WTF Happened to The Greatest American Hero (1981-1983)?

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The Greatest American Hero is a show that’s much beloved by folks of a certain generation. If you grew up in the seventies or eighties, the theme song is instantly iconic. In fact, the track “Believe it or Not” by Joey Scarbury actually made it all the way to the number 2 spot on the Billboard Charts. It was actually a bigger hit than the show itself, which only ran for two and a half seasons before being cancelled with five unaired episodes in early 1983. Yet, it remains part of the pop culture, with talk of rebooting it every now and then.
A reboot would definitely make sense given how obsessed people are with superheroes, with the red and black suit the hero wears iconic in its own way. The show starred cult horror icon William Katt (House) as Ralph Hanley, a teacher who’s endowed with superhuman abilities by aliens, who give him the red and black suit, which he never really figures out how to use. The show was a solid mixture of adventure and fantasy, with heavy doses of comedy, with Hanley a reluctant hero who hates to fly. He’s aided by an FBI agent played by TV vet Robert Culp (I Spy), and the show hailed from Stephen J. Cannell, the man behind The Rockford Files, The A-Team and many more.
In this episode of Gone But Not Forgotten, which is written by Jessica Dwyer, edited by Cesar Gabriel, and narrated by Travis Hopson, we dig into this classic show. We examine how the show was conceived, how it was an initial hit, and why it was abruptly cancelled. We also dig into failed reboots and sequels, such as the Greatest American Heroine, and how the show also introduced us to the great Michael Paré before Eddie & the Cruisers and Streets of Fire made him a heartthrob.
Do you have fond memories of The Greatest American Hero? Let us know in the comments!
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#GreatestAmericanHero #WilliamKatt #gonebutnotforgotten

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Опубликовано:

11 янв 2023

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Комментарии : 736

@JoBloOriginals Год назад

Hey guys! This episode of GBNF was made from suggestions from fans who emailed us demanding this show be covered on this series. If you want to make suggestions for future episodes of GBNF then e-mail GBNFSeries@gmail.com and maybe we’ll cover your show!

@mikeysuzefour 4 месяца назад

Please add that FilmRise Television Productions (RU-vid channel) has ALL 3 seasons of The Greatest American Hero free to view and thanks Travis for this retrospective episode!

@SovereignKnight74 Год назад

Such a classic. There will never be a time like the 1980's again. Glad to be a Generation X'er.

@jamesfrench7299 Год назад

I hated the 1990s when they rolled around as it was not the same as the 80s. It didn't have the feeling of wonder.

@pdxoneway Год назад

I'm so glad that our generation got to be normal kids . Playing outside , riding our bikes , hide and seek games with the whole block playing till it was dark. Not having a phone to be called inside but rather knowing when the street lights came on it was time to head home. Oh and being a kid without worrying about getting shot by another kid. The last generation before it all went to sh**. 76'

@palikariena7292 Год назад

we had the best of everything. we were still a free nation too

@retired4365 Год назад

Word! 🤣

@jamesfrench7299 Год назад

Maybe it was because I never wanted to grow up, that I felt differently, but no, everything became blander and less adventurous to my mind.

@tkskagen Год назад

Next to the "A-Team", this show had by far the absolute best "Theme Song". As I was only in 3rd Grade, we where taught this song, and I will never forget the lyrics!

@matthewdaley746 Год назад

Yeah, to the point where people have completely forgotten about the show, how, bizarre.

@KenAdams426 Год назад

Street Hawk was another cool show with the motorcycle. And because i'm in IT i gave away a picture with the A-Team in cuz they are a team and they work as a team. Team team team.

@dexterriley Год назад

Hardcastle and MccCormick is in the mix with "Drive"

@jamesellis701 Год назад

WKRP in Cincinnati

@tomchien7692 Год назад

"A-Team"?!? wwwwAT?!? U've been SMOKIN'?! PFFFFT! BLEH! 1. Not a lyrical theme, so not in the same league, but nevertheless, I would name TGAH theme "Best in (TV) Show" period, lyrical or not. 2. Even for instrumentals, A-Team theme is a nonstarter. It can't even *imagine* the league that Hill Street Blues theme is in or even, just for military-style tv instrumental themes, the JAG theme!

@Pre10tious Год назад

I actually have the DVD box set. It is in a metal case and came with a cape, alien instruction manual, and a book about the show.

