Captain Nice

I vaguely remember this show. Of course, I was only ten when it was on, and our TV watching was limited. But I remember William Daniels was in it, as this hapless superhero. And he would use some potion to give himself superpowers - which were temporary. I seem to remember an episode where his powers dissipated when he was in the middle of something, like flying, and he had to quickly take more.

I had mostly forgotten about this show until my favorite, St Elsewhere, came on. Then the familiarity of William Daniels voice brought it back.

It was a humorous show, like "It's about Time," and didn't lend itself to scary dreams like the shows Chiller or The Outer Limits did.

I enjoyed this series. Of course, I was eleven years old when it originally aired, which is about the age the series was obviously aimed at. It wasn't meant to be high-class t.v. It was meant to entertain kids, primarily.

This was the silver age of comic books and the original Batman t.v. series starring Adam West and Burt Ward had been airing for a year or so. The Green Hornet, starring Van Williams and Bruce Lee, was airing around this time as well. Captain Nice was poking fun at the superhero genre (in the spirit of the Underdog animated series, perhaps?) for which Batman and The Green Hornet were not necessarily new contenders ( by consideration the Superman series from the fifties which starred George Reeves), but were certainly the reigning kings during the time.

Captain Nice, in his alter-ego, was a bespectacled nebish-like chemist named Carter Nash who had accidentally stumbled on to a serum that gave him super powers.

Nash was played by William Daniels (Saint Elsewhere's Dr. Mark Craig, Boy Meets World's Mr. Feeney, and the voice of "K.I.T.T." from Knight Rider). Much like The Greatest American Hero, Nice wasn't able to manage his powers well, due to the fact he didn't like flying (heights scared him - Nice's "Kryptonite," perhaps?).

His mother, played by Alice Ghostly (Bernice Clifton from Designing Women), sewed his costume from bedsheets (he wore canvas high top tennis shoes for footwear). Ghostly antagonized Carter, who still lived at home, by her constant worry over him.

You never saw his Dad. His Dad was always hid behind his newspaper.

Ann Prentiss (Paula Prentiss' sister - who later got into trouble with the law) played Nice's police contact, Sergent Candy Kane, a wide-eyed brunette and quasi-equivalent of Lois Lane to Superman. The sexual tension between Nice and Kane was, well... not very tense.

The fun of the show was when Nice finally triumphed after puzzling over all types of difficulties in apprehending whatever baddie happened to be committing the crime during the show that week. Kind of like whenever Barney Fife actually apprehended a bad guy on The Andy Griffith Show.

Particularly fun were the flying scenes in which Captain Nice's billowy Rayon cape fluttered around him as he appeared nauseous.

Personally, I loved the theme song - corny and much in the flavor the theme song from Car 54 Where Are You? It featured an annoying Brooklyn accented man repeating the world "Nice" (as in Captain Nice) several times at the end.

The series only lasted a short while - 15 episodes. I was seriously bummed out when it was canceled. It is largely forgotten today.

The series was produced by Buck Henry who also produced Get Smart. The series died because, I believe, adults just didn't get it. They might have tuned in for an episode or two, however, it just didn't have the long term appeal it needed to pull in adults.

Kids like myself got it. It was intended to be hokey. How many shows such as Gilligan's Island and the Munsters, which were also intended to be hokey, made it and Captain Nice didn't remains to be pondered. Although DVD's may be found of the series on the internet (reportedly copied from VHS recordings from the time - although, home VHS recorders were not available then), I heartily wish the series would be released in DVD - if not purely for the sake that it was an odd and unusual show that, I believe, should be remembered.

The pairing of Williams Daniels, an early king of sarcasm and snark, and Buck Henry, co-creator of Get Smart, seemed a perfect match to warp the image of the stalwart superhero. I don't remember much about the show, except it started off strong, writing-wise ... then seemed to peter out, becoming family friendly and silly, eventually being canceled early (15 episodes back then, more than most current shows single season!). I do remember one of my all-time my favorite lines from a comedy show. Now, I'm paraphrasing here, but I recall an exchange between Capt Nice and an outraged spectator: Bystander: You can't arrest that man! Captain Nice: This is a democracy .... we can arrest anyone we want. With Buck Henry behind the wheel, this could've been the best show ever, at the time. Still, it had it's moments. Worth a watch!

I was about 16 when the show premiered and already a fan of comic book superheroes and comedy, so I HAD to watch this show. And I LOVED it. A shame it only ran one season.

What I also remember that in the promotion of the show, there was this great comic book art poster drawn by the legendary Jack Kirby of Marvel Comics fame but I only saw it on TV. I would love to own a copy of it if it exists anywhere.

One of the things I remember was a running gag used by the writers. The Commissioner (played by Liam Dunn, a thin balding older man, famous for being a comic foil in many Mel Brooks films) would say something like, "Don't tell me the bank was robbed again" to which the chief would echo the words, "The bank was robbed again." Then Dunn would say with great exasperation. "I asked you not to tell me that." It still makes me laugh today. Even fellow schoolmates would echo this gag.

With great comic talent like Alice Ghostly and Liam Dunn as backup, and on the heels of the ultra campy Batman series (which I hated at the time for making a mockery of a great comic book hero) it should have been a huge hit.

The public! Go figure.

Back then we appreciated almost anything with a 'kid theme', especially in the evening. There were a few tantalizing bits thrown at us back then, Top Cat and Bugs Bunny were prime time a few years earlier. But to have a whole non-animated series devoted to being able to drink a potion, ala NICE or eat a pill, as in Mr. Terrific and become super, now that was GREAT FUN. After all these years I remember Captain Nice leaping from a van where in the dark he dressed in culottes and the time the secret formula dripped into a gutter to powerize a 'HIC-BOOM' worm. Even then I knew it was cheap, but I watched it, right after Mr. Terrific.