This early live-action Spider-Man TV series has plenty of ’70s cheesiness, but it also delivered a decent adaptation of the character and deserved a longer run than CBS allowed for it.
What Is It?
Peter Parker is a university student who gains superpowers after getting bit by a spider that was turned radioactive by an experiment. He takes on the alter ego Spider-Man so that he can use his newfound abilities to fight crime.
Aired: CBS, 1977-79, 2 Seasons Totaling 13 Episodes
Developed By: Alvin Boretz
Starring: Nicholas Hammond, Michael Pataki, Robert F. Simon, Ellen Bry
Why Was It Cancelled?
In the late 70’s, CBS found success with the comic book-based shows Wonder Woman (which it picked up after the cancellation by ABC) and The Incredible Hulk and decided to dip into that well again with a live-action adaptation of Marvel’s Spider-Man. Like the Hulk’s show, Spider-Man began on TV as a well-rated television movie and then continued as a mid-season replacement series. Also like The Hulk, the Spider-Man series borrowed the basic origin story from the comics, but had very little connection to the source material beyond that. The first-year episodes delivered decent enough ratings that CBS decided to greenlight the shows for a second season. But the network execs apparently had a change of heart about the show at some point because they ordered only seven eps and aired those sporadically across the season. The episodes still pulled decent numbers, but the show had high production costs and also skewed to a younger audience, not scoring as well in the all-important 18-49 demographic. In addition, CBS wanted to avoid being tagged as the “comic book network” and ended up cancelling Spider-Man after its shortened second-year run.
While the show may never count as classic television, it was good fun for its day and did a decent enough job with the Spider-Man character. It does deliver a large dose of 70’s cheese and the special effects (which seemed impressive at the time) do not hold up as well. But the show still counts as a fun superhero adaptation and I always liked Nicholas Hammond as Peter Parker. It would have been nice if they had brought in some of the hero’s rogues gallery from the comics, and maybe done a cross-over with The Incredible Hulk. But neither the latter show nor Wonder Woman had done much in the way of mining their source material, so it is no surprise Spider-Man did not either (likely due to rights issues). CBS would also air pilots for Dr. Strange (more on that one at this link) and Captain America, but neither would continue as a series. And even though the network could have had its own Marvel Universe of shows (more on that at Cult-SciFi.com), its superhero purge left only The Incredible Hulk still on the schedule by the end of 1979. (And that show would get pushed out just a few years later.)
Should It Be Rebooted?
In the early ’80s, Bill Bixby suggested a TV movie in which the Hulk and Spider-Man would meet. That didn’t happen, though the Hulk did have three movies following its cancellation, two of which acted as back-door pilots for other Marvel characters (more on that at this link). The Spider-Man character would go on to have multiple animated shows over the subsequent decades, and he would also produce Box Office gold starting with 2002’s Spider-Man. A new live-action series with the character would certainly be nice, but that seems unlikely since he has become a big-screen star.
Where Can You Watch It?
Surprisingly, the Spider-Man series has yet to make it to DVD, but that is probably due to rights issues. It is also not streaming on any of the major services, but you can catch episodes on YouTube from time to time. And it’s worth giving them a look to enjoy a fun 1970’s superhero series that could be cheesy at times, but had plenty of potential.
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