I found a Sentinel/GAH crossover fic, which reminded me of this series. I heart The Greatest American Hero, even though I haven't seen it in years. I bet that, now, I would think it was pure cheese, and probably be distracted by the bad special effects, but I still heart it. The theme song is permanantly stuck in my head, which is okay because I like it.

There probably won't be much talk about this one. (I'm always surprised by how many people haven't seen it, even though it was showing on FX a few years ago.) But I had to see if there were any more GAH fans hanging around here. Besides, I consider it a classic. I wonder if it's out on DVD and, if not, will it ever be.

I heard a rumor that it may be released on DVD in 2005.

I used to watch this show in repeats every Saturday. I was soooo disappointed how this one episode ends: They meet the aliens who gave them the suit. They get another copy of the manual on how to use it, but loose it again. So close!

Here's a link to info about the impending DVD release
Cannell Productions DVD releases

This would be an excellent candidate for a modern non-camp facelift, with TV's new infatuation with continuity. A chance to build up a mythology around the aliens and that ferschlugginer owner's manual.

Of course, without Robert Culp chomping down dog biscuits, I'm just not sure if it would be entirely worth it.

Plus, they'd have to get a new theme song. The Enterprise set is already ready to shed blood over the power ballad they have to put up with; sci-fi fandom in general just may explode in a ball of self-righteous fury if Cannell Productions tried to use "Believe it or Not" again, nostalgia or no.

I was never really a fan of the show- but I watched the pilot and was pleasantly surprised. The thing I remember most is the scene where William Kat's standing in his bedroom while his son is watching Superfriends on TV. Kat's trying to decide whether he should wear the suit or not.

He can hear the TV show through the door. I don't remember the dialogue exactly, but either Batman or Superman says "Have all the Superfriends checked in?!"

Kat gets a sort of resigned looked on his face and a series is born.

Also, Robert Culp rules.

I just recently was able to download the first season of this. I haven't had a chance to watch it, but I remember it as a fun, campy show. My biggest memory is of a little kid telling him he had to take three steps and then jump to fly. Which worked. Because, you know, if that's the way they do it on TV, that must be the way to do it.

I am so psyched for the GAH DVD!! This was such a staple of my childhood. Ralph and the 'magic jammies'. Bill & Ralph bickering. Ralph being a clutz. sigh.

I watched the pilot a few years ago, at the Museum of Television & Radio in New York, and I thought it held up fine, cheesiness and all. Funny though - in the pilot, a big subplot is Ralph trying to maintain custody of his son, with the help of his lawyer, Pam (Connie Sellecca). But didn't they pretty much drop the kid from the rest of the series?



It ain't GAH without it, as far as I'm concerned. Even though hearing it once means it will be stuck in your head on a loop track for days, I still get a schmoopy grin at the sound. (The Star Trek travesty is something else entirely)

I did hear rumors about a theatrical film version being in development. I'd rather they do movies than a new tv series.

Robert Culp eating dog biscuits.

Genius.

Absolutely loved this show; it was so much fun. I still explain things to people starting with “Okay, here’s the scenario…” I thought Robert Culp and William Katt had phenomenal chemistry as Bill and Ralph.

They tried to do a new version with a woman getting the suit after Ralph has to “retire” because people find out who he is, but I guess the pilot didn’t sell. I gotta admit I don’t have high hopes for a theatrical movie; I liked the original cast way too much.

Oh, yes - Greatest American Heroine. I picked up a bootleg of it years ago at a con, and it was god-awful. Just incredible, cloying, suckiness. Hopefully it will end up as a bonus feature on the dvds, so everyone can get to see the bullet that was dodged, and get to see the few enjoyable scenes - Ralph & Pam with the aliens ("No, of course I didn't lose the manual again") and the last Ralph & Bill bicker.

All I had to do was spot the thread to get the damned song stuck in my head again. Sigh.

An updated version with the same song...possible. They'd probably get someone else to do it to give it a "hip" feel, though.

Favorite scene? I don't recall the plot. I don't recall any major characters. I simply remember Robert Culp finally getting a shoddy car (a red Volkwagen Beetle, if memory serves) from the FBI after his last few were destroyed. The episode takes place at a circus. At the end?

