The Greatest American Hero: March 18, 1981

Thirty-eight years ago tonight the television show "The Greatest American Hero" premiered on ABC. Interestingly enough, just one night earlier I had purchased my first cassette tape recorder (an event covered in this recent blog post). That might not sound like anything all that amazing, but you have to remember that in 1981 I was an eleven year old boy, and there were no such things as the Internet and smart phones. Heck, my household wouldn't even get our first VCR (video cassette recorder for you young folks) for another four years and it would be about the same amount of time before cable TV finally came to my little hometown. So March 17th and 18th of 1981 were a real one-two punch of entertainment value for me.

From TV Guide

The cover of the TV Week section of the Worcester Telegram from Sunday, March 15, 1981 featuring William Katt and Connie Sellecca

I can't say that I really knew much (if anything) about the show before it aired. It's not like I had read all about it online and was eagerly awaiting the premiere. But at the same time, with a name like "The Greatest American Hero" I was bound to tune in--and I did. It certainly didn't disappoint. And while the show is now readily available on DVD and streaming sources, I'm very happy that I have a couple little snippits from the pilot episode on an ancient cassette tape which I recorded that very night with my brand-new tape recorder!

The same model of GE tape recorder that I had just purchased

The actual first-ever tape that I used on March 18, 1981!

"The Greatest American Hero" quickly became one of my favorite shows of that time (along with stuff like "The Dukes of Hazzard", "The Incredible Hulk", "The Fall Guy" (which would premiere later in 1981) and the Tom Baker era of "Doctor Who" (which PBS was airing at the time). It couldn't really have come out at a better time for me. If I had been much younger or older than eleven I don't know if it would have really hit the sweet spot for me. But it did, and I thoroughly enjoyed the adventures of Ralph Hinkley (William Katt), FBI agent Bill Maxwell (Robert Culp) and "Councilor" Pam Davidson (Connie Sellecca).

And what wasn't there to love about the show? Along with the silly but engaging concept of a curly-haired, regular-guy high school teacher being chosen by aliens to wear a suit that granted him superpowers (which he could never completely master because he lost the instruction manual) who was compelled to work alongside a brash FBI agent, the show is also memorable for its theme song. "Believe it or Not" (written by Mike Post and sung by Joey Scarbury) was not only a great 1980s TV show theme, it ended up becoming a major hit on the radio (reaching number 2 in the Billboard Hot 100) and still remains a very familiar and recognizable all-time song from the 80s.

Unfortunately the show only lasted for three seasons. And to be honest I think I actually stopped watching before it even ended. It's not really clear why I seem to have lost interest, or what show(s) might have become a replacement for me, but I can't say that even remember when it went off the air. Nevertheless, along with seemingly countless other shows from my youth, "The Greatest American Hero" remains an all-time favorite in my heart. I was able to introduce The Little Monsters to the show on DVD a number of years back and was thrilled to see that they really liked it (again, what's not to like?). We watched quite a few episodes together and I had a very proud moment when we were at Disney World a few years ago and one morning when we were just waking up in our resort room the girls started singing. But despite being in the land of Disney, with all of its catchy tunes that have been drilled into kids brains for generations (including the songs from "Frozen"--which was still a huge hit at the time), The Monsters were singing "Believe it or Not"! Appropriately enough they had also sung the song earlier, on the plane as we were flying to Florida (walking on air indeed!).

There's been talk about a remake or reboot of "The Greatest American Hero" for a number of years, but as of now (March 2019) nothing has really come together. Apparently in 2017-18 there were plans for an Indian-American woman to don the super suit in a new version of the show, but ABC declined to pick it up. We will have to see if anything materializes on that front. I'm not really sure how I'd feel about a new and different take on the show, but it would certainly be interesting to see! You can read a whole lot more about "The Greatest American Hero" at its Wikipedia page.

On a final note, and to show just how much the show meant/means to me, back in 2010 I attended the annual Rock and Shock show in Worcester, Massachusetts. One of the guests that year was none other than William Katt! I don't know where the autograph that I got from him that day is (lost in deep storage somewhere), but I was also able to get a photograph with the man himself. It was a highlight of the day, and remains a very cool memory for me.

Believe it or not, that's me with William Katt!

After The Little Monsters had developed an interest in "The Greatest American Hero" I remembered this photo and decided to impress them with it. "Check out who your papa met a few years ago!" Well, I do think that they were somewhat impressed, but at the same time they also seemed to have a little bit of trouble with the concept that the show had originally aired around thirty years earlier. The Little Monster's reaction was something to the effect of "He looks kind of...old." Well, after thirty-eight years, don't we all?

From William Katt's Facebook Page

HAPPY 38th BIRTHDAY TO
THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO!