User Reviews

I was about 16 when the show premiered and already a fan of comic book superheroes and comedy, so I HAD to watch this show. And I LOVED it. A shame it only ran one season.

What I also remember that in the promotion of the show, there was this great comic book art poster drawn by the legendary Jack Kirby of Marvel Comics fame but I only saw it on TV. I would love to own a copy of it if it exists anywhere.

One of the things I remember was a running gag used by the writers. The Commissioner (played by Liam Dunn, a thin balding older man, famous for being a comic foil in many Mel Brooks films) would say something like, "Don't tell me the bank was robbed again" to which the chief would echo the words, "The bank was robbed again." Then Dunn would say with great exasperation. "I asked you not to tell me that." It still makes me laugh today. Even fellow schoolmates would echo this gag.

With great comic talent like Alice Ghostly and Liam Dunn as backup, and on the heels of the ultra campy Batman series (which I hated at the time for making a mockery of a great comic book hero) it should have been a huge hit.

The public! Go figure.

I watched the reruns of this lost TV series few years ago and I've to say isn't that bad. Of course is dated, most of it is completely non-sense and it's clearly a low cost production but it's still watchable, it's possible to find several good moments and... I really like Captain Nice costume!

The pairing of Williams Daniels, an early king of sarcasm and snark, and Buck Henry, co-creator of Get Smart, seemed a perfect match to warp the image of the stalwart superhero. I don't remember much about the show, except it started off strong, writing-wise ... then seemed to peter out, becoming family friendly and silly, eventually being canceled early (15 episodes back then, more than most current shows single season!). I do remember one of my all-time my favorite lines from a comedy show. Now, I'm paraphrasing here, but I recall an exchange between Capt Nice and an outraged spectator: Bystander: You can't arrest that man! Captain Nice: This is a democracy .... we can arrest anyone we want. With Buck Henry behind the wheel, this could've been the best show ever, at the time. Still, it had it's moments. Worth a watch!

I enjoyed this series. Of course, I was eleven years old when it originally aired, which is about the age the series was obviously aimed at. It wasn't meant to be high-class t.v. It was meant to entertain kids, primarily.

This was the silver age of comic books and the original Batman t.v. series starring Adam West and Burt Ward had been airing for a year or so. The Green Hornet, starring Van Williams and Bruce Lee, was airing around this time as well. Captain Nice was poking fun at the superhero genre (in the spirit of the Underdog animated series, perhaps?) for which Batman and The Green Hornet were not necessarily new contenders ( by consideration the Superman series from the fifties which starred George Reeves), but were certainly the reigning kings during the time.

Captain Nice, in his alter-ego, was a bespectacled nebish-like chemist named Carter Nash who had accidentally stumbled on to a serum that gave him super powers.

Nash was played by William Daniels (Saint Elsewhere's Dr. Mark Craig, Boy Meets World's Mr. Feeney, and the voice of "K.I.T.T." from Knight Rider). Much like The Greatest American Hero, Nice wasn't able to manage his powers well, due to the fact he didn't like flying (heights scared him - Nice's "Kryptonite," perhaps?).

His mother, played by Alice Ghostly (Bernice Clifton from Designing Women), sewed his costume from bedsheets (he wore canvas high top tennis shoes for footwear). Ghostly antagonized Carter, who still lived at home, by her constant worry over him.

You never saw his Dad. His Dad was always hid behind his newspaper.

Ann Prentiss (Paula Prentiss' sister - who later got into trouble with the law) played Nice's police contact, Sergent Candy Kane, a wide-eyed brunette and quasi-equivalent of Lois Lane to Superman. The sexual tension between Nice and Kane was, well... not very tense.

The fun of the show was when Nice finally triumphed after puzzling over all types of difficulties in apprehending whatever baddie happened to be committing the crime during the show that week. Kind of like whenever Barney Fife actually apprehended a bad guy on The Andy Griffith Show.

Particularly fun were the flying scenes in which Captain Nice's billowy Rayon cape fluttered around him as he appeared nauseous.

Personally, I loved the theme song - corny and much in the flavor the theme song from Car 54 Where Are You? It featured an annoying Brooklyn accented man repeating the world "Nice" (as in Captain Nice) several times at the end.

