Believe it or not, I’m walking on air

The previews for “Shazam!” make it look like a lot of fun, and it’s apparently doing great box office right out of the gate. Part of the premise of the movie, of course, is that a young boy gains superpowers but has to figure out how to use them and what to do with them.

The movie — not to mention the red costume — put me in mind of “The Greatest American Hero,” a fun comedy-adventure TV series from the 1980s, from the prolific producer Stephen J. Cannell.

Many of you remember this show fondly, and every few years there is talk about some sort of reboot or movie version. There was a pilot episode produced in the late 1980s, and another one produced last year. In both cases, a female protagonist inherited the red suit. The pilot did not get picked up to series either time. IMDb lists the 2018 pilot as a “TV movie,” so it must have aired somewhere as a one-shot special, but I missed it. The late-80s version was edited down into an hour-long format and was added to the syndication package of the original series as a final episode. I haven’t seen it either.

For those of you too young to be aware, and because I love Explaining Things, I’ll give you a recap of the original show, which is available on Amazon Prime and on iTunes.

Ralph Hinkley (later called something different, as I’ll explain), played by…