Gender-Flipped Greatest American Hero Reboot Nabs Pilot Order at ABC
Fans of ’80s superhero kitsch, get ready to feel like you’re walkin’ on air.
ABC has officially ordered a pilot for a reboot of The Greatest American Hero, TVLine has learned. The pilot — a half-hour, single-camera comedy — is a revamp of the fondly remembered 1981-83 superhero series starring William Katt, but flips the gender of the titular hero, centering on Meera, a 30-year-old Indian-American woman “who loves tequila and karaoke,” according to the official description.
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Like Katt’s Ralph Hinkley, Meera is entrusted with an alien superhero suit that brings with it great superpowers… and like Hinkley, she’s not exactly sure how to use them. “Meera may have finally found purpose,” the description hints, “but the world has never been in more unreliable hands.”
Fresh Off the Boat writer Rachna Fruchbom will pen the pilot script, with Boat creator Nahnatchka Khan serving as an executive producer.
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The original Greatest American Hero also ran on ABC, starring Katt, Robert Culp as FBI agent Bill Maxwell and Connie Sellecca as lawyer Pam Davidson. It’s probably best remembered, though, for its theme song, “Believe It or Not,” which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Top 40 charts in August 1981.
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