The series only lasted a short while - 15 episodes. I was seriously bummed out when it was canceled. It is largely forgotten today.

The series was produced by Buck Henry who also produced Get Smart. The series died because, I believe, adults just didn't get it. They might have tuned in for an episode or two, however, it just didn't have the long term appeal it needed to pull in adults.

Kids like myself got it. It was intended to be hokey. How many shows such as Gilligan's Island and the Munsters, which were also intended to be hokey, made it and Captain Nice didn't remains to be pondered. Although DVD's may be found of the series on the internet (reportedly copied from VHS recordings from the time - although, home VHS recorders were not available then), I heartily wish the series would be released in DVD - if not purely for the sake that it was an odd and unusual show that, I believe, should be remembered.

I was in 8th grade and watched this show and two others ("Run, Buddy, Run" -- starring Jack Sheldon-- and "Mr. Terrific" -- with Stephen Strimpell) religiously. No one of these shows lasted more than a season and I was very disappointed at such short runs for these three shows. Because they were all so short-lived, I suspect we will never get the opportunity to see them in syndication. But I keep hoping. They were all hilarious. My favorite moment in "Captain Nice" occurs in the episode where Carter Nash (a.k.a. Captain Nice -- i.e. William Daniels) and his girlfriend, Sergeant Candy Kane (i.e. Ann Prentiss) are charged with guarding Bob Newhart, who is playing a very conceited nightclub owner. Sergeant Kane knocks Bob Newhart to the floor, out of the way of a falling light fixture and saves his life; immediately thereafter she asks him, "Are you all right?" He responds, in great Bob Newhart deadpan, "All right? I'm darn near perfect!" I couldn't stop laughing. I still can't.

I vaguely remember this show. Of course, I was only ten when it was on, and our TV watching was limited. But I remember William Daniels was in it, as this hapless superhero. And he would use some potion to give himself superpowers - which were temporary. I seem to remember an episode where his powers dissipated when he was in the middle of something, like flying, and he had to quickly take more.

I had mostly forgotten about this show until my favorite, St Elsewhere, came on. Then the familiarity of William Daniels voice brought it back.

It was a humorous show, like "It's about Time," and didn't lend itself to scary dreams like the shows Chiller or The Outer Limits did.

This show was created to compete with Batman on TV, and I find it much more worthy of repeat viewings over Batman any day. That comment may be sacrilege to some, but Batman ruined comic book creations to film and TV for decades to follow, making a dark hero campy and stupid. Captain Nice was campy in a way, but not to the extremes of Batman. It was funny, and a great precursor to the Tick live action series.

If you are a fan of comic book hero comedies like the Tick or Chicken Man, then this series is worth checking out. It airs rarely now (the last time I knew it aired was during the early days of Comedy Central). Here's hoping the series is released on DVD.

I was 26 when "Captain Nice" appeared, lasting only half a season. My husband and I loved it. It was funny and sweet.

In 1967, Williams Daniels, who played/was Captain Nice, had a very busy year as he was also in "The Graduate" (as Dustin Hoffman's father), "Two for the Road", and "The President's Analyst". The last one holds up very well even today and is available on VHS. It is still funny, true, and also reflects the swingin' sixties.

Alice Ghostley was also in "The Graduate". She is one of the great character actors and always a joy to see in any film.

My husband and I may have been a jinx to TV quality because it seemed everything we liked lasted a very short time. Well, we are now divorced so maybe the spell is broken.

I was very young when Captain Nice and Mr. Terrific aired and then quickly disappeared. Even from that tender age, however, I remember the rumor going around was that the networks were pressured to can these shows because the nebbish lead characters altered their states by ingesting some trippy substances. Others on this site mention Carter Nash's father hiding behind his newspaper. I only vaguely remember that, but it fits as CN's mother was the type to hen-peck. i.e. When Carter's super powers are revealed to his mother she asks what name he has chosen. He'd chosen Captain Nice because of the CN on his belt buckle. She throws up her hands in disappointment and asks, "Couldn't you have chosen something better--like . . . "Super Brain" or something?" I thought that was funny even as a little kid. The only other bit I remember from the series involved an appearance by some kind of Gilligan's Island style native who spoke guttural gibberish. When the native says to the mother, "Tahk-a-mock-a-doi," she is aghast by the nerve of him--maybe she even slapped his face. Was funny that a 60s era stay-at-home mom would know some obscure language. And my brothers and I used that native phrase as undercover cursing around our parents. We could let the receiver of this curse imagine the worst was meant, and yet avoid getting punished for swearing. My last thoughts about Captain Nice and Mr. Terrific are that it seemed odd that two so-similar shows debuted at the same time, just as The Munsters and The Addams Family had. Figured that there was some industrial (TV industry) espionage going on, but as a seven year old I probably just called them copycats.

