Greatest American Hero: The Movie?
I can vaguely recall watching the cult comedy superhero series The Greatest American Hero on TV back in the early 80’s. Aside from the image of the William Katt wearing a bright red suit and a mass of curly hair, and of course, the classic theme song by Joey Scarbury (“Believe it or not, I’m walking on air!”), however, I don’t really remember anything about it. A little more research reminds me that he was given superpowers by wearing an alien suit, and part of the comedy came from the fact that he never knew how to use it properly.
The show was released on DVD by Anchor Bay back in 2006, so obviously it still has at least a handful of fans out there. And they’re going to be pretty excited to learn that The Greatest American Hero may be getting a feature film adaptation in the very near future!
According to ProductionCharts.com, there is a Greatest American Hero movie slated to start shooting in July 2008 in Arizona. The movie will be produced by series creator Stephen J. Cannell and Michael Dubelko (The Tooth Fairy), and brought to us by the same writer-director team behind Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure! Director Stephen Herek was also responsible for such classics as Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead, The Mighty Ducks and Rock Star starring Mark Wahlberg.
While I find it strange that this is the first we’re hearing about the movie, and there has been no official press release up until now, I remain somewhat optimistic that this thing might actually get made. After all, with the writer’s strike going on, any project that has a finished script stands a serious chance of being greenlit. The question is, who do you think should play Ralph Hinkley? (Whatever you do, please don’t say Carrot Top.)
Comments (14)
Ah, I loved that show when I was a kid. When I watched the trailer for Will Smiths new “Hancock”, i was reminded of TGMH… This could be a fun flick.
Posted by Lee on January 4th, 2008Oh god. I never saw this growing up but the local sci-fi club did show the first few episodes and wow, was it cheesy. I’m not convinced that I want to see a movie though the alien suit that gives superpowers but doesn’t come with an instruction manual could be fun. Just please, update the suit.
Posted by Marina on January 4th, 2008Kirk Cameron in the lead
Posted by Rusty James on January 6th, 2008It’s time for a Freddie Prinz Jr comeback.
Posted by Rusty James on January 6th, 2008carot top, nuf’ said.
Posted by paulie on January 6th, 2008I love the show I think it was great and could be a good tool to use as motivation for kids. I think that a great fit for the role would be Steve Carrell or Jason Biggs or even Tom Hanks . And it would be great if William Katt played Bill or maybe get Tommy Lee Jones.
Posted by Jason Cook on January 7th, 2008I think that it is a wonderful story line for a movie. I loved this show and was sad to see it go. I think Owen Wilson would be perfect as the hero. He’s funny and clumbsy at the same time. It’s either that or find someone that can act real serious and then be clumbsy.
Posted by Alan Crane on January 27th, 2008It would be great to see Greatest American Hero shot at Choate School. Ct is offering 30% tax deduction for all movies produced in this state!
Posted by Henry on February 5th, 2008Word is that william Katt will once again reprise his role as the greatest american hero, he is slated to be in the foirst hour of the movie, then he will hand off the suit to a new hero, played by ADAM SANDLER as the new Greatest American Hero…this has been confirmed by the Cannell Studios.
Posted by brian c on May 1st, 2008It is official! The Greatest American Hero Web Series is coming out on July 4th!
http://www.tgah.com
Posted by TGAH HQ on June 16th, 2008William Katt IS slated to reprise the role. No none else can do it. Remember they tried with The Greatest American Heroine? Once.
Posted by HeroLover on July 31st, 2008They tried to remake another classic babe series and it didn’t last? Remember the remake of The Bionic Woman that i call the Bionic Bimbo and it sucked bad. Or the remake, supposedly, coming of TSMDM called The Six Billion Dollar man with the assinine Jim the Fairy (oops, Carrey) starring in the alleged Carrey-(idiotic)style farce.
TGAH should be better, hopefully, with Stephen J. Cannell and Katt involved.
I think Howie Mandel should play the lead in this.
Posted by Fuckupaulie on February 2nd, 2009I’ve watched tgah as i was growing up..and at first i thought it was cheesy b rated but after watchin it and thinking bout it..(the whole “losing the instuction manuel” & clumbsy at first till you slowly get the hang of the suit) gig well then i understood…and clive owen would be great at being the hero..if tgah turned into a movie…matter of fact they should, they turned every thing else into a movie…why not tgah ??. Except they should revamp it and 2009 it (upgrade !)…
Posted by Rick Gray on April 10th, 2009Leave a Reply