The Best Episodes of The Greatest American Hero

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7.9/10(87 votes)
#1 - There's Just No Accounting...
S2:E183/24/1982
Bill convinces the parents of a kidnap victim to pay the ransom, certain that Ralph can recover it when he saves their little girl. Ralph finds himself being audited by an overzealous IRS agent who's convinced he took the ransom money. Meanwhile, Ralph and Bill keep getting shot at in drive-by shootings, but by who?
Director:Ivan Dixon
Writer:Frank Lupo
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Director:Ivan Dixon
Writer:Frank Lupo
7.8/10(163 votes)
#2 - My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
S1:E64/29/1981
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.
Director:Gabrielle Beaumont
Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
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Director:Gabrielle Beaumont
Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
7.8/10(98 votes)
#3 - Divorce Venusian Style
S3:E110/29/1982
After a loud argument with Bill, Ralph quits the hero business and turns in his super-suit. Unknown to both men, a gang of neo-Nazis plans to murder them.
Director:Ivan Dixon
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Ivan Dixon
Writer:Unknown
7.8/10(94 votes)
#4 - Who's Woo in America
S2:E214/14/1982
Ralph's mother is re-marrying to a man who planted a much wanted micro-chip in her engagement ring.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
7.8/10(90 votes)
#5 - Captain Bellybuster and the Speed Factory
S2:E204/7/1982
Bill recieves hot tips on a speed factory working out of a fast food chain, and a newspaper reporter publishes pictures of Ralph flying.
Director:Unknown
Writers:Stephen J. Cannell, Frank Lupo
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Director:Unknown
Writers:Stephen J. Cannell, Frank Lupo
7.8/10(84 votes)
#6 - The Newlywed Game
S3:E51/6/1983
Ralph and Pam's wedding is almost ruined when Ralph receives special orders from the President to fly a mission over the North Pole. Bill discovers the orders were faked, and that Ralph has accidentally given the Russians valuable military secrets.
Director:Chuck Bowman
Writer:Babs Greyhosky
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Director:Chuck Bowman
Writer:Babs Greyhosky

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The 20 WORST Episodes of The Greatest American Hero

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7.7/10(115 votes)
#7 - Operation Spoilsport
S2:E211/11/1981
Ralph and Bill must stop World War III by defusing a corrupt military leader's plans to launch a suprise missile attack against Russia.
Director:Rod Holcomb
Writer:Frank Lupo
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Director:Rod Holcomb
Writer:Frank Lupo
7.7/10(111 votes)
#8 - Don't Mess Around with Jim
S2:E311/18/1981
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.
Director:Robert C. Thompson
Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
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Director:Robert C. Thompson
Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
7.7/10(96 votes)
#9 - Lilacs, Mr. Maxwell
S2:E224/28/1982
Bill falls in love with a female FBI agent, and wants to tell her about the suit. She turns out to be a spy, and is ordered to kill him.
Director:Robert Culp
Writer:Robert Culp
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Director:Robert Culp
Writer:Robert Culp
7.7/10(94 votes)
#10 - Dreams
S2:E173/17/1982
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.
Director:Bruce Kessler
Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
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Director:Bruce Kessler
Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
7.7/10(92 votes)
#11 - Heaven is in Your Genes
S3:E61/13/1983
A former Nazi genetic engineer fakes Bill's death to use him in an experiment, but Ralph realizes his friend is still alive. He flies off to rescue Bill and the evil doctor's other victims, but a genetic horror created in an earlier experiment waits to battle him.
Director:Christian I. Nyby II
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Christian I. Nyby II
Writer:Unknown
7.7/10(86 votes)
#12 - Live at Eleven
S3:E71/20/1983
An Aging TV anchorman plans to retire in grand style. He hires a band of mercenaries to sabotage a nuclear plant, hoping that his coverage of the event can launch a Presidential campaign. Ralph must stop the plant from exploding, but the saboteurs, now dying of radiation poisoning, are determined to succeed.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Babs Greyhosky
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Babs Greyhosky
7.6/10(135 votes)
#13 - The Beast in the Black
S2:E612/9/1981
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.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Juanita Bartlett
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Juanita Bartlett
7.6/10(89 votes)
#14 - Wizards And Warlocks
S3:E102/10/1983
King Abu Al-Fahad asks Ralph and Bill to help find his son, Prince Aha, who was kidnapped by Middle Eastern terrorists while playing a Dungeons and Dragonsesque game, Wizards and Warlocks. Their search leads them from Aha's college campus -- where they meet Aha's Keeper of the Clock, Joey Margolis -- to the game's author himself, Norman Fackler.
Director:Bruce Kessler
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Bruce Kessler
Writer:Unknown
7.5/10(386 votes)
#15 - The Greatest American Hero
S1:E13/18/1981
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.
Director:Rod Holcomb
Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
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Director:Rod Holcomb
Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
7.5/10(92 votes)
#16 - The Shock Will Kill You
S2:E132/10/1982
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.
Director:Rod Holcomb
Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
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Director:Rod Holcomb
Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
7.4/10(100 votes)
#17 - A Train of Thought
S2:E91/13/1982
Ralph crashes head first into a train, and gets amnesia. Pam and Bill have to convince him that the suit really works.
Director:Lawrence Doheny
Writer:Frank Lupo
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Director:Lawrence Doheny
Writer:Frank Lupo
7.4/10(92 votes)
#18 - Plague
S2:E81/6/1982
A psycho military cult leader tries to spread the small-pox virus.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
7.4/10(88 votes)
#19 - The Price is Right
S3:E211/5/1982
While attending a high-school reunion, Ralph discovers that the wife of a famous pro football player is held hostage to ensure her husband will throw the big game.
Director:Ivan Dixon
Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
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Director:Ivan Dixon
Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
7.4/10(86 votes)
#20 - The Handpainted Thai
S2:E111/27/1982
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.
Director:Bruce Kessler
Writers:Stephen J. Cannell, Frank Lupo
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Director:Bruce Kessler
Writers:Stephen J. Cannell, Frank Lupo
7.4/10(82 votes)
#21 - The Good Samaritan
S2:E193/31/1982
Tired of using the suit to fight crime, Ralph decides to branch out. He tries to intervene in a battle between an old man fighting for his home and the city taking it away, but Bill has him on the hunt for bank robbers.
Director:Bruce Kessler
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Bruce Kessler
Writer:Unknown
7.3/10(84 votes)
#22 - Desperado
S3:E122/24/1983
A weekend in the country leads Ralph, Pam and Bill into a race to save a wild stallion from a cruel rancher. The man blames the horse for a crippling injury. His men are also selling horses for use as dog food.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Stephen J. Cannell
7.3/10(87 votes)
#23 - The Resurrection of Carlini
S3:E411/19/1982
A magician killed performing his greatest trick seemingly returns from the grave to murder his three rivals. Ralph must use his suit to out trick the would-be killer.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Frank Lupo
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Frank Lupo
7.3/10(94 votes)
#24 - Now You See It...
S2:E101/20/1982
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.
Director:Robert C. Thompson
Writer:Unknown
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Director:Robert C. Thompson
Writer:Unknown
7.3/10(95 votes)
#25 - It's Only Rock and Roll
S3:E112/17/1983
Bill is called by the manager of a rock group that is aboard a plane threatened by a bomber, who has hidden a device set to explode if the plane descends below 1000 feet. Ralph flies into action, but matters escalate when Pam is kidnapped and a band of bikers threaten Bill's life.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Babs Greyhosky
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Director:Unknown
Writer:Babs Greyhosky