The Cape

The Cape is a new series that began earlier this month on NBC. It's the story of a man who is forced to become a vigilante type superhero in order to clear his name and get his family back. With his new mysterious identity, The Cape, he fights the villain and his corrupt police force armed with a fist full of circus secrets that he gets from an underground band of circus thieves? You know those circus types that hide in sewers and rob banks? Never heard of them? Neither have I but that's beside the point. It works for the show and it provides a decent explanation for Vince's secret weapon; his cape. The cape is definitely cool as long as you don't think too hard about all the things he does with it.

Sure, it's all a little far fetched, but I'm not complaining. Superhero movies are all far-fetched if you think about it. Most are much more out there than The Cape. This show tries and succeeds in being a Batman type hero for the small screen.

I watched the first two episodes and my reaction is mostly positive. The show is fun and has enough heart to make me care about the hero and his family. Speaking of his family, I really liked the strong emphasis on Vince's family. One line says it all. Vince tells Max, "My family isn't my weakness, they're my strength."

It's no secret that The Watcher500 is a big fan of Superheroes. I tend to like a little more of the super in my superheroes than is present in The Cape. I prefer Spiderman over Batman because I like the campy spider abilities that Peter Parker has, as opposed to the wiz kid gadgets that Batman uses. My only problem with The Cape is I'd like to see more in the way of real super powers. However, that's more of a personal taste and not an actual critique of the show. Overall, I really liked The Cape. For a television superhero, it's actually one of the best I've ever seen. I think the series has great potential and I'll be watching to see what kind of story lines develop in the future.
My two scores on the Watcher500 scale of 1 to 250 are as follows: 190 for entertainment value, and 210 for moral value. Some of the fighting was a bit gruesome and bloody, but never over-the-top.

The Event

The Event has been one of the more anticipated new shows this fall. I keep hearing it being called the new Lost. Having been a big fan of that show and of this new genre called serial dramas that was practically created by Lost, I've been looking forward to the Event. I've watched the first three shows of the series and I'm ready to throw in my opinion.
The Event is about some supernatural event that took place in 1944. The U.S. government is trying to deal with that event in the present. It's hard to say what that event really was because the show is explaining it a little bit at a time each week. All I can tell you at this point is that it involves 2 plane crashes, 97 people who are not human, and a whole lot of secrets and weird going-ons. This show is swimming in bad or shady characters, while there are only a few good characters to root for. A young couple that gets caught in the middle are very likable, as is the president of the United States played by Blair Underwood.
The Event is action from start to finish. The story is told in a series of flashbacks, flash forwards, and present day scenes. It's not a show you can watch casually while doing the dishes. I like all the action and I really don't mind the dis-joined time line. There's enough mystery unfolded each week to keep me guessing and watching.
However, I do have one major problem with this show. In the 3 shows. there has been very little character development. Sure, you could say it's an an action oriented serial drama, so characters are secondary. The problem with this show is that the characters are barely even there at all. This bothers me because I'm having trouble connecting with any of the characters. Yes, there are some likable characters, but that doesn't mean we care about them. We don't know enough about Sean or his girl friend Layla to really care if they ever find each other again. All we know about the President is that he's good looking, confident. and he has a pretty wife and a son. That's not enough to create an emotional attachment with viewers. It might work in an election but a drama on t.v. is a whole different thing.
If this show fails to build an audience. I'm sure it will be because of the lack of strong characters. Lost was a great serial drama because the producers knew the importance of strong characters. The action on that show never moved forward without digging deeper into the background of at least one member of the ensemble cast.
To sum up; The Event is very strong on action but weak on character. My score for entertainment value is 148 out of a possible 250. My score for moral content is 205. There are lots of shootings but not a whole lot of blood. There have been a couple of messy knife killings. The sex content is almost non-existent so far. My combined score for The Event is 353.
I'm not ready to give up on this show yet. I'd like to learn more about the mysterious group of people and the event. I just hope the producers will start giving us a few breathers in the next few episodes where we can get to know the characters a little better.