AROUND "CAPE" ZONKS

In "Paradigms Of Human Memory", 'Community' took a few jabs at one of the biggest losers on their parent network, and I don't mean "The Biggest Loser". I'm talking about the super-hero series 'The Cape'.

From Wikipedia:
'The Cape' is an American superhero drama series. It premiered on NBC during the 2010–2011 television season as a mid-season replacement beginning with a 2-hour pilot episode on Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 9 PM Eastern and Pacific Time, with follow-up episodes continuing on Monday evenings in the 9 PM time slot beginning on January 17. NBC subsequently cut the total number of episodes to be aired from 13 to 10 as a result of low ratings. On March 2, 2011, NBC announced that the series finale would only be aired on the network's web site.

I had the two-hour pilot for 'The Cape' in my DVR queue, but I kept putting off actually watching it until it was too late - the DVR died. (Some claim I worked it to death, but I think this time, it was suicide....)

So everything I had saved on there was lost. But I'm told by reliable sources (Hi, Rob!) that the pilot was okay, but that the series quickly went downhill with the second episode.

Nevertheless, even without having seen any of it, I feel confident that 'The Cape' can remain in the main Toobworld. A few attempts to Zonk it by the student body of Greendale Community College isn't going to prevent that.

What helps the case is that 'The Cape' is such a generic title that even if we were to adhere to it being in the superhero genre, it still doesn't mean it had to be about the exact same guy whom we - well, some of you - were watching on the TV show in the real world.

And the Toobworld version of 'The Cape' still doesn't have to be about a superhero at all, if all we have to go by are the references in the 'Community' episode. Abed was running around the cafeteria in a cape, but it wasn't like he was doing super-heroic things. It looked more like his version of 'The Cape' was about some caped clod who caused problems because he liked to wear a cape that always got in his way. (In the example shown, the cape ended up knocking Jeff's food tray to the floor.)

Here are the Zonks about 'The Cape' offered up during the episode:

Jeff yelled after the fleeing Abed - "It won't last three weeks!" Ever the optimist, Abed shouted back - "Six years and a movie!"

Britta barged in on Abed and Troy just as they were about to watch the premiere of 'The Cape' and switched the TV over to the news reports coming out of Tunisia. (And if the premiere of the Toobworld version was the same as in the Trueniverse, the bitch just picked a random night to pull this stunt - the revolt didn't actually happen for another five days.)

In a more conciliatory mood, Jeff allowed that maybe 'The Cape' would find new life on cable.

As you can see, none of those are specific enough to actually be Zonks against the real TV series.

My work here is done. Up, up, and away!

BCnU!