First let me say that I grew up in the 1970's. MY Superman has always been Christopher Reeves. In fact, until I rented the first disc of the first season of 'The Adventures Of Superman' from Netflix, I had never SEEN this show once. After watching that first disc, I purchased the whole first season from Amazon. I guess my point is that, it's not childhood nostalgia talking when I say that 'The Adventures Of Superman' is a really good television program.



Is it dated? Oh sure. George Reeves in that cheap costume looks more like somebody's uncle playing dress up than the Superman we know today. But the man was loaded to the fingertips with charisma and he completely sells the performance. Watching him in action, it's no wonder why the show was so popular.



And here's the funny thing. The first season of the show (the only one I've seen so far) is really not for kids. It's pretty gritty for a half hour drama and there is a lot of violence. Unlike a show like the 1960's Batman, Superman spends most of his time foiling the plans of gangsters and foreign agents, not supervillans.



Another important thing to note, the star of most of the episodes is actually Clark Kent not Superman. Unlike the nerdy coward that Christopher Reeves portrayed, the George Reeves version of Clark is a pretty cool guy. He's still a hero, he's just not wearing a costume. Superman get's very little screen time on average. Most of the time, he comes in right at the end to save the day and tie up loose ends. I'm sure this was mainly for budgetary reasons but it works.



The supporting cast is great too. I love how Phyllis Coates played Lois Lane. Very tough and no nonsense, just the way she should be. Jack Larson plays Jimmy Olsen as a lovable moron (he looks kind of like a young George W. Bush!) and John Hamilton is the perfect Perry White.



If you're a fan of Superman at all, regardless of which incarnation you prefer, you really owe it to yourself to watch some of these episodes. 'The Adventures Of Superman' was the template for all the Superman movies and television shows that followed and you can see echoes of this show in all of them.

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Created Feb 19, 2007 at 10:54pm • Submit your own review...