The Greatest American Hero (1981)

Adventure · Comedy · Sci-Fi

The chronicles of teacher Ralph Hinkley's adventures after a group of aliens gives him a red suit that gives him superhuman abilities. Unfortunately, Ralph, who hates wearing the suit, immediately loses its instruction booklet, and thus has to learn how to use its powers by trial and error, often with comical results.

IMDb rating: 7.3 (7,571 votes)
Episode average: 7.3 matches the IMDb rating
Seasons: 3
Streaming (US): Amazon Prime Video · Peacock
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Rating trend: this show's seasons do not settle into one shape. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well.

Browse shows by rating shape → Open in Rising Shows app → View on IMDb

Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 3 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (1981)

7.24 avg 8 episodes 7.5 → 7.3 57 min avg

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Greatest American Hero	7.5	380
2	The Hit Car	7.0	203
3	Here's Looking at You, Kid	7.0	166
4	Saturday Night on Sunset Boulevard	7.1	134
5	Reseda Rose	7.0	128
6	My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys	7.8	160
7	Fire Man	7.2	123
8	The Best Desk Scenario	7.3	122

Season 2 (1981)

7.35 avg 22 episodes 7.2 → 7.7 51 min avg

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Two-Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Fast Ball	7.2	125
2	Operation Spoilsport	7.7	112
3	Don't Mess Around with Jim	7.7	108
4	Hog Wild	6.8	113
5	Classical Gas	6.7	96
6	The Beast in the Black	7.6	132
7	The Lost Diablo	6.7	87
8	Plague	7.4	90
9	Train of Thought	7.4	98
10	Now You See It	7.3	92
11	The Hand-Painted Thai	7.4	86
12	Just Another Three-Ring Circus	7.2	91
13	The Shock Will Kill You	7.5	92
14	A Chicken in Every Plot	6.7	91
15	The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea	7.3	95
16	It's All Downhill from Here	6.9	90
17	Dreams	7.7	94
18	There's Just No Accounting...	7.9	86
19	The Good Samaritan	7.4	82
20	Captain Bellybuster and the Speed Factory	7.8	90
21	Who's Woo in America	7.8	94
22	Lilacs, Mr. Maxwell	7.7	95

Season 3 (1982)

7.30 avg 14 episodes 7.8 → 5.8 49 min avg

Bad finale

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Divorce, Venusian Style	7.8	98
2	The Price Is Right	7.4	88
3	This Is the One the Suit Was Meant For	7.2	87
4	The Resurrection of Carlini	7.3	87
5	The Newlywed Game	7.8	84
6	Heaven Is in Your Genes	7.7	92
7	Live at Eleven	7.7	86
8	Space Ranger	7.0	87
9	Thirty Seconds Over Little Tokyo	7.2	76
10	Wizards and Warlocks	7.6	89
11	It's Only Rock and Roll	7.3	95
12	Desperado	7.3	84
13	Vanity, Says the Preacher	7.1	86
14	The Greatest American Heroine	5.8	163