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 respect 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
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.
Casting Initially, LeVine so strongly felt that Dean Cain was too young for the part of Clark Kent/Superman that after Cain finished his audition and left the room, she snapped at the casting director, "We're casting Superman, not Superboy!" However, after auditioning over a hundred prospects with none of them standing out as perfect for the role, Cain was included among the handful who got a callback for the part. Kevin Sorbo was the runner up for the part and was nearly cast in the role until the producers changed their minds and went with Cain. 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.
After Lane Smith was cast for the part of Perry White, LeVine decided to replace the character's catchphrase from the comics with "Great shades of Elvis!", since she thought it implausible that a Southerner would ever say "Great Caesar’s ghost!". This led to Perry being portrayed as a consummate Elvis Presley fan.
John Shea was chosen for the part of Lex Luthor because he had the looks and charm of a romantic leading man; LeVine wanted a Lex Luthor who could serve as a romantic rival for Superman.
K Callan distinguished herself from the other actresses auditioning to play Martha Kent by wearing a pink track suit. Whereas the other actresses presented themselves as stereotypical farmers, Callan understood that the show's producers were looking for a modernized Martha Kent.
Series history
Season 1 (1993–1994)
Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain received critical praise for their performances. 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.
Season 2 (1994–1995) In season two, the character of Cat Grant was dropped, Lex Luthor was eliminated from the main cast and became an occasional guest character, and Michael Landes was replaced with Justin Whalin as Jimmy Olsen. The Olsen role was recast because the show's new producers felt that Landes was too similar to Dean Cain in age and type. Series creator Deborah Joy LeVine wanted Lex Luthor to remain a regular cast member, but the network felt that having Superman fight the same villain every week without ever defeating him ultimately made Superman seem inept, and preferred a rotating cast of villains which would give the characters a variety of threats to overcome. LeVine, the visual effects supervisor, and the entire first-season writing team were also dismissed. Robert Singer, who took over from the original executive producer just six episodes into the first season, planned a stronger focus on action; 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. Zarate filmed lasers and composited them into shots to create more realistic visuals of Superman's heat vision and X-ray vision. The destruction and rebuilding of the Daily Planet building at the end of season one also gave Singer an excuse to build a new Daily Planet set, one more suited to the production demands of a weekly television show.
Though there was no central villain this season, the criminal organization Intergang served as an overarching menace; nearly half of the villains this season were directly or indirectly affiliated with Intergang. The removal of Lex Luthor as the main villain also allowed other villains from the comics to appear (such as The Prankster, Metallo, and the Toyman, though they generally went by their civilian names rather than their supervillain codenames). This season also featured the debut of fan-favorite villain Tempus and H. G. Wells appeared as a time-traveler.
The new writing staff all enjoyed coming up with excuses for Clark to use to terminate conversations so that he could run off and change to Superman, so these excuses and Lois's increasing hurt and frustration at them were made both an ongoing subplot and running joke throughout the season. To further increase the romantic drama, the writers introduced recurring characters to serve as romantic rivals: Mayson Drake, a district attorney who takes a romantic interest in Clark but has a total lack of regard for Superman, and Dan Scardino, a DEA agent who is a self-professed "loose cannon" in the tradition of Martin Riggs. In the season finale, Clark proposes to Lois but Lois' response is not shown as a cliffhanger for the next season. Season two became a success and garnered higher ratings in its initial airings, ending the season in 58th place.
Season 3 (1995–1996) Season three averaged more than 18 million viewers per episode and ranked 44th for the season. Due to this strong performance, ABC renewed the series contract for an additional two seasons instead of just one.
In the premiere episode, Lois responds to Clark's marriage proposal by revealing that she figured out Clark's secret identity during the events of the season 2 finale, and she expresses concern about how she can trust him when he has kept that secret from her for so long. After they separate for a time, she and Clark carry out assignments where they either pose as a married couple or are alone together for an entire weekend, and they resolve their disagreements.