Why super hero shows don't make "good tv"

First of all, I want to go on the public record in the pro-superhero television category.  I grew up with Superman, Spider-man, Batman, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four as household names.  Recently, a friend was shocked to find out that I STILL read comic books today (thanks in part to a generous grant from the Texas A&M library and the purchases of some comic geek in their employ).  He said, "I don't know of any men your age that still read comic books; I thought they were for kids."  Then he asked a question I had never considered, "Why do you still read them?"

At first, the audacity of the question shocked me.  Why read them?  Only because they are some of the best stories in fiction on the planet Earth, duh.  However, after a moment's pause, I stated, "they are my old friends, and, like any other friend, I like to keep in touch with them."  He bought it and I bought it too. 

So, that brings me to today's sad, sad topic, though: why super heroes fail to make the transition from the printed page to the boob tube with all of their costumed glory.  Here are the top four reasons that my heroes will never be the heroes of television executives, the Nielsen ratings, or the greater television audience:

4. Shows about superheroes are either marketed toward children or toward the realist adult

Heroic drama suffers from poor marketing.  Personally, I think that the adaptations of comics work well in both the animated and live-action genres.  Script writers, sadly, can't find the healthy balance between the humor and heroism of life however which is what is at the core of the super-hero genre anyway.  Hence, super hero shows are either too childish or too realistic in attempts to garner the largest audience share.  A better solution would be to create a child's show that speaks to adults or an adult's show that children can watch.

3. Superheroes are expensive

The cost of producing, animating, filming, and financing a super hero show are enormous.  First of all, you have to have credible actors and actresses (either voice or live) to convey the sense of super-human without being super-dramatic.  And, that costs money.  Poor acting strips the characters of what they need the most: credibility; the audience (unless they already have a proclivity toward the fantastic) can only suspend disbelief/reality so far.   Poor quality theatrics kill off most super hero shows before they start. 

Second, the inevitable cost of super powers.  This feeds into poor acting: poor conception, animation, or demonstration of super powers destroys the sustained disbelief needed to feed super hero drama.  However, once again, the almighty dollar often turns the fantastic into a flimsy display of mediocrity.  They are called "super powers" because they are supposed to look "super."  If your production budget is low (as most super hero dramas are) then you are doomed to poor special effects, poor ratings, and early cancellation.


2. Super heroics suffer from genre expectations

The easiest way to explain this is to use a show that I personally did not watch but am familiar with (but not a great fan of).  People can buy into 7 seasons about a plane crashing on a mysterious island, a Man in Black, time loops, and the Others because there is no expectation of what the show is, what the show is supposed to be, or how it is supposed to end.  Of course, we all know, I am talking about Knight Rider. 

Anyway, superheroes, on the other hand, suffer from genre expectations.  They are supposed to be super, heroic, have an evil villain (or league of villains) to fight, have some sort of origin and some manner of secret identity, lair, or both.  Super hero shows fail because they cannot escape their expectations of their audience.  We all know, instinctively, what a super hero is and what a super hero isn't.  Trying to break the mold, so to speak, only occurs rarely and with varied success.  Hero shows fail because we fail to let heroes grow, change, adapt, or not adapt according to our own notions of what it means to be a Wonder Woman, Daredevil, Green Lantern, or Thor.

1. We don't believe in heroes anymore

This is the sad state of the world we live in today.  I'm am an optimistic realist; I see the evil in the world but choose to highlight the good, the true, and the beautiful.  Super heroes represent the best that we have to offer as human beings: nobility, purpose, self-sacrifice, courage and commitment.  Super heroes fail on television because we (the American society) give ratings to the base, the depraved, the filthy, the crass, and the self-indulgent.  Our super heroes didn't lose touch with us; we purposely chose to lose touch with them and what they stand for.  We don't want super heroes; we want Jersey Shore.  That, that is what makes "good television."

I love super heroes, I love what they stand for and what it means to be a super hero.  Super heroic drama makes poor television because it is a reflection of our poor moral state, not a reflection of what super heroes have to say to us today.  That being said, there are many great adaptations of the genre for us to enjoy, but often, we have to look up in the sky and out of the moral morass of our lives to see the super passing us by...