7.9/10136 votesLoading...#1 - My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 4/29/1981
Ralph reconsiders his suit of powers after a flying mistake almost takes out a bus full of tourists. Bill also reconsiders his job path when one of his heroes is suspected of plotting out the theft of a precious diamond.
Director: Gabrielle Beaumont
Writer: Stephen J. Cannell
7.8/10118 votesLoading...#2 - The Beast in the Black
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 12/9/1981
Ralph finds a window into the 4th dimension while scouting an old house. Bill gets possesed by a woman's spirit, and Ralph must return her through that window.
Director: N/A
Writer: Juanita Bartlett
7.8/1067 votesLoading...#3 - There's Just No Accounting...
Season 2 Episode 18 - Aired 3/24/1982
Bill convinces the parents of a kidnap victim to pay the ransom, certain that Ralph can recover it when he saves their little girl. Ralph finds himself being audited by an overzealous IRS agent who's convinced he took the ransom money. Meanwhile, Ralph and Bill keep getting shot at in drive-by shootings, but by who?
Director: Ivan Dixon
Writer: Frank Lupo
7.8/1073 votesLoading...#4 - Captain Bellybuster and the Speed Factory
Season 2 Episode 20 - Aired 4/7/1982
Bill recieves hot tips on a speed factory working out of a fast food chain, and a newspaper reporter publishes pictures of Ralph flying.
Director: N/A
Writer: Stephen J. Cannell, Frank Lupo
7.8/1077 votesLoading...#5 - Who's Woo in America
Season 2 Episode 21 - Aired 4/14/1982
Ralph's mother is re-marrying to a man who planted a much wanted micro-chip in her engagement ring.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.7/10105 votesLoading...#6 - The Two-Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Fastball
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 11/4/1981
Ralph dons a baseball suit to trap Latino revolutionaries who plan to finance a coup by fixing ball games.
Director: Georg Stanford Brown
Writer: N/A
7.7/1097 votesLoading...#7 - Operation Spoilsport
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 11/11/1981
Ralph and Bill must stop World War III by defusing a corrupt military leader's plans to launch a suprise missile attack against Russia.
Director: Rod Holcomb
Writer: Frank Lupo
7.7/1093 votesLoading...#8 - Don't Mess Around with Jim
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 11/18/1981
Ralph and Bill are kidnapped by a tycoon that actually had his own suit given to him years ago by the aliens. The suit corrupted this man to use it for personal fortune, and he did not lose the instruction book. The aliens did not like the way he was using the suit, and they took it away from him.
Director: Robert C. Thompson
Writer: Stephen J. Cannell
7.7/1075 votesLoading...#9 - Dreams
Season 2 Episode 17 - Aired 3/17/1982
An act of kindness backfires when Ralph uses the suit to help a coworker with a personal project. This leads his other co-workers to take daring chances for their own shots at success. Soon, he must don the super suit not only to prevent them from ruining their lives, but also to save Bill from a vengeful, recently paroled killer.
Director: Bruce Kessler
Writer: Stephen J. Cannell
7.7/1078 votesLoading...#10 - Lilacs, Mr. Maxwell
Season 2 Episode 22 - Aired 4/28/1982
Bill falls in love with a female FBI agent, and wants to tell her about the suit. She turns out to be a spy, and is ordered to kill him.
Director: Robert Culp
Writer: Robert Culp
7.7/1077 votesLoading...#11 - Divorce Venusian Style
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 10/29/1982
After a loud argument with Bill, Ralph quits the hero business and turns in his super-suit. Unknown to both men, a gang of neo-Nazis plans to murder them.
Director: Ivan Dixon
Writer: N/A
7.7/1067 votesLoading...#12 - The Newlywed Game
Season 3 Episode 5 - Aired 1/6/1983
Ralph and Pam's wedding is almost ruined when Ralph receives special orders from the President to fly a mission over the North Pole. Bill discovers the orders were faked, and that Ralph has accidentally given the Russians valuable military secrets.
Director: Chuck Bowman
Writer: Babs Greyhosky
7.7/1077 votesLoading...#13 - Heaven is in Your Genes
Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 1/13/1983
A former Nazi genetic engineer fakes Bill's death to use him in an experiment, but Ralph realizes his friend is still alive. He flies off to rescue Bill and the evil doctor's other victims, but a genetic horror created in an earlier experiment waits to battle him.
