The Greatest American Hero
The Best Desk Scenario
TV Flash files “The Best Desk Scenario” as a desk essential hour — The Greatest American Hero (1981–1983) on ABC, season 1, episode 9, aired 1981-05-06, 45 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E09: listed hour 9 of 45 in the The Greatest American Hero guide, last listed hour of season 1. It aired 1981-05-06 (45 min). The listed hour before it is “Fire Man” (S01E08). Next is “The Two-Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Fastball” (S02E01).
Essential hour: “The Best Desk Scenario”. The Best Desk Scenario is Cannell superhero TV learning to smirk, years before the cape genre owned prime time.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Ralph revs up his unpredictable super powers, racing to Pam's rescue when her promotion to junior law partner becomes a death sentence.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Best Desk Scenario sit in the The Greatest American Hero guide?
S01E09 is listed hour 9 of 45 — last listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 9.
When did The Greatest American Hero S01E09 air?
The Best Desk Scenario aired 1981-05-06 and is listed at 45 minutes.
Is the theme bigger than the show?
Believe It or Not did more cultural work than a lot of the plots — a chart hit that still ambushes karaoke. The series is still the smirk: a klutz in a suit without the manual.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Ralph Hinkley's alien suit arrives without the instruction booklet, so Cannell's superhero is a klutz who keeps crashing into trees. William Katt, Robert Culp's barking FBI handler, and that Joey Scarbury theme — Believe It or Not — do more cultural work than the plots. Superhero TV learning to smirk, years before the cape genre owned prime time.
Believe It or Not — the group chat will sing it before anyone recaps a plot. (I said spoiler-free. The suit arrives without the instruction booklet; that is the premise, not a twist.) ABC's The Greatest American Hero (1981–1983), Stephen J. Cannell, makes William Katt a klutz who keeps crashing into trees while Robert Culp barks as FBI handler Maxwell and Connie Sellecca holds the civilian world. Ralph gets an alien super-suit with missing instructions; Maxwell co-opts him for good. Warm superhero comedy years…
Filed against
- William Katt as Ralph Hinkley
William Katt’s Ralph Hinkley crashed into trees in The Greatest American Hero — an alien suit without the instruction booklet, Cannell’s superhero as a klutz, Robert Culp’s barking FBI handler, Joey Scarbury’s Believe It or Not doing more…
- Robert Culp as Bill Maxwell
Robert Culp’s Kelly Robinson served tennis-bum cover stories on I Spy — globe-trotting equals with Bill Cosby’s Alexander Scott sharing the frame — then barked FBI handler energy at The Greatest American Hero’s klutz in an alien suit.…
- Connie Sellecca as Pam Davidson
Connie Sellecca played Pam Davidson on The Greatest American Hero — Ralph Hinkley's alien suit arriving without the instruction booklet, Cannell's superhero as a klutz who keeps crashing into trees. William Katt, Robert Culp's barking FBI…