The ABC reboot of “The Greatest American Hero” has found its lead. The original 1980’s TV series focused on a high school teacher who became an unlikely super hero thanks to powers bestowed by an alien suit. The reboot will center on Meera, a 30-year-old woman with an Indian-American background who has spent her life searching and failing to find meaning and now spends a lot of time a karaoke bars drinking tequila much to the chagrin of her family.
Disney just announced Meera will be played by Hannah Simone who is recently co-starred as Cece on “New Girl.” Simone would be among the first to play a superhero who is a woman of color in a live-action TV series. She is a British born actress Canadian Actress. and has an Indian father.
Other cast announced for the show are Cheers alum George Wendt, Zenobia Shroff (The Big Sick), and Gia Sandhu (The Indian Detective).
The original show starred William Katt as Ralph Hinkley, the at-times reluctant hero. The series also starred Robert Culp, Connie Sellicca, Michael Pare, and Faye Grant. Over the years the show has become a bit of cult classic. By today’s standards it’s a bit hokey, but it always offered an entertaining story, usually with a clear lesson on morals or ethics at the end. Some of the comedy of the show came from the fact that Hinkley lost the suit’s instruction booklet and spent a lot of the series trying to learn the suit’s capabilities.
So far, ABC is focused on filming a pilot, but judging by the interest in this show, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s picked up for a full season early on.
Photo credits: courtesy Disney/ABC
So help me, if they make this the “dark and gritty” version, I’m going to find someone to slap.
Based on the lead actress, I don’t think that’s the direction they’re going.
I watched the original show when it first aired — for about three episodes. It was too stupid, even by cheesy ’70s TV standards. I’m not opposed to reboots — Hawaii 5-0 is enjoyable — but this is one that would be best left in the past. I suppose it’s possible they’ll get some decent writers to make the show less brain-numbingly idiotic this time around, but I’m not counting on it.
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