It only ran for two and a half time of year from 1981 to 1983 , butThe Greatest American Hero — starringWilliam Kattas an unassuming teacher who receives a super - powered suit from extraterrestrial being , then readily loses the instructions — has leftan unerasable Gospel According to Mark on tonic civilisation . You probably already have the motif Sung stuck in your nous ( “ Believe it or not , I ’m walk on tune … ” ) after just reading the headline on this post .
Why has The enceinte American Hero , which co - star Robert Culp as reluctant hero Ralph ’s FBI liason , Bill , and Connie Sellecca as Ralph ’s girlfriend and lawyer , Pam — become such an enduring favorite ? The Greatest American Hero Companion , a just - released record book by Patrick Jankiewicz , digs into the ABC sci - fi comedy with big enthusiasm , profiling the creative squad involved , research individual installment as well as the show ’s spacious impact , and surfacing random trivia that may storm even longstanding fans of the serial publication . It features a preface by series star Katt ; io9 gets a shout - out thanks toour 2018 roundup of the show ’s “ most preposterous ” episode — which we save when we learnedthe reboot starring Hannah Simonewasn’t getting picked up — so it ’s no closed book we ’re fans of Ralph ’s misadventure . We hopped on picture chat with Jankiewicz to learn more .
“ [ Creator Stephen J. ] Cannell had some vast hit [ like The Rockford Files , The A - Team , and 21 Jump Street ] , but this is [ now ] the most popular of all his shows , ” the author say . “ Even he could n’t figure it out — this is the considerably - merchandising on DVD and Blu - ray . You have to shoot five seasons to go into syndication , and this show did n’t even fall close . It ’s his only full - on literary genre show , the only sci - fi superhero eccentric show he ever did , and he was n’t used to all the clichés . The meshwork necessitate him to do a superhero show , and once he did it , he made it [ in his own style ] , like his other show . It ’s a show about personal responsibility , which I think is very mirthful . ”
Image: BearManor Media
Jankiewicz , who has also published “ companion ” book on The Incredible Hulk and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century , found his next depicted object by accident , though it ’s understandably in his wheelhouse . “ It was when covid pip . It was a Saturday morning , I was drinking umber with my blood brother , flipping through the TV channel , and we make out across an episode of the series , ” Jankiewicz come back . “ It was from the first time of year , a great episode call ‘ The Best Desk Scenario , ’ which was based on a existent murderer of a real reporter , and it was really well - write . Cannell ’s shows are very , very bounteous on character . [ With The Greatest American Hero ] , they were assay to do The Rockford Files with a superhero . It ’s a Marvel Comics interpretation of Rockford Files . The wedge is ripe - hearted , but nobody really eff it ; everybody misjudges him . Rockford is a character — you wish him , you like his lifespan , you recover him interesting . And it just so happens he ’s a police detective . It ’s the same matter here : Ralph just go on to be a superhero . But you care the reference , you like his protagonist , and you care the situation . I had forgotten what a magical , funny show it was ! ”
It ’s gruelling to pick a favorite episode among The Greatest American Hero ’s 45 total , but Jankiewicz think one in particular stands out . “ I get it on the pilot burner . I think the airplane pilot is really , really impudent ; you drop about 30 mo start out to hump Ralph as a character before the aliens and everything else encounter . The show is very personality - driven , and since you like the fibre , you care about what happens to them , ” Jankiewicz say . However , he also acknowledge to liking the goofier , more supernatural centering the series guide in its late episodes . “ I bang when the show squeeze the genre ; one week he ’s fighting a biker gang , another week is ninjas , a shade , extraterrestrial . I call up that ’s the best part , where you do n’t live who you ’re run to run into calendar week in , week out . ”
As Jankiewicz points out , Ralph was an unequaled reference on television — and across the landscape of superhero - centrical entertainment — back in 1981 . “ One of the interesting ideas in the show is he ’s relentlessly dumped on . Even with the suit on , people do n’t treasure him . mass front down on him . The whole show is kind of fanfare for the common man . He ’s got this suit and it does n’t meliorate his life one bit . It makes it tough ! It ’s very charming , but there ’s a cynical edge to the show , ” the author said . “ It break the rules in the superhero writing style before there were even rule go down . You have to recollect when the show came on , there were no bouncy activeness superheroes perish on . The Incredible Hulk was on its style out . Buck Rogers was about to be cancel . Superheroes had run to the movies . The yr the show debut was when we got the first Indiana Jones , and [ in 1982 we got ] the second Christopher Reeve Superman . So there were no real superhero rules . If you look atthe Greg Berlanti shows — Arrow , Supergirl , The Flash — it ’s all about the squad palisade the hero . That [ was never part of the ] genre until it was prove by Stephen J. Cannell . Pam and Bill are his team . They know everything Ralph experience . That was a immense departure from every superhero that come before . ”
Image: BearManor Media
As fan will recall , a reboot — which would ’ve replaced the Ralph characterwith a tequila - eff Native American American woman named Meera — very intimately made it to the air a few years ago , but was n’t pick up by ABC . “ I will be honest . I tried and tried to get a expression , and they would n’t even cough up a hand for it . William Katt has n’t even seen it , ” Jankiewicz said . But he has n’t given up Bob Hope that The superlative American Hero will vaporize again someday . “ I have a look that Cannell ’s girl Tawnia [ McKiernan , a veteran TV manufacturer and director ] is conk out to make it into a movie . It ’ll be vast , especially with the Marvel formula , where people are quick for snarky , funny … the whole show is about there are no idealists anymore . Ralph is the only dreamer on the show . Bill and Pam are misanthropic and I stand for , they ’ll help him , but they think it ’s tilt at windmills . The whole show is an idealist surrounded by pessimists and they ’re essay to save the universe . I think there ’s room for that . When [ Phil ] Lord and [ Chris ] Miller could n’t get it going , two of the most creative — you learn what they did withJump Street . The studio apartment should have set out down on their knees and begged them to do this . They should have just given these guy rope carte blanche , but they did n’t . By the time they want to get the dimension back to them , they had just deliver the goods the OscarforSpider - Man : Into the Spider - Verse … The terrible matter is , they acquire Cannell . If you look at [ the Jump Street film ] , they celebrate all the cheesiness of a Cannell show , then they embrace it and play it up and it ’s just , this should be the easiest [ decision ] . ”
you may not terminate any discussion of The Greatest American Hero without talking about possibly its greatest and most relentless superpower : its theme song , which once heard will linger in your brainpower for an unsettling amount of fourth dimension . “ My sister called me when I was writing the book — she was edit out it for me — and she depart , ‘ Dammit , I ca n’t get that song out of my head . ’ And then she said she and her kin were watching Free Guy with Ryan Reynolds [ which used the Greatest American Hero song ] , and she could n’t stop humming the base song for the residuum of the workweek , ” Jankiewicz laughed . “ But to me , that theme song has keep the show alive . That song will never , ever go away . It ’s been used as a cultural standard by other genre shows , not just Seinfeld . The theme song was in the top 10 longer than the Friends motif , which ran for 10 year . I mean , it blows my judgment — it was battle ‘ Bette Davis heart ’ for the numeral one strain of the year ! ”
The Greatest American Hero is widely usable on streaming ( include Peacock , Prime Video ’s Freevee , andYouTube ) ; you’re able to blame up a transcript of The Greatest American Hero Companionhere .
Want more io9 news ? Check out when to require the latestMarvel , Star Wars , andStar Trekreleases , what ’s next for theDC Universe on film and telly , and everything you take to know about the future ofDoctor Who .
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