When Superheroes Fell Flat

The Short Lives of Captain Nice and Mr. Terrific

When ABC struck gold in early 1966 with its campy, tongue‑in‑cheek version of Batman, the network's rivals scrambled to respond. True to the copycat nature of American television, both CBS and NBC rushed their own superhero parodies into production.

By a quirk of fate—or perhaps bad karma—NBC's Captain Nice and CBS's Mr. Terrific premiered on the very same night, 9 January 1967, airing back‑to‑back. In another strange twist, both shows bowed out together as well, with their final episodes broadcast on 28 August of that same year.

Of the two, Captain Nice boasted the stronger pedigree. Created by Buck Henry, the comic mind behind NBC's enduring spy spoof Get Smart, the series was produced by the same team that delivered that hit. Its hero was police scientist Carter Nash, who concocted a serum granting him superpowers—including flight. Played by William Daniels (later of St. Elsewhere, Boy Meets World, and the voice of KITT on Knight Rider), Nash was a reluctant hero whose patriotic red, white, and blue costume—stitched by his mother, portrayed by Alice Ghostley—looked more homemade than heroic. Supporting players included Ann Prentiss as policewoman and love interest Candy Cane, Liam Dunn as Bigtown's bumbling mayor, and William Zuckert as Police Chief Segal.

CBS's Mr. Terrific took a different tack. Stephen Strimpell starred as Stanley Beamish, a meek gas station attendant secretly recruited by the Bureau of Secret Projects. With the aid of experimental "power pills," Beamish transformed into Mr. Terrific, gaining super strength and the ability to fly—though only by flapping his arms. The catch: the pill's effects lasted just one hour, often expiring at the most inconvenient moments. Dick Gautier, who occasionally appeared as Hymie the Robot on Get Smart, played Beamish's best friend Hal Walters.

Unfortunately, both shows arrived just as the superhero fad was fading. Even Batman was losing its adult audience by 1967, leaving children as its primary viewers. The Caped Crusader limped into one final season, reduced to a single weekly episode. Captain Nice and Mr. Terrific, however, never made it past their freshman year. In the end, neither serums nor power pills could save them from the most formidable force in television: the Nielsen ratings.

^{Adapted from a short review by Michael Spadoni for Television Heaven (2001)}