''Superboy'' is an American television series based on the fictional
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
character
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
's early years as
Superboy. The show ran from 1988–1992 in
syndication. It was renamed ''The Adventures of Superboy'' at the start of the third season.
Series overview
''Superboy'' was conceived as a way to utilize one of the licenses that father-son duo
Alexander Salkind and
Ilya Salkind had been in possession of for over a decade. In order to produce the
first entry in the ''Superman'' series of films starring
Christopher Reeve, the Salkinds had to pay Warner Bros. a fee to license the intellectual property. This license extended to various other properties in the franchise.
Although they sold the rights to use the Superman license to
The Cannon Group, Alexander and Ilya still possessed a license to make other productions based on different characters. After failing with a film
based on Supergirl in the mid-1980s, they decided to try again with Superboy and developed a series for syndication that launched in the fall of 1988.
Season 1
The first season of the series, which began airing in October 1988, focused on
Clark Kent / Superboy (
John Haymes Newton), his childhood friend and love interest
Lana Lang (
Stacy Haiduk) and his college roommate T.J. White (Jim Calvert), son of ''
Daily Planet'' editor
Perry White.
Scott James Wells played Superboy's nemesis
Lex Luthor. Clark's adoptive parents,
Jonathan and
Martha Kent
Jonathan Kent and Martha Kent (often referred to as "Pa" and "Ma" Kent, respectively) are fictional characters in American comic books published by DC Comics. They are the adoptive parents of Superman, and live in the rural town of Smallville (co ...
, were portrayed by
Stuart Whitman and
Salome Jens, respectively.
Thirteen episodes were initially filmed for Season 1, beginning with "Countdown to Nowhere". This episode featured Superboy's first public appearance as he prevents a group of saboteurs from selling a powerful laser weapon developed by the U.S. government to an arms dealer. "Countdown to Nowhere" aired in two versions: an "uncut" version in which the story plays in the present day and a second version in which the main story is introduced as a flashback through two additional scenes with Lana, Clark and T.J. The second version contained some scenes cut from the main story in order to fit the flashback lead-ins into the episode. This episode is the first episode of the series chronologically, but was the fifth one that was aired in most markets. It also appears as the fifth episode on the first season DVD set. The first season's story editor was
Fred Freiberger, who also scripted a few episodes.
The first thirteen episodes of ''Superboy'' were rather crude compared to later episodes. The producers, not sure whether any additional episodes would be ordered, did their best to save money on the first thirteen. As a result, the special effects are a bit rougher and the episodes have a grittier, real-world feel to them. This brought about more character-oriented stories and stories with more ordinary villains like drug dealers and crime bosses.
After thirteen additional episodes were ordered for the first season, special effects improved and the show took on a more professional look. More fantastic enemies were introduced, such as an unnamed gaseous alien, who could possess the bodies of others in "The Alien Solution", a life-force vampire in "Succubus" and long-time Superman villain
Mister Mxyzptlk (guest star
Michael J. Pollard) in "Meet Mr. Mxyzptlk".
Superboy's nemesis,
Lex Luthor, was introduced in "The Jewel of Techechal" (the first episode broadcast) as Clark's classmate at Shuster University. This version of Luthor was more interested in fixing basketball games and humiliating Superboy than anything else. The season one finale, "Luthor Unleashed", completely changed his character. This episode adapted Lex Luthor's
silver age comic book origin, in which Superboy rescues Lex from a lab accident that causes him to lose all of his hair, becoming the familiar bald villain Superman fans have come to recognize. Luthor blames Superboy for his hair loss and gains a new, more intense hatred for the Boy of Steel. From this point on in the series, Luthor is determined to destroy Superboy, rather than just humiliate him.
Season 2
In the second season, drastic changes took place. Newton was replaced by
Gerard Christopher in the lead role. In an interview with The Superman Homepage, Newton revealed that it was his decision to leave the series, but the producers asked him several times to return to his role. He also added that he asked for a raise of salary (about 20%) that he had been promised earlier, but was denied when filming for the second season began. A new direction was made with the second season's stories guided by executive story consultants
Mark Jones and
Cary Bates.
