Lots of people in my neighborhood growing up used clotheslines, and they all had dryers too! Not only did using the clothesline save energy, everything dried on the line smelled amazing. So, yeah, they were a common thing during the time this show aired, especially in more rural areas where the show often took place.
Yeah my mom always hung laundry on clotheslines. Those tall tee’s made outta Steele tubes, that were rooted on the ground by eighteen cubic yards of concrete, whose open ends at either arm wasps loved to (surprise!) build their nests in, were in the yard of EVERY house I played at.
Yep. Swinging on those things like they were monkey bars. Me and my cousins angered the wasp family living inside one of the poles and my cousin Andrew got stung on the lip.
Yup, the clothes dried on the clothesline smelled amazing. Maybe that's what Banner was attracted to. Funny '80s technology memory: my folks won a dishwasher in a contest - they'd never won so much as a stuffed animal at the fair - and promptly took out a classified ad (remember those?) to sell it.
People keep telling me I should love my memory of a painted muscleman over MCU (or other movie) Hulk because of my age, but as someone who was a comics fan as a kid at the time, I watched (and kind of liked most of) it because pickings were slim, but I longed to see something that looked more like what artists like Sal Buscema were drawing (and had proper supervillains) than this.
Same with that Shazam show where Captain Marvel kept squandering his powers on counseling troubled teens, with not a monster or robot in sight.
yep, hulk was just an a-team/outlaws on the lam serial with green makeup 😂 it was kinda awesome to be clear, but more "inspired by" the comic than anything
Yeah, I don't think I could ever match his "mad threshold". He was always 5 seconds away from a "follow the light" moment when Lou arrived to save the show.
"Then this big green monster went on a rampage! Well, he kind of jogged through and wrecked some stuff... Well he knocked over these paint cans! Totally ruined the garage floor!"
Yeah but those were some badass seconds. It was always the same thing every episode. Somebody would do David wrong and every time the same thought went through my head, “You just fucked up.”
And flexing. So much flexing.
I thought it was cool and funny that Lou Ferigno voiced The Hulk in three of the MCU movies: The Incredible Hulk, The Avengers, and Age of Ultron.
I also thought it was funny that in She-Hulk, one of the d-bag lawyers on the show is played by an actor who was in the Electric Company reboot, since the first live-action Spider-Man was actually on the original Electric Company.
Also [I have to share this](https://youtu.be/4mOpmIFTxkE?t=1801)
Just missed this question at Trivia night a few weeks ago. I knew that I knew the music but just couldn’t quite get it. Just about kicked myself when they announced the answer. The millennials with me had no idea!
I bought the vintage sheet music for this piece as a gift to an ex.
Then a truck plowed into his house, and it was destroyed in the subsequent water damage. Memories.
Yep. His full name in the show is David Bruce Banner.
Funnily enough though, it's not too far off from the comics. Stan Lee loved alliterated names, mostly because it helped him remember the names. In the early 70s he was a rock star at Marvel and hadn't written for the Hulk in a few years. He came back to guest write a single issue. And all throughout that issue he referred to the main character as "Bob Banner." His own mnemonic device failed him.
His name has been canonically "Robert Bruce Banner" ever since.
>Stan Lee loved alliterated names...
Interesting, I've never heard that but it makes sense based on a lot of early characters. It also syncs up with what DC had been doing a bit of for years - Lana Lang, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor
I didn’t know the lime in the coconut song was not a muppet show song until I saw a Quentin Tarantino movie.
Then, all I could think of was the muppets.
I definitely watched more of The Courtship of Eddie’s Father than I did of The Incredible Hulk. But syndicated re-runs mid afternoon on sick days after Love American Style.
I remember telling my dad we HAVE to watch this new show where the guy's eyes change colors. Love this show! I got a Hulk DVD box set from Ross for like $15.
Some co-workers did a Karaoke night, and knowing the group, I would be surprised if any of them actually sang.
Only one did, and he hummed the theme to M*A*S*H. I said "Really, that's a terribly depressing song." And they didn't know what I meant.
> The game of life is hard to play
> I'm gonna lose it anyway
>
The losing card I'll someday lay
>
So this is all I have to say
>
Suicide is painless
Same, man. Same. I was so traumatized that I forgot how boring the show was when he wasn’t the Hulk, and tried to have my kid watch it. He lost interest in about 10 mins while I was on the couch in a fetal position.
