Superhero TV

[ken_schneyer]

I heard on Escape Pod that the Union Dues series may be coming to television. The prospective producer, Doug Nabors, posed the following question about superhero television series, to help him pitch this one properly:

Historically, costumed hero shows have failed, or have been perceived as juvenile camp. Why have they failed? What content/story/

Comments

[madderbrad]

I've never heard of this 'Union Dues'; sounds interesting! I went to your referenced 'Escape Pod' site (by the way, your link doesn't work off the bat), found an article about Union Dues there and clicked on the link to the 'Official Union Dues Web Site', but the site isn't 'live' yet, they're still working on it. Can you refer me to anything more about it? Is it a podcast serial?

Clark Kent is a more interesting character than Superman.I don't know about that; I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have spent years of my life reading an endless stream of comics about a mild mannered reporter

[siblingcreature]

It's interesting to see arguments here for what makes each side of a superhero character interesting, but I suppose what it comes down to is that regardless of which guise they are in at any given moment, they are still the other character at the same time. Its not the fact that they are a superhero that is interesting, nor the vagaries of the life they lead when they are not being a superhero, but rather its how these aspects interact with each other.

That being said my favourite characters were never superheros so I suppose that I'm not the best person to talk about the appeal of such characters. I tend to prefer those who are regular people but still manage to do great things, or those with power or abilities with that have specific limits, or is offset by handicaps in other areas... Monk... MacGyver... Jessica Fletcher... Xander Harris... Chuck Bartowski... Topher Brink... you get the idea. :-)

-SC