN in 1996.

His other genre credits include "Evolution's Child" in 1999, "Level 9" in 2000, "Haunted" in 2002 and "Surface" in 2005 and 2006.

No star has been selected for the pilot yet, and even though production will soon be underway, there are no guarantees NBC will pick up the show -- even with all the buzz surrounding it.

Last week, an NBC source told Airlock Alpha that even if there is no series pickup, the network expects to air the pilot one way or another, possibly as a telemovie, and maybe even a backdoor pilot.