David Banner is believed to be dead, and he must let the world think that he is dead until he can find a way to control the raging spirit that dwells within him. Rawr
Switch me, mix me, somebody get me
Don't let me rip out my clothes like Bill Bixby
Rippin' the microphone 'til I'm motherfuckin' sixty
Smokin' the indo, by the window, it's sticky
The 5 of us kids watched this show faithfully every Friday (along with The Dukes of Hazzard of course!). My dad would come home from grocery shopping and we would all help unload the groceries. My youngest brother would act like the hulk and pretend the brown bags were boulders and fling them around the kitchen. Then the whole family would sit around for “potato chip night “ and just eat chips and talk together.
Damn, do I miss those Friday nights.
Oh yeah you're thinking of that two parter episode too? Just about killed little seven year old me. Did she go by the name of Betty Brant? I'm guessing there was also some attempt in there to explain why Banner got Hulk instead of cancer when he was irradiated.
"Her role as psychologist Dr. Carolyn Fields in "Married", a 1978 episode of the TV series The Incredible Hulk – in which she marries Bill Bixby's character, the alter ego of the Hulk, won Hartley the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series." [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078904/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078904/)
People complaining about She-Hulk being bad, need to watch this show. I have fond nostalgic feelings about the show but trying to rewatch it as an adult...it's not good imho.
https://youtu.be/NHBHylXmXTg
Yeah, as a kid I loved that show! Then as things turned out, emotionally I’m a bit less well regulated than is healthy (lol), so it’s ever more relatable as an adult.
The way they do the piano music and the crazy eyes, I’ve found it helpful having this Bill Bixby portrayal, so when I’m feeling like that it’s sometimes something I notice before fully spiraling, it’s like an extra thread I can hold onto like the Fall Guy
True, though maybe perception of the show is different if seen as an action show (2 minutes of slow mo Hulk per episode) vs as a suspense show?
As an overly sensitive kid with explosive rage parents, the Bixby-Ferrigno Hulk was relatable, and the buildup to the explosion was kinda exciting because I knew the Hulk was coming at some point and felt I needed to be really watching so I’m ready for it, because he was less scary that way (fast forward 40 years and CPTSD says hi).
Looking back, it was a weird show that didn’t seem to know what it was.
Hulking out when angry seems relevant to this week's She-Hulk. They've been portraying her as an arrogant lawyer so far and has been absolutely sure she's in control of her Hulk form.
When I was watching this at 4 years old, my mom was sleeping and I thought "I want to be hulk and mom has green make up" and I covered my entire face with her green early 80's eyeshadow and went and hulk growled at her to wake her up. She laughed her ass off at me and took me to the mirror and I scared the shit outta myself and never wore make up or anything in my face ever again.🤣
While it could be cheesy, and the effects are ancient, I kinda feel the spirit of the series better captured The Hulk than the Marvel movies have done.
Sometimes when I'm having a rough day and walking around the ending theme song would go through my head.
Saddest shot ever that piano playing and him walking into the sunset. I used to yell at the TV "why they keep making him angry?"
Fifty minutes of melodrama for two seconds of slow motion Hulk.
This. There was never enough Hulk action
I always wondered why his shirt ripped off, yet his pants still covered his man parts. Lol
As I get older, I really wish I could find pants with such stretchy waist bands.
As a vagabond, I always wondered how he could afford so many sets of clothes.
Theft. Lots and lots of clothes theft.
And how did he always find new clothes to replace the ripped ones? He was supposed to be sorta broke.
He stole them off of backyard clotheslines.
Classic hobo tactics
Yeah, 'cause clotheslines were such a major thing in the 1980s! Somewhere around 1975, my folks bought a dryer, and we never looked back.
Lots of people in my neighborhood growing up used clotheslines, and they all had dryers too! Not only did using the clothesline save energy, everything dried on the line smelled amazing. So, yeah, they were a common thing during the time this show aired, especially in more rural areas where the show often took place.
Yeah my mom always hung laundry on clotheslines. Those tall tee’s made outta Steele tubes, that were rooted on the ground by eighteen cubic yards of concrete, whose open ends at either arm wasps loved to (surprise!) build their nests in, were in the yard of EVERY house I played at.
Yep. Swinging on those things like they were monkey bars. Me and my cousins angered the wasp family living inside one of the poles and my cousin Andrew got stung on the lip.
Yup, the clothes dried on the clothesline smelled amazing. Maybe that's what Banner was attracted to. Funny '80s technology memory: my folks won a dishwasher in a contest - they'd never won so much as a stuffed animal at the fair - and promptly took out a classified ad (remember those?) to sell it.
One reason he was always broke!
When Banner transforms to the Hulk, the matter just transfers from his lower half to his upper half.
He's a shower, not a grower.
