"The Cape" is in the Batman genre; people don't as much have superpowers as much as they have abnormal qualities. The main character apparently has a past as a Special Forces op in the military, and thus is an effective martial artist with a variety of fighting skills. The abnormal properties of the cape give him some extended abilities, and his learning of magic escape and deception tricks give him another effective quality. The villainess Dice was a human statistical
calculator. Other characters have extensions of circus performer capabilities. The entire show takes place in a venue called "Palm City" that isn't any particularly real place (but does kinda look like LA).
So suspending reality isn't as hard as for say, Superman or The Flash or even Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
But "The Cape" isn't doing well, and I think there are reasons for that. For one thing, right now, the main character (Vince Faraday/The Cape) is too virtuous. He's driven by revenge and to get back to his family. I.e., there isn't a lot of internal conflict. So the outcome is pretty much decided right now; he'll probably defeat the bad guy and get back to his wife and son. Not
much dramatic tension, or otherwise. The character of Orwell, Web-savvy crusading blogger, played by Summer Glau, has shades (she's likely to be the daughter of the chief villain, Chess, who is also the mayor of Palm City), but still is too much of a do-gooder. The circus troupe that gave The Cape his start is better, as they rob various things to supplement their minimal performance income. The rough-and-ready dwarf is one of the best characters on the show.
As Chess, James Frain brings dramatic bonafides to the role.
I'd like to see it continue, hope against hope, so here are a couple of ways
to make it better, maybe.
1. Serial format ("Tune in next time, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!")
The campy 60's Batman show did this -- every other week was a true serialized cliffhanger format, a time-honored format back to the silent movies and the Perils of Pauline. "The Cape" should take a chance, since they need to get ratings, and revive the serial format. Don't wrap it up at the end of the hour. Put the hero and some of his friends in dire unescapable peril at the
end of the show and then wait a week until the resolution is revealed, and try like nuts to not let spoilers out on the Web.
2. Romantic tension
Because The Cape is so motivated, and so heroic, he doesn't have romantic tension. There is no "will they/won't they?" question. So I think they should set it up. It should look like (externally) that Vince's wife has moved on; The Cape should see the buttoned-down lawyer boss in a towel in her bedroom because he spilled chicken soup all over himself and had to change (maybe into some of Vince's old clothes). And he should see his son apparently having a good time with the lawyer boss, too. Vince is a masculine type, has those masculine needs, and in his despair he could be drawn to the young and needy Orwell, who is young, abnormally hot (this is Summer Glau, after all), and needing a father figure due to abandonment. Will they or won't they?
3. Guest stars
It may be too late, but maybe they could bring in a guest star with some appeal to the sci-fi/fantasy crowd; the kid from Kick-Ass, or Adam West, or Tobey McGuire. Long shot? Maybe. But it still might get attention.
In terms of the most successful recent superhero TV shows, Lois and Clark, The New Adventures of Superman, capitalized on romantic involvement of Lois & Superman as a running theme! Smallville has different romantic high school entanglements, an attractive young cast, and also considerably lower ratings expectations on CW. The Incredible Hulk, with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, utilized an ongoing serialized story (the quest format, Bruce Banner's quest for a cure for his Hulkdom, and pretty good acting from Bixby).
Some commentary from others:
http://features.metacritic.
http://www.tv.com/the-cape-
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