An elephant sits on it.

Priceless Culp reaction shot + Me being ten years old = Laughter for weeks whenever I thought of it.

I used to think Michael Pare was so hot back then. I loved this show, bad effects and all.

I think I disagree, HF. The fury over the ENT theme is because the song sucks, and because it is too different from what we've come to expect in a Trek theme. "Believe it or Not" is a great song and is exactly what we expect for a GAH theme. I'd be horrified if they tried to do away with it for a new series. Which, by the way, I sincerely hope never gets made.

Same here.

Same here, again. This series was such cheesy goodness; my brother and I absolutely loved it. A remake would be an absolute crime. A DVD release, on the other hand, sounds wonderful.

Who can forget when Ralph has to find the Dungeons and Dragons role player / re-enactor. Geekiness on top of geekiness.

The one that sticks out most in my memory though is when Ralph faces the poltergeist. Sca-ry, at least when I was a little® guy.

I'm really looking forward to the dvds because, aside from seeing the pilot, the finale, and the Heroine pilot several years ago, I remember none of the specific episodes. Just vague memories of the catch-phrases like "here's the scenario", the image of Ralph flailing around in the sky, his x-ray vision (or telepathy?) special effect, and that the show made me happy when I watched it. I can't wait to find out why I loved it so much.

It does seem that the feature-film-adaptation is in development. Seems pretty unnecessary, and I can't imagine it being terribly good, but stranger things have happened. If they cast it right, it might be ok.

I couldn't get the song out of my head today, so I stopped trying to, and instead tried to think of who would be the best and worst artists to cover it for the feature. I'd love to hear Dolly Parton cover it, or the Dixie Chicks. (Not that I'm a huge country-western fan, but I'm not sure what other genre can pull off a power ballad nowadays.)

Agree, totally. The reason I don't mind having the song stuck in my head is because it's that good. I mean, I haven't even seen the show (or heard the theme) in years, but I remember all the words, which would be a curse with anything else.

And I don't want anyone else to cover the song. No! No! No! (Says my 4 year-old inner child.) Why can't they use the original? Retro is supposed to be cool, right?

Hello Greatest American Hero Fans!
I don't know how to read the FAQ! That is all!

DVDs are coming

I heard they were thinking of Adam Sandler to play Ralph. I hope it's just a really bad joke, or a false rumor or whatever, because that would be bad. Plus, I heard this rumor a few months ago, and am taking hope from the fact that, until filming actually starts, things can always change. (Look how often reports of who was going to play the new Superman changed.)

DVD cover art

I am saving for the DVD, since cash is a bit on the tight side. Being a young girl at the time who used to spin around hoping to turn into Wonder Woman (never happened, drat it) the idea a normal person could be given a suit had me looking out for UFO's heh.

Yeah I was wierd child. At the time reality sucked

Hee. Me, too. I used to take those three steps and jump and try to fly. Ah, childhood.

DVD release pushed back.

I remember a scene where Ralph foils a bank robbery and the theif asks "Who are you?" Ralph says "I'm the tooth fairy!" and knocks him out cold.

Later the guy wakes up and asks Bill, "Where is he?"

Bill: "Who?"

Thief: "The Tooth Fairy"

Bill (in his gruff, federl agent voice): "Oh yeah, him. Some kid lost a molar in Sacramento."

For some reason that continues to crack my shit up.

Also, can't wait for the DVDs.

I know that the Futon Critic has the release pushed back to next week, but my sister's store (she works at a nationwide retail chain) got it in and she double checked today with their distributor who still has it listed as released tomorrow. So people may want to check their local stores rather than wait.

I'm halfway through the DVDs for Season Two and I'm happy to say that this show has held up well over time. Sure, the special effects look a little rough today, but the interplay between Ralph, Bill, and Pam really makes the show work. I'm thoroughly enjoying these episodes.

"The Hand Painted Thai" was one that, for whatever reason, I remember very clearly from 1981. The boss who gets killed in the first "Die Hard" movie plays a Communist leader who sneaks into America and goes undercover as a "filthy capitalist". 12 years later, he's the rich CEO of a 50-location Thai resturaunt chain and living the high life, when his former commander shows up and wants to start their long-planned anti-American mission. The interplay between these two guys is hilarious, as the CEO vainly tries to show that he's still committed to the cause, while trying to deal with taking his franchise national and handle the demands of his ex-wife. His commander has such a look of disgust on his face the whole episode that I thought these two should get their own show. Very funny.

