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''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is the second live-action TV development of the iconic Marvel Comics hero of the same name (the first was a series of periodic segments on the original, early-1970s version of PBS' ''The Electric Company'' daytime children's educational TV series), and was shown in the USA from 1977 until 1979. The CBS series consisted of 13 episodes, which included a pilot movie airing in autumn of 1977. None of the episodes are available on DVD, but almost all of them have been released on VHS. Despite its storylines being set in New York City (the character's hometown), the series was mostly filmed in Los Angeles. ==Series run on CBS, and criticism== The series began as a backdoor pilot: a two-hour TV-movie special known simply as ''Spider-Man'', which aired in September, 1977. In it, Peter Parker (as an intrepid ''university'' student) gains super powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. He uses those powers to get a job at the Daily Bugle, and to stop a con man who is covertly using mind control for personal gain. In the pilot, J. Jonah Jameson was played by actor David White; in the subsequent series however, White was replaced with Robert F. Simon. After good ratings resulted from the pilot, CBS picked-up the series—but only for a limited, five-episode order (those 5 episodes were aired in April and May 1978, at the tail-end of the 1977-1978 TV season). This run of episodes debuted very well, with the first obtaining a 22.8 rating with 16.6 million viewers, making it the best-rated program for the week on CBS, and the eighth-best-rated program for the week, overall. The series ended up being the 19th-highest-rated show of the entire season. However, CBS was reluctant to commit to giving the show a regular/fixed time slot for the 1978-79 season, as the series was expensive to produce and underperformed in the lucrative ''adult''-demographic ratings (ages 18–49). Instead, CBS took the more cautious approach of airing episodes on a sporadic basis, strategically placing it on the broadcast schedule to deliberately hurt the ratings of specific competing shows, at key times in the TV season (e.g., "sweeps"). Former ''Six Million Dollar Man'' producer Lionel Siegel took over production duties for Season Two, noticeably changing the show in an attempt to grow its adult audience. These changes included dropping the no-nonsense police Captain Barbera character; adding the character of Julie Masters as a love interest for Peter; creating more down-to-earth plotlines; and slightly toning-down Spider-Man's superpowers, to make him more accessible to adult viewers. The second season (of just seven episodes) aired infrequently throughout the 1978-79 TV season. However, CBS officially cancelled the series soon after the season ended. Reportedly, one of the problems was that CBS feared being perceived as merely a one-dimensional, superficial, "superhero network": It was already airing other live-action superhero series or specials at the time, including ''The Incredible Hulk'', ''Wonder Woman'' (which they resurrected after its original network, ABC, canceled it), ''Captain America'', ''Doctor Strange''; and having just ended (in 1977) multi-year runs of live-action Saturday morning series for DC Comics' Shazam and Isis superheroes. Another problem was that in spite of the show's popularity, its most vocal fans were also highly critical of it,〔(Marvel Animation Age: "The Incredible Hulk In Animation - A Retrospective" (Part One) )〕 due to the Season Two departures from more comic book-like storylines, and the lack of any recognizable "supervillains" from the Spider-Man comics. In addition, even Spider-Man creator Stan Lee disliked the show, and publicly said so. Lee once said in an interview for ''Pizzazz'' magazine that he felt the series was "too juvenile" - an ironic position, given that Lee was credited in each episode as the series' Script Consultant.〔''Pizzazz'', October 1978〕 The series did yield the first and only (so far) live-action depictions of Peter Parker's "spider-tracer" tracking/homing devices; they are prominently featured in several episodes throughout the series. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Amazing Spider-Man (TV series)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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