Lois and Clark: Getting a bad rap?

[Kal-el]

I've read numerous posts of late that have pretty much bashed Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Personally, I really enjoyed the show. I thought it was rather well done. Of course, some of it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, so it wasn't always the most serious of shows. There were a number of very good episodes. I enjoyed the different take on Superman.
I was basically wondering if there are any L&C fans out there? Or did everyone else really dislike the show?
Comments, thoughts, opinions...?

[The Penguin]

I always really liked the show. It was one of the last shows that my whole family watched together. I was really disappointed when ABC cancelled it. :(

I really liked John Shea as Luthor, and to me Dean Cain will always be Superman.

I watched them all the way through when it first came back to TNT a few years ago.

I'm still often late for my morning classes because I'm always watching the end of L&C.

If WB ever released the series on DVD I know I'd buy it.

[Calico]

I really liked Lois & Clark. Dean Cain made a terrific Clark/Superman and Teri Hatcher was perfect as Lois. Ma and Pa Kent were adorable, and John Shea was a very convincing Lex.

Of course once she found out they were one and the same it bacame harder to keep up the momentum (remember Clone Lois??).

Still I check it out on TNT whenever I can.

[Barb Gordon]

I have noticed some posts where people didn't seem, to enjoy Lois and Clark too much. I on the otherhand absolutely loved the show. Dean Cain rocked as Superman, and for the most part, the storylines were very well done.

Barb^-^

[Cassandra]

I really liked the show when it first came out, but I stopped watching most of the last season because it got too corny (yeah, clone Lois was pretty bad) But there were some really priceless scenes in there-

Anyone remember the scene at the Kent farm when Clark and his mom are trying to figure out his costume? God, how did she put it-
"well, wearing that you can be sure no one's looking at your face!"
Man, I wish I had taped that.
That show was what made me start liking the Kents so much.

[The Game]

I agree with Cassandra. The show started off terrific but kinda faded to mediocrity. It was still pretty good overall though.

[Russkafin]

Huge L&C fan right here! I admit, much of the fourth season wasn't really up to par... in fact, the fourth season was really, really bad with the exception of a few episodes. I think that is why many people today remember it so poorly, it kind of went out on a low note. But the first season was spectacular, especially the pilot episode and the two-part season finale. I can't believe any Superman fan would dislike the first season of L&C.

[Karkull]

I didn't care for it. First off, it did some of the same things that I currently don't like about Smallville: it's a Superman show that's not about Superman. They almost completely ignored Superman's Rogues Gallery and instead focused on making the show more like Moonlighting.

Finally, the show messed with the story in the comic books. Lois and Clark were all set to be married, but when they started the show so they put it off. For years. It got to the point where they split the two of them up in the comics (since they weren't doing anything else), but then the television people decided that they were ready. So they hastily cobbled together a wedding issue and got them hitched. It screwed up the Superman writers.

[JTurner954]

Originally posted by Karkull
I didn't care for it. First off, it did some of the same things that I currently don't like about Smallville: it's a Superman show that's not about Superman. They almost completely ignored Superman's Rogues Gallery and instead focused on making the show more like Moonlighting.

Finally, the show messed with the story in the comic books. Lois and Clark were all set to be married, but when they started the show so they put it off. For years. It got to the point where they split the two of them up in the comics (since they weren't doing anything else), but then the television people decided that they were ready. So they hastily cobbled together a wedding issue and got them hitched. It screwed up the Superman writers.

I agree. I didn't like the show either although I liked Shea as Luthor. It was like watching Captain Planet and the Planeteers where Captain Planet shows up at the end (or in this case Superman at the end). It was so boring to watch. It needed action. Instead, I just heard broing dialogue (also keep in mind that I liked Batman more anyway). Plus, like I mentioned in a previous post, Superman doesn't have many ongoing villains which also made the show boring.

[Ed Liu]

Howdy all,

Add me to the list of Lois & Clark fans. I thought the show managed to balance faithfulness and seriousness to the source material while still managing to maintain a light touch and the realization that the whole exercise was just a little bit silly. Most comic book adaptations tend way too far towards one or the other (witness the 90's and 60's Batman movies, respectively), IMO.

Initially, I was dissatisfied with the lack of slam-bang effects, but I thought they did a pretty good job, considering the time constraints of a weekly one-hour TV drama and the obvious constraints on budget that they had.

My favorite bit was when the huckster was trying to sell Superman on the idea of merchandising, and Lois says with disgust, "Well, next thing you know, he'll have his own TELEVISION show!" Dean Cain turns to her and says, "Superman on television? >grimace< I...don't think so, Lois." Har.

My least favorite bit had to be what passed for "science" on the show. They got SO MANY of the details just plain wrong, the worst in my mind being the "computer virus" episode. I just remember the villians panicking while the anti-virus program was disinfecting the Internet (no, wait, it gets better), and the villaness shouts in exasperation, "Is it a C program?!!?" This is why I largely refuse to watch Hollywood depictions of geekdom -- the only one that got most of it right so far was Office Space.

