Forgotten Hero ? Who Could it Be...? The Greatest American Hero...

The Greatest American Hero was a superhero drama-comedy series which had a short life in the U.S. lasting three seasons from 1981 to 1983. It managed to pop up in some ITV regions in the UK in 1985 and I can just about manage to remember it showing on a Saturday morning around the 11.30 am slot in my Granada region. It told the tale of "special students" school teacher Ralph Hinkley (William Katt) who comes back back from a field trip late one night when the school bus breaks down. Ralph has to walk back through the desert to get help but encounters an out of control car driven by FBI Special Agent Bill Maxwell (Robert Culp). He manages to stops just in time to avoiding hitting Hinkley insisting that he could not control the car. Then, two bright purple lights appear in the sky and they both jump in the car and try to get away, but the car will not start and the doors lock by themselves trapping them inside. The lights come from an alien spacecraft and tell Hinkley and Maxwell through the car radio that they are to work together to save the world and Hinkley will be given the power to change it by wearing a daft looking red suit and cape which enables him to have superhuman abilities when he wears it. Hinkley and Maxwell form a forced awkward partnership trying to use the powers of the suit to fight crime.

The originality of the show was based on Hinkley's inability to properly learn how to use the suit, because he lost the instruction manual in the desert. It sort of brought the superhero medium to everyday life as if what if any of us had this encounter would we handle it the same way. Realistically shown in many scenes throughout the series was Hinkley clumsily trying to strip off his outer clothes to activate the suit before the enemies could get away. He also in a comedic fashion, when attempting to take flight showed himself to be terrified and hurtling out of control until he rams head first into a building wall. Another regular character in the series was Pam Davidson (Connie Sellecca), an attorney, who joins Ralph and Bill on their adventures and also handles Ralph's divorce to later become his wife. The hero persona never receives a "superhero name," either, hence the title of the show.

An uncanny fact of the series was that the main character's name was originally Ralph Hinkley, but after the assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley, Jr. on 30th March 1981 (only 12 days after the pilot episode aired), the character's last name was amended to "Hanley" for the Season 1 episode 2. For the rest of the 1st season, he was either refered to as "Ralph" or "Mister H". During the episode aired the night of the assassination attempt, the sound of a jet airplane was used to dub over the last name being spoken, and in subsequent episodes there was overdubbing of his students calling him "Mr. H" instead of "Mr. Hinkley." In the episode where Ralph is given a promotion and his own (tiny) office space, we see the name "Ralph Hanley" on the door plaque. At the start of the 2nd season the name had changed back to Hinkley.

The series was created and the baby of Stephen J. Cannell of the A-Team fame which he concentrated more on after the cancellation of The Greatest American Hero. The theme song "Believe It or Not" was composed by Mike Post (Hill Street Blues) and Stephen Geyer and sung by Joey Scarbury. The theme song became a popular hit during the show's run. It debuted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 on 13th June 1981, eventually peaking at no2 during the weeks of 15th & 22nd August spending a total of 18 weeks in the Top 40. The song failed to make the UK charts possibly because the show was not known about in the UK then. The theme song also featured prominently in Michael Moore's 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. Moore used it to underscore the famous scene where President George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq.

In 1986, the original cast reunited for a pilot film for a new NBC series to be called The Greatest American Heroine. The pilot reveals that several years after the final episode, Ralph's secret identity was finally revealed to the public, resulting in his becoming a celebrity. This upsets the aliens who gave him the suit, and they charge him with finding a new hero to wear the costume and use its powers for fighting evil. He finds a young woman named Holly Hathaway (Mary Ellen Stuart) who spends her time looking for lost kittens and teaching young children, and most of the episode deals with her learning how to use the suit under Bill Maxwell's guidance. The Greatest American Heroine did not result in a new series, and the pilot was never broadcast. Ultimately, the pilot was re edited as an episode of the original series and added to syndication packages of the original series, where it airs as the final episode of the series.

Stephen J. Cannell is currently in talks about a remaking The Greatest American Hero as a film that would introduce the brand to a new generation already accustomed to superhero spoofs after “Sky High,” “Superhero Movie,” “Zoom” and “My Super Ex-Girlfriend. He has a script, a director and is in the middle of making the deal now for distribution. He says it will happen and wants it to be a PG movie, not a PG-13. He wants to have all kids be able to go see it and quotes "I want all the 7-year-olds to be able to go and their parents will remember the show and want to share it with them. It needs to be funny but with one foot on the ground in reality." Cannell said there will be familiar faces in the film. "Bill and the other original cast will make an appearance too," he said. "I want them to be in and not just opening and closing a door. I feel a loyalty to them and adore them. Secondly, I think audiences like it. And it's not good when it doesn't happen." Cannell clearly thinks the superhero cinema age has made a revival a smart business choice. In addition to the old cast, he said fans of the series can expect to hear that old familiar song too.

Intrigued by this series if you were too young, not born when it was about ? Or just want some nostalgia ? The Greatest American Hero is available to buy on Region One DVD via Amazon.co.uk for £46.84p. An expensive treat but sure it's worthwhile. (Or just wait until the movie is made then Sky TV may buy the syndication and show the repeats).