The Cape (2011 TV series)

Not to be confused with The Cape (1996 TV series).
The Cape
Genre Superhero
Drama
Action/Adventure
Created by Tom Wheeler
Starring
Composer(s) Bear McCreary
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 10 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
Producer(s) Peter Chomsky
Editor(s) Casey Brown
Cinematography John Newby
Running time 45 minutes
Production company(s)
Distributor NBCUniversal Television Distribution
Release
Original network NBC
Picture format 1080i
Original release January 9 – March 11, 2011 (2011-03-11)
External links
Website

The Cape is an American superhero drama series, first shown on NBC during the 2010–2011 television season as a mid-season replacement.[1] A two-hour pilot episode aired on Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 9 pm Eastern and Pacific Time, and was repeated the next day. Further episodes aired on Monday evenings at 9 pm from January 17.[2] NBC reduced the number of episodes ordered from 13 to 10 due to low ratings.[3]

On March 2, 2011, NBC announced that the series finale would be shown only on the network's website.[4]

Plot

The series, set in fictional Palm City, CA, follows Vince Faraday, an honest detective who decides to leave the police force after he witnesses the murder of a new police chief by a mysterious villain known as "Chess". Faraday accepts an offer to work for ARK, a private security firm owned and operated by billionaire entrepreneur Peter Fleming. ARK is petitioning Palm City to privatize the police and public safety operations.

A video streamed to Faraday from an investigative blogger known only as "Orwell" leads him and partner, Marty Voyt, to a cargo train owned by Fleming's firm. They discover the train is smuggling implosive WMDs inside children's toys. Voyt is corrupt and delivers Faraday to "Chess", who reveals himself as Fleming. Fleming frames Faraday for the police chief's murder. In a news event staged by Fleming, Faraday is "revealed" as Chess as an ARK security team chases him along the city waterfront. A tanker explosion causes Faraday's apparent death.

Faraday is abducted by "The Carnival of Crime", a traveling circus turned bank robbery ring, who later accept him as one of their own. Their ring leader, Max Malini, trains Faraday in circuscraft and in the use of a special cape made entirely from spider silk. Max convinces Faraday that using his own identity would endanger his wife and son. Faraday decides to fight Palm City's corruption and clear his name by adopting the visage of his son's favorite comic book hero, The Cape.

In the series finale, "Endgame", the Cape exposes ARK's corruption. Fleming asserts that he is innocent. He paints Voyt, now the chief of his private police force, as a corrupting influence who has usurped daily control of ARK. Faraday's wife, Dana, prepares Voyt's legal defense and convinces him to turn state's evidence. Fleming decides to eliminate both families before Voyt can testify. The Cape hides both families with the Circus, but Fleming's assassins find them. During the assault, Voyt sacrifices himself to save the Cape. As Voyt dies in the Cape's arms, Faraday reveals his identity and forgives Voyt's betrayal. The series ends with Fleming still at large; Vince's family still believes him dead, but Orwell assures Dana that Vince still loves her, implying that he is still alive.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Recurring cast

Guest stars

Reception

The Cape has generated mixed reviews from critics,[5] scoring a 54 out of 100 on Metacritic.[6] Critic Ken Tucker described the show's premiere as "fun, refreshingly free of irony" with "a sensibility that allowed for a sense of humor without slipping into tiresome campiness."[7] Other proponents of the show have said "if the premise sounds cheesy or busy, the execution is crisp and efficient"[8] and "someone in network land has learned a lesson from Heroes."[9] At the same time, Matt Zoller Seitz criticized the series pilot for failing to develop its narrative effectively. While having no complaints about the premise of the series, he wrote that the pilot "rushes through everything, pulverizing potentially engaging characters and story until the whole production starts to feel like a long trailer for itself."[10] Peter Swanson of Slate wrote that the series "falls into a wasteland of its own making, where neither the stakes nor the jokes can distract one from the thinness of its writing."[11]

The special Sunday two hour debut of the show garnered a 2.6 in the key 18–49 demographic.[12] It placed third overall in terms of top science fiction genre network premieres for the 2010–2011 season, behind fellow NBC show The Event and ABC's No Ordinary Family.[13] For its first non-repeat airing in its official Monday timeslot the show had dropped 31% to a 1.8 rating,[14] and the next two episodes received a 1.6[15] and a 1.5[16] respectively.

