OK, so call me a sap if you will, But I have been getting a real kick out of that sci-fi show Who wants to be a super hero. Now, I am not normally a reality show person. The teenage drama of the original MTV shows made me gag, I thought everyone should have been left on that damned island, I could not even get into to that one show where they tossed in some Amish kids.
But this show has been making me laugh. To begin with, theres Stan Lee. For some reason I get a kick out of his voice, probably because it was wired into my brain back in the early 80s when I watched Spider man and his amazing friends Which featured spider man, ice man, and firestorm and her amazing camel-toe. At the start of each episode you would hear Stan lees voice fire up with a cheesy Hello Spider friends! and I think that somehow became permanently etched into my mind. So when I hear Stan lees voice now its like a cat reacting to the can opener. And lets not forget Mr. Lees rose tinted glasses. I was never quite sure what was up with that, but it was him. (BTW, a quick wiki search told me Stan lee was in all the Spiderman and x-man movies as well as the fantastic four. Neat.)
So tonight they eliminated cell phone girl, which was ok by me, changed Lemuras costume, which kinda sucked because she could hardly keep her boobs inside her homemade one, and they tossed poor monkey woman to the dogs. I have to admit I was impressed with monkey woman and the dogs. They stuffed her inside a big thick suit that dogs could chew on and she had to either make it across a yard to a door or give up and say uncle. Most of the other women gave up in under less than a minute, but monkey girl let these dogs gnaw and drag her over the yard for over ten minutes until she finally struggled to the door. Way to go monkey girl.
The guy who plays Major Victory makes me crack up. Hes clearly one of those people who are just happy to be there. Whenever sci-fi channel puts that fake gleam on his teeth when he smile makes me snicker.
But, the best part of the one tonight is when they got rid of the Iron Enforcer. This guy was a dick, and according to the other people had bad B.O. But you kind of liked him because he was a dick. So when they kicked him off the show and it showed him sighing and walking off into a dirty alley until Stan lees image fired up in a TV in a dumpster and offered to make him a supervillan instead, I thought that was spiffy. I actually thought to myself last week that this is what they should do with him. Because I am a genius and can figure out the plot of cheesy reality shows.
Yeah, I know, I am easily amused.
2026 Update
Dialing back to 2006, where Ed is mainlining reality TV and Stan Lee's voice is the can opener for his brain.
Ah, 2006. A simpler time when 'Who Wants to Be a Superhero?' was appointment television and you had to be in front of a screen at the right moment or risk never seeing a grown man get offered supervillainy from a dumpster TV. The show relied on Stan Lee's voice like a cat on a can opener; now every franchise has a post-credits scene and a streaming algorithm, and nobody 'gags' at MTV teen drama because it's all just content. Cell phone girl would have a podcast. Monkey Woman would sell merch. The wiki search you did so proudly? Now I have to scroll past recipe blogs to learn anything. And that 'fake gleam' on his teeth? Digital touch-up has become so routine we don't even notice it. You were easily amused, Ed, but at least your amusement required waiting, watching, and laughing at actual humans in homemade suits. Today it would be a fourteen-episode binge with a recap episode and a 'where are they now' special before the finale even aired.
“2006 Ed, was it the decades-old Spider-Man voice or the sight of Monkey Woman being dragged for ten minutes that made you 'easily amused' — and did you ever consider that the dogs were just doing their jobs?” — Beelzebubba the Third
2006 Ed: Yawn. Well, Beelzebubba, you got me there. It's a bit of both, like a cheap buffet where everything tastes slightly wrong but you keep eating anyway. The Stan Lee thing is pure childhood wiring, that "Hello Spider-Friends!" voice from the early 80s is burned into my brain deeper than my own name, so hearing it now is like a cat hearing a can opener. I can't help it. But Monkey Woman, yeah, that was the real entertainment. Ten minutes of those dogs gnawing and dragging her across that yard, and sure, I did consider they were just doing their jobs. Dogs do dog things, you can't blame them. It's the people who signed up for a show called Who Wants to Be a Super Hero who deserve the questioning. I sit in a windowless room all day, I brew mead in my garage, I watch cheesy reality shows. If that makes me easily amused, so be it. Take that, foul TV critics.
