Shark Bytes

This show was all about Ferrigno. He had the right look that was believable to the kids (the primary audience for this show). I don't think Bixby in the role of Banner contributed much to the success of the show- the Banner character wasn't of much interest to the kids. I think Bixby's enduring television role was Eddie's Dad in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father", which was on prime time when I was a kid.

This show was so repititious. The only reason kids watched it was to see Ferrigno flex and throw things. Sort of was a 1970s version of Friday night wrestling.

it went to junk after the eposode the first part one and two david meets his rival the demented del frye and his equally demented creature by rights this should have been the last either david should have made a cure or frye's creature should have killed him

I think the whole point of producer Ken Johnson's idea for the show was that to follow the marvel comic literally would have made for a show that could not last. My guess is, he was right about that. The comic and the show are two different entities, but I don't think that lowers the enjoyability quotient of either.

As this show was in some ways too far removed from the characters created by Marvel Comics, I am sadly going to vote jumped on day one.

I'd've loved to see that, too. I think there could have been some really good eps coming out of the idea of McGee catching up to Banner, and what might have happened from there. I wish the series could have gone on for another season or two to have allowed that to take place (maybe).

Dr. Banner in this show was quite a slacker. Instead of trying to find a cure, he chooses to be homeless. I wanted to see McGee catch up to Banner and convince Banner try to deal with his Hulk persona, instead of trying to run away from it.

Yeah, absolutely. Jack Colvin was a really good actor, and I would have loved to see McGee developed to another level on the series. It's too bad it was cancelled before that could happen.

This was such a depressing show to watch. The superhero is reduced to a bigfoot type legend who's secret identity is a loner homeless person.

I was hoping that the writers would take the story lines to more interesting levels. Never happened.

It seem plausable that McGee would evolve into a more supporting sidekick type character, since he seemed to be the only mainstream person who believed the Hulk existed. It got old with McGee chasing the Hulk, with McGee still thinking the Hulk is a "killer". Surely McGee would have noticed that the Hulk was benefiting the good guys and only harming the bad guys.

There are some indications in some of the episodes near the end that he does begin to suspect just that, but the show was abruptly canceled before anything came of it.

There are rumors that Ken Johnson, the producer, planned to have McGee discover David Banner's identity, and then have events take place that would have forced McGee to have to go on the run with Banner, and been his ally in helping Banner find a cure. But the three sequel tv movies after the Hulk's cancellation did nothing with this, and of course, McGee's character--oddly--wasn't even in the final two movies.

I just think Mcgee had to be the stupidest person in the world if he never once supspected that Banner was the Hulk.

Personally, I don't think The Incredible Hulk ever really jumped the shark. Admittedly, the series had its share of mediocre episodes, but great episodes such as "Prometheus", "The First", and "The Harder They Fall" were helpful in getting past that (if only temporarily).

I share the opinion of many fans that the Hulk should have gotten a proper send-off. It could have gotten an appropriate ending, but unfortunately the powers-that-be at CBS abruptly canceled it during production of season five.

With seven episodes already in the can for season five, Johnson tried to convince CBS to let them film six more episodes, so that the series could have at least half a season. The network, however, declined his request.

Also, as mentioned in Lou Ferrigno's 2003 autobiography (My Incredible Life as the Hulk), Bill Bixby talked to other networks about carrying the series (obviously NBC and ABC, since they were the only other primetime networks in existence back then). But unfortunately, no deal could be reached in time to make that possible.

And that's too bad. Had another network been able to acquire the show, there would have been a full fifth season, and maybe a sixth. I felt that the show still had more life left in it.

How many people remember the old "Mad Magazine" parody of this? Starts out with Banner saying to McGee, "Don't make me angry...you wouldn't like me when I'm angry", and McGee shoots back, "I'm not too crazy about you when you're happy..." Classic stuff, I wonder if the cast members ever read it. Would have been funny if they'd shot a joke episode from it.

"Prometheus" was probably the single best episode--well actually two best, as it was a two parter. I thought the 'half-Hulk' was scary as crap, they actually should've used that makeup for the Hulk full-time. Also, the acting was really good in this one, the story started to seem very real and intense. They should've built from this episode, but it seemed as though the writers didn't really do anything with it in later stories.

Isn't it just about time for somebody else to say "Don't make me angry; you wouldn't like me when I'm angry" here for the umpteenth time?

Well, there--I just said it for you, and saved y'all the trouble.

Seriously, I liked The Hulk a lot too. It really did try to be a little bit different from the wave of comic book superhero adaptations that were hitting the airwave around that time. (One reason I didn't like The Return of The Incredible Hulk movie was because the producers caved and put a really stupid version of Thor in it. Not only was that dumb move out of sync with the premise of the series, it wasn't even good comic book. Just campy, trying to do some 'Batman' sort of thing. It was so bad I can see why the actor who played McGee probably said "no thanks" to the two subsequent films.) I wish the cast members, apart from Ferrigno, had lived long enough to do a right wrap-up for the show--supposedly Ferrigno has said he'd've loved to do another Hulk film, but without Bill Bixby it just wouldnt't have felt right to him.