the Great and Powerful Stan Lee

Am I crazy or was Who Wants to Be a Superhero awesome? Okay, I might be crazy, but I stand by this reality show's awesomeness.

Sure, it's got all the expected reality show fanfare -- the promise of that fantasy grand prize, the drawn out spectacle of elimination, the sheer production tackiness -- and all the expected reailty show characters -- the gay guy, the party girl, the tough guy. Ho hum. But it's also got Stan Lee, heading it all up. Awesome.

On top of being a producer, Lee also stars in the show as the game moderator, or whatever you call that role. He doesn't condescend to being in the same room as the super-geek contestants, though; he appears on tv screens, scattered throughout the locations, like a giant floating head, judging them and telling them what to do. Kinda freaky, but awesome.

Along with introductions (including one elimination before the game even began based on a report from the spy Rotiart, or traitor backwards, regarding some questionable intentions discovered upon those first introductions... awesome), this premiere episode focused on the first task. Lee explained to the would-be superheroes that being able to change into your costume quickly and without being seen is very important. With their brand new communicators and in their street clothes, each contestant was left in a public place. When they got the call, they leapt to find some privacy and change into their alter egos. To complete the task, alls they had to do was run to an assigned location. They thought this was about speed.

The twist: an obvious victim was planted right before the finish line. A little girl cried for help as each of them ran toward her. "Help me! I'm lost! I don't know how I ended up on a reality show! I'm only 6 years old! Where's my mommy?" (No, she didn't really say all of that... well, not with her words.) Awesome.

So, the real point was to be a hero: put the silly little contest on hold and help someone in need. Heroics aren't about speed and superhuman abilities; it's just about being a better person and doing the right thing. The more you know.

Most contestants sped by the hilariously fake cries of the poor child, but a few actually stopped to help (in some really staged ways, though that's not the point). The people that missed the kid and got the faster times were the ones in danger of elimination. What a novel concept: reward people for being nice.

In conclusion, this show was awesome because it took all your typical reality show drama and stereotypical reality show characters and gave it a sort of higher purpose with a moral lesson, while adding some extra revealing costumes and the whimsy of comic books. One last time... awesome.

With my superpsychic ability, though, I predict that the whole "be good" thing will get preachy and quickly bore television audiences. Wise as those tv execs are, the season consists of only 6 episodes, hopefully leaving little time before people get tired of the niceties. Plus, I'm sure we'll see plenty of supervillainous behavior along the way to finding that one lucky Superhero. My money's on Major Victory... but you gotta love Fat Momma.

Be there next week: same Fat Momma time, same Fat Momma channel (Thurs, 9pm EST, the SciFi Channel... check your local listings).