Mister Terrific (TV series)

Mister Terrific
Genre	Sitcom
Directed by	Byron Chudnow Arthur Lubin
Starring	Stephen Strimpell Dick Gautier Paul Smith John McGiver
Voices of	Paul Frees
Theme music composer	Gerald Fried
Opening theme	"A scientist both wise and bold,..."
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	17
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jack Arnold
Producer(s)	Budd Grossman
Running time	25 mins.
Production company(s)	Universal Television
Distributor	Universal City Studios
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS (1967)
Original run	January 9, 1967 – August 27, 1967

Mister Terrific was an American TV sitcom that aired on CBS from January 9, to May 8, 1967. It starred Stephen Strimpell in the title role, and lasted 17 episodes. The show was similar to NBC's Captain Nice, which followed Mister Terrific on Monday nights during its run. Riding the tide of the camp superhero craze of the 1960s, the show's premise involved gas station attendant Stanley Beamish, a mild-mannered scrawny youth who secretly worked to fight crime for a government organization, The Bureau of Secret Projects, in Washington. All he needed to do was take a "power pill" which gave him the strength of a thousand men and enabled him to fly, much like Superman, (albeit by furious flapping while wearing the top half of a wingsuit.) Unfortunately, he was the only person on whom the pills worked. Furthermore, with each pill there was a time limit of one hour (like Underdog and DC Comics' Hourman). Much of the show's humor revolved around Stanley losing his superpowers before he completed his given assignment.

Stanley's government employers were Mr. Barton J. Reed and Mr. Harley Trent, and his day-job partner at the service station was Hal Walters. Stanley was sworn to secrecy concerning his alter-ego and superpowers.

Alan Young, who had just completed his run as Wilbur Post on Mister Ed, was the original choice to play Stanley Beamish, and appeared in the original 1966 unaired version of the pilot, which featured a different supporting cast.

Cast members

• Stanley Beamish/Mister Terrific, played by Stephen Strimpell
• Barton J. Reed, played by John McGiver
• Hal Walters, played by Dick Gautier
• Harley Trent, played by Paul Smith

Episode list

Episode #	Episode title	Original airdate
1-1	"Matchless"	January 9, 1967
1-2	"Mr. Big Curtsies Out"	January 16, 1967
1-3	"I Can't Fly"	January 23, 1967
1-4	"My Partner, the Jewel Thief"	January 30, 1967
1-5	"The Formula Is Stolen"	February 6, 1967
1-6	"Stanley the Safecracker"	February 20, 1967
1-7	"Stanley the Fighter"	February 27, 1967
1-8	"Stanley the Jailbreaker"	March 6, 1967
1-9	"Fly, Ballerina, Fly"	March 13, 1967
1-10	"Harley and the Killer"	March 20, 1967
1-11	"Stanley and the Mountaineers"	March 27, 1967
1-12	"Has Mr. Terrific Sold Out?"	April 3, 1967
1-13	"Stanely Goes To the Dentist"	April 10, 1967
1-14	"Stanley the Track Star"	April 17, 1967
1-15	"Try This On For Spies"	April 24, 1967
1-16	"Stanley Joins the Circus"	May 1, 1967
1-17	"The Sultan Has Five Wives"	May 8, 1967

• Some episodes were edited together and released as a movie entitled "The Pill Caper".

DVD release

The entire 17-episode series of Mr. Terrific was released commercially on DVD by Ufa/DVD in Germany under the title "Immer, wenn er Pillen nahm" (Whenever He Took Pills) on July 17, 2009. The episodes can be listened to in the original English or in German.

External links

• Mister Terrific at the Internet Movie Database
• Episode list