THE-GREATEST-AMERICAN-HERO.COM

Home

SITE HISTORY

NEWS/EVENTS/SITE UPDATES

SEASON 1 OVERVIEW

SEASON 2 OVERVIEW

SEASON 3 OVERVIEW

TGAHEROINE

EPISODE GUIDE

ORIGINAL TEASERS

TEASER VARIATIONS

SERIES BUMPERS

RARE 1981 CULP INTERVIEWS

PHOTOS

COLOR PUBLICITY STILLS

ABC PHOTOS & PRESS SHEETS

PRINT ADS

MISC. PUBLICATIONS

BEHIND THE SCENES

PRODUCTION USED ITEMS

FILMING LOCATIONS

IN MEMORIAM

ACTIVISION TGAH CONTEST

VHS/DVD RELEASE HISTORY

BROADCAST VERSION vs. DVD

MERCHANDISE

FORUM

LINKS

Serving TGAH community since 1998

ABC Network TV Guide Ads
Syndicator Ads
The series (minus the pilot movie) was first offered up for syndication in early 1984, and slated to start in April of the same year. This was barely a year after ABC had cancelled the series. Cannell who had no syndication arm in his company, settled on LBS Communications who aggressively sold the series all across the country. The show ended up on a national level again that same year when WGN bought it, as the Chicago station was on cable systems all throughout the U.S. Not bad for a series with just 43 one hour episodes.


In 1986 Cannell continued to syndicate the series, this time through Lorimar-Telepictures. Lorimar attempted to sell the series as a "strip" meaning the show would air on a local station 5 days a week. A very tall order for a series with only 43 hour long episodes, which eventually went to 44 once TGAHeroine was added to the mix. Except for the 7 cities listed on the ad, I have no idea if Lorimar had any takers for the week long broadcasts, or if the show stayed in the once a week (usually a Saturday or Sunday) timeslot.

I can't be 100% certain about the origin of the sign above, and the person I bought it from didn't know either. My best guess is that it was used at NAPTE, by one of the two companies that syndicated the series in the 1980's. For instance, LBS Communications would have had a booth set up with a display of all the series they had available for local TV stations. Station programmers walk around, and try to figure out what they are interested in running for the upcoming season on the local level. If I'm not correct, the sign had to be used at some level to "sell" the show. That being the case, one would think they would make sure S-E-L-L-E-C-C-A was spelled correctly.

Syndication TV Guide Ads
Emmy Consideration & AM Los Angeles Ad
Vintage Newspaper Articles
"The Greatest American Hero," character names and related design © 1981-2021 Stephen J. Cannell Productions.  Episode guide and other written content © 2021 The-Greatest-American-Hero.com.  This Website is for fan-related purposes only.  Do not use any content on this site without the express written permission of the respective owners.