July 24, 1993

LOIS & CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN

PETE BARRETT: Everybody grab a chair or whatever piece of floor might be available. We'll get started. Very happy to have you all here for this particular interview, which is for a very, very special show to premiere on ABC this fall.

 These folks here are really taking an American classic, an American legend, and re-inventing it into something, a show with '90s' sensibilities.

First, we have the creator and co-executive producer of the show, a woman who locked herself into a room with about 1,000 DC Comics and read them all from start to finish before she took pen to paper, Deborah Joy LeVine. Next to Deborah Joy, starring as Clark Kent, not to mention as his alter-ego and romantic nemesis, the Man of Steel, Dean Cain. And next to Dean, starring as Lois Lane, truly a model for superwomen of the '90s, Teri Hatcher.

And next to Teri, David Jacobs who is the executive producer. And David is going to -- as we say in the trade -- J.I.P., join in progress.

And with that, we will open the floor to your questions.

QUESTION: Ms. LeVine?

DEBORAH JOY LeVINE: Yes.

QUESTION: How much contact do you have with the people at DC Comics about -- are you in contact with them at all as you go about writing the series?

LeVINE: Very close contact with them. Jenette Kahn, who's president of DC Comics, for the past year, has become quite a close friend of mine. And her approval of the show and of the script was very important to us and she's a big fan of it.

As are most of the comic book writers at DC Comics.

We were very concerned about that and thought that they would perhaps be our harshest critics, but. they really love the show.

QUESTION: Deborah, can you tell us a little bit how this particular television version came about? And was there any concern in starting this project that, with the movies and "Superboy" series and a lot of the attention to Superman in the 1980s, that perhaps the concept had sort of worn thin?

LeVINE: I think that was a concern of ours. That's why,-when we- started, we decided that we would do something very different. All of us involved in the project, ABC and Lorimar Television, now Warner Bros., decided that we would do something that people haven't seen before. I guess the best example of that was sort of skewing the Superman myth.

In the comic books and the features, the main thrust is that Superman arrives in Metropolis to fight for truth, justice and the American Way and takes on a disguise as a mild-mannered reporter.

And in our version of the show, what we really have is a young man by the name of Clark Kent who really wants to live a normal life even though he did come from another planet who does, in. the course of the pilot, find a disguise for himself, in the Superman outfit, so that when he needs to, he can help people.

And that's the big difference.

QUESTION: Will Dean be taking his shirt off in every episode?

DEAN CAIN: Is that for --

LeVINE: Well, you can answer that, if you wanted. No. He will not be taking his shirt off. Even though I've had requests for that, many requests.

[question overlap]

QUESTION: I've got a question about playing this character. Several actors before you have played this role and several actors have been stereotyped and been typecast after this role. Did you have any trepidation about taking on the part?

And the second question has to do with changing the myth and attacking the Superman story. There's some purists out there who know that story. Are you afraid that you might turn them off by changing the story around?

CAIN: Well, which one should I answer first? [laughs] I don't think -- I know that people are married to their idea of the story and that's okay. But we don't approach it, concerned. about them. Like we -- she said before, it's a very '90s version.

So what we're trying to do is contemporize a lot of the stories and a lot of the ideas, as such, and make them basically, so that the kids and people of today, you know, can relate a little bit more closely to some of the things in the past.

If you look at some of the old shows and stuff, they're extremely outdated and were -- I don't want to say sexist, but some of the things, if you look back in the '50s, or whenever, it's just a whole different time. And we're taking and addressing issues that happen today.

And situations that can come up today. And you know we're taking a shot at those.

As far as being typecast as a Superman, that's -- this is a whole different role than the Men of Steel in the past and since the Christopher Reeve nerdy character. There's none of that.

And this particular character is not someone I think that can be typecast. I think it's a very broad-ranged character, so I'm not really too concerned about that.

I mean, people may see me and think, "You know, there's Superman." I hope they do. It means that I'm doing my job, I suppose. But I don't think that I'll be forever labelled "Superman."

