looking for ONCE A HERO the superhero spoof

[Lamont]

ONCE A HERO the silly super hero spoof that was cancelled fast

i have the pilot movie that was released commercially in the bargain bin

anyone have any eps??????

PUH-LEAZE!!????!?!??!

[sbeamish]

I taped the pilot movie and the two episodes that aired subsequently in 1987. The second episode either got erased or lost when I moved out of my parent's house. The third episode (the one in which Lazarus, Captain Justice's arch enemy, comes to the real world) may still be on one of the unmarked tapes in my basement. If I get the chance, I'll take a look around.

[Lamont]

if u can find any

This was a really funny show, not the most intellectual of humor mind you

but it made me giggle

I cannot believe that Sci Fi doesnt pick it up for a short run, I mean the rights would be cheaper than a lot of shows they run and a lot of people would love to see it

[sbeamish]

As I thought, no sign of episode 2. (Or episode 1 for that matter, but I know I've got that somewhere.)

I did find my tape of episode 3. It seems to be in OK condition, but I'm not sure how it'll copy. (Been having a little trouble with our 2-deck VCR.)

[Lamont]

i loved this show

if it were made today
i think it would do well on cable

[sbeamish]

Okay, I ran off a copy of that Return of Lazarus episode. (VHS)

It's certainly not the best quality print of any show I've ever seen, but it's pretty watchable.

[TMC]

http://greatbutforgotten.blogspot.co...once-hero.html

here are some TV shows that just don't deserve the treatment they get: great shows that just never find an audience. Once a Hero flopped badly, running only three episodes in 1987 (including the two-hour premiere) before cancellation, and racking up the worst ratings of the year. Yet, in a just world, it would have been seen as the classic it was.

The idea was a brilliant one (and part of its problem): what happens when a comic book superhero tries to live in the Real World, where there are no superpowers? The hero in question was Captain Justice (created for the show, though Marvel did a two-issue tie-in). In the set-up, the Captain realizes that he's repeating adventures, and, in the Real World, his creator, Abner Bevis, realizes he's in a rut. So the Captain crosses over from his home town of Pleasantville to talk to Abner.

But the Real World is much different than it is in comics.

I watched the show on a whim. Its two-hour premiere was on a Saturday night and it didn't look promising, but Milo O'Shea -- an actor who I know had a great reputation -- was listed in the cast. I also had a rule to try to catch every SF TV show I could, since so many came and went, even good ones. So I sat down to watch.

I was delighted.

What made the show work for me was the sly sort of logical humor that Joss Whedon later made his trademark. Just like in Buffy, clichéd situations would be turned on their head in perfectly logical manners. For instance, in the pilot, a kid (Woody -- one of the series regulars, if such a term makes sense here) was being relieved of his lunch money (and more) by a high school extortion racket. He gives a speech to the head of the gang telling him he'll get even with him one day. One of the thug's thugs punches Woody. The leader of the gang chews out the guy who did the punching: Woody had paid for his protection that week and should not be touched. He then gives Woody a rebate.

You've got to love touches like that.

Why did the show fail? In StompTokyo's discussion of it (read it: it's nearly as good as this one), they talk about how Captain Justice was too old fashioned and unsophisticated for the Dark Knight generation of the time. But if the show were to succeed, it needed to attract more than just the fanboys, and I think the old-style hero was hardly the problem.

It was more complicated. First of all, the show appeared on Saturday nights. That's the night with the lowest audience (today, they don't even bother putting on original programming on Saturdays), so the show was in a hole. It was also going up against The Facts of Life.

But the main problem is that not all network affiliates showed it (for instance, that it was never shown in the Boston area). Evidently, after the show was picked up, they fired the actor who played Captain Justice for not playing the part straight enough. Some affiliates took this as a sign that the show was a disaster waiting to happen, and thus they didn't show it. It's hard to get ratings when a market like Boston isn't broadcasting your show.

It's also a hard concept to explain. It was metafiction, after all (and I love metafiction), but that word would certainly scare off most viewers. It also required a good deal of explanation that couldn't be summarized in a thirty-second spot.

So the show was cancelled (remember, this was a time that if you got a month to make a ratings splash, it was a long time). I remember Robert Forster (who played Gumshoe) being interviewed in a newspaper article trying desperately to get people to watch.

It's too bad. It definitely deserved better.