If we pause to take inventory, some might agree with me that TV has enough dark, brooding superhero series these days.
Examples: Gotham, The Flash, Arrow, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Legends of Tomorrow.
I'd include Supergirl, but that series at least tries to have some fun each episode.
The exceedingly dark and weird Legion, based on the Marvel Comics print version, arrives Wednesday on FX. And coming down the road this year will be Iron Fist, The Defenders and The Punisher on Netflix, and The Inhumans on ABC.
That's a lot of superhero drama. What we could use is a little superhero comedy. And now we have it.
Powerless, which can be described as delightfully goofy, premieres at 7:30 p.m. today on NBC immediately following Superstore. It's a hoot, and you don't have to be a superhero nerd to enjoy it.
The comedy, based on characters from DC Comics, features bubbly Disney Channel High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens as Emily Locke, a young woman from a small town who lands her dream job as director of research and development for Wayne Security, a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises.
Wayne Enterprises. As in Bruce Wayne.
The company specializes in products that help defenseless (or "powerless") citizens feel a little safer in a world where superheroes and villains crash, smash and battle all around them, and massive collateral damage is a daily byproduct of living in Charm City.
Example: Crimson Fox and Jack O'Lantern are fighting in the pilot, derailing trains, smashing into skyscrapers and flinging fireballs around like spitwads.
Emily is full of spunk, pluck and big ideas, but her new boss, Bruce Wayne's cousin Van (Alan Tudyk,Firefly), wants nothing more than to leave the R&D subsidiary behind and move into the big Wayne Enterprises headquarters building.
Emily's team includes:
Teddy (Danny Pudi, Community), who spends most of his time creating stupid pranks.
Jackie (Christina Kirk, A to Z), Van's long-suffering personal assistant.
Ron (Ron Funches, Undateable), the information technology guy who is gung-ho on all things dealing with superheroes.
Powerless is told not from the point of view of the superheroes or villains, but from the poor civilians who have to live their lives while all this mayhem carries on around them.
And it may be unfair to keep referring to Hudgens only as the star of High School Musical. The actress is all grown up now at age 28 and has had a variety of roles, including a stint on Broadway, since her big break.
In Powerless, Hudgens seems perfectly cast as a sort of modern-day Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore's beloved character), coming to the big city full of grit and moxie. Think of Powerless not so much as a superhero series, but an offbeat workplace comedy, just like Superstore, The Office or Parks and Recreation.
• Training Day. CBS has re-imagined the 2001 movie that starred Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke and come up with a new action-packed, blood-and-bullets, adult crime drama featuring Bill Paxton and Justin Cornwell.
Training Day premieres at 9 p.m. today following Life in Pieces.
The series begins 15 years after the events in the movie and stars Cornwell as Kyle Craig, a young, idealistic officer assigned to go under cover as a trainee with rogue detective Frank Rourke (Paxton), the antihero head of the Special Investigation Section. SIS hunts Los Angeles' most dangerous criminals.
Craig's secret assignment is to spy on Rourke for the higher ups and report on his morally ambiguous methods, in which he believes the ends justify the means. Drama ensues.
Others on the SIS team are Rebecca Lee (Katrina Law), an officer with "a dark past," and Tommy Campbell (Drew Van Acker), a former pro surfer totally dedicated to Rourke.
Julie Benz plays Rourke's Hollywood madam girlfriend Holly Butler; Marianne Jean-Baptiste is Deputy Chief Joy Lockhart, who is obsessed with taking Rourke down; Lex Scott Davis plays Craig's schoolteacher wife Alyse; and Christina Vidal is top investigator Detective Valeria Chavez.
The violent series is not for the squeamish.
• Superior Donuts, 7:30 p.m. today on CBS. This new, yet predictable, comedy stars veteran 81-year-old Judd Hirsch (Taxi, Dear John) as the curmudgeonly owner of a small Chicago doughnut shop who is clinging to his old-fashioned ways even while the neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying. Think cronuts and macchiatos.
The cast includes Jermaine Fowler, Katey Sagal and David Koechner. The series moves to its regular time at 8 p.m. Monday.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Weekend on 02/02/2017