Saturday, April 24, 2010

18 Years of TV: 'The Greatest American Hero'

Show: The Greatest American Hero
Original run: March 18, 1981 to February 3, 1983
Network: ABC
Premise: Extraterrestrials give high school teacher Ralph Hinkley (William Katt) a suit that grants him super powers and a mission to fight crime. The suit comes with an instruction manual, but Hinkley loses it minutes after receiving it. He reluctantly teams up with FBI agent Bill Maxwell (Robert Culp) to secretly foil plots of various criminals, which wreaks havoc on Ralph's love life with Pam Davidson (Connie Sellecca).

This was just about my most favorite TV show as a kid. I loved the idea that a regular guy who suddenly got super powers wasn't automatically an expert. He couldn't fly very well and crashed more often than not. And since he lost the instruction manual, he discovered the suit's powers by accident.

This was when I started scrutinizing the listings in TV Guide, because over the show's three-season (sort of) run, it was bounced around the schedule, pre-empted, etc., before finally canning it without showing four episodes that had been produced, so I needed to keep track of when it was on.

The show had difficulties almost right out of the gate; two days before the second regular episode aired, John Hinckley, Jr., shot President Reagan in an assassination attempt. Not wanting a main character whose last name was just about the same as a guy who tried to kill the president, Ralph Hinkley became Ralph Hanley. But the change was so abrupt that they covered the Hinkleys at first with sound effects. They changed it back to Hinkley when the second season began.

Warner Bros., parent company of DC Comics, sued ABC and show creator Stephen J. Cannell over the show, saying that the character of Ralph was too similar to Superman. You can actually read about it here. Most interesting aside from not pursuing the greater similarity to Green Lantern (regular guy given something wearable that gives him amazing powers to fight evil), was the revelation that the first design for the costume, which was rejected by Cannell, was "a beige and yellow outfit with a white collar and 'fold-up wings.'" Of course, I suppose they could've gone after them for being too similar to Hawkman. In any event, the lawsuit was dismissed.

The show was a bit of a departure for Cannell, who had a long track record of crime dramas. But even though the main character was a guy flying around in a pair of red underwear (or as Bill called them, the "magic jammies"), Ralph--who never had a proper superhero name--tackled relatively mundane terrestrial-based crime. As Cannell said on one of the DVD commentaries, there was a constant struggle, because he wanted it to be more grounded in reality, and the network wanted more fantastic, superheroey stuff.

Among the problems Ralph faced were Armageddon ("Operation: Spoilsport"), a possibly dirty pro football player and former classmate, ("The Price is Right"), drug runners ("Captain Bellybuster and the Speed Factory"), and even a space monster ("The Shock Will Kill You").

When the show first came on, I was a clumsy kid who desperately wanted to be a superhero, so I idolized Ralph. I couldn't wait to see each episode. In fact, I even badgered my mom into sewing me a cape to wear while I watched. I even bought the 45 of the show's theme song, "Believe It Or Not," by Joey Scarbury.

::sigh::
When I watched the show in syndication, I took more notice of Connie Sellecca as Pam Davidson. Rawr.

And now when I watch the DVDs, I pay the most attention to Robert Culp's portrayal of hard-nosed Fed Bill Maxwell. His overuse of the word "scenario," and his penchant for eating dog biscuits from the box, and his badass attitude crack me up. I was saddened to hear of Robert Culp's recent passing; he was awesome in everything I've seen him in, but Bill Maxwell will always be my favorite.

While the show's ratings dwindled, people continue to love the idea. Heck, in 1986, they even made a pilot for NBC of a follow-up, "The Greatest American Heroine," in which Ralph is exposed and eventually gives in to the resulting fame and fortune. The aliens who originally gave him the suit don't want their hero to be a colossal douche, so they take it away from Ralph, saying that now that his identity is exposed, he can't be as effective. He is charged with finding a replacement.