@DarthJ1977 Год назад

I hope you didn't lose the book! 😆

@SumDumGy Год назад

I think that’s the only set that ever had the finale included.

@markuhler2664 Год назад

That's a boxed set I would buy.

@kevinramsey417 Год назад

Do you still have the instruction manual?

@garicrewsen1128 Год назад

You've got quite the relic there. Never let it go!

@christopherwaldrop5293 Год назад

Even watching this as a kid I realized that, by having Ralph lose the instruction book, the writers could pretty much give him any power he needed for any situation. I thought it was really clever.

@DeusExAstra Год назад

In a sense, this makes it fit even more with the Green Lantern parallel. GL can do pretty much anything he/she can think of... at least over the years that was the case. Now they are much more limited, but in the old days GLs could do pretty much anything.

@brianerickson6775 Год назад

Also, added a sense of discovery. "You mean I can do that"-sense of wonder. Remember, 70's Superman was god-like. While Ralph was an everyman, an underdog. Losing the instruction book was pure genius.

@HariSeldon913 Год назад

And he lost it twice. "I just set it on that boulder right there..."

@sambas9257 Год назад

Yes...and they used it in different times during the 3 seasons. There were the superman flight, super strength, invulnerability, x-ray vision then he discovered also he could be invisible...then..telekinesis, pyrokinesis and in the first episode of the third season he shrinked like ant-man because aliens gave him the second manual that he loses again.

@John-ct9zs Год назад

Yeah losing the instruction book was a genius move, as Ralph could discover new powers/abilities of the suit. Plus, since he didn't have the instruction book, and didn't have mastery of his powers and it also limited his powers, so he never became all powerful like Superman and too "boring".

@jamesprovosthemingway4285 Год назад

Always loved this show! Especially the song 🎵 every time I hear the song it takes me back to growing up as a child in the 80's

@matthewdaley746 Год назад

Yeah, too bad that series, was, Too Good To Last, miserably nasty.

@jnnx 8 месяцев назад

@@matthewdaley746to. To last. (Said in disapproving southern accent) “I SAY, Now I say son, Did none of ya’ll get taught proper grammar?”

@raymondcanessa7208 8 месяцев назад

Believe it or not, George isn't at home Please leave a message at the beep I must be out, or I'd pick up the phone Where could I be? Believe it or not, I'm not home

@matthewdaley746 5 месяцев назад

@@jnnxFixed, disgust are over.

@matthewdaley746 5 месяцев назад

@@raymondcanessa7208Soundtrack to a generation.

@Deathtank75 Год назад

William Katt, what a legend, not only this show, the horror movie "House" is by far one of my favorites too!

@hackman669 Год назад

Meow🤗😻😸😺😿🦧

@mikeysuzefour 4 месяца назад

We own House & House II:The Second Story films--Katt was great as well as in the OG Carrie playing Tommy Ross! 🎥

@jesushchrist285 2 месяца назад

oh there's an actual movie named "House", I thought they were calling out that one time he appeared on House MD as the teen preacher's dad.

@briwanderz Год назад

one of the most underrated tv shows out there.. this and misfits of science. they both deserved so much more, and especially for misfits a longer series.

@daniellogan-scott5968 Год назад

OOh. Misfits of Science with little Courtney Cox.

@brianerickson6775 Год назад

Yes. And the misfits kept the iceman's truck.😁 Loved Johnny's special effects. Great show.

@jaymillymills Год назад

Ohhh you made my morning. I didn't think anyone remembered the Misfits of Science

@jimperry1501 Год назад

I have a VHS of the first episode or two. #GoodnightBunnies #ClassDismissed! #KevinPeterHall

@briwanderz Год назад

most of the episodes of misfits are actually on youtube.. 14 episodes. for some reason looks like no episode 4 or 5, but they do have the unaired episode 16. channel name is "series" they are unfortunately only in 360p

@hunterprice3320 Год назад

I love this show. I was born in the early 2000s and me and my mom were at a rummage sale when I was a kid and they had the first 2 seasons on dvd and they literally just gave them to us because no one else bought them. My mom remembered the show and thought I would like it. Needless to say I'm a huge fan and have been since I was in like 2nd grade lol. After watching this show I decided to create my own superhero as a kid and I still plan to write stories with the character I made.

