Top 10 (or so) TV Action Heroes From The Good Old Days

My last rave about The Six Million Dollar Man on DVD got me thinking... What's happened to TV? We only had three channels to choose from when I was growing up, and that was if we could get the rabbit ears adjusted correctly. A lot of the shows we watched may have been corny, but they were fun. Who wants reality?... I have to deal with reality all day long.

So, since everyone seems to like a good top 10 list, I'll throw out one of my own. Hey programming exec's, take note... we could use a few heroes like these every once in a while...

Top 10 (or so) TV Action Heroes From The Good Old Days

15. Ralph Hinkley, The Greatest American Hero (William Katt)
A school teacher turned super hero with the help of a magical suit given to him by aliens. Clumsy and quirky, but still kinda cool. The best part of the show is actually the theme song by Joey Scarbury. I can still hear George Costanza singing it on his answering machine.

14. Colt Seavers, The Fall Guy (Lee Majors)
Who wouldn't want to be a stunt man and bounty hunter... come on.

13. B.J. McKay, B.J. and the Bear (Greg Evigan)
What a cool role model... a trucker with a monkey. I had my sights set high back then.

12. Captain Caveman, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels (Voiced by Mel Blanc)
A super crime fighter with a cool, ass-kickin', high flyin' club, and just about anything you could ever want hidden in his hair. And besides, he had his own little band of hotties... this guy was a stud.

11. B.A. Baracus, The A-Team (Mr. T)
"Sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit"... Good life lesson here kids, the system doesn't work, so always take matters into your own hands. Sure, B.A. wouldn't fly, and Murdock drove him crazy... but so what? The guy knew how to take care of business. By the way, Mr. T got his break in 1982 in what now would be considered a reality show ..."The World's Toughest Bouncer". Anyone remember that one? Not a bad career for Clubber Lang.

10. Apollo, Battlestar Galactica (Richard Hatch)
Killing Cylons and searching for earth with the "rag-tag fugitive fleet". This guy was the responsible, level headed Viper starfighter pilot... the one all of the kids were supposed to look up to (Don't worry, we'll get to the fun one later). Was this a rip off of Star Wars? Of course, but who cared? The best ideas are always the ones stolen from someone else anyways, right Mr. Gates? Besides, the Cylons were sweet with that scanning light for an eye.

9. Hong Kong Phooey, Hong Kong Phooey (Voiced by Scatman Crothers)
This guy was a bumbling fool yet always thought he had everything completely under control. Thanks to his cat Spot he always got the job done. If only we could all live in that happy little world, while our friends continually bailed us out of trouble. Hey, wait.... I know a few people like that.

8. Jaime Sommers, The Bionic Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man (Lindsey Wagner)
Sweet, wholesome, charming...... and she could KICK YOUR ASS! Hmmm....I think I need to go buy a Select Comfort Bed.

7. Hannibal Smith, The A-Team (George Peppard)
So what if I have two members of the A-Team on the list? I should have all four here. The show was a classic. I have never seen so many gunshots and explosions without anyone ever getting hurt. Hannibal was smooth, and was there ever any doubt that his plans would always come together?

6. Starbuck, Battlestar Galactica (Dirk Benedict)
Starbuck was the smoking, drinking, gambling, partying, fun loving pilot that knew how to live. Pretty smooth with the ladies, too. Dirk also gets bonus points for being the Faceman on the A-Team. Shout out to Murdock... You should be on the list too, but I'm too lazy to make it any bigger.

5. Bo & Luke Duke, The Dukes of Hazzard (John Schneider and Tom Wopat)
Isn't it great when the cops are the bad guys, while the local unemployed farm boys took care of the whole county. Cooter must have been one hell of a mechanic (Did they really call him Cooter???), or else that was one tough Charger. It's estimated that they used 309 General Lee's during the run of the show. By the way, why didn't someone explain to all of those 10 year old kids back then that they were taking racist lunch boxes to school every day?

4. Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman (Lyndia Carter)
Welcome to puberty. What, did she...um...catch bad guys or something? I really didn't notice.

3. Batman, Batman (Adam West)
Batman went off the air before I was even born, but thankfully the reruns stayed on long enough for me to become addicted. He had all the cool toys... The mansion, the Batmobile, the Bat Boat, the Bat Copter... And what I wouldn't give even today to have my own Bat Cave.

2. Steve Austin, The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman (Lee Majors)
I had all action figures. Steve had a magnifying glass for an eye. Oscar Goldman had an exploding briefcase. Bigfoot's chest plate would pop off when he was punched. When these guys combined forces with G.I. Joe, Action Jackson, and the Johnny West gang they were unstoppable. My sister's Ken dolls got their asses kicked so often they were afraid to leave their Dreamhouse.

1. Arthur Fonzarelli, Happy Days (Henry Winkler)
I know, Happy Days wasn't an action show. The Fonz transcends all boundaries, though. Come on, haven't you ever smacked the wall just to see if you could get the light to turn on?

Even today the Fonz is the defining standard for coolness...
"Good Lord, I'm getting a reading of over forty Megafonzies!"... Professor Farnsworth


Man I miss these shows.... We have 2000 channels to pick from today, and almost all of it is a bunch of crap. What time does Riptide come on, anyways?