Watched the season premiere of
The Tick last night.
I feel the same about the guy who plays The Tick (Patrick Warburton) and Scott Bakula in Enterprise. Of course, it's just my personal opinion, but I don't think that either of them quite *gets* who it is they're playing yet. I think after the characters develop a bit we'll see some improvement (unless The Tick gets cancelled; I have no such worries about Enterprise).
Right now Warburton is delivering The Tick as if he's really caught up in how cool he's being. He's kind of squinty-eyed a la Clint Eastwood. What I expect from The Tick is a child-like innocence, a simple, wide-eyed infatuation with the idea of JUSTICE.
I've got exactly the opposite idea about Bakula as Capt. Archer. He's the one who's got the wide-eyed kid attitude going, and when he's not doing that he's acting wishy-washy. Nobody wishy-washy would get to command the first Earth starship. Right? Can somebody back me up on this? I mean, sure, this crew is supposed to be less Utopian Superman (i.e. Star Trek TNG) and more human (read: American) but 'ol Scott often looks as confused as he did in Quantum Leap. That show worked great for him, because I would be perpetually confused, too. But now.. hm. Please put in an order for a backbone, and quit squinting for Chrissakes.
No other complaints about The Tick, really, except for maybe a lack of budget. I fear that unless the series REALLY takes off, we're going to see a lot of "Look over there, off-camera! There's something really amazing and terrible going on over there! Let's focus the shot on this chimney!" The thing I find really promising about the show is that it's finally being aimed at the correct audience. It really never was meant for children. In that context, it's just another dumb superhero comic/show. Where it really shined was as a highly intelligent, character-oriented story that at the same time was a hilarious sendup. Now that they can include some of the more adult themes, like Batmanuel and Captain Liberty's love-hate (read: have-sex-then-beat-each-other-up) relationship, I think they finally have an opportunity to let Ben Edlund shine.
Why do I get the feeling some comittee of Fox dumbasses is going to squash this show just like they squashed the cartoon?