Captain Nice

If you'll recall, Batman comics in the sixties were NOT dark. In fact it was quite colorful. The TV series was a reflection of the splashy pop art that was evident in the comics at the time. Anyone who says that the series made a dark hero silly, wasn't alive back then, or just plain wasn't paying attention. Batman wasn't dark then. The campy, comic-booky silliness that prevailed in the 60's gave birth to Captain Nice. Complete with laugh track and created by Buck Henry, William Daniels persnickety super-hero was a blast to watch. Way too short at a half hour, these adventures featured some of the greatest character actors of the day. Alice Ghostley as Mother was a riot as well, and I don't believe we ever did see Carter's father peer out from behind his newspaper. Why oh why isn't Captain Nice out on DVD yet? If you can get your hands on a copy of CN, do so. You'll get a great glimpse of a snapshot of time...the era known as the swingin' saucy sixties!

I was very young when Captain Nice and Mr. Terrific aired and then quickly disappeared. Even from that tender age, however, I remember the rumor going around was that the networks were pressured to can these shows because the nebbish lead characters altered their states by ingesting some trippy substances. Others on this site mention Carter Nash's father hiding behind his newspaper. I only vaguely remember that, but it fits as CN's mother was the type to hen-peck. i.e. When Carter's super powers are revealed to his mother she asks what name he has chosen. He'd chosen Captain Nice because of the CN on his belt buckle. She throws up her hands in disappointment and asks, "Couldn't you have chosen something better--like . . . "Super Brain" or something?" I thought that was funny even as a little kid. The only other bit I remember from the series involved an appearance by some kind of Gilligan's Island style native who spoke guttural gibberish. When the native says to the mother, "Tahk-a-mock-a-doi," she is aghast by the nerve of him--maybe she even slapped his face. Was funny that a 60s era stay-at-home mom would know some obscure language. And my brothers and I used that native phrase as undercover cursing around our parents. We could let the receiver of this curse imagine the worst was meant, and yet avoid getting punished for swearing. My last thoughts about Captain Nice and Mr. Terrific are that it seemed odd that two so-similar shows debuted at the same time, just as The Munsters and The Addams Family had. Figured that there was some industrial (TV industry) espionage going on, but as a seven year old I probably just called them copycats.

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.

"CAPTAIN NICE"-Produced by Talent Associates,Inc./Paramount Television In Association With NBC Productions. Filmed at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. The series ran on NBC-TV. Premiere Episode of the series: January 9,1967. Last Telecast of the series: May 1,1967. 15 Episodes Were Produced-All In Color.

The campy and most successful action series "Batman" cast a very long shadow across superhero productions in film and on television. It was so successful upon its premiere on ABC-TV in the Spring of 1966 that by the following January of 1967,both competing networks(NBC and CBS)had invented their own superhero shows to air on opposite nights and challenge the supermacy of Adam West's Caped Crusader. What remains so interesting about this that both networks sought to repeat "Batman's" fame and fortune not by licensing well-known comic book superheroes but by creating new(and terribly lame)heroes instead. Even more intriguing,both networks,looking at "Batman" and apparently saw it as campy and a sitcom parody but at the same time both networks were matching the "Batman" formula to work with other shows,a prime example of this was the spy-series "The Man From U.N.C.L.E"(on NBC),which by the second and third seasons,NBC executives look at this series as just comedy and not serious at all. Instead the two networks(NBC and CBS)may have competed ably by producing a superhero show regarding various characters.Instead,ABC counter-programmed against "camp" in January of 1967,with a serious adaption of "The Green Hornet",which lasted one season.

The results of NBC and CBS's efforts were not pretty,and what emerged on television in the winter of 1967 were two half-hour series that never managed to attain individual identities in the eyes of viewers: "Captain Nice",which was on NBC,and "Mister Terrific",which was on CBS. These shows may have been made for adults but its main target audience that were watching the shows were children. In other words,straight-forward kiddie oriented material. Both shows lasted one season. Even more ominously,both shows ended their primetime span(with reruns)on the same date:August 28,1967,the same day both shows were dethroned in the Nielsens(along with the Western satire,"F-Troop",which was on ABC) by the final episode of the series,"The Fugitive",which became the highest-rated series finale in television history. In fact "Captain Nice" and "Mister Terrific",both looked and sounded so much alike that it was confusing to some viewers who either seem too like it or for the most part hated it. What made it so frustrating that is was an appropriate face,not to mention an enterprises that were designed to copy the "Batman" series,so rigorously. However,both sides failed and from this both shows were sent to the bottom of the television graveyard of forgotten sitcoms never to be heard from again. Of the two clone superheroes series,NBC's Captain Nice had the better pedigree,not to mention the cast.

"Captain Nice" was created by Buck Henry,the genius behind the spy-spoof "Get Smart",which was a huge hit for NBC at the time(NBC,1965-1968,and later on went to CBS,1968-1970),who serves as executive producer of this series along with producer Jay Sandrich. The series starred William Daniels(who would make a name for himself in other shows as well later on including "Saint Elsewhere",and the teen-comedy "Boy Meets World")as the meek Carter Nash,a police scientist that develops a serum endowing him superpowers to fight off evildoers. The series starred Ann Prentiss,Alice Ghostley,Liam Dunn,William Zuckert,and Byron Foulger. It's competition,"Mister Terrific"(which was on CBS)starred Alan Young,who was fondly remembered for his stint on the children's situation comedy show "Mister Ed"(which was on the same network).

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.