Somewhere in the muck and mire of a summer filled with feature flops and aggressive ploys for web-first content, Hulu retreated from the sales table to tout a batch of original shows.
Taking a page out of Netflix's book of original programming, Hulu hasn't wasted any time tapping into a strategy that has proven to be fruitful (in terms of attracting eyeballs) and has thus far revolutionized appointment viewing, watercooler discourse and awards season voting. The subscription service in January offered a preview of its upcoming slate, teasing titles such as The Wrong Mans, about a criminal conspiracy mix-up; Behind the Mask, about the world of sports mascots; and Quick Draw, a comedy western.
See also: Emmys 2013: Here Are the Nominations
Among those summer releases is The Awesomes, an adult animated show about a superhero league, created by Seth Meyers (Saturday Night Live) and Michael Shoemaker (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon). In the age of YouTube shorts and binge-friendly TV watching, a web-only show is strategically sound, but the time-starved viewers for this type of content are quite picky and just a click away from deleting The Awesomes video player from their screens.
Although Hulu doesn't release metrics of its shows, the subscription service did concede to Mashable that The Awesomes pilot was the top most-viewed show throughout its launch week, beating out The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Rookie Blue, The Colbert Report and Master Chef. But judging by comments, the reception to those views has been a mixed bag.
With Flaws, 'The Awesomes' Flutters to a Slow Start
In the opening third of The Awesomes' pilot, a young, scrawny sad sack of a man implores a 90-year-old man to pass him the family torch. Evidently, they're father and son.
The older man is Mr. Awesome, and the family torch is the league of caped crusaders known as The Awesomes. Dad is retiring to outer space because he's tired of being at the beck and call of earthlings — well, really, he wants to "get some reading done," as he hasn't opened a book in five decades. He's looking to fold the league of or give it to a reliable successor.
But the super patriarch has doubts with his son, Professor Doctor Awesome (a.k.a. Prock). Prock doesn't have any superpowers. He can't fly. He doesn't have superhuman strength. And he doesn't have heat-ray vision or telekinesis. He does have a weird "stopping-time thing" and a semblance of intelligence that he must've inherited from his mother. So that makes him kind of "superhero-ish" — an appropriate tagline for the series.
"I went to med school and I became a doctor, I went to law school and I became a lawyer," Prock says. "But Dad, all I've ever wanted to be is a superhero."
After almost no deliberation, Mr. Awesome relents, grabs Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique and retires. The scene at its best highlights some fixable flaws of Hulu's first original animated series — but at its worst could be prophetic of worse things to come for a show that isn't fresh and isn't getting the most out of a stacked cast.
The young show runs the risk — thanks to its cheekiness — of being contrary to its name, and if the two-part pilot is any indication, the series starts off lacking witty dialogue, instead leaning heavily on simple one-liners, set-ups, conflicts and resolutions. But it would be an immense disservice to say that the show doesn't have potential. It does, and ensuing episodes show that The Awesomes might be sand-bagging.
With a star-studded cast of SNL alums and other comic powerhouses, Meyers and Shoemaker lassoed up vocal talents ranging from Bill Hader to Rashida Jones to Taran Killam to take part in this semi-superhero send-up.
Meyers lends his voice to the main character and lynchpin of the group, Prock, who after being entrusted with The Awesomes is tasked with assembling a hodgepodge rank of reject replacements, the likes of which include Frantic (Taran Killam), a cuckoo reincarnation of The Flash; Sumo (Bobby Lee), a boy who transforms into a berserking wrestler upon aggravation; Gadget Gal (Paula Pell), an inventor of sorts; Impresario (Kenan Thompson), a conjurer; Hotwire (Jones), a woman with a knack for all things electric; and Muscleman (Ike Barinholtz), superpowers self-explanatory. All the heroes, as one might surmise, are misfitted or flawed (e.g., Muscleman is a bit of a meat head, Impresario can't get his mother off his mind, and one of the team members might be a mole).
A near unrecognizable Hader plays Dr. Malocchio, The Awesomes' arch nemesis with a penchant for brain control and cheesy accents.
A Rehashed Premise From a Sketch Writer's Mind
It's not the first time we've seen this: As one commenter on Hulu has already astutely pointed out, the premise harkens to 1999's Mystery Men (except instead of live action, it's cartoon; and instead of Kel Mitchell, The Awesomes has the other Good Burger funny man, Thompson). It's also a little bit The Incredibles and a little bit Teen Titans.
"When you're dealing with comics, everything seems to be an archetype that's been used before," Meyers conceded in an interview with Mashable.
But the SNL star-turned-late night host also said that the idea for a humorous cartoon super league was germinating well before 2007, before Hulu even existed.
"Every now and then you just have ideas that don't work in the sketch world, and one of those was the idea of a superhero show," Meyers said. "Most of the inspiration for this is the memory of what we liked in comic books. I was a huge fan of Batman and Green Lantern growing up."
Oddly enough, it feels as though many of the early scenes were constructed similar to sketches. Wordplay silliness and all-too-literal sarcasm abound. Social commentary exists only as a vehicle for potty humor. As a result, much of the jokes would work better if the series were live action. It's the kind of funny that has a better pay off when you can see actors' facial expressions, when you can see Hader trying not to lose it on the set of a Super Showcase skit, when the timing in front of a live studio audience makes all the difference.
'Silver Lining? There Is One'
Produced by Broadway Video, the show will have 10 episodes. The pilot slogs along, introducing the unlikely heroes one by one, as they're picked up and pieced together. The drawn-out exposition process gives little leeway for the writing to shine, twisting the spotlight on the individual heroes instead — a process that feels much more like choppy profiles getting stitched together under the guise of an episode or two.
Silver lining? There is one. Not only do the characters here have great actors behind them, they also have interesting back stories and quirks, leaving the potential for scintillating arcs that can supersede the punchiness of sketch comedy and give viewers a reason to stick around for the episodes that are still to come. The third episode, "Baby Got Backstory," which was released Wednesday, gives viewers a look at some of the characters' origin stories (the episode also includes hilarious Canadian super villains and a sushi non-sequitur).
A previewed screening episode, titled "Paternity," shows that the plot definitely gets thicker, as one of The Awesomes is working for Malocchio. The installment also takes clever stabs at piracy issues, philandering, Millennials and reality TV.
Superhero blue humor and an elevated sense of self-irony and meta-criticism make The Awesomes somewhat of a novelty in the cartoon comedy canon. The animation is far from eye candy; it looks stiff and pulpy. And this, coupled with jokes you've likely heard time and time again, worn-out stereotypes and an overload of pop-culture references, could make — for some — another tired reiteration of a Family Guy- or South Park-esque show that toots irreverent pop-culture and insider jokes as its horn.
Hulu Makes Smart Move Into Superhero Genre
The show, however, is a smart mercenary acquisition on the part of Hulu. Coming on the heels of Man of Steel and joining the upcoming superhero smorgasbord of such films as The Wolverine, Kick-Ass 2, Thor: The Dark World and The Avengers: Age of Ultron, among others, Hulu and the shows' writers are capitalizing on a trend that is, so to say, just taking flight.
The Awesomes might not be truly awesome yet, and it very well could turn into a waste of time. But, in the argot of magic, it could also reveal itself to be an underestimated misdirection as The Awesomes' story unravels and takes shape.
The pilot and follow-up episode of The Awesomes is available to stream now, and subsequent episodes will roll out on a weekly basis, every Wednesday at midnight ET. The show is rated TV-MA because of mature language and situations.
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Images: Emil Lendof, Mashable; Hulu
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