Scott Wells was also replaced as Lex Luthor by
Sherman Howard. The change in Luthor's appearance was explained in the second season opener "With This Ring, I Thee Kill". The two-part episode revealed Luthor had plastic surgery to assume the appearance of Warren Eckworth, the wealthy inventor of the "Superboy Gun", which Luthor believed could kill Superboy. The character of T.J. White was written out of the series (he went to work for the ''
Daily Planet'') and Andy McCalister, portrayed by
Ilan Mitchell-Smith, became Clark's new roommate. Andy was different from T.J. and was constantly looking to make money with his get-rich-quick schemes. He also flirted with Lana frequently and his advances were always refused, though Lana did consider Andy a friend.
The villains were amped up in the second season, as additional comic book characters were introduced to the series, many of them appearing for the first time in live-action.
Metallo (
Michael Callan),
Bizarro (Barry Meyers) as well as the
Yellow Peri (
Elizabeth Keifer) appeared in the second season and
Mister Mxyzptlk (Pollard) made a return appearance.
Gilbert Gottfried appeared in two episodes as a nasty, wisecracking criminal genius named "Nick Knack" who used toys to commit crimes (a reference to the
Toyman). Another character was a
dhampir who found a way through a serum to gain human abilities such as repelling his craving for blood and gaining a tolerance for sunlight. Thus, he became a friend of both Superboy and Lana but would become villainous if doing without the serum for too long.
Philip Michael Thomas also made an appearance as a medieval alchemist who survived into modern times in order to battle a sorcerer spreading plague, and aided Superboy when he was infected by said disease. The episode "Superboy... Rest in Peace" featured guest star
Betsy Russell, who was reunited with series star Gerard Christopher for the first time since the two had worked together previously in the 1985 film ''
Tomboy''. Also notable is the guest star appearance of former
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
actor
George Lazenby and
Bond girl actress
Britt Ekland as aliens disguised as Superboy's Kryptonian father and mother,
Jor-El
Jor-El is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, Jor-El first appeared in the Superman (comic strip), ''Superman'' newspaper comic strip in 1939.
Jor-El is Supe ...
and
Lara, in two episodes, "Abandon Earth" and "Escape to Earth".
Season 3
With the third season, the series saw more changes. The show's title officially became ''The Adventures of Superboy'' and the setting shifted from Shuster University to The Bureau for Extra-Normal Matters in Capitol City, Florida, where Clark and Lana were interns. The Bureau is depicted as a government agency which investigates paranormal activities and aliens, including Superboy (this format change pre-dates the concept of the television series ''
The X-Files'').
Andy McCalister was dropped from the series, though
Ilan Mitchell-Smith would make a final guest appearance in the episode "Special Effects", which explained his disappearance by saying that Andy went to intern at a movie studio. The new supporting cast consisted of Clark and Lana's co-worker at the Bureau, Matt Ritter (Peter Jay Fernandez) and the Bureau chief C. Dennis Jackson (Robert Levine).
The tone of the series changed dramatically as darker stories were produced and the overall look of the series took on many characteristics of
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...
. A few journalists at the time suggested that this darker look was largely due to the success of
Tim Burton
Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and producer. Known for popularizing Goth subculture, Goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his Gothic film, gothic horror and dark fantasy films. ...
's ''
Batman
Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
'' film from a year prior. Many stories dealt with more mature themes, a change new producer Julia Pistor implemented. In "Rebirth", Superboy is confronted with the possibility that he may have accidentally taken a human life and gives up his Superboy identity in guilt. "Carnival" shows a demonic individual named 'Deville' trying to acquire Superboy's eternal soul by tempting him to give in and kill a man who is implied to be a rapist. "Mindscape" deals with Superboy's deepest fears as an alien life-form brings those fears to life in Superboy's nightmares while simultaneously draining his life energy. "Roads Not Taken" shows the different paths Superboy's life may have taken, as Superboy travels to alternate earths where his life is very different. He meets a version of himself who killed Luthor in a fit of rage and another who has become a despotic ruler of earth. The alternate version of Superboy who took Luthor's life was shown wearing a black leather jacket and sunglasses which bears some resemblance to the Conner Kent version of Superboy as he first appeared in the "
Death of Superman" storyline. The third season ended with the two-part episode "The Road to Hell" with former TV
Tarzan Ron Ely
Ronald Pierce Ely (June 21, 1938 – September 29, 2024) was an American actor and novelist, best known for portraying Tarzan in the 1966–1968 NBC series ''Tarzan (1966 TV series), Tarzan'' and playing the lead role in the film ''Doc Savage: ...
guest-starring as an adult, retired Man of Steel from an alternate reality.
