Detroit News on Aquaman Pilot

'Aquaman' a hit at No. 5 on the Web:

Mekeisha Madden Toby / Detroit News Television Critic

It still amazes me what the Internet can do for a failed pilot.

The CW put its prematurely born series "Aquaman" up for sale on iTunes a couple of weeks ago and it debuted in the No. 1 spot.

As of Thursday, the 60-minute superhero drama had dropped to No. 5, but that's still impressive. (A spokeswoman for iTunes says Apple doesn't release how many downloads that equals.)

Could a certain hip HBO dramedy have something to do with the webbed Aquaman's success? No one knows for sure if "Entourage" played a part -- lead character Vince played Aquaman in a fictional movie and passed on the fictional sequel -- but it certainly didn't hurt. I'd like to think that in this cultural zeitgeist, where TV influences the Web, the Web influences TV and both influence movies, anything and everything is possible.

The unknown variable is what will happen to "Aquaman" now. People are clearly willing to pay $1.99 for it, which means they would probably be willing to watch it on television, too.

Al Gough, the show's co-creator, told "Entertainment Weekly" recently that he and his team would be willing to sell the show to another network if one were interested.

Gough, like most of the free world, is obviously familiar with the NBC/YouTube deal that breathed new life into a failed WB sitcom called "Nobody's Watching."

The TV gods could smile on "Aquaman," which starred Justin Hartley, even if no one has picked it up so far.

The CW didn't add the series to its upcoming lineup and says that it has no plans to do so.

The Aquaman Pilot is still getting downloads on iTunes, and is still in the top twenty as of this morning. Hopefully we'll hear more about it soon.