Harts Lands Trailer Sync For NBC's DC Comics Comedy 'Powerless'

It's not unprecedented to see a trailer misrepresent or oversimplify the series or movie for which it's been made, and we can only hope that's the case for NBC's upcoming DC Comics workplace comedy, Powerless.

More importantly, though, discerning ears will no doubt pick up on a familiar tune — written and performed by well-regarded Aussie musician Harts — soundtracking the short clip released this week to herald the show's arrival in the US next month.

Namely, the video features the singer-songwriter's recent single Power, which has done big business for the decorated multi-instrumentalist since its arrival in mid-2016. Harts can thus follow up his recent role as an ambassador for the nbn and last year's acclaimed full-length, Smoke Fire Hope Desire, with a nice boost to his international credentials. Not too shabby.

As you can see for yourself below, though, the presence of the prodigious Aussie performer may be one of the only truly bright spots of the Powerless sneak peek.

As so many sizzle reels designed to appeal to as broad an audience as possible tend to do, the newly released teaser for the upcoming series arguably hits a bit of a flat note on the humour scale.

Its predecessor — which also features Harts' track, albeit more fleetingly — isn't much stronger, either.

So what gives? This trepidation persists despite the show possessing a quality cast that features Vanessa Hudgens, Danny Pudi and Alan Tudyk, among other beacons of buffoonery, not to mention what should be a rock-solid premise in following the lives of ordinary, everyday people stuck living in the absolute nightmare world that is the DC universe.

Instead of hinting that the show will be capable of delivering on that premise, though, we're treated to a riff on the old "bird/plane" set-up and a splash of honestly pretty lazy physical comedy (the people do love physical comedy, though).

Still, it could just be a case of poor advertising (aside from the smart decision to bring Harts into the equation — no impeachments to be made there). We have, after all, seen brilliant, often thoughtful and otherwise complex shows be reduced to little more than slapstick'n'silliness montages when it comes to commercials and trailers both here and abroad (Futurama and Community are good examples of the tendency in the past, off the top of our heads).

So, it's a strong possibility that Powerless has fallen prey to the same attempts at making a generalised distillation of the program. Either way, here's hoping Harts has picked a winner; we'll doubtlessly find out soon enough, given the show is set to debut in the US on 2 February.

And, hey — given the varied pedigrees of people working on this program, and the ripe base potential for comedic exploitation, we believe in Powerless. For now.