Believe it or not, it’s on DVD.
Cast and Crew
William Katt as Ralph Hinkley/Hanley
Robert Culp as Bill Maxwell
Connie Sellecca as Pam Davidson
Michael Pare as Tony Villicana
Faye Grant as Rhonda Blake
Complete information is available from this IMDB page.
Buy from: Amazon.com
or Amazon.ca
Past TV reviews can be found here.
Original Airdate
This season originally aired in 1981.
Synopsis
A high school teacher and an FBI agent happen to meet shortly before aliens give the teacher a suit that grants him superpowers. Unfortunately, he loses the instruction book, which makes it difficult to use the suit properly or consistently.
High Point
“The Hit Car” really sets up Bill Maxwell and the characater dynamic, as well as bringing a genuine surprise into the mix.
Low Point
The pilot to “The Greatest American Heroine” is included in the set. It’s easy to see why the spinoff never made it to the air.
The Review
Superheroes aren’t original, but a superhero this lousy at it is. This spoof was played for comedy from start to finish. I give it 4 out of 6.
The effects are awful. There’s just no other description. Really bad effects fit the tone of the show, but they’re still very, very bad. I give it 1 out of 6.
The story was good. Things were funny, particularly Culp, and the conventions of the genre are well manipulated. (The phone booth scene is a classic.) I give it 4 out of 6.
The acting ranges from very good (Robert Culp) to decent (William Katt) to just plain bad (Connie Selleca.) They all have their moments with well delivered lines, but there are times when things are just horrid for Selleca and Katt. I give it 3 out of 6.
The emotional response is wonderful. This is still a very funny show. It’s probably the lightest superhero fare I’ve seen. Highly enjoyable, even if you didn’t see it the first time around. I give it 5 out of 6.
The production is poor. It was lit like a sitcom, with little or no use of shadow to add character, and a lot of location shooting. The direction and editing wasn’t always the best, either. The theme song is still great, but that’s about all that really impresses today. I give it 3 out of 6.
Overall, it’s flawed, it’s cheap, and it’s corny, but that fits the tone of what they were trying to do very well. I still recommend it. I give it 4 out of 6.
In total, The Greatest American Hero: Season One recieves 24 out of 42.
Additional Notes and Comments
The second season reaches DVD on April 5, 2005, and the third on August 9, 2005. I’ll try to budget for them and review those, too.
Good Memories
I was 9 when I saw this first-run and I remember enjoying the heck out of it. My mom liked the show, too, always reminding me that Robert Culp was in I Spy and William Katt’s mom (Barbara Hale – Della Street) was on Perry Mason. She liked the TV history angle and thought the show was pretty funny, while I liked super powers. :)
As I recall, the first half of its run was pretty good but the show got progressively more heavy which, as a corollary to Fiz’s comments on the acting, wasn’t going to work even if the writing was there.
The only really bad memory I have from the series is that the theme song is permanently etched into my brain and comes to the fore WAY too often. This is partially from the show and partially because whatever radio stations I listened to at the time played the song a LOT (it actually reached #1 on the pop charts!). Mike Post has a lot to answer for…
Musical Chairs
Just a note here, apparently they replaced some of the in-episode music for licensing reasons. So if any of it seems particularly out of place in a scene, that may be why.
Re: Musical Chairs
I don’t know about later seasons, but the songs in these
episodes match those listed in the closing credits.
Re: Musical Chairs
I haven’t actually seen it; I was just relating what I read on another site (The Digital Bits’s review). Maybe they changed the credits to match? BTW, “Rocket Man” was one of the songs mentioned, is it in there?
Re: Musical Chairs
It’s not in this collection, but then, the episode in which
he faces off against rockets is a different season. It
could well be that the couldn’t afford the big name songs
in the first season, but starting picking them up when the
show became popular later on, and can no longer afford to
reclaim the rights.
Have to find space in the budget for it..
I simply loved that show, I saw it when I was six-or-seven and wanted to be a “hero” when I growed up. I even asked my mom to make me a cape, which I promptly donned and jumped around the house. Good times.
Damien
Re: Have to find space in the budget for it..
I was three when this premiered. It had already been on
the air a while when I started jumping around the house and
over furniture myself, wearing my blanket as a cape and
listening to the theme song on the little 45 record I had.
I couldn’t begin to count the number of times I played that
record. I ran it repeatedly for a minimum of an hour a day
for at least one entire summer. I vaguely remember doing
this daily during school, too. (Kindergarten in the
morning, then home in time for Spider-Man and
Inspector Gadget over lunch, before putting on the
record and “cape” for the rest of the afternoon…)
Re: Have to find space in the budget for it..
I can’t tell you all how happy I am to know that I wasn’t the only one.
on the other hand…does this demonstrate a direct correlation between greatest american hero and geekiness?
Heh.
My memory of this show is that my mom wouldn’t let us watch it growing up.
I believe the reason was he said ‘damn’ every time hi hit a wall or something,
so other than seeing the premiere I don’t know anything about the show.
Re: Heh.
Um, I was in high school. I was talking on the phone to my girlfriend when this premiered and she had the tv running. She kept laughing every time that idiot hit the wall. On the plus side, I figure he was a lot how I’d be if I ever inherited super-powers.
Awhile later, as I recall, a certain other Hinckley tried to kill the president of the U.S. and suddently they started calling the guy in this show “Mr. H.”