Mr. Terrific

Universal Television

Comedy
English     7.1     1967     US

Overview

Mister Terrific is an American TV sitcom that aired on CBS Television from January 9, to May 8, 1967. It starred Stephen Strimpell in the title role, and lasted 17 episodes. The show was similar to NBC's Captain Nice, which followed Mister Terrific on Monday nights during its run. Riding the tide of the camp superhero craze of the 1960s, the show's premise involved gas station attendant Stanley Beamish, 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 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. Unfortunately, he was the only person on whom the pills worked. It was established that, although the pill would give him great strength, he was still vulnerable to bullets. Furthermore, each power pill had a time limit of one hour, although he generally had two 10-minute booster pills available per episode. Much of the show's humor revolved around Stanley losing his superpowers before he completed his given assignment.

Similar

The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised on CBS between October 3, 1960 and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays the widowed sheriff of the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept, but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife, a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee, and a precocious young son, Opie. Local ne'er-do-wells, bumbling pals, and temperamental girlfriends further complicate his life. Andy Griffith stated in a Today Show interview, with respect to the time period of the show: "Well, though we never said it, and though it was shot in the '60s, it had a feeling of the '30s. It was when we were doing it, of a time gone by." The series never placed lower than seventh in the Nielsen ratings and ended its final season at number one. It has been ranked by TV Guide as the 9th-best show in American television history. Though neither Griffith nor the show won awards during its eight-season run, series co-stars Knotts and Bavier accumulated a combined total of six Emmy Awards. The show, a semi-spin-off from an episode of The Danny Thomas Show titled "Danny Meets Andy Griffith", spawned its own spin-off series, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., a sequel series, Mayberry R.F.D., and a reunion telemovie, Return to Mayberry. The show's enduring popularity has generated a good deal of show-related merchandise. Reruns currently air on TV Land, and the complete series is available on DVD. All eight seasons are also now available by streaming video services such as Netflix.

More info
The Andy Griffith Show
1960