Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the duo behind Lego Movie and the 21 Jump Street big screen reboot, are developing a new take on the early ’80s  cult classic ABC television show The Greatest American Hero. Fox has committed to a pilot for the show update about a man who finds an alien suit that enables him with super powers. The problem is, the instruction manual is nowhere to be found which offers the opportunity for many pratfalls and comedic instances of super powers going wrong.

Per Deadline:

The new Greatest American Hero will chronicle inner-city teacher Isaac’s adventures after his discovery of a superhero suit that gives him superhuman abilities. Unfortunately for Isaac, he hates wearing the suit and has to learn how to use its powers by trial and error because he quickly misplaces the suit’s instructions. He also has to deal with a government handler who has very different objectives than him and struggles as to whether he should use his newfound gifts to help others or just himself.

There is a wealth of potential for a new version with the basic premise of the proposed series. The original show, created by the prolific Steven Cannell, starred blonde mop topped William Katt as schoolteacher turned superhero Ralph Hinkley, Robert Culp as FBI Agent Bill Maxwell and Connie Sellecca as Ralph’s girlfriend Pam Davison. Cannell also created Fox’s TV hit series 21 Jump Street, so Lord and Miller already have practice in successfully updating the TV icon’s work.

Yes, Jim Parsons has worn Hero‘s alien symbol shirt on Big Bang Theory and admittedly I watched it as a kid. It was solid entertainment for a six-year old, but tuned out by the time ABC tried a Greatest American Heroine reboot of their own. Perhaps the true lasting footprint of the tongue in cheek show was the opening theme song. Joe Scarbury’s Believe It or Not hit #2 on the pop charts in August of … 1981. And now I really feel old.

Enjoy the opening credits of the original show, ripe with network TV budget level green screen flying effects and camera cheats to sell super abilities on the cheap.

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Check out some new promo art for FOX’s upcoming Batman prequel series Gotham.

Entertainment Weekly got the exclusive sneak peek at eight cast character posters featuring Detective James Gordon (Ben McKenzie), Detective Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue), Selina Kyle / Catwoman (Camren Bicondova, Oswald Cobblepot / The Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor), Edward Nygma / The Riddler (Cory Michael Smith), Ivy Pepper / Poison Ivy (Clare Foley), Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz).

You can also check out two preview trailers HERE.

Gotham is set to air on FOX this fall.

SOURCE: EW

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Check out this new spot for FOX’s Batman prequel television series Gotham that introduces us to the show’s villains. No names are said, but say hello to the future Catwoman, The Penguin and Fish Mooney.

Focusing on Detective James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and his mentor Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue), the show will fill in the unexplored early years of the future Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department, the young Bruce Wayne shorty after his parents were gunned down, and the villains that will oppose both of them years later.

Check out this 30-second preview that gives us a sneak peeks at Gotham’s Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova), Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor), and Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith).

While you’re here, check out Fox’s extended first look at the show:

Gotham, set to air on FOX on Mondays at 8pm this fall, stars Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue, Barbara Kean, Jada Pinkett Smith, Robin Lord Taylor, Camren Bicondova, Sean Pertwee, Cory Michael Smith, and Zabryna Guevara.

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With filming underway in NYC on FOX’s Gotham pilot, it was only a matter of time before images from the set turned up online. Today the first look at Ben McKenzie (Southland) as Detective James Gordon in the proposed show chronicling the early years of the future Police Commissioner of Gotham City, a young Bruce Wayne and the pre-costumed crime times of Batman’s greatest villains.

McKenzie is seen here on a rooftop in mid hot pursuit of a unseen person of interest and drawing his gun.

Here is the show’s official synopsis:

Everyone knows the name Commissioner Gordon. He is one of the crime world’s greatest foes, a man whose reputation is synonymous with law and order. But what is known of Gordon’s story and his rise from rookie detective to Police Commissioner? What did it take to navigate the multiple layers of corruption that secretly ruled Gotham City, the spawning ground of the world’s most iconic villains? And what circumstances created them – the larger-than-life personas who would become Catwoman, The Penguin, The Riddler, Two-Face and The Joker?

“Gotham” is an origin story of the great DC Comics super villains and vigilantes, revealing an entirely new chapter that has never been told. From executive producer/writer Bruno Heller (“The Mentalist,” “Rome”), “Gotham” follows one cop’s rise through a dangerously corrupt city teetering on the edge of evil and chronicles the birth of one of the most popular super heroes of our time.

Growing up in Gotham City’s surrounding suburbs, James Gordon (Ben McKenzie, “Southland,” “The O.C.”) romanticized the city as a glamorous and exciting metropolis where his late father once served as a successful district attorney. Now, two weeks into his new job as a Gotham City detective and engaged to his beloved fiancée, Barbara Kean (Erin Richards, Open Grave, “Breaking In”), Gordon is living his dream – even as he hopes to restore the city back to the pure version he remembers it was as a kid.

Brave, honest and ready to prove himself, the newly-minted detective is partnered with the brash, but shrewd police legend Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue, “Sons of Anarchy,” “Terriers,” “Vikings,” “Copper”), as the two stumble upon the city’s highest-profile case ever: the murder of local billionaires Thomas and Martha Wayne. At the scene of the crime, Gordon meets the sole survivor: the Waynes’ hauntingly intense 12-year-old son, Bruce (David Mazouz, “Touch”), toward whom the young detective feels an inexplicable kinship. Moved by the boy’s profound loss, Gordon vows to catch the killer.

As he navigates the often-underhanded politics of Gotham’s criminal justice system, Gordon will confront imposing gang boss Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith, The Matrix films, “HawthoRNe,” Collateral), and many of the characters who will become some of fiction’s most renowned, enduring villains, including a teenaged Selina Kyle/the future Catwoman (acting newcomer Camren Bicondova) and Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor, “The Walking Dead,” Another Earth).

Although the crime drama will follow Gordon’s turbulent and singular rise through the Gotham City police department, led by Police Captain Sarah Essen (Zabryna Guevara, “Burn Notice”), it also will focus on the unlikely friendship Gordon forms with the young heir to the Wayne fortune, who is being raised by his unflappable butler, Alfred (Sean Pertwee, “Camelot,” “Elementary”). It is a friendship that will last them all of their lives, playing a crucial role in helping the young boy eventually become the crusader he’s destined to be.

You can see all the images here at CONTACTMUSIC.COM

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The series stars Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, Event Horizon), Parmider Nagra (ER), Sarah Jones, and reunites Abrams with his Lost alumni Jorge Garcia

The show follows the investigation of the mysterious re-appearance of inmates from San San Francisco’s infamous island prison after 30 years, without having aged a day since.

Alcatraz airs on FOX tonight at 8pm (but settles into its regular 9pm slot next week, previously occupied by Terra Nova ).

SOURCE: FOX

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