Will Greatest American Hero Rise From The Dead?

The Greatest American hero was a show that ran on ABC from 1981 to 1983. It was initially quite popular but its growth was stunted when the usual network meddling sealed its doom. 

ABC moved it around in the schedule so often during its final season that it should have had a travel Visa.

Now Fox is considering reviving it. And with the right cast members it just might work. But we'll take a wait and see attitude as to whether it even gets done.  This has been talked about before in one form or another and nothing ever came of it.

I love the original series myself and own it on DVD. You can now buy it at a much much lower price than what I paid for it on Amazon originally. Turn off your ad blocking use the inserted ad if you're interested.  I may make five or ten cents in the process, which would be the first commission I’ve made in months.

The show starred William Katt, whom you may remember as Carrie's doomed date at the prom.  He also costarred with his mother Barbara Hale as the son of Paul Drake in the Perry Mason movies. And besides Carrie, he costarred in the movie First Love with Susan Dey.  (Use the links to see what I had to say about those films.)

The show also starred Robert Culp and Connie Selleca.

From Variety:

“Hero” had a bumpy run starting as a midseason entry for ABC in March 1981.  But the show remains well-loved among TV buffs for its offbeat mix of comedy and fantasy. The original starred William Katt as a goofy high school teacher who has an alien encounter in the desert one night that leaves him in possession of a red jump suit that gives him superpowers including the ability to fly.

In short order, he loses the suit’s instruction manual and falls in with an FBI agent who persuades him to help fight crime despite his trouble in figuring out how to work the suit. Robert Culp nearly stole the show from Katt in the role of FBI agent Bill Maxwell in the original series — a character so out-there he would occasionally be seen eating dog biscuits straight from a Milkbone box, without generating any comment from other characters. Connie Sellecca, future co-star of ABC’s “Hotel,” played Katt’s sympathetic girlfriend.

“Hero” was known to have been one of the prolific Cannell’s favorite shows from his long run in TV. It marked the first series to get on the air after Cannell struck out as an independent producer following his long tenure at Universal Television, where he co-created the indelible “Rockford Files” and worked on many other shows. Fox took control of the Cannell Prods. library in 1997 with its purchase of New World Communications. (Cannell died in 2010.)

“Hero” yielded a hit record for singer Joey Scarbury with its theme song “Believe It or Not.” But as noted in “The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present,” the series had the misfortune of giving Katt’s character, Ralph Hinkley, the same last name as John Hinckley, the man who shot President Reagan just two weeks after “Hero’s” premiere. The character’s name was hastily shortened to “Mr. H” in the classroom.

At one time there was talk of a theatrical feature based on the series but that never came about. Let's hope something comes of this. Let's also hope it's done as well as the original if it gets done at all. You know how these things go.  And like I said if you can catch the original please do so. You will be entertained.

The Variety article also talks about a possible remake of The Twilight Zone (again) and Remington Steele the show that launched the career of Pierce Brosnan. My thoughts? No, we don't need another rehash of the Rod Serling classic when the original is just that perfect. No, I don't care if they do Remington Steele or not.  I didn’t watch it then, I probably won’t watch it now.


There's also been talk this week of reviving Full House. Gag me with a maggot.