The Incredible Hulk
Homecoming
TV Flash files “Homecoming” as a desk essential hour — The Incredible Hulk (1977–1982) on CBS, season 3, episode 8, aired 1979-11-30, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E08: listed hour 42 of 82 in the The Incredible Hulk guide, hour 8 of 23 in season 3. It aired 1979-11-30 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Behind the Wheel” (S03E07). Next is “The Snare” (S03E09).
Essential hour: “Homecoming”. Homecoming is the fugitive circling a porch. Road-drama Marvel using a title the Waltons could share: the smash still misunderstood, the piano still lonely on the way out.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
David Banner decides to return home for Thanksgiving. Dr. Helen Banner is shocked to learn that her brother is not dead, but David is unwilling to tell his estranged father, D.W., that he is still alive. Meanwhile, a plague of worms is ruining farmers' crops, enabling a development corporation to take control of his hometown. To combat the plague, David synthesizes a hormone that could make the worms metamorphose into beetles early enough to prevent crop destruction. That night, David is haunted by a nightmare about his mother's death, which he blames on his father. Awakening in an emotional rage, David transforms into the Hulk under the watchful gaze of his astonished sister.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Homecoming sit in the The Incredible Hulk guide?
S03E08 is listed hour 42 of 82 — hour 8 of 23 in season 3, season 3 episode 8.
When did The Incredible Hulk S03E08 air?
Homecoming aired 1979-11-30 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Why is he David Banner, not Bruce?
The CBS series used David in a looser comics adaptation. It is classic TV continuity, not later film continuity.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Bill Bixby's David Banner hunts a cure while Lou Ferrigno's Hulk does the misunderstood smash, then the credits send him hitchhiking again. CBS Marvel as tragic road drama: lonely piano, fugitive endings, no quip army. Don't make him angry — the walkaway still hits.
CBS dropped a Marvel property into the 1977 night and programmed it as tragic road drama, not a quip army. The Incredible Hulk (1977–1982) ran five seasons, 82 episodes, loosely adapted by Kenneth Johnson. Bill Bixby is the pathos; Lou Ferrigno is the muscle. The television version used David Banner rather than the later-common Bruce, leaned into fugitive drama, and often ended with Banner hitchhiking onward after the Hulk saved the day. Jack Colvin's Jack McGee pursued. Piano-sad theme replaced comic-book jokes.…
Filed against
- Bill Bixby as Dr. David Banner
Bill Bixby’s Tim O’Hara hid a Martian in a 1960s catalog reporter household, then The Incredible Hulk recast the nice-guy face as David Banner’s tragic road. TV Flash files him as the straight man who learned how to hitchhike: antennae…
- Lou Ferrigno as The Hulk
Lou Ferrigno did the misunderstood smash as the Hulk on The Incredible Hulk — Bill Bixby’s David Banner hunting a cure, CBS Marvel as tragic road drama, lonely piano, hitchhiking credits, no quip army. Don’t make him angry. TV Flash files…
- Jack Colvin as Jack McGee
Jack Colvin’s Jack McGee chased the Hulk with a notebook and no sense of when to quit — tabloid hunger on a CBS road drama that preferred lonely piano to quips. Bill Bixby’s Banner runs; Lou Ferrigno smashes; McGee is the scoop that will…