Greatest American Hero Headed to the Cinema?

Posted by ScuzzBuster

September 10, 2008

Believe or not, a classic 80’s TV series being re-worked for the big screen. This one I actually will look forward to.

When I was a kid and cable TV was a luxury rather than a necessity, every kid in school had his or her set of TV shows that were MUST views every week. We loved these shows, and since viewing choices were still pretty much just the “Big Three” networks, all boys my age had a 75% overlap on their lists.

Back then, no internet, no constant repeats and re-airings. So the day after one THE SHOWS aired, it was inevitably the playground subject the next day. One of the THE SHOWS without a doubt was The Greatest American Hero. For those of you that missed this three season gem, William Katt, Robert Culp and Connie Selleca starred in a super hero comedy about a school teacher who is given a “super” suit by aliens in order to do good for the human race. In this case, all the powers were inherent to the suit.

The catch to the show was that the teacher, played by Katt, lost the instruction book while hiking out of the desert with the suit, so he had no idea how to use it properly. Robert Culp played an FBI agent who tapped Katt and his super suit to help solve crimes. It was great show for a kid my age, around 11 or 12 years old when it started. All those powers and a less than confident average guy that really didn’t know how to use them and wasn’t sure he wanted the responsibility anyway. Puberty-aged kids tend to relate rather well to confused, overwhelmed protagonists.

Sci Fi Wire reports that Stephen J. Cannell, the creator of the show, has confirmed that there is a script out there for a big screen treatment and there is activity to try to get it off the ground (no irony intended for those that are familiar with the early episodes of the show). Normally I groan when I see impending small screen shows attempting big screen come backs, but in this case, Hero was a show that never got its due and suffered an unwarranted fate after only three seasons. Even though I loved it as a kid, it certainly had an appeal to an adult audience.

In any case, it sounds like Cannell is helping to put out a lot of Greatest American Hero related internet material and publicity surrounding the old series as a kind of gage to see if a big screen version has enough interest to make a profit. I highly recommend checking it out if you aren’t familiar with it. The show is available on DVD.

I don’t really have much of a point other than just kind of geeking on the thought of seeing this commodity make a return. It was truly a great concept for its time and I think it would hold up.

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