And I was a little concerned at first, when I first heard the project because of that, but after reading the script and seeing what they do, what we do now with the project and the character, I'm not concerned at all. I'm actually extremely excited.

QUESTION: Deborah, one of the long-standing incongruities of Superman down through the years has been that Lois Lane never quite figures out, maybe sometimes suspects, that she's dealing both with Superman and Clark Kent as the same person. How is that going to be handled in the series?

LeVINE: I think we're going to handle it in a number of ways. First of all, we're not going to have situations the way they did in the 1950s or very few situations where it's, "Gee, Clark, where's Superman" or "You're Superman, so where's Clark?" I think we're going to try not to focus on that aspect of it.

And then I think we're going to hit the issue head on. I mean, our response to that is when Lois Lane falls in love with Clark Kent and says to someone, "Gee I think he looks a lot like Superman." I think the response is, "Well, all women in love think their man looks like Superman." So we're going to hopefully attack that issue head on.

QUESTION: I love the part where you stop the bus and the so forth and scenes with you and your mom in the uniform and so on. But what about the phone booth?

LeVINE: I should say what phone booth?

CAIN: What phone booth, yeah. You know, that's not a question I can answer. I have to refer to Deborah Joy because she makes those decisions.

LeVINE: I don't think we're going to have -- I think we're updating a little. I don't think we're going to do the phone booth. But what we are doing is we're taking this show in more of a realistic fashion so that, you know, I think we're going to attack these questions.

In one of our episodes, Clark hasn't quite figured out where and how he's supposed to change. And in one episode, he goes into a men's room and tries to put on the outfit and there's another gentleman waiting who sees a very -- who sees an elbow come through the door and decides to leave.

And Clark at one point will ~o home to his mother and say, "I think I better wear the outfit under my clothes from now on," So he's discovering the process along with the audience.

QUESTION: You mentioned when Lois falls in love with Clark. Now in "Superman II," we finally got to that point, then he erased her memory at the end. How long is it going to take for Lois indeed to fall in love with Clark and will you sustain that from that point through the rest of the series?

LeVINE: I think it's going to take us quite a while to get there. I think that what we're going to have is -- I mean, I do believe that this show and the whole Superman idea represents the most unrequited love story of all time. And I think you can keep that going for awhile.

Lois falling in love. Clark liking Lois. Lois finally liking Clark. Clark being attracted to Lois. Lois being attracted to someone else. Are these two people ever going to get together? And I think we're talking years down the line, hopefully, if we're on the air that long, for the two of them to finally get together.

And DC Comics, as you know, has already had Clark Kent propose to Lois Lane, but they will hold off on any marriage plans, so that we can hopefully have our marriage plans with Clark Kent and Lois and DC Comics coincide. As a very big event.

QUESTION: Didn't Superman die in DC Comics?

LeVINE: Superman did die, but he's coming back. [laughter]

QUESTION: Deborah Joy, after your experience on the "Equal Justice" series, which was one of the quality dramas from 1991, that seems to be a year when a lot of the dramas of that caliber were cancelled. This show looks like it has a real fun spirit and is a 180 turn from what "Equal Justice" was. Did you kind of see the handwriting on the wall and say, "I want to do something of quality, but completely different from the harder edged dramas from 1991"?

LeVINE: I think that television needs good hour dramas. And when I say hour dramas, I'm just talking in terms of the format. Because we are an hour drama, even though our show is a romantic-comedy-action-adventure. We're still four acts and we're still in an hour.

And I believe what brings people back to shows, whether it's about something as serious as law, or something as fun as a man from another planet, is the characters and the stories. And if the stories are great and you want to bring the characters back, I think the show will succeed.

QUESTION: Deborah, you talked a lot about romance up to this point. But what's the action quotient in it? In a given episode? And in the pilot? Since we've only seen a cut-down at this point. Like how much of the comic book action type stuff are we going to be seeing?

LeVINE: I think in an hour, I would say 25%. Maybe less. Maybe sometimes as less as 15%, because we really want to concentrate on the duet. We really want to concentrate on the relationship. However, we do want to still see Superman and we still want to have fun and so I think maybe 15 to 25%.