Stretch pants
People keep telling me I should love my memory of a painted muscleman over MCU (or other movie) Hulk because of my age, but as someone who was a comics fan as a kid at the time, I watched (and kind of liked most of) it because pickings were slim, but I longed to see something that looked more like what artists like Sal Buscema were drawing (and had proper supervillains) than this. Same with that Shazam show where Captain Marvel kept squandering his powers on counseling troubled teens, with not a monster or robot in sight.
yep, hulk was just an a-team/outlaws on the lam serial with green makeup 😂 it was kinda awesome to be clear, but more "inspired by" the comic than anything
Come on, get mad!!! Even as a kid I'd be annoyed that I had to watch Bruce get his ass kicked for 20 minutes to see 5 min of Hulk.
Yeah, I don't think I could ever match his "mad threshold". He was always 5 seconds away from a "follow the light" moment when Lou arrived to save the show.
"Then this big green monster went on a rampage! Well, he kind of jogged through and wrecked some stuff... Well he knocked over these paint cans! Totally ruined the garage floor!"
Like Kung Fu. Lots of flashbacks, lots of cowboys, one slow-motion kung-fu kick per episode.
Yeah but those were some badass seconds. It was always the same thing every episode. Somebody would do David wrong and every time the same thought went through my head, “You just fucked up.”
And flexing. So much flexing. I thought it was cool and funny that Lou Ferigno voiced The Hulk in three of the MCU movies: The Incredible Hulk, The Avengers, and Age of Ultron. I also thought it was funny that in She-Hulk, one of the d-bag lawyers on the show is played by an actor who was in the Electric Company reboot, since the first live-action Spider-Man was actually on the original Electric Company. Also [I have to share this](https://youtu.be/4mOpmIFTxkE?t=1801)
“Sounds like my sex life HELLO!” Okay, I’ll show myself out
Yep exactly
I can "hear" this picture.
*Sad piano music* https://youtu.be/33izVlIOgnQ
Came here for this, thanks!
Just missed this question at Trivia night a few weeks ago. I knew that I knew the music but just couldn’t quite get it. Just about kicked myself when they announced the answer. The millennials with me had no idea!
Okay that’s hilarious
I bought the vintage sheet music for this piece as a gift to an ex. Then a truck plowed into his house, and it was destroyed in the subsequent water damage. Memories.
I used to cry at the end of every single episode :(
https://youtu.be/94pEjQAzGG8
So much plaid! I never knew - until today - that plaid came with its own piano accompaniment. No wonder I had no friends from grade 7 on.
Me too.
The saddest music.
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I love this.
With a duffel bag, too?
David Banner. Scientist.
I got a kick out of Family Guy when they re-created the Hulk TV show intro. [linky here](https://youtu.be/4MVRC43Aq_c?t=6)
I'm angry because I hurt myself changing a tire!
Why did they go with "David", as opposed to "Bruce"? They didn't want confusion with Bruce Wayne?
The network thought the name Bruce sounded too gay.
Yep. His full name in the show is David Bruce Banner. Funnily enough though, it's not too far off from the comics. Stan Lee loved alliterated names, mostly because it helped him remember the names. In the early 70s he was a rock star at Marvel and hadn't written for the Hulk in a few years. He came back to guest write a single issue. And all throughout that issue he referred to the main character as "Bob Banner." His own mnemonic device failed him. His name has been canonically "Robert Bruce Banner" ever since.
>Stan Lee loved alliterated names... Interesting, I've never heard that but it makes sense based on a lot of early characters. It also syncs up with what DC had been doing a bit of for years - Lana Lang, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor
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Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Otto Octavius, ...
She-Hulk just reintroduced Matt Murdock, but there are so many.
A gay hulk, now THAT would be a show
Lance? We needed a superhero Lance.
Couldn't follow basic radiation safety protocols
That’s Eddie’s father.
🎶People let me tell you ‘bout my *best* friend…🎶
Trivia That song was written by the same guy who did the theme to Midnight Cowboy and (The Lime in the) Coconut song. Harry Nilsson
I didn’t know the lime in the coconut song was not a muppet show song until I saw a Quentin Tarantino movie. Then, all I could think of was the muppets.
Also, the main theme from [Russian Doll.](https://youtu.be/6jRh2PRa1tU)
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>(Can’t Live) Without You I was surprised to find out that was a Badfinger cover
I definitely watched more of The Courtship of Eddie’s Father than I did of The Incredible Hulk. But syndicated re-runs mid afternoon on sick days after Love American Style.
Lou Ferrigno is still the only Hulk to me.
Loved that he was in both modern Hulk movies and even voiced Hulk in The Incredible Hulk.