He finds that replacement--a woman named Holley Hathaway (played by Mary Ellen Stuart), who wants to save the world. Bill was charged to teach her how to use the suit, with comedic hijinks ensuing. The pilot wasn't picked up, and the episode was re-edited as a regular episode and stuck at the end of the syndication package.

There has also been a comic adaptation, co-written by William Katt. Talks of a remake have been flying around seemingly since the show left the air, but so far, nothing has materialized. Nathan Fillion ("Firefly," "Castle," "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog") mentioned in an interview that he wants to play Ralph in a movie version, which would be pretty awesome. But who could play Bill Maxwell? The only actor I can think of who's close would be Bruce Campbell.

If you want all the TGAH information you can handle, check out the long-running site, www.the-greatest-american-hero.com. It is made of awesome and win.

Feel free to share your memories of the show in the comments.
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

The project begins...

Okay, I'm going to give this my best shot. Wish me luck.

The project I mentioned a while back is an exercise in insanity. My goal is to watch at least one episode of every prime-time show that debuted during the first 18 years of my life. And since this kind of brazen stupidity should be documented, that's what I'll be posting here.

I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing, but that may be biweekly depending on my ever-growing busy schedule.

To clarify, this includes all shows that debuted from fall 1974 to fall 1992. It doesn't include shows that were already on (like "M.A.S.H.," for example), which I guess helps me a tiny bit.

The format will probably change here and there in the following weeks, but in general, I'll lay out some basic stats, a brief synopsis, and then whatever memories I have of the show, as well as a general review.

Some of these shows are old favorites; some I have no recollection of seeing. I'm not going in chronological order, so you never know which show will be next. I'm sneaky that way.

I'd love for this to be interactive, so by all means, please share your memories in the comments of each entry.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

'The Human Centipede' brings new meaning to 'creepy-crawlie'

You know, some times it seems that just about everything has been done in horror films. Killer snowmen? Check. Guy with papier-mache turkey head? Check. But then you hear about a flick like "The Human Centipede: First Sequence," and your faith in the creative depravity of mankind is renewed.

Quoth the film's official site:

During a stopover in Germany in the middle of a carefree roadtrip through Europe, two American girls find themselves alone at night when their car breaks down in the woods. Searching for help at a nearby villa, they are wooed into the clutches of a deranged retired surgeon who explains his mad scientific vision to his captives' utter horror. They are to be the subjects of his sick lifetime fantasy: to be the first to connect people, one to the next, via their gastric system, and in doing so bring to life 'the human centipede.'


Check out the trailer below.



Apparently this doctor has never heard the old adage, "You never go ass to mouth." It will be interesting to see if the movie maintains the horror or if it relies solely on the admittedly disturbing premise. It will also be interesting to see if there's any videogame tie-in.

(via NerdBastards.com)

Monday, March 22, 2010

Coming soon...

Working on a big project set to debut here soon. Hopefully, it will be worth the wait.

Hints:





Monday, January 04, 2010

Oh jeez, it's 2010 already?



Well, it's the start of another year, and I've been going through all the stuff I have yet to organize.

One of the things I found was this picture of me with the Wienermobile. And no, the hat wasn't mine.

This was the result of one of the only reportery things I did during my time as a newspaper copy editor. I heard a call over the police scanner that the Wienermobile was finally on its way to one of the local supermarkets after having had a spot of road trouble.

Realizing that as a copy editor, I had a working press pass, I hopped in my hoopty and hightailed it over there, pen and notepad in hand. (Not while I was driving, though. That would've been unsafe. You know what I mean.)

This would be perfect fodder for my weekly humor column. I mean, how could I pass that up, really?

I spoke with Des and Robin, the two college students in charge of this particular Wieniebago, and they gave me a tour of the inside. I'd always thought it would've been cool to drive around in the Wienermobile--imagine picking up a date for the first time--but once I found out that there was no air conditioning, I realized I was probably better off.

Before I left to think of suitable-for-publication wiener puns, they took a Polaroid of me wearing a goofy hat so I'd have a souvenir of my tour.

Fortunately I didn't have to sing the Oscar Mayer jingle.