Season 4
The fourth season maintained the darker look and feel of the third one and was the first in which no major cast changes took place.
Noel Neill and
Jack Larson made guest appearances in the episode "Paranoia" as employees of the Bureau for Extra-Normal Matters. Neill had originated the role of
Lois Lane in the 1948 ''
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
'' and 1950 ''
Atom Man vs. Superman'' film serials and replaced
Phyllis Coates in the role in the 1950s ''
Adventures of Superman'' TV series before originating the role of Lois' mother, Ella/Ellen Lane, in 1978's ''
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
''; Larson co-starred as
Jimmy Olsen in ''Adventures of Superman'' with Neill. The trend of more mature stories also continued in episodes such as "To Be Human", in which Bizarro becomes human, only to be forced to give up his humanity to save Superboy's life and "Into the Mystery", in which a mystical, ghostly woman, apparently an angel of death, leads Superboy to his dying aunt's bedside. A memorable Luthor tale, "Know Thine Enemy", appeared in this season, featuring Superboy re-living Luthor's tortured memories of childhood via "psychodisk" while Luthor threatened to destroy all life on Earth.
Series end
In 1991, higher-ups at DC had begun to conceive a new, more modern Superman series based on
John Byrne's 1986 reset of the comic's canon, a move that resulted in Clark Kent never becoming Superboy. DC President
Jenette Kahn began work with Warner Bros. executives
Deborah Joy LeVine and
Les Moonves on the series. Meanwhile, in the fall of that year, ''Superboy'' began its fourth and final season with the intention of continuing the story through a series of telefilms. The final episode, which was to be called "Obituary For a Superhero", would end on a cliffhanger with Superboy's fate unknown; the telefilms would see his return and bring the series to a conclusion.
Before production could begin on the intended finale,
ABC agreed to take on the new Superman series that had been in development at Warner Bros.; although ''
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' would not debut on television until the following season, Warner Bros. contacted the Salkinds and informed them that their Superman licenses would be cancelled at the end of the 1991-92 television season. This decision forced the writers of ''Superboy'' to come up with a definitive finale to close out the fourth season, since Warner Bros.' decision meant that the planned series of telefilms would have to be scrapped. "Obituary for a Superhero" was rewritten
and aired on April 26, 1992. The final episode, titled "Rites of Passage", aired in two parts on May 10 and 17, 1992, and featured a story where Clark faced the potential of losing his superpowers and never becoming Superman.
Afterward, Alexander and Ilya decided to challenge Warner Bros. in court over the termination of their licensing agreement, eventually reaching a settlement in 2005. As per the terms of the settlement, Warner Bros. retained all of the rights to the past and future ''Superman'' franchise television series and films with the exception of ''Superman IV'', which at the time had its rights owned by
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
through its acquisition of the assets of the now-defunct Cannon Group (those rights have since passed to Warner Bros.). As far as ''Superboy'' was concerned, the Salkinds and Warner Bros. agreed to divide the ownership of the series three ways. As of 2023, those rights are shared between Ilya Salkind,
StudioCanal,
Paramount Global
Paramount Global (Trade name, d/b/a Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and Headquarters, headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, ...
, and Warner Bros.; in the former two instances, Ilya inherited Alexander's stake in the production after he died in 1997, while StudioCanal purchased the Salkinds' production company following its dissolution. In the latter two, Paramount Global's distribution arm,
CBS Media Ventures, holds the rights to distribute reruns of ''Superboy'' in the United States while Warner Bros. holds international distribution rights as well as worldwide home video distribution rights.
Cast
Main
*
John Haymes Newton (season 1) and
Gerard Christopher (season 2–4) as
Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superboy
*
Stacy Haiduk as
Lana Lang
*
Ilan Mitchell-Smith (season 2; guest: season 3) as Andy McCalister
* Jim Calvert (season 1) as Trevor Jenkins "T.J." White
*Peter Jay Fernandez (season 3–4) as Matt Ritter
* Robert Levine (season 3–4) as C. Dennis Jackson
Recurring
*
Scott James Wells (season 1) and
Sherman Howard (season 2–4) as
Lex Luthor
*
George Chakiris (season 1–2) as Professor Peterson
*
Zevi Wolmark (season 3–4) as Christopher Grimes
Guest
*
George Lazenby as
Jor-El
Jor-El is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, Jor-El first appeared in the Superman (comic strip), ''Superman'' newspaper comic strip in 1939.
