Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Teenage Toons: Hero High (1981)

Filmation's track record at NBC was pretty bad. Aside from Star Trek, Flash Gordon, & Sport Billy, the average lifespan of a Filmation show at the "Peacock Network" was 1 year. Hero High, one component of The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!, was just one such show. Batmandingo007 uploaded this promo, narrated by Lou Scheimer, to YouTube:



One account I've since read says that this was originally intended as a vehicle to bring back The Archies, using their superhero personas from the comics back in the 60's. NBC had gotten burned once before with an Archie comeback series, during the 1977-78 season, and didn't want to go there again, it would seem. In fact, one of the Hero High kids, Rex Ruthless, appears to be partially based on Reggie Mantle (whose costumed alter-ego was Evilheart in the comics).

Slotted in between Smurfs and Space Stars, you'd think Kid Super Power Hour would've been a hit. It wasn't. Instead, it was a rare blemish on NBC's Saturday schedule in 1981.

Rating: C.

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