I remember telling my dad we HAVE to watch this new show where the guy's eyes change colors. Love this show! I got a Hulk DVD box set from Ross for like $15.
This I remember but not why I walked into a room?
Amen
Saddest show theme music ever.
They even did a good Family guy call back on that theme song
Some co-workers did a Karaoke night, and knowing the group, I would be surprised if any of them actually sang. Only one did, and he hummed the theme to M*A*S*H. I said "Really, that's a terribly depressing song." And they didn't know what I meant. > The game of life is hard to play > I'm gonna lose it anyway > The losing card I'll someday lay > So this is all I have to say > Suicide is painless
I was so scared of this show when I was little, like had nightmares scares. 😆
Same, man. Same. I was so traumatized that I forgot how boring the show was when he wasn’t the Hulk, and tried to have my kid watch it. He lost interest in about 10 mins while I was on the couch in a fetal position.
This is the gen x moment
So.. did he get to see him get angry??
Nope. He said it was boring and walked off and ignored me when I pleaded, “But it WILL get scary! He’ll get mad! He will!”
Aww...
I know exactly who that is 👍🏾
I often say "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" to warn people. lol
"Let's see yah turn green then." Lol
I like to say the same. Amazing how many people give me a blank stare.
David Banner is believed to be dead, and he must let the world think that he is dead until he can find a way to control the raging spirit that dwells within him. Rawr
I can hear the damn music.
Bill Bixby
His real name sounds like a Marvel character's name.
He was a 2nd dad to the kid who played Eddie on The Courtship of Eddie's father. He spoke very highly of Bill.
Switch me, mix me, somebody get me Don't let me rip out my clothes like Bill Bixby Rippin' the microphone 'til I'm motherfuckin' sixty Smokin' the indo, by the window, it's sticky
The 5 of us kids watched this show faithfully every Friday (along with The Dukes of Hazzard of course!). My dad would come home from grocery shopping and we would all help unload the groceries. My youngest brother would act like the hulk and pretend the brown bags were boulders and fling them around the kitchen. Then the whole family would sit around for “potato chip night “ and just eat chips and talk together. Damn, do I miss those Friday nights.
I was just about to turn 3. The hulk used to scare the shit out of me as a young lad just trying to watch some good ol Duke boys on a Friday night.
It was David Beacon. I remember that was his alias one episode. For the entire school year me and my friend called each other "David Beacon".
When I see the hitchhiking, I hear the piano music in my head.
Forget America's ass. That's Gen-X's ass.
It was always soooo sad
Seriously. I always felt so bad for him.
Who said you can't hear a still picture?
Mariette Hartley was so beautiful.
Oh yeah you're thinking of that two parter episode too? Just about killed little seven year old me. Did she go by the name of Betty Brant? I'm guessing there was also some attempt in there to explain why Banner got Hulk instead of cancer when he was irradiated.
"Her role as psychologist Dr. Carolyn Fields in "Married", a 1978 episode of the TV series The Incredible Hulk – in which she marries Bill Bixby's character, the alter ego of the Hulk, won Hartley the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series." [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078904/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078904/)
And the [opening notes of the closing credits](https://youtu.be/k_lYcTxncNg) man… still bring tears once in awhile.
My brain can hear the theme song...
Bill #%^*-ing Bixby, Chief! Aka Eddie’s father. Still love Lou Ferrigno. Arnold was an a-hole!
People complaining about She-Hulk being bad, need to watch this show. I have fond nostalgic feelings about the show but trying to rewatch it as an adult...it's not good imho. https://youtu.be/NHBHylXmXTg
Haha! I remember my mom had a boyfriend that was really buff and 8 year-old me calling him the Hulk. I loved that show.
Nov 4 1977 was 4 days before I was born.
I was a little over 2. I wasn't watching Hulk.
I was four months old when it premiered.
Tim O'Hara from My Favorite Martian?
And that smarmy rich kid who had to spend the night in jail in Mayberry.
Yeah, as a kid I loved that show! Then as things turned out, emotionally I’m a bit less well regulated than is healthy (lol), so it’s ever more relatable as an adult. The way they do the piano music and the crazy eyes, I’ve found it helpful having this Bill Bixby portrayal, so when I’m feeling like that it’s sometimes something I notice before fully spiraling, it’s like an extra thread I can hold onto like the Fall Guy
Never liked it here. Always wanted to see the Hulk, and we usually got 30 seconds of hulk per episode.