Director: Christian I. Nyby II
Writer: N/A
7.7/1072 votesLoading...#14 - Live at Eleven
Season 3 Episode 7 - Aired 1/20/1983
An Aging TV anchorman plans to retire in grand style. He hires a band of mercenaries to sabotage a nuclear plant, hoping that his coverage of the event can launch a Presidential campaign. Ralph must stop the plant from exploding, but the saboteurs, now dying of radiation poisoning, are determined to succeed.
Director: N/A
Writer: Babs Greyhosky
7.5/10328 votesLoading...#15 - The Greatest American Hero
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 3/18/1981
Ralph Hinkley, an average school teacher, is given a suit with amazing powers by aliens. Now, Ralph must decide if he'll use his new powers to fight crime, even though he already lost the suit's instruction manual.
Director: Rod Holcomb
Writer: Stephen J. Cannell
7.5/10104 votesLoading...#16 - The Best Desk Scenario
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 5/13/1981
At FBI headquarters, promotions are being handed out. However, Bill considers retiring from his job. Meanwhile, Ralph must use his suit to save Pam when she discovers her boss is the head of an underground operation.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.5/1083 votesLoading...#17 - A Train of Thought
Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 1/13/1982
Ralph crashes head first into a train, and gets amnesia. Pam and Bill have to convince him that the suit really works.
Director: Lawrence Doheny
Writer: Frank Lupo
7.5/1072 votesLoading...#18 - The Shock Will Kill You
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 2/10/1982
A space shuttle is about to crash, and only Ralph can save it. He does so, but ends up supermagnetized, perhaps permanently. Worst of all, a strange creature aboard the shuttle heads towards Los Angeles, electricuting all who get in its way.
Director: Rod Holcomb
Writer: Stephen J. Cannell
7.5/1075 votesLoading...#19 - Wizards And Warlocks
Season 3 Episode 10 - Aired 2/10/1983
King Abu Al-Fahad asks Ralph and Bill to help find his son, Prince Aha, who was kidnapped by Middle Eastern terrorists while playing a Dungeons and Dragonsesque game, Wizards and Warlocks. Their search leads them from Aha's college campus -- where they meet Aha's Keeper of the Clock, Joey Margolis -- to the game's author himself, Norman Fackler.
Director: Bruce Kessler
Writer: N/A
7.4/1070 votesLoading...#20 - The Handpainted Thai
Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 1/27/1982
Years ago, prisoners of war were brainwashed to respond to a code phrase. Now, someone is using them to commit acts of sabotage. Bill and Ralph investigate, but Bill inadvertently falls under a hypnotic trance, leaving the heroics up to Ralph.
Director: Bruce Kessler
Writer: Frank Lupo, Stephen J. Cannell
7.4/1073 votesLoading...#21 - The Price is Right
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 11/5/1982
While attending a high-school reunion, Ralph discovers that the wife of a famous pro football player is held hostage to ensure her husband will throw the big game.
Director: Ivan Dixon
Writer: Stephen J. Cannell
7.3/10113 votesLoading...#22 - Saturday on Sunset Boulevard
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 4/8/1981
Russians are trying to find an heiress and her Russian husband in order to force them to establish a missile cache hold on their private island. Bill needs Ralph's help when he is suspected of failing a lie-detector test at FBI headquarters.
Director: Gabrielle Beaumont, Rod Holcomb
Writer: Stephen J. Cannell
7.3/1076 votesLoading...#23 - Plague
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 1/6/1982
A psycho military cult leader tries to spread the small-pox virus.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.3/1066 votesLoading...#24 - The Good Samaritan
Season 2 Episode 19 - Aired 3/31/1982
Tired of using the suit to fight crime, Ralph decides to branch out. He tries to intervene in a battle between an old man fighting for his home and the city taking it away, but Bill has him on the hunt for bank robbers.
Director: Bruce Kessler
Writer: N/A
7.3/1072 votesLoading...#25 - This is the One the Suit Was Meant For
Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 11/12/1982
With their relationship in trouble, Ralph convinces Pam to go on a vacation without Bill or his suit. Unfortunately Bill shows up unannounced with his suit and trouble ensues.
Director: Ivan Dixon
Writer: Babs Greyhosky
The Best Episodes of The Greatest American Hero
Every episode of The Greatest American Hero ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Greatest American Hero!
The chronicles of teacher Ralph Hinkley's adventures after a group of aliens gives him a red suit that gives him superhuman abilities. Unfortunately, Ralph, who...
Genres:Action & AdventureComedyCrime
Network:ABC
Best Episodes Summary
"My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" is the best rated episode of "The Greatest American Hero". It scored 7.9/10 based on 136 votes. Directed by Gabrielle Beaumont and written by Stephen J. Cannell, it aired on 4/29/1981. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Beast in the Black".