Who Wants To Watch A Superhero?
Just now I checked out the SciFi Channel website and got to see the new list of contestants on the second season of "Who Wants To Be A Superhero?", which starts on July 26th. I have to say, there are some pretty good identities included in there. I don't know if anyone will be able to top Major Victory though. That was some classic shit. But I will be right there watching each and every episode, because it's just too funny.
I'm hcurious about how this season will stack up with last year's, because of the producers knowing right from the start of production just how this show will be played. The problem with Season 1 was that I think when they started production on it, they were trying to treat it as a serious reality game show, just with a superhero theme connected to it. Thus there were many "overly dramatic" moments that you might've been able to buy when it was Survivor and tensions grew during Tribal Councils... but not so much when the people involved were wearing spandex. And on top of that, the reasons for elimination from the game were pretty dubious all things considered, and it kind of harmed the legitimacy of the actual show. After all, when you eliminate someone from the competition only because he didn't like the giant plume hat he was given when costumes got "enhanced" by the production staff and he spoke up to say "this is butt ugly"... and Stan Lee then tells him like some superhero prophet from on high that "sometimes as a hero you have to deal with ugly situations as best you can and not complain about them"... it's hard to treat the game as legitimate. And that was just one of a number of pretty lame reasons to eliminate people.
So when it came time to edit the show together from all their footage, I think they discovered that it would be completely impossible to treat the show with a straight face. As a result, they ended up playing up the absurdity of the show, turning it somewhat farcical, and making it more of a satire of reality game shows than a legitmate one. The "overly dramatic" moments were edited to be even more over the top, the eliminations and subsequent Stan Lee dialogues were made even more broad, and the whole thing became a joke. Which was fine! I think it needs to be. You can't have a reality show about people pretending to be superheros and treat it like it's Amazing Race. It's stupid, it's silly, and it's funny as hell... just so long as we are all in on the gag from the beginning... which I don't think was the case for the producers when they started filming.
And thus for Season 2... with producers knowing full well ahead of time that this is actually just a trifle of a reality series with tongue planted firmly in cheek... they'll be able to go even further above and beyond the hyper-reality of the show and really go wild with it. I'm looking forward to what kind of stupid-ass shit they make these people do, all in the name of being heroes. Because truth be told... I found a competition from last year's show of heroes having to cross a backyard while being attacked by two german shepherds to be one of the funniest things I saw all year. If this year's show can duplicate that kind of humor... then they are in good stead.
Excelsior!
I'm hcurious about how this season will stack up with last year's, because of the producers knowing right from the start of production just how this show will be played. The problem with Season 1 was that I think when they started production on it, they were trying to treat it as a serious reality game show, just with a superhero theme connected to it. Thus there were many "overly dramatic" moments that you might've been able to buy when it was Survivor and tensions grew during Tribal Councils... but not so much when the people involved were wearing spandex. And on top of that, the reasons for elimination from the game were pretty dubious all things considered, and it kind of harmed the legitimacy of the actual show. After all, when you eliminate someone from the competition only because he didn't like the giant plume hat he was given when costumes got "enhanced" by the production staff and he spoke up to say "this is butt ugly"... and Stan Lee then tells him like some superhero prophet from on high that "sometimes as a hero you have to deal with ugly situations as best you can and not complain about them"... it's hard to treat the game as legitimate. And that was just one of a number of pretty lame reasons to eliminate people.
So when it came time to edit the show together from all their footage, I think they discovered that it would be completely impossible to treat the show with a straight face. As a result, they ended up playing up the absurdity of the show, turning it somewhat farcical, and making it more of a satire of reality game shows than a legitmate one. The "overly dramatic" moments were edited to be even more over the top, the eliminations and subsequent Stan Lee dialogues were made even more broad, and the whole thing became a joke. Which was fine! I think it needs to be. You can't have a reality show about people pretending to be superheros and treat it like it's Amazing Race. It's stupid, it's silly, and it's funny as hell... just so long as we are all in on the gag from the beginning... which I don't think was the case for the producers when they started filming.
And thus for Season 2... with producers knowing full well ahead of time that this is actually just a trifle of a reality series with tongue planted firmly in cheek... they'll be able to go even further above and beyond the hyper-reality of the show and really go wild with it. I'm looking forward to what kind of stupid-ass shit they make these people do, all in the name of being heroes. Because truth be told... I found a competition from last year's show of heroes having to cross a backyard while being attacked by two german shepherds to be one of the funniest things I saw all year. If this year's show can duplicate that kind of humor... then they are in good stead.
Excelsior!