THR is reporting that ABC’s reboot of the classic William Katt TV series, ‘Greatest American Hero’, about a high school teacher who is given a super suit by aliens, but then promptly loses the instruction manual, is moving forward with some big changes from the original.
The first big change is that the role of Ralph Hinkley (William Katt), will be played by ‘New Girl’ star, Hannah Simone. The second big change is that instead of being a good-natured teacher, Simone’s character (now called Mera) is being described as: “30-year-old woman from Cleveland, whose talents include drinking tequila, singing karaoke and not much else. All that changes when some aliens entrust her with a super suit protect the planet.”
The kid inside me, who grew up watching the original show, is not really happy about this. The rational grown-up in me is also not so happy, but for other reasons. First, it sounds like ABC’s execs got in a meeting and said, “Kevin Probably Saves The World is doing well, now let’s make another show about someone who is screwing up their lives and then put in a position of power where they help others and learn about themselves.” Secondly, it just seems like there was a great opportunity in keeping the character a teacher. There are more and more shows that focus on teachers as being bad people, or idiots. It would have been cool to see a new show where one was secretly a super hero.
On a side note. Kevin Probably Saves The World is actually a pretty great little show. I’d recommend checking it out if you haven’t yet.