@garicrewsen1128 Год назад

Nurture and love that dream. All the best in your endeavors.

@robert_bbiii Год назад

Culp was so good. He added so much. There were two things I heard I loved. He always made sure to check the gun he had. In one scene even one Bill knew wasn't loaded. So it was just instinct to check it to be safe. The other was that he had written some notes about what Bill's apartment should look like and noted Bill would have a murphy bed. Set designers saw the notes and replicated it exactly.

@markuhler2664 Год назад

Shame Alec Baldwin didn't do that.

@InAMinMaths Год назад

Just here to say nice surname.

@elizabethhurlbut1475 Год назад

That theme song touched everyone. In an episode of My Name is Earl, Earl and his brother Randy fall through the roof of an empty water tower were they trapped inside suspended by ropes. After waking up to find themselves still hanging in the air, with seemingly all hope lost, the two brother's start to sing, "Believe it or Not". 😂

@ianashby1449 Год назад

Loved my name is earl

@Rashomon69 Год назад

Yes. That was another great show.

@Trilaan Год назад

Robert Culp was one of the greatest television actors of his day, and a personal favorite of mine. I'm glad he didn't live to see what was revealed about his friend and I Spy co-star Bill Cosby. The Beast in the Black actually had some really good, creepy moments in it and is one of my favorite episodes.

@Ashas.Garden Год назад

Revealed? Imma say he knew well before we did.

@robzilla730 Год назад

@learnercass yup. Code of silence I'm sure...

@jnnx 8 месяцев назад

Cosby’s dalliances were a well kept industry secret. . .

@davidjames1389 Год назад

Absolutely love this show. I recently did a rewatch and it actually holds up far better than most 80s shows. The effects are obviously dated, but the dialogue and banter between the characters is still just as sharp and funny as ever.

@hackman669 Год назад

Remakes!!!✌

@vlweb3d Год назад

@@hackman669 The show does not need a remake, it needs to be preserved. A remake today will just turn it into trash.

@hackman669 Год назад

What abut a continuation with the original theme. Leave out politics and focus on character issues instead.

@garicrewsen1128 Год назад

It was effortless to suspend disbelief when watching this show. I think the loss of the Instruction Book multiplied this effect for many of us.

@amystreasuresdesign Год назад

Agreed. I caught a few episodes one day when MeTV was running a marathon. It was fun watching it again for the first time since it originally aired.

@09NXN06 Год назад

The theme song blend perfectly with the show along genuine nostalgia I wish I could experience those moments again.

@Krullmatic Год назад

This was one of my favorite shows of all time, as a young teenager! I even had the theme song on 45. I wore the crap out of that record.

@gelfie2208 Год назад

I have four favourite shows from the 80s. Magnum P.I, Hardcastle and McCormick, Quantum Leap, and Greatest American Hero. And the thing that drew me to them then, and continues to make them rewatchable, is the great and very genuine feeling buddy teamups between the principle characters.

@valentinrobert1192 Год назад

Knight rider is not on your list that was good and hunter and fallguy that was great show

@gelfie2208 Год назад

@@valentinrobert1192 Watched Knight Rider as a kid, and loved it of course. I've not seen it as an adult, but I'm not sure it would hold up. I have some very faint memories of The Fall Guy, but not enough to make any comments on it.

@davidconner-shover51 Год назад

@@gelfie2208 To think David Hasselhof did better in Baywatch, then as a singer in Germany for many, many years afterwards is interesting to me, he didn't do too bad after the show cancellation

@mathieuaustin7190 Год назад

So much to love! As a Robert Culp fan, I, too, loved Bill the most. And, like most, crushed hard on Connie Selleca. Finally, 1 year, 1 of my students was the granddaughter of the theme’s writer. No shock, her classmates didn’t care, but I was blown away! 😅

@billkeithchannel Год назад

While Hero was airing new episodes, reruns of I Spy was being shown on retro cable channels.

@NottyGurlStyle Год назад

I remember watching Greatest American Hero as a child and just loved it! I would laugh at all the crashes lol it was just a great show that will always be in my heart. I still remember the theme and sing it all the time. The best was went George used it as his voice message. Loved it!!! It was a wonderful surprise. I will have to try and put it on for my son to see if he would like it but we will see. I recently bought a magnet of the show for my fridge. I just smile when I look at it. This show will never be forgotten ❤

@mrmc9278 Год назад

In 1982 my mom sewed me a Greatest American Hero costume. It looked just like the one in the show. She bought me a blonde, curly wig and that year for Halloween it was my costume. I was in second grade. Not only did I win 1st place in the costume contest at school, but she actually sent a picture of me in costume to ABC in care of William Katt. Fast forward 2 months, and I got a picture of Katt in the mail autographed by him. He actually took the time to write a brief inscription on the picture saying how he loved the picture and how we looked just alike.

