MovieChat Forums > Superboy (1988) Discussion > What channel was Superboy on?

What channel was Superboy on?

posted 19 years ago by MovieLover14
5 replies | jump to latest

Just curious, but what channel was Superboy on? I never heard of this show until tonight and I was just wondering. This show sounds like Smallville and I really like Smallville and I think it would be interesting to see Superboy. So if anyone could tell me that would be great, thanks!

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~Come, we must return. Those two fools who run my theatre will be missing you.~

[–] TheEighthDoctor 19 years ago

Superboy (for its first two seasons, later retitled as "The Adventures of Superboy" for its last two seasons) was a live-action, half hour TV series that aired on television as a first-run syndicated series from 1988-1992, ending at 100 episodes. Syndication means that it aired on which ever station that picked up the show, and was placed on whatever time slot that the station wanted to put it on (this show was not a network bound series; eg. airing on the NBC network, etc.).

To some people, it was a great TV series that really captured the look and feel of a comic book, and is considered by some as possible one of the most faithful adaptations of the Superman legend ever put on screen (even though this show was about Superboy). Some episodes of Superboy were even written by writers from comic books. Its mentioned that Superboy really hit its stride with the third and fourth seasons as the show really started to tell some great episodes. To others, its a cheap, hokey series that doesn't seem to be remembered. It wasn't a high budget series either. Superboy maybe considered even better than the other recent live action Superman TV series, ABC's Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993-1997) and today's Smallville TV series on the WB.

I haven't seen every episode, sadly, but I really didn't like the first season. Season 2 looked better (although there were some silly episodes), and I hope that seasons 3 and 4 really are as good as some people have said when I ever get to see them.

[–] MovieLover14 19 years ago

Thanks for the info, I was afraid no one would know. I might just check that show out sometime.

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~Come, we must return. Those two fools who run my theatre will be missing you.~

[–] TheEighthDoctor 19 years ago

Unfortunately, Superboy is not airing on TV at the moment, not even as reruns. Superboy was cancelled, in part, following a lawsuit filed by the studio Warner Brothers (the company that owned the Superman "family" of characters, and of course also owned DC Comics, the publishers of Superman) against the show's producers, Alexander & Ilya Salkind, who had leased the Superman movie & TV rights in the early 1970s and made the Superman film series (Superman, Superman II, Superman III, and the 1984 Supergirl movie; they did NOT produce 1987's Superman IV: The Quest for Peace).

Warner Brothers claimed that they had first shot at making a Superboy series (the show was originally distributed through Viacom, the mega company that owns CBS, Paramount Pictures, Spike TV, etc.). The case was settled in 1993 and the Superman film and TV rights officially reverted to WB. The Superboy TV series has not been rerun in North America ever since due to this legal situation, and has never been officially released on home video either.

Since regaining the Superman movie/TV rights, WB has been able to produce their own Superman TV shows like Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993-1997), Superman: The Animated Series (1996-2000), and currently TV's Smallville (2001-present). They have been trying to make a new Superman movie since 1995, and finally got a new movie produced with director Bryan Singer (X-Men, X2) for next year's release, Superman Returns.

[–] ItsEddieHaskellBeyotch 19 years ago

Back in the day during its original syndicated run in Chicago, Superboy ran on WPWR channel 50 before it was acquired by Paramount and became UPN. 1992 after its original run on channel 50, Superboy was repeated on the local FOX 32.

"This n!gga brought a muthaf#ckin raincoat!"

[–] urrutiap 16 years ago

I pretty much missed out on this show. I didn't have cable so I didnt get to watch this show but I did stay over at a relative's place back then and watched one episode and that was about it. Then today I find out that the show had alot of the classic villains from Metallo, Bizarro and even Mr Myzpsomething and the old origin of Lex losing his hair from a lab accident