The Cape was nominated for a 2011 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Miniseries, Movie Or A Special for the ninth episode, "Razer".[17]

Web comic

As they did earlier with Heroes,[18] NBC released webcomics to supplement The Cape on the official website.[19]

Music

The original music for The Cape was composed by Bear McCreary. In contrast to the brand of music used by Hans Zimmer for Christopher Nolan's Batman films, McCreary's scores for the series were in a more classically heroic mode in the style of Shirley Walker's work on Batman: The Animated Series. On September 27, 2011, La-La Land Records released a two-disc album of McCreary's work on the series, featuring selections from all episodes but "Razer" and "Endgame" (the last two episodes - "The Lich, Part 2" was the final episode to be scored to picture), plus the original song "Let's Just Pretend," which was written by Brendan McCreary and performed by Young Beautiful in a Hurry; the album is dedicated to Walker's memory in honour of her influence on Bear McCreary's music.[20]

Popular culture

The Cape has been referenced in the TV comedy series Community, mainly by the character Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi), who is obsessed with movies and TV. References to The Cape appear in the episodes "Paradigms of Human Memory", "Pillows and Blankets", and "Advanced Introduction to Finality". The Community hashtag #sixseasonsandamovie originated from a line shouted by Abed in response to Community lead Jeff Winger's (Joel McHale) assertion that "(The Cape)'s gonna last three weeks!"

On January 15, 2011, Saturday Night Live premiered a skit spoofing The Cape. The premise of the sketch was promotional ads for "new" NBC series: The Scarf, The Bolo Tie, The Scrunchie, The Spanx, etc.

References

  1. "NBC Unveils 2010–11 Primetime Schedule Accented by Five New Comedies, Seven New Dramas and New Alternative Program". The Futon Critic (NBC). May 16, 2010. Retrieved May 16, 2010.
  2. "The Cape (NBC) Listings". The Futon Critic. December 26, 2010. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
  3. NBC cuts back order for the cape
  4. "The Cape is Dead – NBC Continues to Cancel Monday Night Fan Boy Favorites". TVLine. March 2, 2011. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
  5. Hinmah, Michael (January 9, 2011). "'The Cape' Debuts To Not-So-Stellar Reviews". Airlock Alpha. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
  6. "The Cape – Season 1". Metacriticmetacritic.com. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
  7. Shaw, Jessica (January 9, 2011). "'The Cape' premiere review: Will you commit to this new super-hero saga? | Ken Tucker's TV | EW.com". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
  8. Lowry, Brian (January 6, 2011). "The Cape". Variety.
  9. Bellafante, Ginia (January 6, 2011). "David Lyons to the Rescue in ‘The Cape' on NBC". The New York Times.
  10. Seitz, Matt. ""The Cape": Why can't TV do superheroes?". Salon.com.
  11. Swanson, Peter. "The Cape: Season One". Slate.
  12. "Sunday Final Ratings: ‘Desperate Housewives,’ ‘Cleveland’ Adjusted Up; ‘Brothers & Sisters’ Down; No Change for ‘The Cape’ or ‘Bob’s Burgers’ – Ratings | TVbytheNumbers". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com. January 11, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
  13. Hinmah, Michael (January 10, 2011). "For NBC, 'The Cape' Premiere Not Too Shabby". Airlock Alpha. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
  14. "Monday Final Ratings: ‘Chuck’ Adjusted Up To A Season High, ‘Harry’s Law,’ ‘Rules’ Also Up; ‘House,’ ‘Mike & Molly’ Down – Ratings | TVbytheNumbers". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com. January 19, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
  15. Seidman, Robert (January 25, 2011). "Monday Final Ratings: 'Chuck' Drops, But Only a Little; No Change for 'Lie To Me' or 'Castle'". Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  16. Gorman, Bill (February 1, 2011). "Monday Final Ratings: No Adjustments For 'Chuck,' 'Lie To Me,' 'The Cape' Or Any Other Original Episodes". Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  17. "The Cape". Emmys.com. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  18. "Heroes Comics". NBC.com. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  19. "The Cape – Web Exclusive – Graphic Novel". NBC.com. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  20. Liner notes, The Cape: Original Television Soundtrack, La-La Land Records LLLCD 1186.

External links

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