It is absolutely crazy to believe that in 2023 Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman celebrates its 30th anniversary.  I remember the show premiering, the commercials on tv, the ads in the comic books, watching the first season on Sunday nights with my dad and subsequent seasons during the summers in Greece.

It can’t be thirty years, can it?

When I was reading comics as a kid, I recall Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, and many more all “celebrating” their thirtieth anniversaries, and thinking how unbelievably old that sounded.  Time, indeed, is the predator we cannot escape.

ANYWAY, on a less somber note, Lois and Clark was a great show, and overall a worthy addition to the Superman legacy, as has been demonstrated by so much fanfare in the years that followed the show’s cancellation.  Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher still get crowds at cons, podcasts, and constant rumors about reviving the show with a streaming series.  We’ll see where all of this goes, but regardless of what comes, I personally loved the show as a kid and think it holds up great today.

Er, season one, anyway.  More on that later.

The Cast

Deborah Joy Levine, the showrunner, creator, and head writer got the gig for the series despite not being a comic book fan herself, but utilizing the Superman myth for a romance/comedy/drama show that was essentially “life in the big city,” or, as she put it, Moonlighting in a different format.  In interviews with her since, one can tell she has an incredible grasp of Lois Lane as a tough, ambitious career woman, right down to forcing Teri Hatcher to cut her hair short because “Lois Lane wouldn’t spend any time in the morning fixing her hair.”  Yet, despite tremendous success in her work life, it was Levine’s idea to simultaneously have Lois be unhappy, yearning for a man to sweep her off her feet, a man she isn’t even looking for as she has no time for dating.

Call me old fashioned, but this describes many career women I know, and think it works great for Lois Lane.Cain was also a brilliant hire as he was an All-American football star for Princeton (and even a former draft pick of the Buffalo Bills, until he blew out his knee and ended his career), and established teen heartthrob as an ongoing guest star on Beverly Hills 90210.  Cain certainly looked the part physically and exuded “nice guy,” a must for Superman.  According to Cain, his inspiration for playing Superman was Christopher Reeve, and George Reeves was his inspiration for Clark Kent, a winning combo!  Most importantly though, was his undeniable chemistry with Hatcher, which was the strength of the show and carried it during all four seasons, even through the bad episodes.

The rest of the cast was also solid, and lent itself well to Superman’s world in a soap-opera fashion.  John Shea was a very good Lex Luthor with charm and stage presence, whose curly locks were explained by Levine simply with “If Luthor is that rich, he can find a way to cure himself of baldness.”  K Callan, Eddie Jones, and Lane Smith are all phenomenal choices for their roles, with many saying they are the best ever, and Justin Whalin was solid as Jimmy Olsen seasons 2-4, even though I prefer Michael Landes’ portrayal from season 1.  Everyone worked well together and played their parts adequately.And can I just say that a Perry White with a Southern accent works fantastic, and that “Great shades of Elvis!” is superior to “Great Caesar’s ghost!” (Ducks objects hurled in his direction)

The Four Seasons

Deborah Joy Levine was largely responsible for season one of the show, which I’m sorry to say is the only season I really think is worth watching.  The romantic tension between the Clark/Superman/Lois and eventually, Luthor, love dynamic is just fantastic, and adds a wonderful “will they, won’t they” quality to every episode.  Seeing the romance- and mutual respect- begin to blossom between the characters is probably what’s most fun about the season, and is rightly featured prominently.  I am a huge fan of Superman being married to Lois Lane, and love the Superman and Lois series every bit as much, but stories about the beginning of Lois and Clark’s romance are equally interesting and fun, especially with the secret identity aspect mixed in.  You could make a show about this in any decade, and I would watch it.  I think it works that well!All of season one’s plot threads are wrapped up nicely in the season finale, and really can be seen as an ending in itself, it you really want.  Even if Lois and Clark have not gotten together yet, the status quo as is was an interesting one, and shows that understand that the ratings go up when an audience wants the main characters to end up together, do well (Friends comes to mind), as opposed to ones that end the tension too soon (Frasier comes to mind).  Although of course I wanted Superman and Lois Lane to end up together, where they took things afterwards can only be described as bizarre and frustrating.

Levine said that Warner Bros (or DC?) wanted the show to be a little more campy for season 2, a direction she disagreed with and so eventually left.  Season 2 was campy, and while it can be fun for Superman to fight the moustache-twirling villain of the week, it often got annoying and over the top…

… especially when you add the craziness of the Lois Lane clone who ate frogs.

Yes.  That was a thing.  The overall plot meandered everywhere and seemingly just got worse and worse as the show went on.  The eventual wedding itself was also strange in season 4, with the four main characters being teleported to a small island by a random fairy/wizard character so that he could officiate the wedding himself.  Even when a cool idea popped up, like the Kryptonian invasion of earth, the limitations of a tv budget, which seemed to have been slashed by then, really didn’t let the plot breathe.  When a Kryptonian armada wants to invade earth, but only has the same ten soldiers appearing in Smallville or Metropolis, as a kid you wonder if you’re watching Superman or Power Rangers.  The show did end with a somewhat interesting cliffhanger, of a baby left on Lois and Clark’s doorstep with no hint of where it came from, but ultimately went nowhere.  According to Cain, Teri Hatcher became pregnant that year and so the show could not continue, and was thus never picked up for a season five.  In the end, I think it was just as well, as even the cliffhanger, like much of the show by that point, had felt completely out of left field.Overall Rating

Despite its shortcomings, Lois and Clark still has legions of fans who loved it, and given the amazing chemistry of the two leads, I can absolutely see why.  The show is worth watching for Cain and Hatcher alone, even if it did go through some misfires and changes which harmed its long term success.  I rewatched season one recently with my wife, and we both think it has aged well and is highly enjoyable.  There are little things that the show gets so right, from the competitive rivalry between Lois and Clark, Luthor’s intense jealousy of Superman, the fatherly care of Perry White towards his staff, David Warner as Jor-El and even Superman calling his parents “Mom” and “Dad,” which to my knowledge is only found here (I know people from Kansas, and they don’t say “Ma” and “Pa,” as they are not Southerners!).  Most of the concepts are picked up from John Byrne’s reboot of Superman, and really shows what can be done with that status quo.If you have never seen the show, I would say the concept and execution of season one is great, and absolutely worth watching (just ignore Superman’s ’90s mullet in the pilot episode).  If you’re drawn in to Lois and Clark’s relationship and don’t mind a crazy ride, it will try your patience, but feel free to give the rest of the seasons a try as well.

There is a lot to love about this show, and the Cain/Hatcher team has gone down in Superman history as a classic representation of those characters.  I don’t mind saying I am a big fan, and would recommend the show to fans old and new when it’s all said and done.  I will definitely cheer if we get another season one day!

Please enjoy the intro of season one below, which is how I remember the show: