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The Cape - season 1 (1 Viewer)

Patrick Sun

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NBC is premiering "The Cape" tonight at 9 p.m., and re-running it tomorrow Monday night (its episode will air on Mondays) at 9 p.m. as well.


Another super-hero-ish show from NBC, hope it's entertaining. NBC ran some promos featuring Summer Glau as somewhat of a sidekick for The Cape character.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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At least this is a full on superhero show. I'd rather have a superhero without the powers than the powers without superheroes.
 

dmiller68

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This show interests me. It looks gritty which is the kind of superhero movie I like.
 

Michael Harris

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From the New York Times. I think they liked it.



NBC has tried and failed with comic-book NBC has tried and failed with comic-book narrative before in its defunct series “Heroes,” whose labyrinthine plot and overpopulated cast eventually drove viewers away. “The Cape” is far more economical in its storytelling, far less weighted by its own mythologies and a much better time. Someone in network land as learned a lesson.

http://tv.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/arts/television/07cape.html?ref=television
 

Adam Lenhardt

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I was pleasantly surprised. The cheesy parts were no more cheesy than the promos made them out to be, and other areas of the show were more sophisticated than I expected. After seeing shows like "Heroes" and "No Ordinary Family" run away from their comic book roots, it's sort of nice to see a show that embraces all of that and literally is a live action comic book. I was a little confused by the chapter titles, since many of them had little if anything to do with the segment that followed.


Keith David was a standout as the self-amused ringleader of the circus band of thieves. David Lyons does a good job of carrying the show in a very thankless role. He plays Vince as a very serious dude, but one that isn't above having a laugh at his own expense. There was a nice balance between presenting a person, as a former cop and special-ops soldier, that you could suspend your disbelief and buy surviving out there and someone with a long way to go before his persona is perfected and his moves are down pat. Jennifer Ferrin reminds me a bit of Virginia Madsen as Vince's wife. Summer Glau's digital wizard is also more interesting than she appeared at first glance: she's smart, but she's also obviously rich and has her own reasons for taking on a secret identity. "Orwell" is a bit too on the nose for someone who watches everything, but it goes down a little better knowing that it's a pseudonym and not a writer trying to be too clever by half when naming her.


While this premiere owed a lot to the two Nolan Batman pictures, I thought it was an interesting twist here having a home city that looked sparkling and clean, with the rot just under the surface. The establishing shots look glamorous, and then the camera takes you into the dark, gritty corners of that facade.


So far, so good. It's not Shakespeare, but I'm pleasantly surprised. It should make a good block with "Chuck" starting a week from tomorrow.
 

Patrick Sun

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It was okay, will give it a few more episodes, probably watch it through its 8-episode run before "The Event" returns, and then NBC will decide to air the remaining 5 episodes when a spot opens up on their schedule, depending on the ratings, I suppose.
 

Vaughan Odendaal

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Man, that was awful. The writing and acting was dreadful, the show made no sense whatsoever. So basically this guy who is a human being can jump from roof top to roof top and can survive being dropped off a tall building, BECAUSE ? He can vanish into smoke, BECAUSE ? The Cape's mentor is a crook and robs banks and also can train cops to be super hero's ? His first appearance with our hero he wanted to cut his fingers off and chop his head off too. The next time we meet him ? He is the new father figure. It was ridiculous how quick the transition phase was.


The action scenes between Check Mate and the Cape ? Man, that was campy. It screamed cheese. Seriously, 'I am the Cape'. I cringed when I heard that for the 5th time. 'One man can make a difference !!!!!". WTF ? A complete rip off of Batman. I'll give this show another episode but I can't imagine it will last a full season.
 

Joe_H

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I don't know, I'm kind of wondering what those of you who hated it so much expected...


I mean, sure it was cheesy at parts, but I don't know how you could get the impression that this would be anything other than light and mindless.


I enjoyed it for what it is, and agree that it'll fit well in a block with Chuck... but I wouldn't be upset at all if/when it gets cancelled either.
 

Vaughan Odendaal

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The show doesn't know what it wants to be. I mean, one minute it's a comedy, the next minute it's all dark and serious and then it's extremely campy which kind of offsets the dark and serious tone from before. It's like a freak show (pun intended). I honestly thought this show was a comedy when the circus brigade entered the picture. When the circus freaks broke into the bank I really didn't know what I was watching to be honest.


There were so many 'WTF' moments in this show. In a matter of minutes the main character is a master of hypnosis (this is a 'WTF' moment all in itself) and can catch objects at extreme speeds, surviving a fall from a building, crashing into a taxi and seemingly surviving (how one learns to absorb the impact of such a fall is beyond me), the list goes on and on. There was no justification for any of it. The transition phase from being totally out of his depth to being a master of the cape was just too quick.


The fight sequences were, well, campy, but not in a good way. It was cringe worthy. 'I am the Cape'.....well, 'I AM CHECK MATE'..spinning his little digitized chess board. It's like Batman and Robin in the 1950's. Come on.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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I agree with Joe; what were you expecting exactly? The concept is inherently a bit cheesy. I disagree that the show made no sense.

Originally Posted by Vaughan Odendaal

The transition phase from being totally out of his depth to being a master of the cape was just too quick.

To be fair, he was a special-ops soldier during his time in the military; it's not like he's an ordinary street cop learning all of this from scratch.


At the end of the day, the dividing point's going to be between people who can embrace the pulpy cheesiness of it all, and those who can't get over the ridiculousness of it all.
 

Garrett Adams

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It was much better than I was expecting, especially from NBC. I'll stick with it as long as it delivers what I saw last night.
 

LarryH

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I think it could fly, with a dollop of salt, but to be true to it's comic-book aspects, in my opinion, the production and photography should be more stylized. Watching it in video-realistic high definition just doesn't seem compatible to me. They should spend a bit more on post-production.
 

Mikah Cerucco

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Vaughan, just so you don't think you'are alone, I disliked it too, except I will not be giving it another chance. There's no objective criteria for taste, so it's going to be pointless for the two factions to argue over it. Those who liked it? Cool. Those who didn't? Also cool. I am, however, curious what the 2nd and 3rd week ratings will look like. What did I expect? Nothing. What did I hope for? An entertaining superhero story. It didn't entertain me.
 

mike caronia

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Jan 15, 1999
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Just brutal. And this is the type of show that is geared for someone like me.

Used to read comics, like action/sci-fi type shows...but this was just plain hard to watch.

Anyone know what kind of ratings it got Sunday night?


Kills me that all the shows I love get canned, bet this one will live for 5 seasons.
 

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