Name: The Greatest American Hero
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Action, Adventure, Superhero
Rating: 6.2
Cast: William Katt, Robert Culp, Connie Sellecca, Faye Grant, Michael Paré

William Katt

Robert Culp

Connie Sellecca

Faye Grant

Michael Paré

Jesse D. Goins

Don Cervantes

William Bogert

Brandon Williams

Kurt Grayson

Stephen J. Cannell

The chronicles of  teacher Ralph Hinkley's adventures after a group of aliens gives him a red suit that gives him superhuman abilities. Unfortunately, Ralph, who hates wearing the suit, immediately loses its instruction booklet, and thus has to learn how to use its powers by trial and error, often with comical results.

The Greatest American Hero

'The Greatest American Hero' [01] TV Promo - 1981

Ralph Hinkley, an average school teacher, is given a suit with amazing powers by aliens. Now, Ralph must decide if he'll use his new powers to fight crime, even though he already lost the suit's instruction manual.

Bill, who has been trying to bust open a drug ring for over 20 years, must drive a witness to Los Angeles for the trial of the gang leader and asks Ralph for help.

The Hit Car

When a secret gunsight is stolen, Bill asks Ralph for help in solving the case. However, Ralph runs into problems when he keeps turning invisible unexpectedly, and must deal with the pressure of meeting Pam's parents.

Here's Looking at You Kid

Russians are trying to find an heiress and her Russian husband in order to force them to establish a missile cache hold on their private island. Bill needs Ralph's help when he is suspected of failing a lie-detector test at FBI headquarters.

Saturday on Sunset Boulevard

Ralph uses his suit to help Rhonda, one of his students, after her mother is kidnapped by the Russians.

Reseda Rose

Ralph reconsiders his suit of powers after a flying mistake almost takes out a bus full of tourists. Bill also reconsiders his job path when one of his heroes is suspected of plotting out the theft of a precious diamond.

My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys

Ralph lends Tony a hand by finding him a job as a car repossesser. When Tony is arrested for arson, Ralph and Bill team up to find the real criminal.

Fire Man

At FBI headquarters, promotions are being handed out. However, Bill considers retiring from his job. Meanwhile, Ralph must use his suit to save Pam when she discovers her boss is the head of an underground operation.

The Best Desk Scenario

Ralph dons a baseball suit to trap Latino revolutionaries who plan to finance a coup by fixing ball games.

The Two-Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Fastball

Ralph and Bill must stop World War III by defusing a corrupt military leader's plans to launch a suprise missile attack against Russia.

Operation Spoilsport

Ralph and Bill are kidnapped by a tycoon that actually had his own suit given to him years ago by the aliens.  The suit corrupted this man to use it for personal fortune, and he did not lose the instruction book.  The aliens did not like the way he was using the suit, and they took it away from him.

Don't Mess Around with Jim

A motorcycle gang steals the super-suit, and tries to use it to take over a town.  It only works on Ralph, so they must force HIM to do their dirty work while holding Bill captive.

Hog Wild

Ralph's students start a band, and a promoter lands them a spot on a big ticket concert while trying to get Pam to go out with him.

Classical Gas

Ralph finds a window into the 4th dimension while scouting an old house.  Bill gets possesed by a woman's spirit, and Ralph must return her through that window.

The Beast in the Black

Bill has a treasure map, and takes Ralph and his class out to the desert to find the lost Diablo Gold Mine that vanished a long time ago, and are met with resistance from the local thieves.

The Lost Diablo

A psycho military cult leader tries to spread the small-pox virus.

Plague

Ralph crashes head first into a train, and gets amnesia.  Pam and Bill have to convince him that the suit really works.

A Train of Thought

While practicing flying in the desert with Bill, Ralph gets a vision of a plane crash.  It's the suit showing it to him, and Bill can only see it when he touches Ralph.  They rush to the scene to find no plane, and figure out that it must be something that hasn't happened yet, and they're supposed to prevent it.  We come to find out that Pam is on that plane, and it's been hijacked.  To make matters worse, the plane has an experimental cloaking device that makes it invisible to radar, and the Air Force would rather shoot it down than have the plane in enemy hands.

Now You See It...

Years ago, prisoners of war were brainwashed to respond to a code phrase. Now, someone is using them to commit acts of sabotage. Bill and Ralph investigate, but Bill inadvertently falls under a hypnotic trance, leaving the heroics up to Ralph.

The Handpainted Thai

Ralph takes a job at the circus as a human cannonball while trying to help Bill bust a crime ring that involves a phony dating service.

Just Another Three Ring Circus

A space shuttle is about to crash, and only Ralph can save it. He does so, but ends up supermagnetized, perhaps permanently. Worst of all, a strange creature aboard the shuttle heads towards Los Angeles, electricuting all who get in its way.

