September 17th, 2008
No Heroics: Now That (is Possibly) How You Do Superhero Comedy on TV
Warren Ellis reports seeing the first 3 episodes of a new superhero comedy show called No Heroics. The three and a half minute trailer (seen below) sold me.
This trope has been done with varying degrees of success. For a long while you couldn’t trip over a new comic that didn’t play up the ideas for laughs. I recall two movies via Hollywood that even attempted to pull off the “superheroes are ordinary” angle.
THE SPECIALS, a James Gunn creation that I’ve not had the pleasure of seeing.
MYSTERY MEN fell short in so many areas it can’t really be called good without sneering a little.
On TV we had/have:
The Tick. The animated version was a jewel of win. The live action version, that never got a chance to shine thank you very much Fox, had more than enough laughs inside to satisfy your average fanboy or mainstreamer.
HEROES had a decent stab at being intriguing the first season. After that second season, though, the less said about Heroes the better.
THE MIDDLEMAN does not deal with a world of superheroes but it does include a heavy dose of comic book evil that must be fought. How I kept from geeking-out all over this show on a daily basis is proof of my superhuman ability to horde all the good television and not share them with the world. I keep them in various trees around my backyard. From time to time, I lose track of some shows. They sit buried in cold earth forgotten and alone. Maybe they’ll sprout into marvelous Bushes of Serial TV and my entire complex will gather round them and watch the strange synergy of nature and technology unfold before them.
But that’s a silly idea. I don’t even have a back yard.
NO HEROICS (he says with trepidation) looks like they made all the right moves. You folks in Britain can watch it on ITV2 this Thursday at 10:30 PM. If it turns out to be as good as advertised, you(see british citizens) should watch it on the TV. It’d keep the ratings high and NO HEROICS on the air.
Elsewhere in the world, other means of non-heroic enjoyment will surely be available hours after each show airs.
Am I missing any other shows or movies where Superheroes roam the Earth in mass quantities? Drop a note and let me know.
