There have been many actors to take on the roles of superheroes over the years but a rare few have truly embodied those roles for a whole generation. Lynda Carter is one of those rare few, as her performance as Wonder Woman throughout the classic '70s TV series is among the most revolutionary performances in TV history, paving the way for superheroes on the small screen - specifically women superheroes - at a time when there weren't many. Talk about a true hero!
Wonder Woman ran for three seasons between 1975 and 1979 but it had quite the adventurous run indeed. Starting off as a comic-accurate adaptation of the source material, the first season aired on ABC for 13 super-sized episodes that were set in the 1940s but the network ultimately couldn't sustain the expensive production budget. CBS swooped in and picked it up for another two seasons under the condition that it jumped forward to the 1970s so that they could avoid the big budget issue - a luxury that only a show like Wonder Woman could provide.
From the World War II days of defeating Nazis to the modern world of '70s discos, Diana Prince had a lot of unique adventures throughout her time on the small screen. But which of them were her best? Let's look at the archives and whip out the Golden Lasso of Truth to find out which season of the beloved DC TV series is the greatest of them all.
3. Season 3 (1977 - 1978)
The third season of Wonder Woman was also the final chapter in the legendary series' run. Although there were initially plans for a fourth season (that would have been something of a soft reboot), the show was quietly ended by CBS. As annoying as that was, it managed to go out on a high.
Yes, we're aware of the fact that we've ranked season 3 last but that doesn't mean that it wasn't brilliant. This is the season in which the show had taken some creative risks, diving deeper into the '70s vibes and featuring more disco elements to ensure it appealed to audiences at the time. This might make it the most dated by today's standards, but it holds up well due to its more serious, thriller-driven storylines.
The third season had shed the comic book approach, adopting a tone more like the typical procedurals of the 1970s. While that meant less recognizable Wonder Woman villains, there were plenty of edge-of-seat elements that Diana faced throughout her adventures. And that made for some very bold storytelling, with episodes such as the "The Boy Who Knew Her Secret" and "Phantom of the Roller Coaster" two-parters being among the show's best.
2. Season 2 (1976 - 1977)
When CBS saved Wonder Woman from cancellation, it had a plan to reduce the budget: Drop the 1940s setting and jump forward in time to the 1970s. To do that, Wonder Woman herself had to be reintroduced in a secondary pilot to launch The New Adventures of Wonder Woman. And therefore, Diana Prince returned to the world of man from Paradise Island a second time; this time, her place of work wasn't the War Department but the IADC, and her boss was Steve Trevor Jr. who carried on his father's legacy - allowing Lyle Waggoner to continue on in the series in a new role.
The soft reboot worked as it was exhilarating seeing Wonder Woman adapt to the world all over again - especially when the '70s were so drastically different to that of the '40s. And, although the show's evolution continued throughout that season, it still felt like a larger-than-life comic book movie had come to the small screen, successfully recreating the awe-inspiring visuals and triumphant feel of the first season.
This is where the series began to adopt those thriller elements that dominated the third season as it slowly phases out the more gimmicky comic book approach in favor of a bunch of more spy-heavy narratives instead. While sticking with the comics might have prevented it from aging as it has, it never loses that incredibly enjoyable, uplifting storytelling that made the first season a hit.
1. Season 1 (1975 - 1976)
They say that the first one is always the best and that is particularly true when it comes to Wonder Woman. The pilot episode was unlike anything else ever seen on TV at the time, with the extended runtime allowing it to function like the movie that it looked like. And from that very moment, "The New, Original Wonder Woman" was born.
The first season tracks the iconic story we all know and love: Diana Prince comes across Steve Trevor's fallen plane on Paradise Island and takes him back to the US. There, she learns about the grave danger of the Nazis during World War II and decides to stay to ultimately help Steve and his allies in the US win the war. What came after that was an adventurous, ambitious first season that showcased Lynda Carter's iconic Wonder Woman in all her glory.
From the adventurous sight of Diana battling a gorilla in "Wonder Woman vs. Gargantua!" to the utterly gripping "The Pluto File", the first season of Wonder Woman was when the show was at its creative peak. With the commitment to the 1940s setting to the higher-than-expected production values for a TV series in 1975, the show looked and felt like it deserved to air on the big screen because it had such a larger-than-life feel. And 50 years on, it's still one of the most timeless seasons of that era of television.
The New, Original Wonder Woman remains the very best of them all.
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