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 3/4^th” 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 3/4^th” 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