@bjw4859 Год назад

I remember this show from the 80's, as kids we had some really amazing shows that I look back fondly from today & I bet if you dressed up as this hero & went to any comic based convention, you'd be recoginised at once.

@grapeshot Год назад

I most definitely remember watching this show back in the day and then all of us kids talking about his crazy flying style the next day.

@Zebrowsky79 Год назад

Child of the 80's I loved this show and the theme song

@matthewdaley746 Год назад

I, did, too, speaking of which, Bionic Six, Dinosaucers, and, Peter Pan, And, The, Pirates, all, did the worst, possible, thing a cartoon can do, they wasted a great opening.

@hackman669 Год назад

Greatest Amerucan Heroine haha

@matthewdaley746 Год назад

@@hackman669 Great, joke, just, unquestionably.

@aronsmith1635 Год назад

This was my all time favorite show. Thank God for the digital age where I can sing along with the theme every chance I get.

@LatitudeSky Год назад

Cannell had a truly magic typewriter. Hit after hit. Genius casting. The best theme songs.

@wyup Год назад

I was amazed to hear Katt in an interview say that Cannell had a tragic lost during TGAH. Still he carried on to make The A-Team..

@garicrewsen1128 Год назад

This show's theme song brings tears to my eyes within the first few bars every time I hear it. The nostalgia of a more wholesome and pure existence in my neighborhood, and our communities, cities, states, country and world. Times haven't simply changed since then, they've moved dimensionally to an existence I never expected nor foresaw. It physically and emotionally hurts to remember where we all once were when this show began to shape the ideas and ideals of who many of us then, young and old, aspired to be. Sadly, maybe even inevitably, much of that dream was swept away during the near and distant past, which was, back then, our near and distant future. I think and feel that's why this theme song so easily brings a tear because it equally reminds us what could have been and what was lost. (oops, my feelies fell out!) Thanks for covering this JoBlo!! You're my Greatest American Hero❕

@jnnx 8 месяцев назад

Time can’t change “dimensionally”, it can only move one direction, Forwards. And you are drunk, take off those nostalgia googles.

@raymondcanessa7208 8 месяцев назад

Believe it or not, George isn't at home Please leave a message at the beep I must be out, or I'd pick up the phone Where could I be? Believe it or not, I'm not home

@creativewritingcorner Год назад

One of the best TV memories of my childhood was watching this show with my dad, singing along with the theme song.

@cgluck Год назад

I so loved this show as a kid. And still love the theme song (It is on one of my 70's playlists on Spotify). They are always bringing back shows. They could do so on this one too.

@cyrusq5999 Год назад

Loved the "horror" episodes best: The alien that stowed aboard a shuttle returning to earth, only to escape underground and feed on electricity. The evil ghost, haunting a soon-to-be-demolished house, and desperate to escape from her dimension to live again, and finally, the sea monster (a plesiosaur-like beast) terrorising vacationers (and pirates) on the high seas in the Caribbean. A shame more episodes in this style weren't produced. The series was repeated in the morning weekdays, back in the '90s. Unfortunately, the episodes were edited for commercial breaks, sometimes losing whole scenes. Discovered this for myself when I bought the complete show on DVD. Great show (and theme)!

@artboymoy Год назад

Loved this show as a kid. The theme still holds up as a classic tune full of optimism, which matched the show. I'm glad you brought up Green Lantern because after watching that train wreck, I thought, "Why don't they just use the TGAH feel?", with Hal Jordan not knowing how the suit really worked, what his abilities were, where it actually came from, why it was given to him, etc... At least just for the first movie. Keep the stakes low and his power low as well. Then second movie you take him off planet to fill in the GL Corps and training and back to Earth to fight some bigger dangers. The third movie you could have had him join the Corp in fighting the biggest bad, Parallax (a being not a cloud) and be among many of the other GL that sacrificed their lives to end it. At the end the ring flies off back to Earth... roll credits.

