As an award-winning journalist, professor, and director of documentaries, Brian Calfano believes that society can learn much from some of our most popular TV shows from the past. He uses the American comedy-drama superhero television series, The Greatest American Hero, as just one example. This popular series ran from 1981 until 1983 and highlighted how two people from opposite ends of the political and social spectrum came together to do good for the world—even though they weren’t always sure how.
Calfano believes this sitcom from the past can be a metaphor for our current political climate, where people with different ideologies can still work together for the greater good.
TV Can Reflect Real Life!
Brian Calfano is passionate about television as an artistic form that draws inspiration from life. This is true in TV’s most serious forms of news reporting and documentary films, where he has been a political analyst for Spectrum News 1 Ohio, responsible for studio commentary on breaking political news. In today’s politically divided society, where anger and polarization seem to reign, he believes we can revisit nostalgic TV shows like The Greatest American Hero and instead strive to pursue a life that imitates art.
This series chronicles a school teacher who crosses paths with a group of aliens with superhuman powers. Ralph Hinkley (actor William Katt) becomes the show’s star and #1 superhero. He learns how to manage his new powers through trial and error, often with hilarious results, and eventually joins forces with the FBI to fight crime and injustice worldwide.
While we can’t wear a superhero costume to effect superpowers, Calfano believes society can adorn a superhero’s attitude. What if we respectfully reject the political stereotypes and anger to address our concerns, like superheroes looking to save the world? This rejection of stereotypes can empower us to think independently and act in ways that truly benefit society.
The Everyday Super Hero
Nostalgia, or a sentimental longing for the past, can be a potent effector of change. We often long for the personal moods, community regard, and national well-being associated with former times and past lives. While Calfano admits that political division always was and will always be, he simply doesn’t believe it has to be filled with the rife and widespread hatred of the opposite parties that is now predominant.
Revolutions happen daily, from grassroots efforts to politicians who do the right thing, even if it goes against party leadership or political changemakers. Brian Calfano’s documentary, “Al Primo & His Eyewitness Revolution,” is an example of how the early days of television news revolutionized communities and empowered people to act by discovering the behind-the-scenes stories of TV’s own revolution from the people who were there.
We all can be everyday superheroes by challenging political divisiveness and rejecting the negative feedback loop of hatred, which, by the way, leaves the U.S. open to manipulation by foreign powers and inspires lone-wolf terrorist events. Take a fond look back on some of America’s most beloved sitcoms to revisit a time when the superhero was found in everyday people. It’s a reminder that we, as ordinary citizens, have the power to make a difference.
Taking political power to extremes is not the answer to reducing the national deficit or removing illegal aliens. Maybe politicians need to take a page from The Greatest American Hero script and start being a hero for the people and a fighter for what’s right.
