Mr. Terrific (TV series)
Mr. Terrific is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from January 9 to August 28, 1967, Monday nights at 8 pm EST. Stephen Strimpell starred in the title role. A similar series on NBC, Captain Nice, also aired that season on Monday nights following Mr.Terrific at 8:30 pm.
| Mr. Terrific | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Directed by | Byron Chudnow Arthur Lubin Jack Arnold |
| Starring | Stephen Strimpell Dick Gautier Paul Smith John McGiver |
| Voices of | Paul Frees |
| Theme music composer | Gerald Fried |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 17 (+1 unaired pilot) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Jack Arnold |
| Producer(s) | Budd Grossman |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Universal Television |
| Distributor | NBCUniversal Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | January 9 – August 28, 1967 |
The show was an attempt to capitalize on the "camp superhero" craze sparked by the success of the 1966 Batman TV series.[1]
Premise
Riding the tide of the camp superhero craze of the 1960s, the show's premise involved gas station attendant Stanley Beamish (Strimpell), a mild-mannered scrawny youth who secretly worked to fight crime for a government organization, "The Bureau of Secret Projects," in Washington. All he needed to do was to take a "power pill" which gave him the strength of a thousand men and enabled him to fly, much like Superman, albeit by furious flapping while wearing the top half of a wingsuit. To the often-lamented misfortune of the Bureau of Secret Projects, he was the only person on whom the pills worked. It was established that, although the pill would give him high strength levels, he was still vulnerable to bullets. Furthermore, each power pill had a time limit of one hour (like Underdog and DC Comics's Hourman), although he generally had two 10-minute booster pills available per episode. Much of the show's humor revolved around the tendency of the amiable yet gullible Beamish to lose Mr. Terrific's powers at inopportune times, before he completed his given assignment.
Beamish's government employers were Mr. Barton J. Reed and Mr. Harley Trent, and his day-job partner at the service station was Hal Walters. Beamish was sworn to secrecy concerning his alter-ego and super-powers.
Alan Young, who had just completed his run as Wilbur Post on Mister Ed, was the original choice to play Stanley H. Beamish, and appeared in the original 1966 unaired version of the pilot, which featured a different supporting cast (Edward Andrews as The Chief, All Checco as Dr. Kramer, Dick Merrifield as Tony Lawrence, Sheilah Wells as Gloria Dickinson, and Jesse White as Mr. Finney).
Cast members
- Stanley Beamish/Mister Terrific: Stephen Strimpell.
- Barton J. Reed: John McGiver.
- Hal Walters: Dick Gautier.
- Harley Trent: Paul Smith.
Episode list
| Episode # | Episode title | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | "Matchless" | January 9, 1967 |
| 1-2 | "Mr. Big Curtsies Out" | January 16, 1967 |
| 1-3 | "I Can't Fly" | January 23, 1967 |
| 1-4 | "My Partner, the Jewel Thief" | January 30, 1967 |
| 1-5 | "The Formula Is Stolen" | February 6, 1967 |
| 1-6 | "Stanley the Safecracker" | February 20, 1967 |
| 1-7 | "Stanley the Fighter" | February 27, 1967 |
| 1-8 | "Stanley the Jailbreaker" | March 6, 1967 |
| 1-9 | "Fly, Ballerina, Fly" | March 13, 1967 |
| 1-10 | "Harley and the Killer" | March 20, 1967 |
| 1-11 | "Stanley and the Mountaineers" | March 27, 1967 |
| 1-12 | "Has Mr. Terrific Sold Out?" | April 3, 1967 |
| 1-13 | "Stanley Goes To the Dentist" | April 10, 1967 |
| 1-14 | "Stanley the Track Star" | April 17, 1967 |
| 1-15 | "Try This On For Spies" | April 24, 1967 |
| 1-16 | "Stanley Joins the Circus" | May 1, 1967 |
| 1-17 | "The Sultan Has Five Wives" | May 8, 1967 |
- Some episodes (1, 3, 5 and 9) were edited together and released in 1967 as a movie titled The Pill Caper. This movie includes new footage filmed in 1967. Hal Smith has a cameo as a passenger on a train.
DVD release
The entire 17-episode series of Mr. Terrific was released commercially on DVD by Ufa/DVD in Germany under the title Immer wenn er Pillen nahm (Whenever He Took Pills) on July 17, 2009. The episodes can be heard in the original English, or in German.
References
- Wells, John (2014). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1965-1969. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 146. ISBN 978-1605490557.