Patrick Warburton's Short-Lived Superhero Sitcom Deserved More Than A Single Season

Long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Universe expanded into TV, Fox's short-lived superhero sitcom starring Patrick Warburton had comic book readers glued to the screen for a single season back in 2001 — and it deserved far more credit than it got. "The Tick" was based on Ben Edlund's comic book hero of the same name, with Warburton playing the titular role for nine episodes on Fox alongside David Burke as his sidekick, Arthur.

Like Edlund's original comics, the show is a parody of the superhero genre because The Tick is as hapless as he is invincible. He's not a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist like other major heroes. He's an amnesiac who doesn't know who he is outside of his super-persona, and he often has to fix mistakes or problems he's caused as well as battling supervillains.

"The Tick" might be one of many superhero shows you forgot existed, but it boasts an 88% critic rating against a 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. This high praise suggests viewers would've shown up for more episodes if Fox had given it more of a chance. Not only did it expertly parody the superhero genre, but as Warburton himself told CBR: "It was very clever and smart and different — all those wonderful things. But sometimes, the network can't grasp that. They can't put their finger on it."

Patrick Warburton is no stranger to working on some of the best sitcoms ever made thanks to the likes of NBC's "Seinfeld," as well as ABC's "Less Than Perfect" and CBS' "Rules of Engagement." But he has been blown away by people who recognize him from "The Tick."

"Even though Fox didn't give us a shot — and obviously, the men in suits over at Fox were very wrong, because they just didn't give the show a chance, and eight, nine years later there still seems to be a huge fan base of just 'The Tick' in general — but the show, the live-action incarnation, still seems to have many, many fans and everyone seemed to enjoy it," Warburton told CBR.

According to Warburton, Fox canceled the show because it was more expensive to produce than reality TV, which is a huge shame because "The Tick" was far from one of the worst superhero shows of all time. Prime Video briefly resurrected the show with a modern cast and a big budget, starring Peter Serafinowicz as The Tick, but it was also canceled in 2019 after two seasons.