Rewatching LOIS & CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN from the beginning.
--season 1, 1993 - 1994--
The stars:
In the pilot, Clark has a mullet--as does Superman later when he finally makes an appearance. Perhaps Dean Cain didn't want to commit to a short haircut until he knew the series was picked up. However, Teri Hatcher had to cut her hair for the part of Lois Lane (producer Deborah Joy Levine insisted that Lois would have a utilitarian hairstyle as an on-the-go reporter). Hatcher kept her pony tail in the glove compartment of her car for years.
There's a nice scene between Hatcher and Melanie Mayron playing Detective Reed (whose hair is a hot mess) when they're tied up and Reed admires Lane's hair, how it bounces. It really is something the way it moves and shines--Dorothy Hamill would be envious.
Superman's slicked back hair in the show is functional--as they were blasting a lot of air at Cain in the flying sequences--so this way, with so much gel in his hair, it was never out of place.
The costume that Martha Kent puts together for the pilot only lasts for that episode. Through the series they kept tweaking the costume design, experimenting with fabrics. Although at the time, I didn't think much of the outfit, I now find it a lot more satisfying than other costumes we've seen in live action. After a few episodes, they figured out how to tuck the cape into the suit, so it looks like how it should in the comic books. And Superman has the classic S shield design.
Perhaps because these costumes are low budget efforts, they could keep fussing with the outfit until they had it right for the show. In today's world, the costumes cost so much money to make, they're not willing to abandon them and then they will stick with bad designs for far too long.
Clark is Clark Kent first and foremost. He comes to Metropolis to work on the Daily Planet--becoming a costumed super-hero is an afterthought. He's apparently always worn glasses. In SUPERGIRL, Dean Cain's Jeremiah Danvers gave Kara the glasses when she started to have problems with her super-vision--maybe Clark uses the glasses for the same purpose.
This is completely different from the John Byrne version. There Clark was flying around, without glasses, being a super-hero, just not in costume. Clark, Martha and Jonathan create the reinvented persona of Clark Kent--glasses, slicked back hair--to hide the fact that he's Superman.
Apparently Dean Cain was a big heart throb at the time, which is ultimately what won him the role, despite having little experience. And while many might say he was not a great Superman, I think that was hardly the main consideration when casting him. It's LOIS & CLARK--that's what the show is about. Getting the right guy to play Clark opposite Hatcher's Lois, that was the whole point.
Superman is rather stiff by contrast to Clark--he hasn't much dimension--Lois loves him because he's Superman. Even though this is a 1990s series, the way that the Man of Tomorrow presents himself in Metropolis is like the Superman of the 1960s. He makes public appearance, gives interviews. Clark never seems to worry that so much exposure will blow his cover.
While the show might have changed its focus in later seasons, the first season is this romantic comedy-adventure between Lois and Clark. It's about Lois slowly coming to love Clark Kent. It's the "will they, won't they" that makes the show work--teasing that story out for as long as possible was important. And Teri Hatcher is the key. She brings us into the story and breathes new life into an old love story.