I still remember some of the funniest one-liners from the show more than 50 years later. I just wish I could rewatch them to see if my adult sensibilities would still find it funny. Ann Prentis was very appealing as the love interest and the interplay between his parents at the breakfast table was a running joke that kept getting funnier.

Remember the premise of show, can still sing the theme, it was the victim of too many trying to copy. Now that Buck Henry has been tied to it after his passing, and today's media, it should be brought back in some form...

I couldn't agree more ... all comments were spot on. Tongue-in-cheek and missed by most.

Don't forget that Buck Henry went on to be a lead writer for SNL as well ... certainly no dearth of comedic firepower there.

As for Paula Prentiss' sister, an interesting aside - I just watched 'The Last Married Couple in America' starring George Segal and Natalie Wood - co-starring Richard Benjamin, Paula Prentiss' ex-husband. Quite the couple in the 70s.

I had forgotten that it was indeed William Daniels who went on to play in a variety of prime-time vehicles (most notably St. Elsewhere).

Thanks again for the memories of sitcoms past.

"Captain Nice" aired for a few months in 1967 when I was 10 years old. I'm proud to say that I never missed an episode of this silly series in the middle of the superhero fad of the mid-1960s.

William Daniels--better known as a cast member of "St. Elsewhere"--played Carter Nash, a chemist who discovered a formula that gave him superhuman strength, allowed him to fly, and made him impervious to bullets. There were problems, though: as Captain Nice, Nash was afraid of heights, had trouble controlling his flights, and found the formula wore off at awkward moments during his crime-fighting adventures. Nash's girlfriend was played by Ann Prentiss.

Normally I would hate something like this, but Daniels was perfect in the title role, and the show was just campy enough to be very entertaining. It didn't last long, but I remember it fondly.

I disagree with most of the comments saying that this show was bad. This was a funny show created by Get Smart's Buck Henry. I never missed an episode and managed to get all 15 in VHS tape format (although a bit fuzzy). Much better program than the competing super hero spoof, Mister Terrific

Back then we appreciated almost anything with a 'kid theme', especially in the evening. There were a few tantalizing bits thrown at us back then, Top Cat and Bugs Bunny were prime time a few years earlier. But to have a whole non-animated series devoted to being able to drink a potion, ala NICE or eat a pill, as in Mr. Terrific and become super, now that was GREAT FUN. After all these years I remember Captain Nice leaping from a van where in the dark he dressed in culottes and the time the secret formula dripped into a gutter to powerize a 'HIC-BOOM' worm. Even then I knew it was cheap, but I watched it, right after Mr. Terrific.

If you'll recall, Batman comics in the sixties were NOT dark. In fact it was quite colorful. The TV series was a reflection of the splashy pop art that was evident in the comics at the time. Anyone who says that the series made a dark hero silly, wasn't alive back then, or just plain wasn't paying attention. Batman wasn't dark then. The campy, comic-booky silliness that prevailed in the 60's gave birth to Captain Nice. Complete with laugh track and created by Buck Henry, William Daniels persnickety super-hero was a blast to watch. Way too short at a half hour, these adventures featured some of the greatest character actors of the day. Alice Ghostley as Mother was a riot as well, and I don't believe we ever did see Carter's father peer out from behind his newspaper. Why oh why isn't Captain Nice out on DVD yet? If you can get your hands on a copy of CN, do so. You'll get a great glimpse of a snapshot of time...the era known as the swingin' saucy sixties!

"CAPTAIN NICE"-Produced by Talent Associates,Inc./Paramount Television In Association With NBC Productions. Filmed at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. The series ran on NBC-TV. Premiere Episode of the series: January 9,1967. Last Telecast of the series: May 1,1967. 15 Episodes Were Produced-All In Color.