@garicrewsen1128 Год назад

Your account icon/thumbnail is a heap of awesomesauce. Live long and prosper.🖖

@artboymoy Год назад

@@garicrewsen1128 Thank you! When visiting Vasquez Rocks you have to do it right.

@spartanx169x Год назад

I truly don't know where the hate comes from for the Green Lantern movie. I thought it was pretty good. The only thing I really didn't like was the enemy being so big in relation to the Green Lantern. was it as good as Batman Begins? No. Was it entertaining ? Yes. Did I want to see a sequel when it was over? yes.

@artboymoy Год назад

@@spartanx169x I'm a comic guy so maybe I felt the storytelling could have been a lot better in building it up. Plus, I really didn't care for the suit. It looked like slabs of green muscle was all over him. I just really wish they paced it out better because after beating a galactic threat, where do you go for a sequel?

@KevinStCroix Год назад

I will always remember the episode shot in Saint Croix. It was at my dads house who was a radio engineer on the island. He called to tell me that they filmed an episode there. It took over a year for that episode to air. I waited and watched every single week for it to come out! The most exciting episode ever! Well I always love the show and growing up in the 80s!

@vlweb3d Год назад

Used to watch this show back in the 80s. The theme song and Ralph's flying never leaves your head :)

@snackbarqueen Год назад

One of my FAVORITE shows of all time ! I was 7 yo when this show came out and I watched it every week....I LOVED the fact that Ralph was horrible at the flying and landing, it cracked me up 🤣😆 I've actually went back and watched the series in 2015, it might be time again to have another rewatch ! ❤

@Oonagh72 Год назад

Fun trivia. All of those guest stars that came on the show were not just because is Robert Culp or Stephen J Canell connection. William Katt is the son of actors Barbara Hale and Bill Williams. His mom was Della Street on Perry Mason and his dad was the star of The Adventures of Kit Carson. William Katt later starred with his mother in the Perry Mason movies as her son.

@matthewdaley746 Год назад

He played the son of William Hopper's character, a, PI.

@HariSeldon913 Год назад

His mom also made a guest appearance as Ralph's mother in one episode. I do wonder which way it went - did they make an episode showing Ralph's mother so she could be on or did they write the episode then ask Katt to see if his mother would do it.

@matthewdaley746 Год назад

@@HariSeldon913 An interesting performing circumstance.

@Oonagh72 Год назад

@@matthewdaley746 Paul Drake, Jr. Was William Katy’s character. Paul and Della got married producing Paul Drake, Jr. I should have given the entire character story. Sorry, I didn’t give the entire character backstory.

@Oonagh72 Год назад

@@HariSeldon913 I bet it was a bit of both. Someone probably said it would be nice to have her on the show. Then they wrote an episode with his mom and asked if she might be willing to do it.

@captainsensiblejr. Год назад

At my high school in New Zealand, at the time, we had a female teacher who looked EXACTLY like Connie Selleca. I swear some guys went insane when she took over the Harriers running club.

@DeusExAstra Год назад

I'm still waiting for a good remake of this show. Loved it as a kid and the theme song of course is iconic. I just hope that if we eventually get a remake, that it doesnt suck and that the creators respect the source material.

@matthewdaley746 Год назад

Hope is a dangerous thing, everything worked out perfectly, once, we shouldn't expect it to happen again, Ghostbusters, is, The, Poster Child, for, this.

@HepCatJack Год назад

With Netflix no longer producing Marvel superheroes may properties like this one will become interesting. They could public domain heroes, and maybe sprinkle in Ralph, Automan maybe characters from the Shadow Hunters for a super team. There was a precursor to Spider-Man that was called the Spider, it was sort of another company's version of "The Shadow".

@shadowfaxcrx5141 Год назад

Never happen. It'll be like the Knight Rider reboot. That one went from a fun campy romp that knew it was schlock and leaned into it to a dark show that was so badly written it should have been on MST3k but was completely unaware of how not-epic it was, and where the bad guy of the week was ALWAYS a terrorist. If they bring back GAH, it'll be the same thing as the Batman reboots. Progressively more "edgy" and "gritty" and with none of the fun of the original.

@Fedge378 Год назад

I absolutely loved that theme song from the series premiere. When they started playing it on the radio, I was elated lol. I still know the lyrics lol.

