The Greatest American Hero

The Greatest American Hero is a superhero comedy drama created by Stephen J. Cannell and broadcast on ABC from 1981 to 1983. William Katt plays Ralph Hinkley, a Los Angeles schoolteacher whose life changes after he encounters extraterrestrials in the desert. They give him a red super suit and an instruction manual, expecting him to use its abilities to help people. Ralph loses the manual. The resulting predicament drives the series: he can fly and perform other extraordinary feats, but he has to discover how the suit works by trial and error, often with spectacularly awkward results.

Robert Culp plays FBI agent Bill Maxwell, who shares Ralph’s encounter with the visitors and pushes him toward dangerous investigations. Connie Sellecca plays Pam Davidson, Ralph’s lawyer and romantic partner, who becomes part of the circle aware of the suit. Their disagreements give the show much of its humor: Bill approaches a case like a federal operation, while Ralph worries about his students and the consequences of intervening. Pam often has to manage the fallout. Rather than presenting a polished crime fighter, the series follows a reluctant teacher balancing classroom responsibilities, his relationship with Pam, and the unpredictable demands of secret heroism.

One distinctive feature is Ralph’s flying. The suit grants him the power, but not the skill to land gracefully; crashes and wobbly approaches became recurring visual jokes. Episodes also exploit abilities that Ralph learns about only when a problem forces an experiment, making the missing manual more than a one-time gag. The premise sets Ralph’s concerns against science-fiction spectacle and Bill’s insistence on pursuing criminals. Although the costume makes Ralph conspicuous to viewers, he tries to keep his identity and the extraterrestrial origin of the suit from the public. The result blends action, procedural cases, family concerns, and physical comedy.

The show’s opening theme, “Believe It or Not,” was performed by Joey Scarbury and written by Mike Post and Stephen Geyer. Released as a single, it reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981, outlasting the series as a familiar pop-culture reference. The character’s surname also changed temporarily from Hinkley to Hanley after the 1981 assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley Jr.; the producers later returned to Hinkley. Those details place the program in its early-1980s television moment: a network series whose most memorable image is a teacher in a red suit, struggling to master flight.