Sometimes, you have to take the good with the bad.
1992, of course, brought us the award-winning Batman: The Animated Series, but Fox also had one of the worst of the freshman class that season in Super Dave: Daredevil For Hire.
Super Dave Osborne (Bob Einstein) had previously appeared on the John Byner Comedy Hour and Bizarre (also hosted by Byner) before landing his own series, which had aired on Showtime. Some genius at Fox and/or DIC thought he'd make a great cartoon star. When you consider, however, that Super Dave was the (intentionally) worst stuntman on the planet, that doesn't really bode well for a cartoon, since the joke loses its flavor very quickly.
As a result, Daredevil For Hire was cancelled after 1 season of 13 episodes. Super Dave would return with a primetime special---live action, of course---in 1994, also for Fox, but hasn't landed a TV gig here in the US since.
Here's the open:
Rating: D.
2 comments:
You hit the nail on the head as to why this show failed. Just like the Jerry Lewis cartoon ("Will The Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down"), it failed because his live action stick was redundant in animation.
His live bits were far and away funnier than the animators could create.
Of course his spiritual descendent, "Kick Buttowski" makes it work better - and he's a better stunt performer for it!
Hmmm, let's see. Super Dave, Hammerman, ProStars, WishKid. DIC had lean years in the early 90's, didn't they?
BTW, I've read that Disney has ceased production on Kick Buttowski. No loss.
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