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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Comedy
    Comedy TV Shows - 1980s 3 Mins Read

    Greatest American Hero, The

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    1 9 8 1 – 1 9 8 3Β (USA)
    45 x 60 minute episodes

    Despite the earnestness of the theme song, which went to #1 on the US singles charts,Β The Greatest American HeroΒ never took itself too seriously.

    William Katt starred as mild-mannered high-school teacher Ralph Hinkley, who, while on a desert field trip with his Whitney High students, was chosen by aliens to don a costume and fight bad guys.

    gah9

    Witnessing this first encounter was FBI agent Bill Maxwell, who happened to be stranded in the same part of the desert.

    The extra-terrestrials gave Hinkley a ridiculous-looking red suit, which gave him the powers of flight, x-ray vision and invisibility.

    But there was one problem: Hinkley immediately lost the instruction manual that came with the suit and had to learn all his newly acquired skills by trial and error. Many, many crash landings followed.

    Agent Maxwell frequently employed the superhero in his own cases. When he wasn’t solving crimes, Hinkley continued to date his girlfriend (and eventual wife), attorney Pam Davidson, who was aware of Ralph’s double life.

    greatestamericanhero5And a double life it was, indeed. When you’re only a so-so superhero, you have to keep your day job, and Ralph continued to teach a class of students that included hunky Tony Villicana, his girlfriend Rhonda Blake, Cyler Johnson and Rodriguez.

    Ralph’s ex-wife Alicia occasionally appeared on the show, as did their son Kevin.

    In 1981, President Reagan was shot by a would-be assassin called Hinckley. ABC immediately decided that Ralph’s students would now simply refer to him as “Mr H”.

    For the few episodes that had been filmed but not aired before the decision was made, “Hinkley” was overdubbed with “Hanley”. Reagan pulled through, and Ralph got his last name back in August of 1981.

    Created by Stephen J.Cannell (producer ofΒ The A-TeamΒ andΒ 21 Jump Street), the series lasted for three years with the last five episodes shown in syndication.

    A pilot episode was made for a spin-off series,Β The Greatest American Heroine, when, in 1986, NBC honcho Brandon Tartikoff showed interest in resurrecting the concept.

    William Katt wasn’t interested, so Mary Ellen Stuart was cast as Holly Hathaway, the suit’s new owner. Robert Culp reprised his role as Bill Maxwell. The series was never made.

    TRIVIA
    The series’ producers survived a lawsuit filed by DC Comics, which claimed thatΒ The Greatest American HeroΒ was a rip-off of their property,Β Superman. This argument failed to convince the court.

    The Greatest American HeroΒ was alluded to onΒ Seinfeld.

    George re-wrote the words to the Mike Post/Stephen Geyer theme song, using “Believe it or not George isn’t at home” for his answering machine’s outgoing message.

    Ralph HinkleyΒ 
    William Katt
    Bill MaxwellΒ 

    Robert Culp
    Pam DavidsonΒ 

    Connie Sellecca
    Tony VillicanaΒ 

    Michael Pare
    Rhonda BlakeΒ 

    Faye Grant
    Cyler JohnsonΒ 

    Jesse D. Goins
    RodriguezΒ 

    Don Cervantes
    Kevin HinkleyΒ 

    Brandon Williams

    Video

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