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"It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman" TV Special
It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman was made into a TV special which first aired during a late night timeslot of February 21, 1975.
Filmed on video over the course of 3 days, the show was significantly shortened, the script significantly changed, and the ethnicity of a troupe of evildoers was changed from Chinese acrobats to Mafia-style gangsters. The musical numbers "Doing Good", "It's Super Nice", "So Long, Big Guy" and "We Don't Matter at All" were all dropped from this production, while the sound of the remaining musical numbers was updated to a more contemporary 1970s sensibility. In addition to these, a new musical number was made for the TV special: "It's a Great Country."
The show was broadcast on the ABC network under its Wide World of Entertainment late-night umbrella title to poor critical reception.
It starred David Wilson as Superman/Clark Kent, Lesley Ann Warren as Lois Lane, Loretta Swit as Sydney Carlton, David Wayne as Dr. Abner Sedgwick, Allen Ludden as Perry White, and Kenneth Mars as Max Mencken. Viewers of this re-make felt that the TV production lacked the energy of the original Broadway show.