The campy and most successful action series "Batman" cast a very long shadow across superhero productions in film and on television. It was so successful upon its premiere on ABC-TV in the Spring of 1966 that by the following January of 1967,both competing networks(NBC and CBS)had invented their own superhero shows to air on opposite nights and challenge the supermacy of Adam West's Caped Crusader. What remains so interesting about this that both networks sought to repeat "Batman's" fame and fortune not by licensing well-known comic book superheroes but by creating new(and terribly lame)heroes instead. Even more intriguing,both networks,looking at "Batman" and apparently saw it as campy and a sitcom parody but at the same time both networks were matching the "Batman" formula to work with other shows,a prime example of this was the spy-series "The Man From U.N.C.L.E"(on NBC),which by the second and third seasons,NBC executives look at this series as just comedy and not serious at all. Instead the two networks(NBC and CBS)may have competed ably by producing a superhero show regarding various characters.Instead,ABC counter-programmed against "camp" in January of 1967,with a serious adaption of "The Green Hornet",which lasted one season.

The results of NBC and CBS's efforts were not pretty,and what emerged on television in the winter of 1967 were two half-hour series that never managed to attain individual identities in the eyes of viewers: "Captain Nice",which was on NBC,and "Mister Terrific",which was on CBS. These shows may have been made for adults but its main target audience that were watching the shows were children. In other words,straight-forward kiddie oriented material. Both shows lasted one season. Even more ominously,both shows ended their primetime span(with reruns)on the same date:August 28,1967,the same day both shows were dethroned in the Nielsens(along with the Western satire,"F-Troop",which was on ABC) by the final episode of the series,"The Fugitive",which became the highest-rated series finale in television history. In fact "Captain Nice" and "Mister Terrific",both looked and sounded so much alike that it was confusing to some viewers who either seem too like it or for the most part hated it. What made it so frustrating that is was an appropriate face,not to mention an enterprises that were designed to copy the "Batman" series,so rigorously. However,both sides failed and from this both shows were sent to the bottom of the television graveyard of forgotten sitcoms never to be heard from again. Of the two clone superheroes series,NBC's Captain Nice had the better pedigree,not to mention the cast.

"Captain Nice" was created by Buck Henry,the genius behind the spy-spoof "Get Smart",which was a huge hit for NBC at the time(NBC,1965-1968,and later on went to CBS,1968-1970),who serves as executive producer of this series along with producer Jay Sandrich. The series starred William Daniels(who would make a name for himself in other shows as well later on including "Saint Elsewhere",and the teen-comedy "Boy Meets World")as the meek Carter Nash,a police scientist that develops a serum endowing him superpowers to fight off evildoers. The series starred Ann Prentiss,Alice Ghostley,Liam Dunn,William Zuckert,and Byron Foulger. It's competition,"Mister Terrific"(which was on CBS)starred Alan Young,who was fondly remembered for his stint on the children's situation comedy show "Mister Ed"(which was on the same network).

I saw this show when I was ten years old. I was a Batman TV show fan, and this new one was also a spoof on the superhero genre. I thought it was hilarious! Hey, I was ten...

I especially liked the little touches like the hero's father, whose face was never seen because he was constantly reading the newspaper at the breakfast table. When the son went to work in the morning, the father would return his "goodbye" without looking up from the paper, oblivious to his son's true identity. Lots of people can identify with that off-hand commentary on absentee fathers. So, it did have some (albeit minor) social messages.

Shows like this (see also Mr. Terrific from the same year) were ahead of their time, and therefore unpopular. Recent superhero spoofs like "The Tick", which I have never seen but heard about, I believe have forebears going back at least 15-30 years. These previous shows would include "The Greatest American Hero" in the '80s.

I liked it AND I owned a copy of the novelization of the series!!! The show was definitely better than the book, but I remember very little of either of them. I did like the uniform that Captain Nice wore &, being only seven years old, I'm not sure that I understood that it was all a joke.

I think most people have totally forgotten about this show. I sure wish I could. Isn't it funny how some things just lodge themselves in your brain, no matter how useless or pointless they may be?