Superheroes in reality (tv)
Reality TV has taken a wacky turn, but I think it’s a turn for the better - at least in some ways.
I am really not a fan of Reality TV in any of its forms. I have yet to watch every episode, or even pieces of every episode of any of the mind-numbingly stupid contests set up to get people to hate each other on national television. Nor have I watched much of the “talent” shows like American Idol or any of its myriad clones. I may make a quick check on any of them when there is nothing else on, even to the point of watching a full episode once in a while, but I just can’t watch any of them on a regular basis.
Until now.
I even hesitate to admit it. It amazes me that I have gotten into this show. Aside from the first 20 minutes of the pilot, I haven’t missed any of it. It feels stupid to say it, but I like Who Wants to be a Superhero. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not what I would call a “good” show, but it has a few things going for it that no other reality show can claim:
- It’s preposterous, and it knows it.
- It’s light-hearted. In fact, it’s all but completely lacking in pathos.
- Backstabbing is all but forbidden, and is likely to get you kicked off.
- It promotes positive, and literally heroic, traits.
- The prize is not money or fame (in the conventional sense).
- Everyone is wearing tights. (Except, thankfully, Stan Lee.)
Let me expand on point 5 for a second. These people are certainly getting their 15 minutes, but the goal is for their made-up superhero characters, not the individuals themselves, to be “immortalized” in a comic book and made-for-sci-fi-TV-movie. Seems less greedy to me.
The show is very funny and plays directly to its audience - a bunch of geeks who have never completely shaken the 6-year-old inside them who ran around the house protecting Mom from evil-doers like Captain Stinkysocks. Everyone on the show knows they look silly running around in public in tights and they frequently laugh at themselves. You’ll hear people intone amazingly cheesy lines like “What is this treachery?!” and “Be a winner, not a weiner.” And they really do seem to know that they are all playing and it’s just a game.
I’m not sure of the schedule, but I think there is only one episode left (3 contestants, with 2 eliminations per show… do the math), so I’m going to make my prediction now on who will be the winner: Feedback will win. The runner up is harder to call. Major Victory (the ex-male stripper) and Fat Momma (whose name speaks for itself) both have traits that could get them to the final elimination. Feedback, though, displays all the “superhero” traits (not the ones listed as important on the show, but the real ones that seem to be common to superheros). He’s earnestly open to criticism when he makes mistakes, his costume looks less stupid than the others, he seems to really try to be moral and honest at all times, and his personal life has some quirks (he’s freakishly organized, except in one room) and trauma (his father committed suicide). He also comes across as more genuine than his competitors.
Now, lest you think I have lost all my marbles: yes, I do know that this is silly and non-important. And yes, it is painfully obvious that the producers of the show have a plan for how it will unfold and have structured the situation accordingly. But it’s funnier than a lot of sitcoms, it’s mostly kid-friendly, and it ultimately has a positive message. So I’m having fun watching it.
Stan Lee, I thought you lost it when you came up with this, and you’re still a goofball who couldn’t act your way out of a paper bag, but keep on coming up with ideas.
Tags: heroes, Sci-fi, tv
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March 18th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
[...] Feedback: A Hero’s Calling Ever wonder what happened to Feedback, the winner from Who Wants to be a Superhero? I don’t know if this is part of the official follow-up to his victory (doesn’t seem like it is), but it was interesting to see that he hasn’t been forgotten. [...]