FORGOTTEN SCI FI TV PRESENTS: "Automan" (1983)

AUTOMAN is an American sci fi superhero TV series created by Glen A. Larson that aired on ABC from 1983 to 1984, lasting 12 episodes out of 13 produced. The show mimics the visual style of Disney's Tron within a superhero context and later reran on the Sci-Fi Channel.

AUTOMAN, short for "Automatic Man," centers on Walter Nebicher (Desi Arnaz Jr.), a police officer and programmer who develops an AI crime-fighting program. This program generates a hologram, AUTOMAN (Chuck Wagner), who exits the computer at night to combat crime. In the real world, AUTOMAN acts as Walter’s friend, government agent Otto J. Mann—a secret known only to Walter’s confidante, Roxanne Caldwell (Heather McNair). Walter can merge with AUTOMAN, combining their consciousness and skills while retaining AUTOMAN’s invulnerability. AUTOMAN’s sidekick, Cursor, is a floating polyhedron that creates objects like the Autocar, an airplane, and the Autochopper—a helicopter—all defying physics. Walter’s superiors, Lieutenant Jack Curtis (Robert Lansing) and technophobic Captain E. G. Boyd (Gerald S. O’Loughlin), assume AUTOMAN is an FBI ally, with Boyd favoring Curtis as the ideal cop over Walter.