Jor-El is Supe ...
*
Britt Ekland as
Lara
*
Stuart Whitman as
Jonathan Kent
*
Salome Jens as
Martha Kent
Jonathan Kent and Martha Kent (often referred to as "Pa" and "Ma" Kent, respectively) are fictional characters in American comic books published by DC Comics. They are the adoptive parents of Superman, and live in the rural town of Smallville (co ...
* Barry Meyers as
Bizarro
*
Michael Callan as
Roger Corben / Metallo
*
Michael J. Pollard as
Mister Mxyzptlk
* Denise Gossett as
Lena Luthor
** Jennifer Hawkins as young Lena Luthor
*
Gilbert Gottfried as Nick Knack
* Michael Manno as Leo
* Roger Pretto as Lt. Zeke Harris
*
Tracy Roberts as Darla
*
Philip Michael Thomas as
Brimstone
*
Ron Ely
Ronald Pierce Ely (June 21, 1938 – September 29, 2024) was an American actor and novelist, best known for portraying Tarzan in the 1966–1968 NBC series ''Tarzan (1966 TV series), Tarzan'' and playing the lead role in the film ''Doc Savage: ...
as
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
Episodes
Production
The ''Superboy'' series was brought to the screen by executive producers
Ilya and
Alexander Salkind, the producers of the first three ''
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
'' films and the
1984 ''
Supergirl
Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. Th ...
'' film. This series and the release of the 1988 ''
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
'' animated series on
CBS coincided with the 50th anniversary celebrations of the
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
character that year. Ironically, the series came about a year after DC Comics had
"erased" the character of
Superboy from their continuity in ''
The Man of Steel''
reboot by
John Byrne. Nevertheless, the show went on in October 1988 with
John Haymes Newton playing the lead role of
Clark Kent
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
/
Superboy, along with
Stacy Haiduk as love interest
Lana Lang and Jim Calvert as Clark's college roommate T.J. White. In the Philippines, the series premiered on
People's Television Network on September 4, 1989.
''Superboy'' was the first weekly TV series to be produced at the then new
Disney/MGM Studios. For the second season onward, the series moved several miles up
Interstate 4
Interstate 4 (I-4) is an Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Florida, maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). Spanning along a generally southwest–northeast axis ...
to
Universal Studios Florida
Universal Studios Florida is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida, that opened on June 7, 1990. Owned and operated by NBCUniversal, it features numerous rides, attractions, and live shows that are primarily themed to movies, television, and ...
, the largest motion picture and television-sound facility outside Hollywood, where it was then showcased as that studio's first weekly television product.
At first, much of the action centered around stories that Clark and T.J. reported on for the college newspaper, the ''Shuster Herald''. All the exterior scenes shot at "Shuster University" are actually filmed on the main
campus of the
University of Central Florida. Siegelville, however, was depicted as a coastal city, as evidenced by imagery of both the new and old
Sunshine Skyway Bridges (
Interstate 275) in
St. Petersburg, Florida in the opening credits.
''Superboy'' was scripted by many actual comic-book writers. Superman editors
Mike Carlin and
Andrew Helfer penned several episodes, such as "The Alien Solution", its sequel "Revenge of the Alien" and "The Bride of Bizarro". Other comic book writers that contributed to the series include
Denny O'Neil,
Cary Bates,
J. M. DeMatteis and
Mark Evanier.
Clark Kent/Superboy attends the Siegel School of Journalism at Shuster University in Shusterville, Florida – names which reference Superman's creators,
Jerry Siegel and
Joe Shuster.
Comic book tie-in
DC Comics published a tie-in comic book series during the TV show's run, launching the comic during the TV series' second season. ''Superboy'' (Volume 2) is different from any other Superman or Superboy titles in that it is set in the continuity of the ''Superboy'' television series, as opposed to the regular
DC Universe
The DC Universe (DCU) is the shared universe in which most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. In context, the term "DC Universe" usually refers to the main DC Continuity (fiction), continuity. It contains v ...
