Alpha Dog

In the wake of "Heroes" (great season one, awful season four - totally cancelled), "No Ordinary Family" (OK, but totally cancelled) and "The Cape" (diabolical, and thankfully also cancelled), I was somewhat surprised to learn that there was another "what if real people had powers" TV show on the block.

And so we have "Alphas", where a middle aged, experienced professor leads a team of young people with superpowers on missions to protect the world (or America, which in TV terms, is the world). So far, so X-Men right? Err...right. Wish I could say that it's not that, but it seems that making a carbon copy of X-Men is exactly what the producers are aiming for. Sure it's more grounded in reality than the comic, but the premise is identical.

On the plus side, it does have David Strathairn as said professor. He's clearly taken some time out from wishing us "Goodnight and Good Luck" to make some cash through a "sell-out" TV show. And good for him I say. God knows, I'd sell out if it was me.

As for "Alphas", I'll give it a few more before I pass judgement.

The Capes of Wrath

Special congratulations to TV show “The Cape”.

Everyone has their Achilles heel when it comes to films. You know, the genre/type of movie that you will forgive almost anything in. For my wife, it’s eighties movies; she absolutely loves them. One of my friends has a penchant for Ray Harryhausen. For another it’s violent sporting movies (“Kickboxer”, “Best of the Best” etc). For me it’s superheroes. You have to work exceptionally hard to make me dislike something that is based around superheroes.

I freely admit, I’m not the best judge when it comes to that sort of film. I saw “DareDevil” at the cinema AND got it on DVD, that’s how willing I am to lose myself in a superhero story. Heck, I’m a vociferous supporter of the “Fantastic Four” movie (the first one anyway, I’ll concede the second one is lame). I even have “X-men: The Last Stand” in my DVD collection.

Which brings me to “The Cape”.

Even with the excessive amount of goodwill that I’m bringing to the table with regards to Superhero related enjoyment, The Cape still managed to bore the hell out of me. Was it the bad acting? The dire storylines? Or the fact that the creepy guy from “Requiem for a Dream” was the only character I was rooting for? Was it the inclusion of Summer Glau, who seems to be the kiss of death for any TV show now.

I really wanted to like this. “A weekly show about a superhero...surely it can pick up from where Smallville has left off”, I thought to myself. To quote ‘Mad Dog Tannen’ from “Back to the Future: Part III” – ‘You thought wrong.’

I’m glad it got cancelled. There I said it.