I had fond memories of it from when I was a kid and tried watching it a few ago when it was one the streaming services ( Netflix?) anyway I didn’t get through two episodes and the leftist tropes of the time were too much for me. When Ralph wasn’t being an incompetent superhero, he was an even more incompetent high school teacher for troubled kids. It was incredibly preachy then, a modern “Ralph” would no doubt be a transsexual struggling with his queer class not being able to talk about their true lived experience while he fought global warming and evil patriots in his super power suit.
“...anyway I didn’t get through two episodes and the leftist tropes of the time were too much for me. When Ralph wasn’t being an incompetent superhero, he was an even more incompetent high school teacher...It was incredibly preachy then...” [Data Miner, post 91]
“...I keep thinking it would be worth revising that show but in today’s politically correct climate it would suck.” [Kevmo, post 90]
Fretting about the preachiness of a 1980s TV action series is probably being a bit too intense. Quite true of The Greatest American Hero then; doesn’t make it a standout.
Much of prime time TV 40 years ago was just the same. However, it was still possible then to relax and enjoy things. Not anymore.
The show was more about the mundane problems encountered by mere mortals who have been handed enormous power; but the power barely affects the day-to-day troubles, minor conflicts, personality clashes, and never-realized dimly perceived dreams of doing good (and doing well) are still present, bollixing most outcomes. The stuff of daily life mires us mere mortals even when aliens try to help save us from ourselves.
Several critics and reviewers have written that the struggles between William Katt’s character and Robert Culp’s character were rooted in this incompatibility: the former wanted to save the whales, but the latter wanted to save America from Communism. Structuring it that way would simply fail to work today.
I found it more interesting to note how goofily untalented Katt’s character remained, despite acquiring the suit. He manages to lose the instruction manual not once, but twice. And his landing skills simply suck - but the suit saves him from harm. Over and over. Technical flubs remain outside the purview of politics and ideology; they refuse be remedied by an abundance of faith. Or sterling character.
One could even consider The Greatest American Hero a tongue in cheek admonition about the failure of aliens to recognize crippling flaws in human nature; if they had bothered to perform deeper background studies and psychological tests before committing, they might have given the suit to frogs, not to a human. Fortunately, it remained lighthearted.