The DU Lounge

Nobody watched it this past season, and NBC just sort of stopped running episodes in the middle of everything. It was my kind of superhero show, with the protagonist not quite in control of his powers. The storyline was pretty good, too, and I wasn't sure where it was going to go.

Thumbnail sketch: Hero is a cop, who is set up to be killed in an ambush. The bad guys are actually in league with the city administrator, a private contractor offering Robocop style security to a crime-ridden city. Hero escapes ambush, but is presumed dead, leaving behind a grieving wife and son. Wife goes back to work as a deputy DA, and through that job comes into contact with some of the elements of the ongoing story of the hero. Hero is taken in by a criminal gang posing as a traveling circus. Here he is bestowed the title Cape, a gadget of all kinds of hidden powers, requiring skill and practice to master. As The Cape, he begins fighting back against the city's corruption. He also occasionally pays nocturnal visits to his "widow" and son in costume to give them encouragement (The Cape is a Green Hornet- or Batman-style comic book hero whose exploits are faithfully read by son). There is a series of bad guys (Scales, the Liche, etc.), all with weird powers to be faced each week.

Another interesting wrinkle was that the crooked administrator/contractor had a hidden personality "Chess" who masterminds the criminal empire. But Chess is in turn controlled by his therapist (played by Elliott Gould). There were many layers and many story threads being juggled, but the series ended abruptly when Chess's security forces raided the traveling circus, hero's best friend is killed, and the circus and The Cape have to flee for their lives.