The Flash

It just ran one season, 1990, and there were 22 episodes, including the 2hr pilot. It was heavily inspired by the recent Tim Burton Batman movies, even as far as a Danny Elfman theme. But still stylish, silly, and a lot of fun. They managed to capture the Barry Allen costume and not look silly, along with lots of innovative sets and lighting, and the effects were quite good for the time. The character was a mix of Barry Allen, killed off several years earlier in the comics, and Wally West, the current comic book Flash, and played by John Wesley Shipp. Amanda Pays played a sidekick/romantic interest fairly similar to her character on Max Headroom. Mark Hamill played the Trickster in two episodes (sidekick Prank seemed like a fairly direct reference to Joker & Harley Quinn), David Cassidy played Mirror Master in another. Another episode was a nice homage to the popular team-ups of "Golden Age" WWII era Flash with the modern day Flash in the comics, here a retired hero called the Prowler, complete with a deep-frozen villain of the originals. But, it was up against The Cosby Show and the Simpsons, got bounced around all over the place schedule-wise, and interrupted several times by Gulf War I. And it must been very expensive to produce. It never really had much of a chance.

This was a "cute and fun" show which stands out in my mind as one of the first and most unfortunate examples of network mismanagement I'd seen.

I recall The Flash being bounced around the schedule more than a superball without advance warning. If I recall correctly, the third or fourth week it aired it was already a rerun! To make matters worse, the show was often not aired in the slot advertised in the TV schedules (which, in 1990/91, before the net, was pretty much the only way to know what would be on). The worst example was once when I tuned in to see The Flash, I was just in time to see it going OFF! I called the local TV station about this who informed me that "it was moved an hour earlier at the last minute by the network". No new show could have survived this kind of treatment.

Oh, well. It was a show that was genuinely fun to watch and captured a true "comic book" feel. It died far too early.

Simply said, this series was too advanced for the simple minds watching TV when it aired back in the 90's. The sets were past, present and futuristic giving it a non-era look. The acting was very good and the costumes, sets and writing were added bonuses each week. This series ran for 22 episodes and included an incredible two parter with Mark Hamill playing the Trickster, a role he seemed destined to play. He made the Joker look like Mr. Rogers. David Cassidy, Angela Bassett, M. Emmet Walsh and even Bill(y) Mumy from the original Lost in Space series made guest appearances as NON-forgettable characters. There is positive word that this series will be making it's way to a DVD box set soon. cut & paste this to read more - http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=3816

This is something you can watch with your family and be entertained by great writing and visual stimulation.

The Pilot episode for the Flash TV series was the origin and was done very well. Barry Allen a scientist is working in a lab with many chemicals when lightning strikes through the window in which a small explosion occurs. What is so great about the origin is where he begins to discover how fast he is and how he learns to adapt to his new superpower. The discovering of his superspeed was done in a couple of semi-humorous situations. A scientist/physician (Amanda Pays -with big beautiful eyes) performs tests on him and helps him control his new found speed. She also gives him his costume so his clothes don't rip apart when he is running very fast. The subplot was fair to okay with The Flash catching a motorcycle gang who tries to take control of the city and killed his brother. - The rest of the series was up and down with good & bad scripts. Also the writers didn't do enough to build on the chemistry of Barry Allen and Christina McGee that was laid out in the pilot episode. John Wesley Shipp was an excellent choice to portray the Flash. The costume and the effects in the series were cool. The pilot can be found on video and the series has been occasionally shown on the SCI-FI channel.

The Flash was a great series and I'm sure it would've really hit its stride in its second season, if it would've HAD a second season. It wasn't given a fair chance. I loved that show but, like others have on this forum have said, it was bounced around the TV schedule like a rubber ball, and often preempted because of the Gulf War, which took precedence on the airwaves. The acting was great, the special effects were quite good for the time, and the episodes were quite entertaining. I own on the complete series on DVD now that it's available on DVD and I really enjoy watching episodes. I wonder if it will become a sort of cult classic....Or maybe it is already?