That Time The Greatest American Hero Fought a Ghost (Manic Episodes)

[@dylanjenkins9497]

This episode scared the absolute shit out of me as a kid! Bill speaking in a creepy woman’s voice, combined with the creature from the 4th dimension, was too much for my 10 year old mind to cope with. It frightened me so much, in fact, that I couldn’t sleep that night and had to miss school the next day. Thanks, Allison, for that trip down memory lane and for giving Adult Me a good chuckle at having been such an impressionable, easily frightened child!

[@Billkwando]

I can relate. When I was that age, I couldn't even watch trailers for horror movies.

[@Paulzpc]

I agree it was a disturbing episode, the fact that he couldn't use the suit was alarming, cheesy effects but it ended well..it was a great episode!

[@kyle47922]

@@Paulzpc, It scared me also but what a great show.

[@XMR_King]

Same I would of been 8 when I saw it and I still remember it at 49 haha pretty much the only episode I remember although I liked the series as a kid

[@DornishQueen]

Same here! This episode messed me up as a kid!

[@benjaminmohs8789]

I saw this episode as a kid when it aired, and it scared the living shit out of me.

[@Jaytheradical]

Interdimensional helldogs that guard the fourth dimension (and hide in walls, sorta) is a fair description of the Hounds of Tindalos, from the Frank Belknap Long story of the same name, later integrated into the Cthulhu Mythos. They hunt people who mess around with time.

[@constellaespj4398]

I'm old enough to have watched new episodes of this when it came out and I loved it! I loved seeing a bumbling regular guy trying to do the right thing as opposed to being some superpowered, hardly-ever-wrong character. This episode, as have many of your eps, took me back! Thanks, Allison!

[@willmistretta]

I miss the dopey earnestness of old tv. It's just...comforting somehow.

[@SciFiFan2012]

Will Mistretta the older police series like Dragnet or Adam-12 are so 1950/60s, police are friends, good always wins. Emergency was so goofy it was cool. Land of the Lost, Electro Woman & Dyna Girl, the older Super Friends series. A big bowl of cereal and sugar, and a TV made Saturday morning awesome!

[@XMR_King]

@@SciFiFan2012 I shudder to think of the spoonfuls of sugar I used to dump on my cereal 😆

[@bradmclean4988]

The beast made me cry when this aired. I didn't want to go to bed

[@clark85]

this ep freaked out when I was a kid and loved it. shades of creepy ideas? those ideas made this episode work! it truly showed he was in danger for once and the win here wasnt simply overpowering the badguys but outwitting the horror.

[@woodmania]

Thanks for reviewing this episode. The bizarre special effects of the "4th dimension" were instant nightmare fuel that stuck with me for the past three decades.

[@VolkswagenNut1969]

I loved this show when it first came out! It was fun, a funny new twist on the superhero, the characters were all likable, and who isn't taken in by that theme song? Sure it's kind of silly and dated now, but still a great show. I'm glad to see it's still finding an audience.

[@ethansloan]

Can't hear that theme without thinking of Brad Jones.

[@geekoborabora]

I am always disappointed there's no cameo

[@twstf8905]

I used to watch this show EVERY week, when I was like 6 or 7 lol ah, nostalgia...😊

[@ralphyetmore]

If they actually do a reboot, Bruce Campbell as Agent Maxwell. Eh?

[@SciFiFan2012]

ralphyetmore yes, a thousand times yes.

[@UnanimousDelivers]

Years later, Shazam! exists.

[@pattimcb31]

Excellent idea he would be perfect

[@othelloalford21]

That's not a bad idea bruce cambell would be perfect for bill actually a better version than culp

[@johnnyphever]

Oh God this was my favorite show when I was a kid.

[@captcrais101]

I got William's autograph at a comic con.

[@MrFanboyjay]

And I at Horrorhound Weekend.

[@sageparra4956]

I remember watching this episode vividly as a kid and being freaked out. You don’t get these kind of episodes on TV nowadays. Thanks for posting this!

[@BradHominem]

The nostalgia! Thanks! One of my main memories of this show is that Bill enjoyed eating dog treats. It was a weird running gag.

[@AllisonPregler]

So weird! But it made me laugh.

[@mishasan7]

@@AllisonPregler And then Riggs in the Lethal Weapon movie ate dog treats too... or was it Lethal Weapon 2?

[@sephirothii13]

I loved this show as a kid and this episode always suck with me. Thanks for highlighting it

[@woodch]

Holy shit @4:23 ! I love your editing and comedic timing. I remember this episode from my childhood-- shit scared me good.

[@eddieboyky]

I have run myself ragged working all weekend, so watching this just made my day. Thank you so much. I watched the show when it originally came out and loved it. The cast was great, like you said, and the show was just fun. What memories! I even had several of those knit ties and a members Only jacket back in the day.

