The ‘80s superhero comedy, “The Greatest American Hero,” is being revived with an Indian-American woman as its lead. The half-hour sitcom will see her replacing the original lead—an average white man.
The reboot is being written and produced by Rachna Fruchbom, who co-produced “Fresh off the Boat” and some wrote some episodes of “Parks and Recreation.” Tawnia McKiernan is set to direct.
According to Deadline on September 8, the show is in development at ABC and 20th Century Fox, the half-hour sitcom will star a new protagonist, Meera, who’s described as a “30-year-old Indian-American woman from Cleveland, whose talents include tequila drinking and karaoke and not much else.”
The original show followed a substitute school teacher, Ralph Hinkley (played by comedian William Katt) who’s given an alien space suit that gives him superpowers like invisibility and super strength. However, because he loses the instruction guide, he ends up having to figure out how the suit works by making mistakes. He teams up with an FBI agent played by Robert Culp to solve crimes.
The show was previously considered for a reboot in 2015 and 2016 with different writers. In both incarnations of the show, the Phil Lord & Chris Miller duo and McKiernan were set up to develop the pilot.
This is the third “put pilot commitment” for ABC with Khan as the executive producer and writer.
Ian Miles Cheong is a journalist and outspoken media critic. You can reach him through social media at @stillgray on Twitter and on Facebook.