Blast from the Past: Live Action Superheroes on TV!

This week, I almost did a "classic political ads" theme for Blast from the Past. But, geeze, I'm a little tired of political ads, aren't you? I mean here in Nevada, we're being absolutely bombarded with them.  I already early voted, enough!  We know, Harry Reid is evil according to Sharron Angle, and vice-versa. Anyway, I was stuck for a theme.  Last week, I did Saturday morning cartoons. So this time, how about live-action superheroes? They were always a favorite of mine, but you may have forgotten a couple of these. . .








1. Automan - How's this one for obscure? Obviously inspired by Tron, this one didn't last too long, probably because the pretty girl didn't have much to do. But with Desi Arnaz, Jr. and Chuck Wagner, I didn't even notice there was a girl. Ahem.
2. The Amazing Spider-Man - This 70s version of Spider-Man was low-budget, and you just can't do much with Spidey on a low-budget. The leotard just looked ridiculous. The webs were worse.
3. Wonder Woman - The classic Lynda Carter show's first season had this very comic-book flavored intro, obviously inspired by Batman. They kept tweaking it, and disco-fying it when they moved the series into the 70s from the 40s.
4. Batman - No live-action TV superhero retrospective would be complete without this one.
5. The Incredible Hulk - This show ran for most of its existence sandwiched between Wonder Woman and The Dukes of Hazzard. It was better than either, though maybe not as fun.
6. The Greatest American Hero - This theme worked for describing the hapless hero's cluelessness, and also as a love song for a guy who doesn't feel worthy. Loved the show too.
7. The Flash - I really liked this show. Too bad it only got a season. There's a movie in the works, though!
8. Shazam! - They couldn't call the show Captain Marvel due to legal reasons, and they changed Cap's back-story too much, but I never missed an episode! It was basically a ham-fisted "lesson of the week" after school special kind of show, with a superhero. If they ever do a Shazam! movie--and do it right--it will be awesome.

Happy Monday everybody!