When Does Automan Season 2 Come Out? Is It Renewed?

What is Automan about?

Automan arrived in December 1983 as a high-concept fusion of police procedural and science fiction. The show centers on Walter Nebicher, a brilliant but underappreciated computer programmer at the Los Angeles Police Department who creates Automan, a sentient holographic crime-fighting program designed to assist detectives in solving cases. What begins as an experiment in artificial law enforcement quickly becomes Walter's secret weapon—a digitally manifested superhero who can materialize in the physical world with superhuman abilities and augment reality in impossible ways. The premise taps into the early-80s fascination with emerging computer technology while delivering the action-adventure formula audiences expected from primetime television, giving viewers both the intellectual appeal of a technological mystery and the visceral satisfaction of supercharged crime-solving.

The show's visual identity was deliberately stylized and deliberately artificial, embracing the limitations and possibilities of early digital effects alongside practical stunts and miniatures. Automan himself exists in a realm of bright neon aesthetics, computer-graphic visualization, and comic-book sensibilities that set it apart from grittier police dramas of the era. The tone balances earnest sci-fi worldbuilding with the lighter action-comedy energy typical of Glen A. Larson productions, treating its core conceit with enough sincerity that the impossible technology feels plausible within its own universe, while never losing sight of entertainment value. This distinctive visual language—part noir detective show, part video game come to life—made the series memorable even as its narrative stayed relatively episodic.

Despite its creative ambition and the pedigree of its creators and cast, Automan struggled to find an audience. The series completed only thirteen episodes before ABC canceled it after a single season in April 1984, making it one of Larson's few ventures that failed to sustain viewer interest. Retrospective appreciation for the show has grown modestly among science fiction enthusiasts and fans of 1980s television, who recognize its visual boldness and prescient exploration of AI as entertainment rather than dismissing it outright, though critical reception upon airing was largely indifferent.

The show occupies an interesting footnote in the science fiction television canon—ambitious enough to stand out from typical cop shows, but arriving at a moment when audiences were not yet primed for the specific blend of technology-driven storytelling and weekly procedural it offered. Its influence would prove indirect: while Automan itself faded quickly, the archetype of the digital assistant helping human protagonists would echo through later shows, and its visual approach to representing computing power presaged the more sophisticated digital aesthetics that would dominate television in subsequent decades.

Created by Glen A. Larson

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