-- Ed/Ace

[DisneyBoy]

I understand why so many Superman fans are disappointed when their hero isn't seen pounding up super villains and saving the world. After all, he's Superman right? But for the past, what 40 years, he's seen enough action to last anyone a lifetime.

Lois and Clark took a different approach to the character. They showed him as a man, a man in love, a man with a job, a detective and generally developped him much more as a person than a god. Some may not have liked to see their god reduced to Clark Kent, but I found it tremendously entertaining. The villains were often hokey, the comedy was sometimes off and the plots were, on occasion, very cliche, but learning who Lois and Clark really were was part of what made the show such a staple in the history of the characters. Lois had never been handled so well before, and I think that's a bigger achievement than seeing the Parasite getting knocked out...again.

And the show definately had some awesome storylines. Remember when Lex was set to marry Lois in season one? Did you see the four episode arc that reunited Clark with his fellow Kryptonians, forced him to leave Lois and then return to fight a conquered Metropolis? How about the son of Luthor fiasco? Every Superman story has elements of fromage in them, but often the bigger picture is so intruiging that one can overlook them. I was very sad to see Lois and Clark end (especially with Egghead as the last episode villain!), but to dislike it because it didn't to anything revolutionnary for the character's rogues gallery isn't really fair. Not every incarnation of the character could get things as dead-on as S:TAS, and even that show wasn't perfect either!

I respect everyone's opinions, cause we all find different things bad or rediculous, but I think Smallville is entirely getting too much praise when Lois and Clark is being forgotten. Although I watch Smallville, it's lame villains, often predictable plots and cliche's left and right are what have turned many people off the show...yet it's still getting mounds of attention. Remember what Perry White once said in TSA? The old hype cycle! Someday soon, people will realize that what they're watching really isn't the best thing they've ever seen, and then all we'll be hearing is how bad Smallville has become, even if it's still the same as it always was. Personally, I think Smallville is Ok, and that Lois and Clark was great. Sure, it may not have been the best thing ever on television, but I loved it just the same..just like people love the 60's Batman show...and just like some people out there may have loved Clooney's Batman and Robin!

If fact, when I get home, I'm gonna put on the Lois and Clark cd I got two Christmases ago and replay that Splendiferous theme song! Dean Cain will always be the ultimate live action Superman to me, just as Terry Hatcher will always be Lois! Thank you Lois and Clark, for the Super memories :) :) :)

[Kal-el]

Well said DB! While I loved Lois and Clark, I also am really enjoying Smallville. I know the overuse of kryptonite has been annoying, but knowing the stories will be moving away from that gives me even more hope.
L and C did so much for the "human" side of Clark Kent. Not many incarnations have done that. He was just a guy, trying to make it in a big city, dealing wih his strong feelings for a woman that, at first, didn't care much for him, dealing with other women pursuing him...ot every episode needed to have a major rogues gallery villian in it. The take on Lex Luthor was great, and the characterization of Lois Lane was arguably done better than any other Lois Lane incarnation. Live action superhero shows, especially TV shows, are hrd to pull off. Dean Cain as Superman was surprisingly good...not many could make the blue, red, and yellow really work on the small screen. He did a good job of doing so. He also played a more cerebral, intelligent Superman...something that seems to be lacking in the animated world right now.

[Cassandra]

Captain Planet. Wow.

I think people think less of the show because of the last season. If the worst season had been the second one, and they ended it pretty well, people would be more positive. Actually, if the third season hadn't sucked maybe there would have been a fourth, but, anyway, I'm glad that it got made. I loved that Perry White thought Elvis was god and Jonathan Kent had to ask Martha three times to marry him before she agreed.
("every time I said I wouldn't marry him he'd go out and plow a feild full of snow! I thought he was insane!")
It made me laugh, and that makes it a good show in my opinion.

[zero zero nine]

well, someday, you can watch everything superman in order...

The old 40s Superman Toons
The 50s(?) George Reeves Series
The 70s 80s Superman movies with Christopher Reeve

BAM! CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS HAPPENS! which means everything's rewritten.

Smallville (clark kent's youth)
Superman:TAS (lois doesn't know secret identity)
Lois and Clark (she finds out his identity)

By the way... I LOVE the Histeria Lewis and Clark Sketch! I love it better than Lois and Clark!

[BWDK]

I liked L&C but in the end the show was out of touch when they got married ect...

I liked Superboy a lot better.

[JTurner954]

Originally posted by BWDK
I liked L&C but in the end the show was out of touch when they got married ect...

I liked Superboy a lot better.

Whoa, wait a minute. You mean to tell me that there an an episode where they got married?? Wow, that is a bad show.

BTW, I remember when Superboy was on syndication (must of been a decade ago). I did like that show.

[Cassandra]

Man...the 40's Fleishman superman cartoons......arggggh...If only I could have THOSE on DVD..... :(


Say, didn't somebody leave a baby on their doorstep at the end of the last episode? I seem to remember something like that....

[Bird Boy]

I really enjoy the show. Still do. I still think Dean Cain should play superman in any and all superman shows..:)

-BB