# Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2015, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453 "2015-05-07T06:09:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/21 "2015-05-08T01:10:54Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > The best thing I remember from the old Flash TV show was that one cop who was convinced his partner was secretly The Flash. Haven’t watched it since it originally aired. The best thing I remember from the old Flash TV show was never getting to see Mark Hamill’s Trickster episode because President Bush threw up in Japan. I don’t blame the Pres, mind you, I blame the press. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/22 "2015-05-08T01:50:20Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I thought cross-network crossovers was not totally unheard of. Was it? Around that time, _L.A. Law_ (on NBC) absorbed some characters from _Civil Wars_ (ABC), though it helped that Stephen Bochco was a producer on both shows. I daresay having a producer or creator in common is a critical element for a network cross, as it was for _Ally McBeal_ (Fox) and _The Practice_ (ABC), linked by David E. Kelley. I don’t know that the 1990 _Flash_ and _Lois and Clark_ had any similar behind-the-scenes linkage. James A. Contner directed an episode of each series, but that seems to be about it. Incidentally, Richard Belzer had recurring (unrelated) roles on both shows, but that pretty much goes without saying. He’s everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/23 "2015-05-08T02:53:57Z")
_The Flash_ and _Lois and Clark_ didn’t even run concurrently. _The Flash_ ran (heh) from 1990-1991 and _Lois and Clark_ began in 1993, so _The Flash_ was already out of production. ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/24 "2015-05-08T05:23:40Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > _The Flash_ and _Lois and Clark_ didn’t even run concurrently. _The Flash_ ran (heh) from 1990-1991 and _Lois and Clark_ began in 1993, so _The Flash_ was already out of production. Well it’s only a 2 years difference I don’t see why that would have mattered. ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/25 "2015-05-08T05:25:04Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Around that time, _L.A. Law_ (on NBC) absorbed some characters from _Civil Wars_ (ABC), though it helped that Stephen Bochco was a producer on both shows. I daresay having a producer or creator in common is a critical element for a network cross, as it was for _Ally McBeal_ (Fox) and _The Practice_ (ABC), linked by David E. Kelley. > > I don’t know that the 1990 _Flash_ and _Lois and Clark_ had any similar behind-the-scenes linkage. James A. Contner directed an episode of each series, but that seems to be about it. > > Incidentally, Richard Belzer had recurring (unrelated) roles on both shows, but that pretty much goes without saying. He’s everywhere. Yes! That is very true! I think Richard Belzer’s best work was on The Flash which is what I told him when I got to meet him last year :o ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/26 "2015-05-08T05:26:50Z")
Besides The Flash and Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman were there any other superhero shows going on in the 90’s? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/27 "2015-05-08T05:55:11Z")
Yes. On the animation side, there’s too many to list. Live action-wise, there were Power Rangers\*, MANTIS, VR Troopers\*, Masked Rider\*, NightMan\*\*, Beetleborgs\*, the Adventures of Superboy\*\*, Swamp Thing\*\*, and probably others that I’m both blanking on and not finding on Wikipedia’s lists of 90s TV shows. (Most of that batch tanked, but PR, Nightman, and Superboy all ran for multiple years.) - All from Saban, all based on Japanese series. Power Rangers is still around 20 years later. \*\* Based on comics. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/28 "2015-05-08T07:03:15Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > Well it’s only a 2 years difference I don’t see why that would have mattered. It would have been easier and less expensive to have crossovers between two shows that were in production at the same time. For example, the current _Flash_ show and _Arrow_ would be a natural for a crossover. You already have the writers and actors under contract. You already have sets constructed and wardrobes in production. To have John Wesley Shipp appear on _Lois & Clark_, you would have had to re-sign him to a contract, possibly make a new Flash costume. It was easier to have Richard Anderson and Martin Brooks stay with _The Bionic Woman_ since _The Six Million Dollar Man_ was also still in production. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/29 "2015-05-08T09:42:19Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > It would have been easier and less expensive to have crossovers between two shows that were in production at the same time. For example, the current _Flash_ show and _Arrow_ would be a natural for a crossover. There actually have been crossovers of those two. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/30 "2015-05-08T10:19:38Z")
In fact, Flash is more or less a spinoff of Arrow. (Likely in the ‘Mork and Mindy is a spinoff of Happy Days’ way, but still…) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/31 "2015-05-08T10:40:02Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Live action-wise, there were Power Rangers\*, MANTIS, VR Troopers\*, Masked Rider\*, NightMan\*\*, Beetleborgs\*, the Adventures of Superboy\*\*, Swamp Thing\*\*, and probably others that I’m both blanking on and not finding on Wikipedia’s lists of 90s TV shows. You can argue that **Buffy The Vampire Slayer** wasn’t a superhero, but you’d be wrong. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/32 "2015-05-08T10:48:56Z")