[@shguderjan7181]

I actually remember the original showing of this episode...really spooky to a pre-teen!

[@FarelForever]

It's a great theme song! I'd wish there was a reviewer who'd use it as the opening thing to his show :)

[@KarlosMorale]

*tear

[@FarelForever]

This song did actually also play in the live action Tick series from ... way back when, so I wonder if it was something seperate, just put as the theme song here, and re-used there, or...

[@cjermevpg6372]

Wouldn't it be great if they did a Tick/Greatest American Hero crossover?

[@cjermevpg6372]

There was an earlier one.

[@FarelForever]

Yeah, just 4 episodes long

[@MrAspiringactor]

Funny how, in 5 years, William Katt went from being a high school student (Carrie) to a high school teacher (The Greatest American Hero)

[@michaellangwaller]

It is rumored the producers of the show wanted to more episodes with the supernatural slant but the idea was shot down by the network who wanted a kid-friendly show. If only the producers had been allowed to chart the course they wanted. A fun fact, Robert Culp was in a failed supernatural-themed pilot movie called Spectre (1977) that was written by Gene Roddenberry and co-starred Majel Berret and John Hurt and was a movie too far ahead of for what the networks were ready. If you ever get a chance, check out Spectre.

[@martymcfly5434]

What about the somewhat forgotten spin-off Greatest American Heroine from 1986 which didn't air but was later included as part of the syndication package and has surfaced on DVD!! Including 2 episodes which never aired on ABC!!💁💕👍

[@chrisstory563]

@@martymcfly5434 Greatest American Heroine pilot felt more like a soft reboot for syndication then a spin off. it was more a continuation of the show with the passing the torch trope. the lead was a bit of a goofball. what made the pilot bad was the BS forced passing of the torch. the first half the alien got mad at ralph for compromising his identity and had to be forced to hand the suit to another person for the sake of damage control.

[@JenMistress]

I do want to point out to any who see this, Greatest American Hero is on Hulu if you got that. Only don't think they have the pilot to the spin off series they tried to do, Greatest American Heroine. This episode was Season 2 Episode 6. Thank you, Alison! Enjoyed your review! 👍😊

[@BloodrealmX]

A mysterious creature that guards the fourth dimension? Sounds like a Hound of Tindalos.

[@RIVALContentJammerz]

Faye Grant was my 1st crush. I was five when "V" debuted.

[@MichaelZodok]

I remember this episode.

[@PapaTaurean]

I watched every episode of this series as a kid... i... am very old. But it's still a classic!!

[@helanesolomon1724]

Love this show. Great commentary. That ghost came back in the 3rd season as Bill's blind date. Robert Culp deserved an Emmy!

[@JohnnyBeane]

My favorite show! Love your review of this episode!!! So funny!!!

[@voxangelaemortis]

Up until now, I had known only the joys of the theme song. And even that came secondhand from Seinfeld trivia. Thank you for allowing me a glimpse into the joyous silliness of the show itself. :)

[@elizabethsullivan1894]

Every so often I stumble on one of these I haven't seen, and often they're amazing gems like this.

[@SwiftNimblefoot]

So THIS was the themesong that Brad has been using all these years!!! I never heard of this before.

[@LambastMercy]

You never fail to find me something to watch when I can't sleep.

[@mrchordstriker]

I like your humorous take on all this.

[@6inTruder]

I only regret that you didn't cut in footage from the Japanese movie 'House'.

[@michaelvale4473]

Such a great nostalgia trip! But now I'm hungry for jellybeans

[@JamiJR]

God, I adored this show as a child. To this day I still want to ride in a purple stretch limo because of this show.

[@Dantheman11281]

I have the black tin box dvd set and ive watched the entire series. It may be weird at times, but beast in the black was one of if not my favorite episodes of the show. It finally gave a suited up Ralph an enemy he was afraid of cause he could have been killed while he was in the OP suit.

[@grayj7441]

I loved this show back then.

[@pikapal91]

Do Sliders already. You and Phelous both

[@AnitaLife27]

Love this show, and this episode is a great showcase for the wonderful Robert Culp. ❤️ I always thought it was done on a bar room joke challenge, but no, the creator was asked to do a superhero show. It was not his forte, he knew nothing about comics. So Stephen J Cannell combined Superman, ET, Kramer Vs Kramer, Welcome Back Kotter, and probably a bunch of other stuff. It’s so much fun,and I’ve love it since first run! Hollywood can keep their hands off of it, because they’d only ruin it with a retread.

