FLASHBACK: Before 'Defenders of Stan' there was 'Jesus Christ: Supercop!'

Before there was Defenders of Stan, the longest running Channel 101 NY show ever, there was…Jesus Christ, Supercop. Both series were created by and star the same mastermind: Austin Bragg. If you read the title of the series, you have the premise. It’s Jesus Christ. Super. Cop.

As far as the show’s legacy, the Channel 101 NY website put it best: “It proved once and for all that Jesus doesn’t have to be hack…as long as you’re damn good at it.”

Truer words were never spoken. Jesus rates slightly below Hitler and slightly above Pirates, Pimps, Ninjas and Robots in the world of all-time overused comedy tropes. It even comes close to the most abused comedy trope of the aughts: Superheros. Wait, Austin Bragg did that, too. How does this guy take tired ideas and breathe new life into them? Maybe he is Jesus.

Six fine episodes of Supercop ran in the Spring of ’05. This is back when people were still watching Peanut Butter Jelly Time on YouTube and GI Joe PSAs on Ebaumsworld. Were we ever so young? Even Channel 101 NY was ‘Channel 102’ back then. But like all Channel 101 shows, you can never leave on top, and the series met its demise after airing an episode including a fight with God. And with a final “Yabble Dabble!” it was over.

The series starts hitting all the numbers: the neglected spouse, the angry Chief (“I’m going to nail you!”), disposable henchmen (“I thought you were dead!”), but it took some turns as the series progressed. Jaded NYC live audiences, voting on the life of the show, demanded surprises, which could explain the series’ quick departure from formula. Stigmata & Starsky jokes only play so long ‘afore the Williamsburg crowd will boot you.

Thus, by Episode 3, Bragg and his team (Meredith Bragg and Hunter Christy) at The Big Honkin’

introduced Nietzsche, the Matrix, and some lighthearted elements which broke the 70s cop show drama shtick like a brittle twig. Maybe it’s for the best, as D.C. resident Bragg turned to DC comics to create his next series, the impeccable Defenders of Stan. Either way, comedy is easy, Jesus is hard, and Jesus Christ, Supercop was the hardest of them all.