The BEST episodes of The Greatest American Hero
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
A special-ed teacher, an FBI agent, and a UFO? That's right, you've guessed it -- The Greatest American Hero. This show was first aired in 1981, and was both a comedy and a drama. A special "power suit" that only works on him is given to the teacher by the aliens, and he is paired up with the gumshoe FBI agent who keeps them both busy with his scenarios. The suit of "unearthly powers" gives the power of strength, flight, invisibilty, flames, telekenesis, vision of events without being there, protection from bullets and fire (if he remembers to cover his head!), and some others that he must figure out as well because; HE LOST THE INSTRUCTIONS THAT CAME WITH THE SUIT!
#1 - Captain Bellybuster and the Speed Factory
Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/7/1982
Bill recieves hot tips on a speed factory working out of a fast food chain, and a newspaper reporter publishes pictures of Ralph flying.
#2 - Fire Man
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/6/1981
Ralph lends Tony a hand by finding him a job as a car repossesser. When Tony is arrested for arson, Ralph and Bill team up to find the real criminal.
#3 - The Hit Car
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/25/1981
Bill, who has been trying to bust open a drug ring for over 20 years, must drive a witness to Los Angeles for the trial of the gang leader and asks Ralph for help.
#4 - Operation: Spoilsport
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/11/1981
Ralph and Bill must stop World War III by defusing a corrupt military leader's plans to launch a suprise missile attack against Russia.
#5 - The Greatest American Hero
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 3/18/1981
Ralph Hinkley, an average school teacher, is given a suit with amazing powers by aliens. Now, Ralph must decide if he'll use his new powers to fight crime, even though he already lost the suit's instruction manual.
#6 - Don't Mess Around with Jim
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/18/1981
Ralph and Bill are kidnapped by a tycoon that actually had his own suit given to him years ago by the aliens. The suit corrupted this man to use it for personal fortune, and he did not lose the instruction book. The aliens did not like the way he was using the suit, and they took it away from him.
#7 - Hog Wild
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/25/1981
A motorcycle gang steals the super-suit, and tries to use it to take over a town. It only works on Ralph, so they must force HIM to do their dirty work while holding Bill captive.
#8 - Classical Gas
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 12/2/1981
Ralph's students start a band, and a promoter lands them a spot on a big ticket concert while trying to get Pam to go out with him.
#9 - The Two-Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Fast Ball
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/4/1981
Ralph dons a baseball suit to trap Latino revolutionaries who plan to finance a coup by fixing ball games.
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#10 - Saturday Night on Sunset Boulevard
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/8/1981
Russians are trying to find an heiress and her Russian husband in order to force them to establish a missile cache hold on their private island. Bill needs Ralph's help when he is suspected of failing a lie-detector test at FBI headquarters.
#11 - Reseda Rose
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 4/15/1981
Ralph uses his suit to help Rhonda, one of his students, after her mother is kidnapped by the Russians.
#12 - Here's Looking at You, Kid
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/1/1981
When a secret gunsight is stolen, Bill asks Ralph for help in solving the case. However, Ralph runs into problems when he keeps turning invisible unexpectedly, and must deal with the pressure of meeting Pam's parents.
#13 - My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 4/29/1981
Ralph reconsiders his suit of powers after a flying mistake almost takes out a bus full of tourists. Bill also reconsiders his job path when one of his heroes is suspected of plotting out the theft of a precious diamond.
#14 - The Beast in the Black
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/9/1981
Ralph finds a window into the 4th dimension while scouting an old house. Bill gets possesed by a woman's spirit, and Ralph must return her through that window.
#15 - The Lost Diablo
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/16/1981
Bill has a treasure map, and takes Ralph and his class out to the desert to find the lost Diablo Gold Mine that vanished a long time ago, and are met with resistance from the local thieves.
#16 - Plague
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/6/1982
A psycho military cult leader tries to spread the small-pox virus.
#17 - Train of Thought
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 1/13/1982
Ralph crashes head first into a train, and gets amnesia. Pam and Bill have to convince him that the suit really works.
#18 - Now You See It
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/20/1982
While practicing flying in the desert with Bill, Ralph gets a vision of a plane crash. It's the suit showing it to him, and Bill can only see it when he touches Ralph. They rush to the scene to find no plane, and figure out that it must be something that hasn't happened yet, and they're supposed to prevent it. We come to find out that Pam is on that plane, and it's been hijacked. To make matters worse, the plane has an experimental cloaking device that makes it invisible to radar, and the Air Force would rather shoot it down than have the plane in enemy hands.
#19 - The Hand-Painted Thai
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/27/1982
Years ago, prisoners of war were brainwashed to respond to a code phrase. Now, someone is using them to commit acts of sabotage. Bill and Ralph investigate, but Bill inadvertently falls under a hypnotic trance, leaving the heroics up to Ralph.
#20 - Just Another Three-Ring Circus
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/3/1982
Ralph takes a job at the circus as a human cannonball while trying to help Bill bust a crime ring that involves a phony dating service.
#21 - The Shock Will Kill You
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/10/1982
A space shuttle is about to crash, and only Ralph can save it. He does so, but ends up supermagnetized, perhaps permanently. Worst of all, a strange creature aboard the shuttle heads towards Los Angeles, electricuting all who get in its way.
#22 - A Chicken in Every Plot
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/17/1982
Ron O'Neill, John Hancock, Thalmus Rasulala, Lincoln Kilpatrick Scenario: When an old FBI buddy invites Bill to his Caribbean retreat, Maxwell takes Ralph, Pam and the students along. Unfortunately, they find themselves involved in a voodoo plot to take over the island's government.
#23 - The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/24/1982
Ralph and Bill hunt for the sea creature "Carrie" in the Bermuda Triangle thinking that the monster may be responsible for all of the boats that disappear there. They undercover a stolen boat ring, and never find the creature.
#24 - It's All Downhill from Here
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/3/1982
Ralph skis like a pro with the suit on, and stands in at the Olympics for a Russian skiier so the man can defect to America, and hand over top secret information that he stole.
#25 - Dreams
Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/17/1982
An act of kindness backfires when Ralph uses the suit to help a coworker with a personal project. This leads his other co-workers to take daring chances for their own shots at success. Soon, he must don the super suit not only to prevent them from ruining their lives, but also to save Bill from a vengeful, recently paroled killer.