[@chrisdooley6468]

Lol my wheelchair frequently attacks me like that. It just kinda happens😱

[@user-wx3wc4bo7c]

Yeah .....we're going to need more of these like your bay watching series

[@reesepacker7983]

This episode of the show has (looking back) some of the vibe of those old 70's made for tv flicks like "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark " and "Burnt Offerings" especially ...though with the much lighter happy ending treatment 80's prime time tv ...there were also two other "creature feature" episodes ..one featuring a octopus like creature from space and another with hinted at sea monster that is shown only at the very end before the credits....the late 70's was trippy time to be a kid..were even kid's and family shows would sometimes creep you out .....lol Thats Incredible " would do this all the time with asegment about a haunted house shoved in between two much lighter stories lol...they got me everytime

[@sheepheadsez2229]

This show was amazing.

[@walterchavez3081]

I don't remember this episode but I remembered being disturbed as a youngster by the episode where he becomes hyper-magnetic and hyper-electric. The alien they're confronting that episode was quite grotesque with weird tentacles and you don;t really see the entire creature -only parts in shadows (probably because fx were expensive and/or trying to be scary)

[@godmagnus]

Was that "fourth dimension" thing not a Twilight Zone reference? Like, that's how he came up with the fourth dimension theory.

[@ryanlewis833]

I was just watching this today with my kids and said how this episode did and still does freak me out!!

[@SuperAdrianamarie]

I love . The original greatest American hero,I have it all on dvd,William Katt is a sweet heart, 😊❤❤❤❤

[@BronzeBoy520]

I wonder if Cinema Snob likes the show... no, real question. The theme is more famous then the show itself!

[@LaDracul]

Actually, there is another reboot in the works where it's an Indian-American woman who comes upon the suit. Though no idea if it will fall through like the Lord Miller attempt. It did become the basis for one of the best Gary the Nerd adventures on "Robot Chicken"...and had Robert Culp in it. (Or as they call him, "Guy Who Looks Like Robert Culp".)

[@gallaxy70]

1970s and early 80s t.v. was the best ever boys and girls. Period. Won't be a time in history like that ever again...buy as many dvds as u can while they r here.

[@Chuckernut5]

This episode scared the bejesus out of my 8 year old self!

[@mrchordstriker]

Ghost detecting equipment. There's one I should have thought of. Good one!

[@NoMoreMonsters]

My older brother loved this show it was a fav of his when he was a kid. I was super young when it came out and was into cartoons not live action shows (unless it was A-Team) I saw it Peacock and thought "I need to see this to understand why my brother loved this show" I couldn't finish the 1st ep and walked away thinking my older brother had issues or something lol

[@tyrelli001]

Michael Pare (sp?) first car in real life was the station wagon from season 1... given to him. True.

[@robnowaczewski5351]

I never watched it, but there is something about William Katt that makes me on his side. I sure hope he isn't a complete douchebag in the real world. I'm positive that this started in De Palma's "Carrie", when he seemed charming, decent, and not deserving of what happened to him.

[@robnowaczewski5351]

I know that modern audiences may not realize it, but "What if I could've stop this, but wasn't good enough?" was a burden on anyone who grew up as a teen in the 80's, and really half-suspected that maybe we'd die because of the U.S.S.R. nuclear war thing. See 'The Day After' and 'Threads'.

[@robnowaczewski5351]

"His 20 - 30 year old students have decided to go there, unsupervised, as you do"... C'Mon. Who hasn't been in that situation... where you were either a teacher sending your students into certain danger, or were a student who went into certain danger, for grades, or pride, or uh... 'cause its in the script. We were all there. I personally faced a mummy, two possessing demons and a haunting spirit possessing great-great-grandkid to enact a vague revenge plot in my college career. And I was 35, but pretending to be a 20-year old at the time college student. We ALL did that! :-)

[@princeeverlove]

The Actor was excellent in the Horror 80's Dark Comedy "House"!

[@larryclowers]

Loved this show sooooo much

[@echoskolumne1962]

Oh damn! I always come across new old and/or obscure tv shows I didn't grow up on and fall in love with them. First _That Girl_ then _Monkey Magic_ more Journey to the West adaptions _Drak Pack_ _BWOC_ and now this one - with a superhero that reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite. I have to stop!

[@kidkunjer]

This is the perfect time to remake this series! netflix could do it awesome... like kickass meets kriiish (obscure reference)

[@trinidadbotello9906]

The theme song is memorable.

[@nawf4372]

Ironically, putting the theme song over the horrifying ghost animal attack didn't really have the mood contrasting effect on me, because I'm so used to seeing it over the horrifying stuff from the Cinema Snob. Why did he stop using it?

[@Jaytheradical]

He didn't have the rights to it, and youtube's content detector kept taking his videos down.

