Have you been watching Who Wants To Be A Superhero? on the SciFi Channel? No? Why not? Did you know it’s from none other than the inimitable Stan Lee, the Marvel Comics godfather? And did you know that it’s turning into a runaway hit?

Why not, right? As a culture, we are wholly obsessed with superheroes—from the cartoons our kids watch to the movies we choose to see at the theatre. I’ll admit it: I had my doubts. I thought the show would be too hokey to hold any real appeal. But oh, how wrong I was.

Comics Continuum brought us a great update, yesterday:

Sci Fi Channel is declaring Who Wants to Be a Superhero?, Stan Lee’s reality series, a hit.

According to Sci Fi, the series has shown week-to-week growth and has provided significant ratings gains for the network.

Season-to-date, Who Wants to Be a Superhero? is up 29 percent in Household ratings, 48 percent in Persons 18-49s and 44 percents in Persons 25-54s.

The fourth episode last Thursday delivered a 1.32 HH rating (plus-10 percent vs. previous week and plus-48 percent vs. its July 27 series premiere), 1.031 million viewers 18-49 (plus-27 percent vs. previous week), 899,000 viewers 25-54 (plus-28 percent vs. last week) and 1.815 million total viewers.

Since its premiere on Sci Fi, Who Wants to Be a Superhero? has grown at least 10 percent week-to-week in the 18-49 and 25-54 key demos. The fourth episode grew 62 percent from the premiere among viewers 18-49 and 61 percent among viewers 25-54.

If you haven’t been watching, tomorrow is the perfect time to tune in and get on the bandwagon:

In the new episode this Thursday, the three remaining superheroes — Fat Momma, Feedback and Major Victory — are judged by Lee’s toughest critics: children. Then Lee tests their intellect and ingenuity in a time-based challenge following clues to locate their archenemy, the Dark Enforcer, at Universal Studio’s City Walk.

I’m rooting for Fat Momma, personally. But we can still be friends if you have a different favorite. And I can barely suppress my glee at the notion of these folks being subjected to the scrutiny of children. As any mom knows, there’s nothing quite like it.

Best of luck to the remaining contestants, and may the best hero win!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006 at 9:37 am and is filed under Random acts of television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.