Background
Show cover for The Greatest American Hero

The Best Episodes of The Greatest American Hero

Genres:Action & AdventureComedyCrime
Network:ABC

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...
Episodes
43
Avg. Rating
7.4
S1
S2
S3
S4
E1
E2
E3
7.5
7.7
7.8
7.0
7.7
7.5
7.0
7.7
7.3

Filter By Season (3)

  • My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
    7.9/10(140)
    Loading...

    #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

    Comments

    0
  • There's Just No Accounting...
    7.9/10(71)
    Loading...

    #2 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • Captain Bellybuster and the Speed Factory
    7.8/10(75)
    Loading...

    #3 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • Who's Woo in America
    7.8/10(79)
    Loading...

    #4 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • Divorce Venusian Style
    7.8/10(80)
    Loading...

    #5 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • The Newlywed Game
    7.8/10(70)
    Loading...

    #6 - 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

    Comments

    0
    Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 WORST Episodes of The Greatest American Hero

    READ
  • The Two-Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Fastball
    7.7/10(109)
    Loading...

    #7 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • Operation Spoilsport
    7.7/10(102)
    Loading...

    #8 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • Don't Mess Around with Jim
    7.7/10(96)
    Loading...

    #9 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • Dreams
    7.7/10(79)
    Loading...

    #10 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • Lilacs, Mr. Maxwell
    7.7/10(80)
    Loading...

    #11 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • Heaven is in Your Genes
    7.7/10(79)
    Loading...

    #12 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • Live at Eleven
    7.7/10(74)
    Loading...

    #13 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • The Beast in the Black
    7.6/10(120)
    Loading...

    #14 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • The Shock Will Kill You
    7.6/10(75)
    Loading...

    #15 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • The Greatest American Hero
    7.5/10(336)
    Loading...

    #16 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • The Best Desk Scenario
    7.5/10(111)
    Loading...

    #17 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • A Train of Thought
    7.5/10(85)
    Loading...

    #18 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • The Price is Right
    7.5/10(76)
    Loading...

    #19 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • Wizards And Warlocks
    7.5/10(77)
    Loading...

    #20 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • Plague
    7.4/10(78)
    Loading...

    #21 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • The Handpainted Thai
    7.4/10(72)
    Loading...

    #22 - 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: Stephen J. Cannell, Frank Lupo

    Comments

    0
  • The Good Samaritan
    7.4/10(68)
    Loading...

    #23 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • Saturday on Sunset Boulevard
    7.3/10(118)
    Loading...

    #24 - 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

    Comments

    0
  • This is the One the Suit Was Meant For
    7.3/10(74)
    Loading...

    #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

    Comments

    0

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 140 votes. Directed by Gabrielle Beaumont and written by Stephen J. Cannell, it aired on 4/29/1981. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "There's Just No Accounting...".