Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman is an American superhero television series based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. It stars Dean Cain as Clark Kent / Superman and Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane. The series aired on ABC from September 12, 1993, to June 14, 1997.

Developed for television by Deborah Joy LeVine, the series loosely followed the modern origin of Superman, established by writer John Byrne, in which Clark Kent is the true personality and Superman a disguise. The series focuses on the relationship and romance between Lois and Clark as much as the adventures of Clark's alter ego, Superman.

Premise

On May 17, 1966, Jonathan and Martha Kent witness the crash-landing of a small spaceship in Shuster's Field outside of Smallville, Kansas. They discover the baby Kal-El inside and raise him as their own, naming him Clark Jerome Kent.

The series opens in 1993, on the day that the 27-year-old Clark moves to Metropolis after leaving his position as a newspaper editor of Smallville Press and interviews for a job at the Daily Planet under editor Perry White. Clark becomes acquainted with photographer Jimmy Olsen and gossip columnist Cat Grant. Metropolis is a much more vibrant place than Smallville, but also more dangerous, and Clark becomes concerned at the difficulty of using his superhuman powers to help people without exposing his extraterrestrial nature and therefore ruining all chance for a normal life. His solution is to wear a costume, enabling him to use his powers freely in an alternate identity. He also frequently has to find a way to use his powers in secret, without the opportunity to discreetly change into costume.

Soon after being hired at The Daily Planet, Clark is partnered with star reporter Lois Lane. Clark falls in love with Lois, but she instead becomes infatuated with Clark's alter ego, naming him Superman, while initially dismissing Clark as a dimwitted and sentimental hick. Where Clark excels at reporting human interest stories, Lois specializes in exposing political scandals and criminal operations, leading to her frequently ending up in perilous situations from which Superman must rescue her. In time, Clark earns Lois's respects after she sees his intelligence and competency as a reporter alongside his virtues, and they become friends.

A hologram-projecting globe later reveals to Clark that he was not abandoned by his biological parents, but that they sent him to Earth in order to save him from the destruction of his home planet, which his parents were unable to escape.

Superman's mission interferes with the illegal dealings of Lex Luthor, a Metropolis business giant and philanthropist. Superman alone knows of Lex's evil nature, and Luthor perceives Superman as a worthy opponent and a relief from his ennui.

Production

thumb|[[Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain]]

DC Comics president Jenette Kahn had been working for several years to sell the concept of a Superman television series, with the title "Lois Lane's Daily Planet". In 1991 Leslie Moonves and Deborah Joy LeVine helped sell the series to ABC television network with a new title, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. LeVine had never read a comic book before and was more interested in pursuing a romantic comedy angle than the superhero themes. One executive described the series as “aimed at women; not aimed at comic book fans.”

A few episodes directly emphasized that Clark was the dominant personality, not Superman. Unique to the series was the depiction of Clark Kent and Superman's traditional hairstyles being reversed—in this series, it is Superman whose hair is slicked back and Clark whose fringe falls more naturally. An additional element that reflected the post-Byrne comics was the portrayal of Lex Luthor as a corrupt corporate tycoon rather than the traditional mad scientist.

The illusion of Superman flying was accomplished by suspending actor Dean Cain with a flight harness and wires which were erased from the shots in post-production; anyone Cain was carrying was independently wired.

The sets were designed to have a timeless appearance, such that the show could seem to be taking place in the 1950s or the near future and not become dated in later years. Levine said what ultimately won Cain the role was his reading for the scene where Clark talks with Jonathan Kent about feeling he does not fit in. The scene in the pilot in which Clark walks up a wall was accomplished with a special rotating room, which required Cain to time his approach to the wall to coincide with the room rotating to leave the wall on the bottom.

Lex develops an interest in Lois Lane and through most of the season tries to woo her. Although Lois is receptive to his romantic advances, she remains infatuated with Superman. Lois also develops feelings for Clark, but represses or denies them. Lex orchestrates multiple illegal schemes to acquire profit and power, in most cases with even Superman never realizing his involvement, and unable to prove that involvement in those cases where he is aware of it.

In the episode "The Green, Green Glow of Home", the Kents' neighbor Wayne Irig unearths a large chunk of kryptonite near the landing site of Clark's spaceship and sends a small sample of it to a lab for analysis. Clark destroys the large chunk in the same episode, but this exposes Superman's critical weakness, and the small sample is stolen and would pass from one set of wrong hands to another throughout the series.

The season concludes with a two-part story in which Lex's criminal activities are publicly exposed and he commits suicide to escape justice.

Lois & Clark was second in its time slot during the fall (behind Murder, She Wrote) and scored high with adults ages 18 to 49, a key demograph for which advertisers pay a premium, but finished at No. 65 out of 132 prime-time programs. ABC considered this an overall disappointing performance, though they approved a full second season in hopes that the changes being made to the production staff would yield an increase in ratings. LeVine, the visual effects supervisor, and the entire first-season writing team were also dismissed. the show also shifted its focus onto the budding romance between Lois and Clark.

