Automan was on TV four decades before Tron:_Ares.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automan#Features
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron:_Ares#Plot
Automan was released in very late 1983 with a very interesting premise for the time. Suppose a benevolent digital entity could be brought into the 3D world. Tron:_Ares is about a digital soldier program brought into the 3D world. Ares is no longer a ghost+in+the+machineg.
