Fun Friday: The Greatest American Hero
The Greatest American Hero was a childhood favorite of mine and since it’s nominated for a TV on DVD Award, I though it would be a great time to feature it in Fun Friday.
The Greatest American Hero aired for three seasons from 1981 to 1983 on ABC. It starred William Katt as teacher Ralph Hinkley, Robert Culp as FBI Agent Bill Maxwell, and Connie Sellecca as lawyer Pam Davidson and featured Michael Pare (before Eddie and the Cruisers) as one of Hinkley’s students. It was created and produced by Stephen J. Cannell.
The theme song, “Believe It or Not,” was composed by Mike Post and Stephen Geyer and sung by Joey Scarbury. It became a hit during the show’s run and is easily recognizable and frequently parodied (Remember George’s answering machine on Seinfeld?).
The story followed mild-mannered high school teacher Ralph Hinkley who, after a close encounter with aliens, receives a red super-power suit that only he can control. The only problem - he has lost the instructions and doesn’t quite know how to operate the red suit. Hilarity ensues as he tries to figure it out, and doesn’t quite get it right most of the time. He’s aided by girlfriend Pam and FBI agent Bill Maxwell. Guest stars included Joe Mantegna, Markie Post, Bob Saget, Rick Dees, June Lockhart, David Paymer, Barbara Hale, André The Giant, Dixie Carter, and Don Drysdale.
The deluxe Complete Series DVD set includes all 44 episodes, interviews with Stephen J. Cannell, Mike Post, William Katt, Robert Culp, Connie Sellecca, and Michael Pare; the unaired spinoff series pilot The Greatest American Heroine; a Japanese dubbed version of “The Two-Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Fastball”; a photo gallery; and an episode script as a DVD-ROM extra. It comes packaged in a black tin case and comes with the long lost red suit instruction manual (complete with working lights); a full-sized cape; and an iron-on logo transfer so you, yourself, can become The Greatest American Hero.
Enjoy this montage of clips set to the “Believe It or Not” theme song:
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October 27th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
don’t forget this one.;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGQJSrg1TVA
October 29th, 2007 at 12:45 am
OMG, was it really that long ago??? I’m getting old. I loved that show, but figured it had dropped off of the radar completely, can’t believe that it made it DVD collection status. Maybe I just thought the Katt was cute, but for whatever reason, I still watched. Just caught the movie “Carrie” with Sissy Spacek on cable yesterday, and there was WK, too. Forgot he was in that. Now to head on over to amazon…
October 29th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Marci - I love those clips. I am going to have to buy this DVD. I think my kids would love the show.
Doug - You know I never thought William Katt was very cute until I was looking at some of the old clips to find one for the blog. He was much prettier than Connie Selleca, eh? LOL
June 16th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
It is official! The Greatest American Hero Web Series is coming out on July 4th!
http://www.tgah.com