Production
On the series' season 1 DVD set Stephen J. Cannell explained that he had envisioned Greatest American Hero as a show focusing on down-to-earth, real life problems, whereas when a change of management occurred in ABC, they requested more heroic, save-the-day type episodes. As originally agreed to between Cannell and then ABC executives Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner (who would later form Carsey-Werner Productions), the powers would be in the suit, not the guy (though the suit would only work for him) and Ralph would try to solve ordinary-type issues, such as trying to stop a fix in Major League Baseball ("The Two Hundred Miles-Per-Hour Fastball") or an assassination attempt ("The Best Desk Scenario"). The show initially centered on what Cannell referred to as "character comedy" based on human flaws such as envy (in the aforementioned "The Best Desk Scenario") or hypochondria ("Plague").
Cannell was trying to avoid save-the-day type episodes, a la the original Adventures of Superman TV series, but according to Cannell on the DVD set, when Carsey and Werner left ABC (shortly after the show was picked up by the network) the new network executives wanted the show to be more like a kid's show than an adult's show. So they pushed for the exact types of shows that Cannell did not want, shows that involved Ralph trying to stop some sort of calamity from happening, including nuclear war ("Operation Spoilsport") and even a Loch Ness Monster-type of creature ("The Devil in the Deep Blue Sea"). For the second season finale, a serious and appropriate for the time (the Cold War was in full bloom in 1982) episode was produced; "Lilacs, Mr. Maxwell", written and directed by Robert Culp. The episode story line revolves around a KGB mole (played by guest star Dixie Carter) placed into the FBI with the sole purpose of discovering the methods used by agent Bill Maxwell in catching spies and other assorted bad guys. Cannell gave Culp free rein to make the episode as he saw fit.
This was also the first of Cannell's series to feature his now legendary "Stephen J. Cannell Productions" logo. The production company's first series Tenspeed and Brown Shoe did not feature the logo.
Read more about this topic: The Greatest American Hero
Famous quotes containing the word production:
“In the production of the necessaries of life Nature is ready enough to assist man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“To expect to increase prices and then to maintain them at a higher level by means of a plan which must of necessity increase production while decreasing consumption is to fly in the face of an economic law as well established as any law of nature.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“The production of obscurity in Paris compares to the production of motor cars in Detroit in the great period of American industry.”
—Ernest Gellner (b. 1925)