There are a ton of superhero shows these days, almost an endless supply of DC and Marvel stories. People crave the hero that faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles, maybe an homage to their sense of wear and tear in their daily lives, that the obstacles they themselves face are insurmountable and it is nice to see good triumph over evil at least somewhere. Or it’s just predictable and therefore comforting.

Enter Doom Patrol. A little more along the lines of the darkness of Deadpool, but it is narrated as if it is a spoof on itself. Enter Charles Xavier-lite, albeit still in a wheelchair yet with hair, and four people he has tried to help adjust enough to have some sort of life. A soft spot to land after a horrendous event.

The main character at first is a race-car driver who seems to have been in a horrific car crash and the only thing that could be saved was his brain. So now he is in a metal robot suit. More Frankenstein than Iron Man. He is helped by a man wrapped in bandages from head to toe, an ex-test pilot for the military who went into near orbit and became inhabited by some strange alien energy cloud. And an ex-actress who became possessed by some sort of water spirit who turns into a melted mass of flesh when she gets nervous. Plus, finally, a girl with 64 different personalities in her, most of whom are rude as f***, and later you find out, can turn into a large flaming Torch-like girl.

Oh I wanted to like it based on the actors. Brendan Fraser plays Robotman. Sometimes good, sometimes annoying. The test pilot is played by Matt Bomer, who I really enjoy. Timothy Dalton plays the doctor, and don’t mind him. Diane Guerrero as Crazy Jane isn’t a draw, but I don’t mind her. And while I am not familiar with April Bowlby as elasti-girl, I really quite like her. Yet none of them are enough.

Bad acting, ridiculous narration, strange campy feel to it. More like you’re watching a 1950s spoof of something. It is almost unwatchable. With it being superheroes, and a bit of a Deadpool feel to it, I was initially thinking renewal. Now that I’ve seen it, I’m going with CANCELLATION.