5.4 /10 2 Votes
6.4/10 TV Country of origin United States Final episode date 28 August 1967 | 7/10 IMDb First episode date 9 January 1967 Number of episodes 17 Number of seasons 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Directed by Byron ChudnowArthur LubinJack Arnold Starring Stephen StrimpellDick GautierPaul SmithJohn McGiver Cast Similar Captain Nice, The Deputy, Whispering Smith, Laramie, My Own Worst Enemy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mr. 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.
Contents
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 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
Episode list
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.