. Its intent was to explore some of the unseen tales and events that the TV series could not. The series originally carried the cover title ''Superboy: The Comic Book'' with issue #1 having a photo cover with the show's stars
Gerard Christopher and
Stacy Haiduk (dated Feb. 1990), although the title in the indicia was simply ''Superboy''. After issue #11, the series changed its cover title to ''The Adventures of Superboy'' as the TV series itself had changed titles starting with season three, and the change was reflected in the comic book's indicia beginning with #18. The series was published monthly until it went bi-monthly for its final three issues, remained in publication for 22 issues to the end of 1991 (cover dated Feb. 1992), and a concluding one issue special in 1992.
Home media
Bootleg VHS and DVDs
Some time after the series' cancellation, there was a dispute over what rights to the character the Salkinds actually owned. For a time this prevented any official
home video
Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...
release of the series. Between 1992 and 2006 the only way to see ''Superboy'' in the United States was by ordering
bootleg VHS and
DVD copies of the series sold on
eBay and other websites. The audio and video quality of these copies varied.
In 1999, Gerard Christopher began offering three VHS tapes of the series created from his personal master tapes (Christopher has masters of all of the episodes he starred in, Seasons 2–4). Each video tape featured four selected episodes from Seasons 3 and 4. A fourth VHS video tape was released by Christopher in 2002. Christopher sold these video tapes on his website by mail order and at personal appearances when attending various
comic book conventions and shows.
In response to overwhelming fan demand, Christopher decided to offer all ''Superboy'' episodes on DVD, offering a complete Season 2 set on DVD in early June 2004 and planned to sell complete sets of Seasons 3 and 4 in the future. When
Warner Home Video announced the official release of Season 1, Christopher announced that his self-produced DVD sets would no longer be available on his website in 2005, with the planned DVD releases for Seasons 3 and 4 cancelled.
Aftermath of the first legal battle
In an interview for the webpage supermanhomepage.com, Salkind revealed that the legal battle between the three companies involved in the series' production (Viacom, Warner Bros. and the Salkinds) was the reason the show was not re-run on television or released to home video. This dispute was settled circa 2005, allowing the series to be released on DVD.
DVD release summary
The Complete First Season
The DVD set includes a behind-the-scenes featurette with new interviews with first-season Clark Kent/Superboy actor
John Haymes Newton, actors
Stacy Haiduk and James Calvert, creative/executive producer
Ilya Salkind as well as director
David Nutter. The DVD also features the screen test of John Haymes Newton and audio commentaries by Ilya Salkind and Newton on two key episodes ("Revenge of the Alien" Part 2 and "Meet
Mr. Mxyzptlk"). The DVD was released in advance of the film ''
Superman Returns''.
The Complete Second Season
After a -year gap,
Warner Bros. released the complete second season of ''Superboy'' on DVD via its
Warner Archive Collection on December 11, 2012. This is a manufacture-on-demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and only in the US, as well as
Amazon.com through their CreateSpace service, which ships globally.
The Complete Third Season
Warner Bros. released the complete third season of ''Superboy'' on July 16, 2013, via MOD, through Warner Archive, as well as
Amazon.com through their CreateSpace service, which ships globally.
The Complete Fourth Season
The fourth season was listed at warnerarchive.com for an October 29, 2013 release date. For a limited time, copies of the DVD set were autographed by series star
Gerard Christopher; the non-autographed version becomes available upon exhaustion of the autographed inventory. It is also available from
Amazon.com through their CreateSpace service, which ships globally.
Streaming
All four seasons were made available in 2018 for streaming on
DC Universe
The DC Universe (DCU) is the shared universe in which most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. In context, the term "DC Universe" usually refers to the main DC Continuity (fiction), continuity. It contains v ...
, a paid streaming subscription specializing in
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
-related content. As the episodes were shot and edited on film in 4:3 (then transferred to videotape), these episodes are presented in standard definition at their original 4:3 display ratio. The series is also available on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.
References
Further reading
* Daniels, Les. "Superboy On TV". ''DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes''. New York: Little, Brown, & Company, 1995.
* Daniels, Les. ''Superman: The Complete History''. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998.
External links
*
{{DC Comics TV
1988 American television series debuts
1992 American television series endings
Superboy
1980s American college television series
1980s American science fiction television series
1990s American college television series
1990s American science fiction television series
1980s American superhero television series
1990s American superhero television series
American English-language television shows
American television series about teenagers
First-run syndicated television programs in the United States
Live-action television shows based on comics
Superman television series
Television shows based on DC Comics
Television shows set in Florida
Television shows set in Kansas
Television series by CBS Studios
Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios