The Greatest American Hero
Don't Mess Around with Jim
TV Flash files “Don't Mess Around with Jim” as hour 12 of 45 in the TV Flash guide — The Greatest American Hero (1981–1983) on ABC, season 2, episode 3, aired 1981-11-18, 45 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E03: listed hour 12 of 45 in the The Greatest American Hero guide, hour 3 of 22 in season 2. It aired 1981-11-18 (45 min). The listed hour before it is “Operation Spoil Sport” (S02E02). Next is “Hog Wild” (S02E04).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Ralph and Bill are kidnapped by a tycoon who fakes his own death...and seems to know more about the suit than they do
Viewer FAQ
Where does Don't Mess Around with Jim sit in the The Greatest American Hero guide?
S02E03 is listed hour 12 of 45 — hour 3 of 22 in season 2, season 2 episode 3.
When did The Greatest American Hero S02E03 air?
Don't Mess Around with Jim aired 1981-11-18 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…