@skyden24195 Год назад

My dad and I used to love watching this show back when it originally aired. Ralph's haphazard flying/landing was probably our favorite aspect of the show, (it was mine at least.) Also, whenever the theme song came on the radio it always got our full attention, even in the years after the show was cancelled. -Just a quick bit of trivia to mention about the Robert Culp show, "I Spy;" the TV-show ("I Spy") was the first (U.S.) nationally broadcast television show to feature a black actor (Bill Cosby) in a leading role, and was executive produced by Sheldon Leonard, a former Hollywood-Golden-Age character (typically gangster) actor turned TV exec-producer who exec-produced such shows as, "I Love Lucy," "The Andy Griffith Show," and the first recognized spin-off show, "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C."

@billkeithchannel Год назад

* correction * (oops) -Sheldon Leonard- Sidney Sheldon and I Dream Of Genie must always be said within the same breath.

@skyden24195 Год назад

@@billkeithchannel wow! Really? That was one I did not know about. Thank you for that great bit of info. Also, nice to communicate with someone who as well understands the greatness of, and I believe to be underacknowledged, Sheldon Leonard.

@billkeithchannel Год назад

@@skyden24195 Oh crap! I am getting old. Sidney Sheldon was I Dream Of Genie.

@skyden24195 Год назад

@@billkeithchannel lol, okay, that explains why I hadn't heard/known of Sheldon Leanard being a part of I Dream of Genie.

@mikeattard3543 Год назад

Awesome show. I was in 6th grade band and my Dad bought me the sheet music for the theme song to play on my saxophone.

@SirKnight1096 Год назад

Still my favorite Superhero show

@efrainsantiago5225 Год назад

Thank you for the video. It was a great show.

@jediknightjairinaiki560 Год назад

Finally! It's because of this show, that people think teachers are heroes. Now it all makes sense.

@billkeithchannel Год назад

Jamie Sommers was a teacher and would keep them in line by tearing an Ojai phone book in half. Oh yeah, and she used her bionics to help out the government too.

@jediknightjairinaiki560 Год назад

@@billkeithchannel Hey, Kevin. Try to get a grasp on sarcasm. You'll enjoy the joke and the social commentary more, instead of walking around with a stick up your @$$.

@maryjoyspohrer256 Год назад

The fact that he was a teacher, still makes my heart happy.

@joelsteverson Год назад

One of my all time favorite shows. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

@becfinnerty Год назад

I used the theme song at my wedding n plan 2 use it at my funeral. Love it

@corrosionoc69 Год назад

I loved that show growing up. I have shown it to my kids...and they love it as well

@SUPASLY75 Год назад

Criminally underrated show!!

@vader0872 Год назад

Wow! Brings back a lot of memories from what was arguably one of my favorite and “Greatest” TV shows of my generation. Thanks for the throw back! Next mission, track down those unaired episodes of the series finale!

@BeatlesFanSonia Год назад

I love that show! I was going through with a divorce and I would sing that song all day! My husband hated it so much he broke my record!

@mickesmanymovies Год назад

Saving this video for later, but before watching it I gotta say that I love you guys for doing this! I was 6 years old when this aired on Swedish television, and in all honesty I think it might have sparked some sort of really early interest in the awesomeness of movies and tv... A spark that the tv-show 'V' would pick up and set absolutely ablaze about four years later!

@sean4339 Год назад

Good classic and the song for the show is awesome love it,love the 80s forever ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

@robertwilliams2762 Год назад

I remember this show always gave me a laugh and a warm feeling. It really cheered me up.

@richardryley3660 Год назад

This has always been one of my favorite shows of all time. Katt may have hated that he never learned to fly well, but the losing the instruction manual gimmick was genius. Not only could they make up powers to fit the plot, but even as a kid I understood the idea of "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Since Ralph couldn't control his powers he could never rely on them. For example, I thought it was amusing that he was bullet proof, but he always shielded his head. His head was exposed, so he couldn't assume it was protected, and it was too dangerous to shoot himself in the head just to see.

@JohnnyBeane Год назад

I loved this show in 81 when i was a kid but i guess i missed most of it because when i bought the series on DVD in 2005 i watched every episode and only remembered a few shows. Now i know every episode and can watch them again and again!

@americanuprising7628 Год назад

I showed my eight year old this show he loves it. We got all three seasons, and bugs to watch it every week lol. Such a great show, hokie for sure but, a sweet show for sure.

