a post-blog
 | Gazing upon the shelves of Japanese video rental stores, there is apparently much consumer demand for early 1980s American TV. Although I've spent many afternoons watching Night Rider on Tokyo cable channels, I don't know if I could bring myself to actually rent the DVDs. For some reason, however, I decided that The Greatest American Hero was a different caliber of program - a thinking-man's Night Rider, if you will - and I rented it yesterday to give myself something to do while convalescing. (The series automatically wins serious bonus points for having the Greatest American Theme Song.) |
For those unfamiliar with the story, here's a short recap: a Los Angeles high-school teacher - Ralph - teaches a class of delinquent students who oddly all sound like they've been taking speech classes from Danny Zucco at Coney Island. If this pedagogical challenge wasn't hard enough, he has been recently divorced and is dating uppity female lawyer Pam (a female lawyer - what hath mine eyes behold?!), played by ultra 80s powerhouse Connie Sellecca. One day, a U.F.O. brings Ralph a magical red suit, but get this: he loses the instructions. This does not stop him, however, from teaming up with the perfectly-named Bill Maxwell - a shoot-first-quip-later gumshoe F.B.I. agent. Hilarity ensues. (If you think the idea that a superhero can't fly is hilarious.)
The writers decide to frame every exciting episode within 1) his high-school class 2) his relationship with Pam and 3) his own coming-to-terms with his new-found powers. For forty minutes, all sorts of action gets in the way of a date with Pam, which of course, leads us back to teaching the Jersey kids something about their place in society.
Making fun of television conventions has become so ingrained within contemporary culture ("Just wait until the Sergeant sees what I put in his pants..." --> "McVetty!!!!"), that it's surprising and refreshing to see real programming completely unaware of its own ridiculous premises. GAH features a lot of small-scale international intrigue - like the kind of plots that an eight year-old imagines the F.B.I. and C.I.A. get themselves embroiled in. The bad guys are Hollywood drug dealers, astrology believers, vaguely Arab terrorists, and ultimately, Communists. The show is also obsessed with the main character wearing the suit in public and everyone thinking he is totally crazy. The kind of crazy where people move to the back of the bus when he gets aboard. Or conversely, when bad guys claim to see him flying, we later find out that those bad guys' statements have landed them "in the crazy bin."
This is all slightly amusing, but not quite terrible enough to be over-the-top kitsch. I know there are a lot of GAH fans out there, but ultimately this show reminds me of how much better television has gotten since the 80s.
(Why do I feel like VH-1 already has the corner on all 80s nostalgia?)
Posted by marxy at June 24, 2005 8:16 PMRemember the time on Sledge Hammer! when Sledge and Doreau had to pretend to want a black market baby?
Posted by: Boyrand at June 24, 2005 11:33 PM>I decided that The Greatest American Hero was a >different caliber of program - a thinking-man's >Night Rider
the effort you've spent trying to elucidate this level of american cultural non-nuance encapsulates the hubris of neomarxisme...and that's why this blog makes a way-rad read.
Posted by: r. at June 25, 2005 5:25 PMalso, this is reading way too much into the whole myth behing greatest american hero, but, in the truest sense of the idea of america's greatest modern hero being required to be an UNDERDOG (as is the case in the series) the little logo on his chest kind of looks like the kanji 中 which would be great if we imagine it as making an allusion to the idea of him being a 中途半端な英雄, a half-assed/baked hero. whatever.
Posted by: r. at June 25, 2005 9:25 PMIt does look like a 中. Good call.
I think all teachers are America's greatest heroes!!!
Posted by: marxy at June 26, 2005 12:24 AMwow, that's so weird. i read your blog a lot, and i just checked on for the first time in a few weeks, and there's a post about a tv show my dad used to be on. crazy. i never really watched it because i was, like, a toddler, but i used to have a little red suit like ralph's because some strange fan of my father's knitted it and sent it to me. and for double overlapping, i am also writing an article for the fader right now (great yura yura teikoku piece by the way).
Posted by: Samantha at June 29, 2005 3:23 AMSamantha,
That's amazing! I hope the snideness of my review doesn't overrun how much I love watching that show and how great your dad is in his role. There's something comforting about watching TV circa 1981, it's like returning to the womb.
What are you writing for the Fader?
Posted by: marxy at June 29, 2005 12:59 PMno worries, it is a pretty silly show. i too am comforted by early or mid-80s tv (the moment i hear the opening strains from the golden girls theme song i feel that all is right with the world). i'm doing a piece about afrirampo for fader (i was in japan for about one month doing various things, now back in hong kong), and i actually have one question-- the band swears that "afrirampo" means "naked" (they also claim on their website that they spent time living with pygmies in africa), but all my friends say that it doesn't mean anything in japanese. (unfortunately i can't speak/read japanese, having trouble enough with the cantonese as it is.) do you know the answer? is it some colloquial thing, or just afrirampo's own lexicon?
Posted by: Samantha at June 29, 2005 3:51 PMEdogawa Rampo, father of twisted plotlines.
Posted by: ndkent at July 4, 2005 6:50 AM