With the show's budget increased and new visual effects supervisor Mark Zarate on board, the second season used more elaborate and convincing special effects than those seen in the first season.

The series weakened in its Sunday 8:00 pm timeslot The ratings dropped even further, and the show finished its last season in 104th place,

| rowspan="2" | Jimmy Olsen

| colspan="3"

| Justin Whalin

| colspan="3"

| Tracy Scoggins

| Catherine "Cat" Grant

| colspan="3"

| K Callan

| Martha Kent

| colspan="4"

| Eddie Jones

| Jonathan Kent

| colspan="4"

| John Shea

| Lex Luthor

| colspan="2"

| colspan="1"

Recurring

Broadcast

United States

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center; width:100%"

! Network

! Season

! Time slot

! Premiered date

! Ended date

! Nielsen ratings rank

! Rating

! Households

! Viewers

| rowspan="4" |ABC

| scope="row" |1 (1993–94)

| rowspan="3" | Sunday 8:00 pm

| September 12, 1993

| May 8, 1994

| #60

| 10.0

| 9.3 million

| 18.1 million

| scope="row" | 2 (1994–95)

| September 18, 1994

| May 21, 1995

| #58

| 10.2

| 9.7 million

| 18.3 million

| scope="row" | 3 (1995–96)

| September 17, 1995

| May 12, 1996

| #44

| 10.3

| 9.9 million

| 18.4 million

| scope="row" | 4 (1996–97)|| Sunday 8:00 pm (Sep 22 – Dec. 15) Sunday 7:00 pm (Jan 5 – Mar. 23) Saturday 8:00 pm (Apr 12 – Jun. 14)

| September 22, 1996

| June 14, 1997

| #104

| 6.2

| 6.0 million

| 9.7 million

| style="text-align:center" |July 5, 2006

| style="text-align:center" |June 14, 2006

| style="text-align:center;"|22

| style="text-align:center" |January 17, 2006

| style="text-align:center" |July 5, 2006

| style="text-align:center" |June 14, 2006

| style="text-align:center;"|22

| style="text-align:center" |June 20, 2006

| style="text-align:center" |September 6, 2006

| style="text-align:center" |November 1, 2006

| style="text-align:center;"|22

| style="text-align:center" |November 14, 2006

| style="text-align:center" |December 6, 2006

| style="text-align:center" |November 1, 2006

Awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

! Year

! Award

! Category

! Recipient(s)

! Result

| align="center" rowspan="5"| 1994

| rowspan="2"| Primetime Emmy Awards

| Outstanding Individual Achievement in Main Title Theme Music

| Jay Gruska

| Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing in a Drama Series

| Robert Butler

| Saturn Awards

| Best Genre Television Series

| Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

| Directors Guild of America Awards

| Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Specials

| Robert Butler

| Viewers for Quality Television Awards

| Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series

| Teri Hatcher

| align="center" rowspan="2"| 1995

| rowspan="2"| Primetime Emmy Awards

| Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series

| Kenn Fuller, Dan Hiland and Joseph D. Citarella

| Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costuming for a Series

| Darryl Levine and Judith Brewer Curtis

| align="center"| 1996

| Primetime Emmy Awards

| Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series

| Kenn Fuller, Joseph D. Citarella and Dan Hiland

Soundtrack

Mastered at Capitol Records, Hollywood
Digital editing, pre-mastering: Bruno Coon
Engineers:
Greg Townley (all orchestral recording)
Michael Eric Hutchinson
Bobby Fernandez ("Main Title Theme" – recording & mixing)
Ray Pyle ("Main Title Theme extended mix" – recording & mixing)
Art direction: Doerte Lau
Design: Andreas Adamec

Lois & Clark: A Superman Novel by author C. J. Cherryh, based on the television series, was released in 1996. The novel was published in a Science Fiction Book Club hardcover edition and a paperback edition by Prima Publishing.

Other novels based on the series include:

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman: Heat Wave
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman: Exile
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman: Deadly Games

DC Comics published a comic book trade paperback collected edition Lois & Clark, The New Adventures of Superman, in 1994, which featured a selection of modern era stories by John Byrne and other writers and artists. The collection includes an introduction by Byrne, with the show's stars Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher as Lois and Clark on the cover:

Lois & Clark, The New Adventures of Superman – collects The Man of Steel #2, Superman Annual vol. 2 #1, Superman vol. 2 #9 and 11, Action Comics #600 and 655, Adventures of Superman #445, 462, and 466. (, 192 pages)

Skybox released in 1995 a series of trading cards based on the first season of the show. 90 trading cards were issued alongside 9 special cards, a series of temporary tattoos and two illustrated cards by well known artists Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell.

References

External links

Official Warner Bros. site
Official DC Comics site
First Person Account from Season One Supervising Producer
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman on SupermanHomepage.com

Premise

Production

Recurring

Broadcast

United States

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

Novels, collected editions and related merchandise

References

External links