20 Years Ago: "Lois and Clark" Debuts

[The Toyroom]

Premiering September 12, 1993 on ABC:

[Earth 2 Chris]

WOW. If that doesn't make you feel old I don't know what would.

I had a love/hate relationship with Lois and Clark. It debuted just a few weeks after I started college, and every Sunday was a chore getting back to school (after going home for the weekend) in time to catch it. I think I had my mom taping it for me at home just in case.

Like many young men of the time I was quite smitten with Terri Hatcher, and found her to be a great Lois. Dean Cain was great as a post-Crisis Clark...which is a good thing because I never did buy he was Superman. He always seemed to self-conscious in the suit, even after 4 years. Lane Smith was a great Perry White, and gave the character more depth than even the comics normally managed. John Shea was a smarmy but charming Luthor in season 1.

The hate part comes in because I felt some of the plot twists were very contrived, and as the seasons wore on, the show just got plain campy at times. There were some high-points here and there, but by the end I was just watching it out of loyalty to Superman. I did hate the cliffhanger they left it on, and would have loved at least a TV movie to wrap things up.

In recent years I've caught quite a few episodes on the Hub, and I find myself much more able to just sit back and enjoy the show. It's light and fun, and was much more consistent in tone and direction than Smallville over it's varied 10 year run.

Chris

[madmarva]

Really enjoyed the chemistry between Cain and Hatcher and Cain and the actors who played Ma and Pa Kent, K Callan and Eddie Jones. The series did a nice job capturing the post-Crisis setup for Superman. John Shea is my second favorite live-action Luthor behind Michael Rosenbaum. Hackman and Spacey are fantastic actors, but I never cared for Luthor in the movies.

Sure the show could be silly, but I didn't really mind that. I've enjoyed plenty of silly Superman comics over the years. The two time-travel episodes with HG Wells stand out to me as does the Love-child episode, which was a great idea. I also liked that it delved into an antagonistic relationship between Superman and a government agency that was investigating aliens. As a Christmas enthusiast, I appreciated the show Christmas episodes.

John Hamilton from the Adventures of Superman will forever be Perry White to me, but Lane Smith was fun. I actually preferred the first Jimmy Olson, but neither actor really stood out to me.

I know some have disdain for Lois and Clark and Smallville, and I could pick them apart, too, but all in all, I think Superman has been represented pretty well on TV dating back to the 1950s.

[Mego Milk]

...hot...

[jds1911a1]

I too prefer the first Jimmy. Loved Lanse Smith's Perry "great shades of Elvis" and the Kents were great too.
Tracey Scoggins was a very nice to look at Cat Grant . I loved the first couple of seasons but at the end I was glad it was over. I have enjoyes re-wathicng it on the hub recently.

[bobws]

As if i needed another reason to feel old! I don't know why , but i seemed to miss alot of season 4 and don't remember it leaving on a cliffhanger.
But i know i liked it better than Smallville by a mile.

[Earth 2 Chris]

My late-teens/early-20s brain wasn't prepared to realize this wasn't a standard Superman show, hence part of my frustration with it. By the time Smallville rolled around, I was perfectly willing to accept "Dawson's Creek meets Superman" as the premise and roll with it.

The show had some hokey plotlines, but in hindsight they weren't any worse than some of Smallville's year-long arcs of questionable sanity (Lana as a reincarnated witch...really?!?).

Chris

[madmarva]

^I always referred to Smallville as Kal-El's Creek, lol.

[LadyZod]

Lois and Clark came out during my senior year in high school... the summer previous I had restarted reading comics starting with the Death and Return of Superman. It was an awesome time to be a Supes fan.

[The Toyroom]

You people are making ME feel old with your flashbacks! High School? College? I was already done with all of that and would be engaged, married and a father all within "Lois and Clark's" original run.