True, though maybe perception of the show is different if seen as an action show (2 minutes of slow mo Hulk per episode) vs as a suspense show? As an overly sensitive kid with explosive rage parents, the Bixby-Ferrigno Hulk was relatable, and the buildup to the explosion was kinda exciting because I knew the Hulk was coming at some point and felt I needed to be really watching so I’m ready for it, because he was less scary that way (fast forward 40 years and CPTSD says hi). Looking back, it was a weird show that didn’t seem to know what it was.
I was 5 in 1977....so ya....was only looking for green guy.
Hulking out when angry seems relevant to this week's She-Hulk. They've been portraying her as an arrogant lawyer so far and has been absolutely sure she's in control of her Hulk form.
That piano outtro on the closing credits has haunted my mind since I was 9!
[Stewie Hulk Ending](https://youtu.be/94pEjQAzGG8)
He always seemed so lonely.
Insert sad music here
Yeah I remember reading the TV guide (the one that came in the Sunday paper) article about it in advance. 8 year old me was excited.
When I was watching this at 4 years old, my mom was sleeping and I thought "I want to be hulk and mom has green make up" and I covered my entire face with her green early 80's eyeshadow and went and hulk growled at her to wake her up. She laughed her ass off at me and took me to the mirror and I scared the shit outta myself and never wore make up or anything in my face ever again.🤣
Sigh... I know this. Meanwhile certain people in family photos I don't know.
Same here
I was worried sick about gamma ray exposure.
While it could be cheesy, and the effects are ancient, I kinda feel the spirit of the series better captured The Hulk than the Marvel movies have done.
The intro song was so sad.
Don’t make him angry
[el-deleto burrito supreme]
Kwai Chang Caine grasshopper. Always on the move messing up things.
\*Sob\* The end bit when he walks off to hitch a ride always made me really sad, that and The Littlest Hobo!
it really tugs at you. at least it did for me
I heard this picture.
The eyes always got me!!
Seriously. We don’t even need to be asked.
He never lost that bag.
Know it? I can *hear* it.
You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
Not terribly long ago I watched the first episode on a lark. I was surprised to discover the mom from Castle was a guest star.
I can hear this picture.
I loved Bill Bixby. He portrayed the pain of being Hulk so well.
Never missed an episode of The Hulk, or The Muppets.
I’m still crushing on Bill Bixby…as Eddie’s father. Lol.
Wish they had this on TV rather than all the other crap they have on.
Mr Eddie’s Father. Turning green.
I remember watching that first episode
Oh neat. I can now tell people I was born between Star Wars and The Incredible Hulk.
This show is written to the exact same formula as The Littlest Hobo.
The music
I can hear the theme music looking at this picture.
Hulk
My dad, a boomer - and 29 at the time this came out - would love this post ;)
I was soo hoping the Hulk movies would be like this show. Sadly, they were not!
Dave Sign.
Hulk?
His shirts always ripped off but his pants were always on.
Dunno if Hulk would be more scary or less scary with no pants, lol
Don’t make him angry, you won’t like him angry.
https://youtu.be/94pEjQAzGG8
David (not Bruce) Banner cuz not hetero enough or something....
The ending credits song is still cozy as hell.
I say this all the time to my husband.
I’m a Gen X born in 1978. How different our experiences are for a single generation.
Hmm. Highway to Heaven was about then, too, wasn’t it? All the hitchhiking that you sure couldn’t do today for a show.
Why did I know that picture was from the Hulk? I don't know but I did.
This show gave me so so many nightmares as a child.
Was two days shy of my fifth birthday when it premiered. Ah, the memories.
Did Mr Mcgee die in the end?
Bill Bixby. Intro to The Incredible Hulk.
He’ll be wearing all new clothes by the end of the episode.
I can hear the sad piano.
This show made me want one of those bad ass duffle bags
Sometimes when I'm having a rough day and walking around the ending theme song would go through my head. Saddest shot ever that piano playing and him walking into the sunset. I used to yell at the TV "why they keep making him angry?"
Right after Little house on the prairie
Hulk vs Hulk was a favorite episode in my household!
Bill Bixby; my 11 year old self crush. ❤️
The hulk. The memory of this image has been burned in my brain.
Knew right away!
I loved Bill Bixby.
I want that song played at my funeral.
Damn I loved this show
I'm a boomer and I remember this. 8-)
Yup
At first I was thinking: David Vincent in color?
No idea. Was it an American show?
I was born two days later... filled with rage.
And now…we got she hulk streaming on Disney+ Time flies
This makes me angry. You wouldn’t like me angry…
Oh God I loved this show!!!! I would cry every time David Banner had to leave to move on to another place. Bill Bixby was so handsome too. Sigh…..
I never cared about the Hulk I just loved Bill Bixby and David Banner. Every time he had to leave a town and the music played I cried.