The Shock Will Kill You

Ron O'Neill, John Hancock, Thalmus Rasulala, Lincoln Kilpatrick    Scenario: When an old FBI buddy invites Bill to his Caribbean retreat, Maxwell takes Ralph, Pam and the students along. Unfortunately, they find themselves involved in a voodoo plot to take over the island's government.

A Chicken in Every Plot

Ralph and Bill hunt for the sea creature ""Carrie"" in the Bermuda Triangle thinking that the monster may be responsible for all of the boats that disappear there.  They undercover a stolen boat ring, and never find the creature.

The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Ralph skis like a pro with the suit on, and stands in at the Olympics for a Russian skiier so the man can defect to America, and hand over top secret information that he stole.

It's All Downhill from Here

An act of kindness backfires when Ralph uses the suit to help a coworker with a personal project. This leads his other co-workers to take daring chances for their own shots at success. Soon, he must don the super suit not only to prevent them from ruining their lives, but also to save Bill from a vengeful, recently paroled killer.

Dreams

Bill convinces the parents of a kidnap victim to pay the ransom, certain that Ralph can recover it when he saves their little girl.  Ralph finds himself being audited by an overzealous IRS agent who's convinced he took the ransom money. Meanwhile, Ralph and Bill keep getting shot at in drive-by shootings, but by who?

There's Just No Accounting...

Tired of using the suit to fight crime, Ralph decides to branch out. He tries to intervene in a battle between an old man fighting for his home and the city taking it away, but Bill has him on the hunt for bank robbers.

The Good Samaritan

Bill recieves hot tips on a speed factory working out of a fast food chain, and a newspaper reporter publishes pictures of Ralph flying.

Captain Bellybuster and the Speed Factory

Ralph's mother is re-marrying to a man who planted a much wanted micro-chip in her engagement ring.

Who's Woo in America

Bill falls in love with a female FBI agent, and wants to tell her about the suit.  She turns out to be a spy, and is ordered to kill him.

Lilacs, Mr. Maxwell

After a loud argument with Bill, Ralph quits the hero business and turns in his super-suit. Unknown to both men, a gang of neo-Nazis plans to murder them.

Divorce Venusian Style

While attending a high-school reunion, Ralph discovers that the wife of a famous pro football player is held hostage to ensure her husband will throw the big game.

The Price is Right

With their relationship in trouble, Ralph convinces Pam to go on a vacation without Bill or his suit. Unfortunately Bill shows up unannounced with his suit and trouble ensues.

This is the One the Suit Was Meant For

A magician killed performing his greatest trick seemingly returns from the grave to murder his three rivals. Ralph must use his suit to out trick the would-be killer.

The Resurrection of Carlini

Ralph and Pam's wedding is almost ruined when Ralph receives special orders from the President to fly a mission over the North Pole. Bill discovers the orders were faked, and that Ralph has accidentally given the Russians valuable military secrets.

The Newlywed Game

A former Nazi genetic engineer fakes Bill's death to use him in an experiment, but Ralph realizes his friend is still alive. He flies off to rescue Bill and the evil doctor's other victims, but a genetic horror created in an earlier experiment waits to battle him.

Heaven is in Your Genes

An Aging TV anchorman plans to retire in grand style. He hires a band of mercenaries to sabotage a nuclear plant, hoping that his coverage of the event can launch a Presidential campaign. Ralph must stop the plant from exploding, but the saboteurs, now dying of radiation poisoning, are determined to succeed.

Live at Eleven

One of Ralph's students invents a radio telescope capable of decoding Russian satellite messages. The KGB tries to steal his system. When that maneuver fails, they decide to kill him before he can share his discovery with the CIA.

Space Ranger

A young Chinese scientist has invented a deadly particle "ray gun" weapon. A local gang kidnaps his uncle, hoping to obtain the gun. Bill's plan to save the Uncle backfires, and Ralph must test his suit against the deadly ray.

Thirty Seconds Over Little Tokyo

King Abu Al-Fahad asks Ralph and Bill to help find his son, Prince Aha, who was kidnapped by Middle Eastern terrorists while playing a Dungeons and Dragonsesque game, Wizards and Warlocks. Their search leads them from Aha's college campus -- where they meet Aha's Keeper of the Clock, Joey Margolis -- to the game's author himself, Norman Fackler.

Wizards And Warlocks

Bill is called by the manager of a rock group that is aboard a plane threatened by a bomber, who has hidden a device set to explode if the plane descends below 1000 feet. Ralph flies into action, but matters escalate when Pam is kidnapped and a band of bikers threaten Bill's life.

It's Only Rock and Roll

A weekend in the country leads Ralph, Pam and Bill into a race to save a wild stallion from a cruel rancher. The man blames the horse for a crippling injury. His men are also selling horses for use as dog food.

Desperado

It seems that 30 years ago Bill helped some revolutionaries overthrow a corrupt regime in an unnamed Central American country, where he is now regarded as a hero.  But now Bill's old revolutionary compadres have turned up, and they soon kidnap him and try to get him to help lead another revolution.

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