What Might've Been: Mr. Terrific (1967)

 We originally did a piece on this next item a few years ago, but it wound up deleted when the video was taken down by YouTube. Well, let's try this again.

In the spring of 1966, CBS, seeing the success ABC had with Batman, wanted their piece of the action. The first pilot for Mr. Terrific had a different cast, and its protagonist, Stanley Beamish, was a shoe salesman instead of a gas station owner. Alan Young, fresh from Mister Ed, had signed on to the project.

However, it didn't test well, and a 2nd pilot was ordered. Young was replaced by Stephen Strimpell, a relative newcomer, with John McGiver (ex-Many Happy Returns) as Stanley's government contact. Dick Gautier was Stanley's business partner.

The animated open had a poem recited by Paul Frees (ex-The Millionaire):

The fact that Mr. Terrific and NBC's Captain Nice both bombed out should've been a sign that the camp hero craze was already suffering from fatigue.

No rating.