@madshad3351 Год назад

This show had me in front of the TV religiously. I always wondered how the FBI guy would get hurt. Every episode!!!! I never knew about the Heroine show. Wow. Ty. This was a trip down memory road for me. 👊

@thestepfordlife2015 Год назад

Thank you for this. I was seven when this aired. I remember it well and fondly.

@kemarieblack3730 Год назад

Loved this show. One of my Dad's favorites. I bought all the episodes for him.

@jamesbutts9202 Год назад

I was 17 when the show came out. October 1981, I was hit by a truck and flew 52 feet before crashing. I took "Believe it or Not" as my theme song.

@cryptojihadi265 Год назад

Those were the days of Connie Selleca, Linda Carter, Erin Grey. Wow, just WOW!

@robertcoggeshall3071 Год назад

3 absolutely stunning women. Agree 👍.

@slc40 Год назад

I was absolutely in love with Connie and close friend with Erin.

@smdias65 Год назад

Thanks for the video! I missed a lot of this series, including the pilot episode, but enjoyed what I did see. Guess I need to check out the episodes on Freevee.

@evanm.jacobson1514 Год назад

Fabulous job! Thank you for sharing. We need more didactic shows to inspire creation and positivity in our dynamic universe!👍

@officialbrucewayne Год назад

This is the first show I bumped into culp and was happy he was in it cause it led me to a lot of other stuff and everytime I'd see him I'd be oh Robert culp and he was just one of the best

@michaellatta7699 Год назад

Greatest American Hero was my first experience with Robert Culp. What a great actor. Loved that show as a kid. And if you missed an episode for some odd reason then tuff luck.

@tryllyam Год назад

I loved this show so much when I was in junior high. And you are right - just mentioning the theme song gets it stuck in my head!

@shannonalaminski2619 Год назад

I still hear this song on the radio from time to time and I can still see the guy awkwardly trying, crashing, trying and then flying. Yes, I'm smiling right now.

@danielwalker4881 Год назад

My Family LOVED this show! We were All disappointed when it was cancelled! I did not know that there were unaired episodes, so I will be searching, and watching them accordingly! Actually may run through the whole series! Thanks!

@craigreid7178 Год назад

Always loved this feel-good show. The characters were well developed and the story lines were just the right blend of humor and compassion. And, yes, I still hum the theme from time to time.

@Forcemaster2000 Год назад

Probably my all-time favorite show, ever!

@reinaldogarcia70 Год назад

Me and my cousin still watching this tv show in syndication in the year 1985

@88happiness Год назад

Loved the theme song!! Thanks for playing abit at the end. I never realized that the symbol on his suit is basically the Chinese/Japanese character for 'middle' 中

@deke76 Год назад

Loved this show as a kid, and Bill was my favorite character.

@DaveCM Год назад

I loved that show so much as a kid. And, yes. I did tape record the theme song.

@RandomGreymane Год назад

I loved this show! I have a DVD set that came with an instruction manual and cape. I added a t-shirt to the set.

@John-ct9zs Год назад

Thanks for creating this video. I fell in love with this TV show as a kid in the 80s and it always brings warm fuzzies to my heart to see this show and hear the theme song. I think they missed the boat on doing a reboot of this show back in the 2000s when Stephen J. Cannell was around. He understood the show he created, because GAH was always a misunderstood series. You had to hit the tone of the show right in the middle, not be campy, not be too serious. Compare the 1st season and most of the 2nd season of GAH with the goofiness of the 3rd season, you can tell ABC really took over in Season 3. That 1st season and the early 2nd season was how Stephen J. Cannell envisioned the series, serious but also lighthearted fun about a regular guy put in an extraordinary position. The humor came from the situations Ralph found himself in, not slapstick comedy that ABC pushed. Like you said, you had to approach the material with earnest and not do it campy, but you also couldn't be too serious, you had to be willing to have fun. This is a tricky balance, as I think most people including ABC back in the 80s, wanted to go full on silly Adam West 1960s Batman campy mode with GAH. The best bet to reboot this show would be doing a movie like Shazaam! Yes it wouldn’t be the TV show, but it would be close enough to the spirit. They may even have to change a key aspect of the character and give him a public persona, whereas in the TV show he had no public persona as a superhero, all his heroic stuff was done incognito and people who saw him assumed he was a nut. Remember this was way before cosplay, in the 70s and 80s, people were way more cynical to the idea of superheroes then today.

