See the picture above? If you don't recognize the characters, certainly, you recognize the suit. Or...the basis for the suit. For those of you that don't know, GAH was a show about a teacher named Ralph Hinkley who was given a suit by some aliens and told to go do good stuff. He had a sidekick who just happened to be a FBI agent named Bill Maxwell...and a hot girlfriend. Named Pam. Well, the show ran for like 3 years in the 80's and then was relegated to TV limbo.
I watched this show religiously with my mom. LOVED IT. To this day, I can't say the word "scenario" without thinking of the show. Look it up on Wiki. Get educated. It's classic silly TV at it's very best. Now, I'll admit I'm not a GAH nerd. I don't know all the intricacies of the show. Or the mythology. But what I do know I turned into a really great "Where Are They Now?" concept.
Here's the thing. The suit protects Ralph. It also gives him the ability to fly. About 6 years into having the suit...he realizes something horrible. He's not aging. At all. The suit's effect on gravity has made him literally freeze in time whenever it's on. And when is it on? All the time. Under his clothes. His marriage to Pam dissolves quickly. He loves her with all of his heart. He wants to be with her. But as lines and gray hair catch up with her...he's still 29. Or whatever. Worse yet, Bill passes from natural causes. (The actor that played Bill, Robert Culp, also passed not long ago.) Ralph has lost his only two friends and confidants. He becomes a recluse. Never leaving his apartment. Unless it's to do something heroic and even that is becoming few and far between.
Anyway...the fact that he's not doing anything of much importance comes to the attention of the aliens that gave him his suit. They are pissed. But here's the grabber! Wait for it...Are they pissed because he's squandered away this oppurtunity to do good and save people? No...the are mad because the RATINGS ARE IN THE TOILET!!!
Didn't see that coming did you?
See, this is the thing. This whole time, Ralph has thought he was a hero. Doing good, helping people. He has even paid the price to do what he sees as his duty. Turns out the whole time he was only the star of an intergalactic reality show. Enter the Programmers.
The aliens were never really thinking it would get this far. When tried on other worlds, the contestants...or stars or whatever, had died waaaaay early in the process. That was the schtick. Give them the suit. Make it so they "lose" the instruction book...hilarity ensues. Now, with Ralph stuck doing nothing, with no real action going on between the heroics...well, no one is watching. All the viewers who had tuned in to watch him die have tuned out. The aliens want two things...they want a "series finale" and they want the suit back. Now.
This of course brings in intergalactic bounty hunters, villians, and even more. And perhaps a rouge programmer who only wants to help Ralph beat the odds. What would get better ratings then redemption and triumph? Exactly.
Ralph gets an updated suit. Remains a teacher, but this time at a middle school full of junior high age kids. New FBI agent, who Bill trusted with the info upon his death. Pam could still be there as a supporter and someone on his side. You get the idea.
So, there you go NBC. It combines all the hot stuff right now. Super Heroes. Reality TV. Intergalactic papparrazzi. Good stuff. Maybe one day I'll right the story out. But sometimes ideas are just that.
