The Greatest American Hero – Season One
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Episodes: B-
Vietnam syndrome was being succeeded by a different kind
of cynicism, that anything good, interesting or creative should be spoofed and
even attacked. During Vietnam, a cycle
of silly superheroes surfaced, at the same time that they were being censored
on TV for being too violent. Then,
Superhero TV shows boomed in syndication and new series like the Bionic shows, The
Incredible Hulk, and Wonder Woman were hits. Lesser Marvel Comics-based shows also
surfaced and the first two Superman films were blockbusters. In 1981, the ABC Network was looking for
more hits to keep their string of hits going and they took on The Greatest
American Hero.
Producer Stephen J. Cannell, who deconstructed TV
detectives with The Rockford Files with David Chase, came up with a show
that took on the cartoonish side of the Superhero genre. William Katt, an actor known for his many
high school roles during 1970s cinema like the somewhat nice guy in Brian De
Palma’s Carrie (1976) among others, plays Ralph Hinkley. Yes, he is a high school teacher (in-joke)
who has an encounter with aliens and is endowed with superpowers and a
supersuit. Too bad they did not show
him how to use them, and he’s lost the instruction book!
Like all would-be heroes with a conscious, he decides to
use his powers for the good of mankind.
This brings him together with FBI agent Bill Maxwell (Robert Culp
sending up his I Spy/Hickey & Boggs (reviewed elsewhere on
this site) tough guy image) and they do not get along. At least he has a somewhat supportive
attorney girlfriend Pam Davidson (Connie Sellecca) who wants to have a happy,
normal life with him. Instead, all
kinds of crazy capers get in their way and their lives. If high school life was not in enough
trouble, letting the rest of the world in only makes things wackier.
The show was always a one-joke affair to this critic, but
looking at it now, Cannell and company were trying to do something more with
it. The show landed up becoming a
moderate hit, but it never realized its potential because the producers let it
become too silly. The episodes in this
first season set includes:
1) Pilot (a
telefilm meant for a two-hour slot)
2) The Hit
Car
3) Here’s
Looking At You, Kid (June Lockhart guest stars)
4) Saturday
Night On Sunset Boulevard
5) Reseda
Rose
6) My
Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
7) Fire Man (the
best show in the set)
8) The Best
Desk Scenario
Also here and never aired on network TV (but maybe on
cable?) is a spin-off called The Greatest American Heroine, which failed
to continue the series so ABC could have a hit revised. This might have worked better if the show
had not burned out to begin with, while the show did not know enough about
Superheroes to survive the TV grind.
Culp was going to stay on too.
It is a marker between the end of one era of Superheroes and the next
one that arrived the year of the failed spin-off, Frank Miller’s Batman –
The Dark Knight Returns in 1986.
A new, harder-edged era of graphic novels was about to begin, leaving Greatest
American Hero its own unique nostalgia.
The full frame 1.33 X 1 image shows its age, with color
that is not always great, and image definition that was typical of too many TV
productions of the time. However, at
its best, the prints have there shining moments of good color and detail. Also, the visual effects of the flying are
bad, and with the flying always a joke, this made it more ridiculous. Unfortunately, the show was even visually
too joking, lacking form too often. The
result is too few memorable visual moments.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is a simple, smart boosting of the original
TV monophonic sound, though the famed theme song is not as clean and clear as
the stereo hit record version of the theme.
Extras include that unsold spin-off pilot and 75 minutes of new
interviews where Cannell and the cast reflect on the show, which are all good
as usual.
To show how serious ABC and Cannell were about the show,
knowing how Superhero toys sold and that even Mork & Mindy (reviewed
elsewhere on this site) merchandise sold before that show burned out quickly,
they licensed the show to the great toy company Mego. Mego was the #1 toy company of the 1970s with innovate 8” and 3
3/4th” action figures and other clever products. They made licensing a major item in the toy
business, including a series of DC & Marvel action figures that go for tons
of money now and are considered classics.
Greatest American Hero was set to launch some
impressive 8” figures of the three leads and 3 3/4th” figures that
included Pam’s now-classical Volkswagen Beetle convertible for the smaller
figures. However, the company was in
trouble and after missing the Star Wars license, Mego tried to make up
with it by licensing Star Trek - The Motion Picture, The Black Hole,
Buck Rogers TV series, James Bond film Moonraker and a toy line
from Japan called The Micronauts. Only
The Micronauts did well for the company.
When the show went on, Mego had made some nice prototypes, but it was
too late. The company went bankrupt and
the Greatest American Hero toylines never made it to market.
Since the show was a hit, the toys would have likely
followed suit. Too bad for Mego,
because the line could have saved the company and even made the show a bigger
hit with kids. You can see some of the
now-very-expensive prototypes at www.megoheadtoys.com
and look to their left-hand-side list.
It is one of the few highlighted as “unproduced figures” worth checking
out, though not Greatest American Heroine prototype would get made. As for the show, we hope to look at Season
Two soon.
- Nicholas Sheffo