@RobGordon Год назад

He's right - after all these years, that song never left my head.

@kimberlywiederhold627 Год назад

In an interview Robert Culp said he wanted to do Greatest American Hero because it was like Close Encounters by Mel Brooks. And yes my favorite character was Bill Maxwell.

@fredlandry6170 Год назад

I loved this show when I was a kid!

@blackpatflynn Год назад

i grew up in the 80s i watched this show alot...it wasnt until about 10 years ago that i realized he dropped the instruction manual....mind blown

@jasonvega9942 Год назад

I loved this show. Thank you

@JasonMarsdenOfficial Год назад

Loved the show, loved the theme song! So much so I would sing it everywhere I went. It got to the point where I would be called upon to perform it at family gatherings. I mean, at 6 years old, I wasn't great...but I was great in a living room. ;-) Plus, I had the 45 and wore - it - out! Very much sad at its sudden discontinuation. Had no idea about the four episode follow up or the "Heroine" pilot. Nor did I truly realize Culps prowess as writer/director of a few eps. Outstanding. I loved this show so much, when my son was just a toddler, he had blonde, curly hair, like Katt. I had my mother make him a GAH suit for Halloween. ;-D

@dreadzone518 Год назад

Holy crap! You're Jason Marsden! I've been a fan since THE MUNSTERS TODAY! You were great as Burt Ward in BACK TO THE BATCAVE. I had no idea you had a YTchannel. And certainly no idea you were a GAH fan. It's a pleasure to "meet" you.

@SVSky Год назад

The song hits my headphones on random play while hang gliding occassionally. Describes the moment perfectly!

@wolfchief7952 Год назад

I Loved the show as a kid, I try not miss an episode.

@robbyrdog 5 месяцев назад

House is one of my favorite movies of all time! William Katt is so underrated it’s criminal.

@billkeithchannel Год назад

The theme song for Angie - Different Worlds also got radio airplay. It was a really good song.

@juliusnepos6013 Год назад

I absolutely love the theme song of this show

@turnerdcentury Год назад

what I really really liked about the show was that Ralph taught a special education class I was in special education and this is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like that shown on television 1981 thru to 1983

@gazbot9000 8 месяцев назад

I just loved that Ralph didn't really know how to fly, and never stopped being utterly terrified of this ability. Any time he took flight, he did so wailing and flailing all the way.

@ThisBytesForYou Год назад

as a kid, I used to love this show, I used to always dream I was him and I would fall many times while flying, flying is tough ;)

@legendofzeida2516 Год назад

Well done! Great memories! 😎👍

@graemevincent2149 Год назад

The theme was really something else when you compare it to any other series from the 80's. Even all these years later I can still remember it word for word.

@bobbyrobinette5772 6 месяцев назад

I was 5 when this came out, and I still remember it!

@snuffoutrouge5109 9 месяцев назад

I loved this show 40 years ago and was shattered when it stopped being made and aired

@danielvandersall6756 Год назад

One of the most memorable themes of all time; right up there with A-Team and Magnum P.I.

@matthewdaley746 Год назад

Speaking of which, the reboot is an absolute atrocity, CBS, for, once in their history, didn't keep a program on too long, the reprieve is, indefensible.

@maryjoyspohrer256 Год назад

I love to sing along at work when the theme song plays on the loop!!!

@stephensmith3708 Год назад

I bought the entire series, and I still watch it!!!!!

@Godless_Guru Год назад

No way! Literally re watched TGAH a couple of weeks ago on you tube! Perfect timing😅

@Hauerization Год назад

Remember watching this as a kid - we wernt exactly spolied with superhero-stuff in the 80´s, so I took anything I could get my hands on and if I remember correctly, it was a decent enough show.

@johnnycardwell3110 Год назад

I loved that show. I was disappointed that it only had 3 seasons

@arthouston7361 Год назад

I was working in top 40 radio when that theme song was a recurring hit in our playlist, and I truly love the work of Mike Post…especially things like Hill Street Blues….and you have to admire Stephen Cannell for all of that writing for all of those ideas for all of those shows ….that guy was a master at his craft. He would be 79 if he was alive today but he’s another person who left us too soon because of cancer.