[@nawf4372]

Which sucks because right when Brad was starting out, he called the people who did have the rights to the song and asked if he could use it. So the rights must of changed hands or KZbin's copyright must have just gotten that much worse.

[@huh8662]

I couldn't remember the name of this episode but I damn sure remember the nightmares it gave me when I was young.

[@captcrais101]

I want a reboot of this.

[@scottandrewhutchins]

I could watch this episode when I was a kid. Too scary.

[@Rocketboy1313]

One of those shows that I am baffled has not been brought back in some form.

[@ralphyetmore]

I'm implementing "horse apples" into casual conversation from now on.

[@JennieLovedoll]

The only one thing that creeped me out when this episode was first out was that if one episode was sponsored by General Electric; and the logo is seen all by itself!!😱

[@AutoPilate]

We had the pilot episode on Betamax back in the day.

[@johnfitzpatrick3094]

I remember this episode gave me nightmares when I was a kid.

[@Neilhammond64]

I went as the Greatest American Hero for Halloween once. Everyone thought I was Robin.

[@specialnewb9821]

I love that show, I saw it on FX in the 90s.

[@callac]

And I thought this episode was a childhood delusion.

[@melissabarrett9750]

I wonder whatever came of Joey Scarbury the guy who sang this song... William Katt was awesome in the title role.

[@adrenalineshots5693]

Cool Review. It's a series I've heard a lot about, but my experience is mostly limited to the (admittedly legendary!) theme song. Looks like they were perhaps aiming for a Superman style Magic-Can-Hurt-Me vibe... The Beast in the Black wasn't exactly what I'd expected! Maybe it could be an other-worldly cultist in that gritty reboot! : )

[@IAmAwesomeRocker]

The biker episode where a couple of bikers take over a town and get his suit was hilarious

[@xen0bia]

There must be some sort of mistake. This is clearly the theme of the greatest american hero that have ever lived, The Cinema Snob.

[@anionhero]

I loved this series!

[@princeeverlove]

It's like 2020's "Shazam!"..Average guy Above Average Powers...Classic Super hero at it's best!😃

[@MrStephenRGilman]

This episode gave me nightmares as a kid.

[@captcrais101]

This is like a cross between Superman and George of the Jungle.

[@MrGonzo-xj2wk]

Love the house joke! XD

[@Morhek]

Careful Allison, Brad might copyright claim this for using his theme song! I hear he owns it!

[@fondajames]

Actually if you can see through a wall (and it's not xray style. You would be seeing through the 4th dimension. Seeing in 2 dimensions means you can only see flat, 3 dimensions adds height so can be argued that 4th dimension let's you see further than 3 dimensional sight

[@robanybody3363]

I remember this episode scared the crap out of me as a kid....lol

[@jonathanross149]

Me too. That weird 4th dimension cat thought the wall was freaky at least to a kid.

[@trinidadbotello9906]

Hey you can have a drinking game, every time Allison says 'As you do' in the video.

[@cyclenut]

I was in my teens (high school) I liked the show.

[@martymcfly5434]

I can just imagine Owen Wilson sporting the red suit and Ben Stiller as Bill Maxwell LOL!!💁💕👍

[@LordSvzklx]

wait, that logo on the suit, I've seen it before. there's some other character who uses it but for the life of me I can't remember who

[@totesmacgrotes]

LordSvzklx its a skateboard company logo i think

[@totesmacgrotes]

LordSvzklx nevermind it's similar to the rds logo but not really

[@adrienfourniercom]

I say once again: Mike Post is a genius

[@AllisonPregler]

Why didn't I make the connection til now Mike Post was involved with this and Quantum Leap?

[@adrienfourniercom]

and Magnum PI, Riptide, Rick Hunter and many more... Pure genius, I tell you Alison.

[@willmistretta]

A-Team, too.

[@dreamlandnightmare]

Mike Post composed the theme to virtually every 80's TV series.

[@rodrolliv]

I recognised Faye Grant among the students, I remember her from V.

[@DokkaChapman]

I often wondered where that song came from.

[@IkeFromCN]

0:46 As a Chinese, I must say, the symbol on his chest is just Chinese letter "中”, which could mean "center, middle or literally China（中国）, also his suit is red which the color of Chinese flag(although American flag has red too), coincidence?

[@jackiegoodrich1351]

where are the songs from my saved playlist?

[@williambrown319]

Where did you find this GEM? I must watch this show again.

[@rickyrismansyah3555]

this is a scary episode i watched as a kid especially that lady sit in the chair scene. fuck..

[@manicpixiefangirl4189]

Suddenly realized I had the theme on my iPod. Sweeeet!

[@Superdwiggen]

how much time do you think this guy spends on his hair?