Anyway, I've rewatched about 16 episodes so far, and only one was a dog (the motorcycle gang one). Well worth the cost of the DVDs.

My only complaint about the DVD's is with most shows there is a chapter stop after the opening credits. Now I love the theme song (still have a 45 of it in storage) but I don't want to watch the credits every time. I have to fast forward instead of just skipping directly to the start of the episode.

Loved the show. I'm with Khakiass... The Beast In Black sc[red the bejeebus outta me. I watched it again years later (Showcase Action showed GAH for a while) and it still spooked the hell out of me.

Man, Faye Grant was cute back in the day... and she's aged pretty well too. Stephen Collins is a lucky fellow.

Oh, and if they don't use the theme song in a theatrical version somebody will have to pay. Somehow. :)

So, I never actually watched this show back in the day, but was always aware that it was on (I would have been in junior high at the time), knew and loved the theme song -- in fact I may even have had the sheet music to it, I'm not sure.

So now my husband rents the DVDs for nostalgia's sake and I am FINALLY getting to watch the series, which is actually funnier (and funner, not that that's a word) than I thought it would be.

The Greatest American Heroine episode is at the end of the S1 disks, I think, because we saw it last night. So, what was the story with that? When did it originally air -- was it after the series, an attempt to do a spin-off, or what?

Greatest American Heroine was actually hilarious to me, because they go to Newfoundland, which is where I live. The exterior shots looked believable (who knows where they were filmed) but then they enter a bar filled with crusty old fisherman, all of whom talk like they're from the southern U.S. -- very strange. I guess it wasn't the kind of budget where they'd actually shoot in Newfoundland, or make any effort to find out what the place was like (probably assuming nobody there would be watching TV to notice, anyway).

Fun stuff. I still love the theme song desperately.

I have vague--but good--memories of this show since I was pretty young when it aired.

But there was one ep that scared my little five year old butt off. Wasn't Ralph stuck inside of a wall being scratched by invisible claws? I remember crying and running from the room because I was so sure he wouldn't make it.

Nice collector's box dvd set

Now I'm really heading down memory lane. It's been decades since I've seen this and I can still sing that theme tune. It's brilliant. No remakes, dammit!

I remember enjoying the earlier eps in particular while Ralph was getting used to the suit, although the only thing I remember, apart from him having to take three steps in order to take off (and of course the crashing everywhere), was when he was threatening to "shake 'n' bake" some criminals in a car (well, Bill was doing most of the threatening, if memory serves). They caved after the shaking part, heh.

Someone asked if Greatest American Heroine was supposed to be a spin-off. Well, it wasn't in the technical sense. It wasn't that GAH was so popular during its run that they decided to do another show. In fact, GAH had been cancelled three years before Greatest American Heroine saw the light of day.

What happened was that the PTB realized that, even thought GAH had been cancelled, the fanbase for it was still strong. In fact, the fanbase had grown since the cancellation. So, they wanted to take advantage by putting the show back on the air.

But William Katt didn't want to reprise his role. (He joked that, being older, and maybe not in the same shape, he'd look like a lumpy schlub in the suit unless he was constantly starving himself.) So, they decided to "update" the show with a female in the lead, and in the suit. Which just smacks of the network taking the opportunity to try to sex the show up a bit.

I actually wonder if the new series would've actually been really good if Katt had reprised his role. Because a lot of the magic of that show was the chemistry between the three leads.

The Greatest American Hero, like Remington Steele, was best in the first season, when the characters are still getting used to each other and their roles. The Greatest American Hero lost its heart when Ralph began getting to good at managing his life.

I totally missed that there may be a potential film adaptation in the works, but financing is an issue. As long as Will Ferrell isn't Ralph, I think I'd be okay.

Even if that should have happened eventually (because it made sense, organically), the writers should have thrown a new wrench in the mix to complicate things. So, did they? (I've seen a few episodes in syndication way back when, but my memory is fuzzy on the show).