That’s not a discussion I want to get into… ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/33 "2015-05-08T12:33:57Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > I thought it was a well done show however my only issue with it is throughout all 4 seasons we never saw any other superheros guest star on the show. > > Personally I think the best thing that should have happened is John Wesley Shipp should have been a guest star on the show as The Flash from Central City because he played The Flash on The Flash and it would have been a good idea to connect both shows in the same universe. My only thought on the cross over issue is that I think (I’m willing to be proven wrong) that the producers viewed L&C as a romance “meet cute” fun show first, and a superhero show second. I think they wanted to grab the 20-30 something audience, not the 18-24 year old fan boy audience. And making that show about a superhero that had a girlfriend, vice a cool good looking guy and girl trying to make it work, one of whom happens to be a super hero would have alienated the 20-30 year old audience that they really wanted. My girl friend at the time watched the show almost in spite of the fact that he was superman. ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/34 "2015-05-08T15:45:04Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > My only thought on the cross over issue is that I think (I’m willing to be proven wrong) that the producers viewed L&C as a romance “meet cute” fun show first, and a superhero show second. I think they wanted to grab the 20-30 something audience, not the 18-24 year old fan boy audience. And making that show about a superhero that had a girlfriend, vice a cool good looking guy and girl trying to make it work, one of whom happens to be a super hero would have alienated the 20-30 year old audience that they really wanted. My girl friend at the time watched the show almost in spite of the fact that he was superman. Oh I hope your wrong lol ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/35 "2015-05-08T20:29:55Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Yes. > > On the animation side, there’s too many to list. > > Live action-wise, there were Power Rangers\*, MANTIS, VR Troopers\*, Masked Rider\*, NightMan\*\*, Beetleborgs\*, the Adventures of Superboy\*\*, Swamp Thing\*\*, and probably others that I’m both blanking on and not finding on Wikipedia’s lists of 90s TV shows. (Most of that batch tanked, but PR, Nightman, and Superboy all ran for multiple years.) > > - All from Saban, all based on Japanese series. Power Rangers is still around 20 years later. > \*\* Based on comics. There was also the [Human Target](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103447/), which came closer to the DC Comics source material than the later (2010) version did, although both of them IMO missed the mark (pun intended). Strictly speaking, Christopher Chance isn’t really a superhero, but with all the high-tech gadgetry he had in the 1992 series he wasn’t far off. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/36 "2015-05-08T20:44:31Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > Oh I hope your wrong lol I think he’s probably right. A friend of mine had a son in middle school when _Smallville_ had been on for a couple of seasons. It was a popular show among his peers. Once, he joined into a conversation, and started to say something about “But when Clark becomes Superman…” and none of the other kids knew what he was talking about. They didn’t know that the show had anything to do with Superman. They didn’t recognize the names Clark Kent or Lex Luthor (Lois hadn’t joined the cast yet). At that time, there hadn’t been a Superman cartoon or movie for several years, and when he asked them if any of them had watched _Lois and Clark_, they answered no, because that was a “girls’ show.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/37 "2015-05-08T20:56:14Z")
Lois and Clark was absolutely a show about the romance first and the superheroism second, and it’s a good thing that it was. That’s the only way to make a good story about Superman: Make it about a person, facing personal problems. Superman is too powerful to make any story about his powers meaningful. You have to give him problems that simply can’t be solved via his powers. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/38 "2015-05-08T22:37:53Z")
I was a long way past my fanboy years when the show was on, and I absolutely agree that it was a romance. In fact, it was closer to a romantic comedy than an action-adventure. Look at the[publicity photos](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1600&bih=763&q=lois+and+clark+the+new+adventures+of+superman&oq=lois+and+clark&gs_l=img.1.1.0l10.1311.4253.0.7400.14.8.0.6.6.0.93.646.8.8.0.msedr...0...1ac.1.64.img..0.14.728.Cp4JhnN8URc), for instance. Plus, if you want to make a series about being a superhero, you don’t give the girlfriend equal billing. ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/39 "2015-05-09T03:01:23Z")
So if Lois & Clark was a romance show what was The Flash than? ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453/40 "2015-05-10T23:18:25Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > Besides The Flash and Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman were there any other superhero shows going on in the 90’s? Superboy ran in syndication from 88 til 92. My Secret Identity, which was not based on existing superheros but about a teen (Jerry O’Connell) that loves superhero comics getting powers, ran 88 til 91. In 1997 they did a Justice League pilot, but it never aired or went to series. And Buffy totally counts as a superhero. She has powers and fights evildoers. You could also fit the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in here, and there was a (pretty bad) live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series at some point (which introduced a near universally hated female turtle, Venus DeMilo). Getting a little further afield, you could consider the TV versions of Highlander, the Crow, and Mortal Kombat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lois-clark-the-new-adventures-of-superman/719453.md?page=3)