New TV show previews!

So, Heroes got canned. Depressing, yes, but it would be a lot more depressing 3 years ago when it was, y'know, GOOD. True, I've heard good things about this past season, but they fooled me with Season 3, too, promising awesome things the first few episodes, then turning into suck. Still, the loss of a genre show is disheartening, no matter how terrible the writing got. (To think, Jeph Loeb's tenure as writer marked a high point for the series!) Still, when one door closes another opens; likewise, when one show gets canned, two new ones fill in the gap. Let's take a look at the respective trailers....

No Ordinary Family (ABC): Ooh, Michael Chiklis. Promising start. However, though some are calling it The Incredibles sans costumes, to me, it looks like your generic family drama, just with superpowers instead of cancer, teen runways, or whatever you need to generate interfamily conflict. It's typical of many post-modern super stories- take the powers but put them in a "realistic" context and setting. It'll probably mention certain tropes to set up a gag, then get back to the family stuff. Now, in fairness, who knows where it'll end up. They might add in other superpowered people down the line. And, ABC has proved me wrong in the past; when the trailers for Lost aired so many years ago, I was all, "So it's like Gilligan's Island, only serious? Yeah, that'll tank."

I'll probably give it a shot, mostly because Julie Benz is adorable, but if its timeslot conflicts with another show, I'll skip it.

The Cape (NBC): Whoa. That trailer's almost a bait and switch. It starts out looking like a crime drama, with a little mystery and a mask thrown in. Maybe they'll do a costumed version of The Fugitive. Despite the scene with the comic at the beginning, it looks like it'll be gritty, with no powers or flamboyance to speak of...

And then the circus folk show up.

"Carnies!!! WTF!!!"

That's when Realism apparently said, "I'm running out for a bit; see ya in an hour or so." In fact, this show seems to revel in absurdity. Whereas Batman Begins had to resort to lots of technobabble to explain the cape, this show's magic cape explains it with spider silk. Either you've got a lot of spiders, or one of those mutant spider-goats. And yet, I DON'T CARE.

It goes further. It seems as if the writers threw in every imaginable genre trope they could think of for his origin. He's a good, law abiding man in a town where corruption reigns, he's framed for a crime he didn't commit, he's presumed dead, and he's upset (presumably) over the loss of his family. I bet it turns out he's an orphan too.

They even loaded up the cast to make sure I give a damn about this show. Summer Glau, Vinnie Jones, the midget guy from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and... Keith David?!? *SWOON* I don't think Mr. David has been in anything that I haven't liked. Well, the Spawn animated series, but that was more the fault of Todd McFarlane.

Bottom line: The Cape has filled me with an unhealthy amount of nerdish enthusiasm. If NBC were a woman, I'd be wolf-whistling right now.