QUESTION: Will there be more beyond Lex Luthor in terms of arch-villains that we're familiar with in that Superman mythos that will be coming into the story?

LeVINE: There will be a lot of villains that Superman will go against. Some from DC Comics, some that we're inventing ourselves.

QUESTION: It's seem like you have a real odd demographic potential here I mean, you have -- kids maybe don't want to see too much romance. Adults don't want to see too much kids' stuff. I mean, how are you going to play that and who do you think is really going to be watching this in terms of your demographics?

LeVINE: I think the good news about this show is that there's something in it for everyone. I -- when we were testing the show, the women said, "Gee, I really love it because it's romantic, but I know, finally, I'm going to be able something with my kids."

And I think kids liked it because of the action element and maybe they weren't so thrilled when they had the romantic element of it, but I think the stories will keep the kids and the younger viewers coming and the romance will' help with the adults, so I honestly think this is a show for everybody.

QUESTION: Teri, can you tell us a bit about what you thought when you got the offer, and whether you had ever had any image or any thoughts about that character?

TERI HATCHER: About Lois.

QUESTION: Lois.

HATCHER: Oh, [re: microphone feedback] that's so weird! That's the first time I talked. [laughter]

At first, I -- before I had read it, I thought, you know, this is just not something I could do because- of the stereotype attached to it, and as soon as I read it -- you

know, you read so few scripts for women, where the character is so broad and full, and can be smart, and funny, and vulnerable, and sexy, and you know, goofy, and have all of that happen in one character, rather than just sexy, or Just smart.

And I love comedy so much, and that romantic bent, or, you know, that kind of timing was so apparent in Deborah's writing that I just -- it just felt like, I have to do this, you know, right from when I read it the first time.

And so, it's extremely challenging for me because I get to go everywhere. I get to go from being mad to, you know, completely, you know, exposing every, you know, vulnerability that you have, you know, on a dime, and that's just not written very much for women.

So, that's why I wanted to do it.

QUESTION: Dean, did the producers see your "90210" appearances? And since you're now committed to this, can we assume Rick is out of Brenda's life?

CAIN: I think Rick is dead. [laughter] I don't know. I don't know if they saw those episodes, and I don't know if that had anything to do with their decision-making -- [he laughs] --to be honest.

But, yeah, I do know that I'm not going to be on that show, at least for the time being. They keep me pretty busy here now.

LeVINE: I had never seen Dean before when we were casting. And the strange story about that is that Dean was the first person to read for the show, period, for any part. So he was the first victim, so to speak.

And I had not seen "90210." I saw it after that, and I was really surprised to see it, but -- and see how great he was on it.

CAIN: Aw, thanks. [he laughs]

QUESTION: How many episodes did you look at?

LeVINE: I'm sorry?

QUESTION: Now many others did you look at to play Superman?

LeVINE: Maybe -- oh, I think over 100. Not a lot of them came in personally. We saw tapes, other things, but perhaps over 100 people.

I knew we were in good shape with Dean when he came back, maybe for the third time, and when I was walking down to the casting department, there were all these young women hanging around the casting department, and I thought they were there trying out.

And the casting associate said, "Oh, no. They heard Dean Cain was here." [laughter]

QUESTION: Were they looking at the "S" on his chest? [laughter]

CAIN: As they were looking at my "S." [laughter]

QUESTION: Can you tell us if some of the villains from future episodes have been cast, and give us some names?

LeVINE: We're just starting to film episode one now, which the only villain in that is still Lex Luthor. So, our villains have yet to be cast.

QUESTION: Dean, what's your own background with. the character? Did you grow up reading Superman comics?

LeVINE: I grew up watching -- I saw the films, of course. I never saw the old series -- the old series that was on, but I did see the cartoons, the "Halls of Justice" cartoons, you know, "The League of Super Heroes," and that's, I think, where I got most of my Superman background, watching that.

And I'm -- so, I wasn't an avid comic-book reader, at all, but I did watch cartoons. And I started when I was a kid, and that was something that I was sort of grown up with.

I guess that's my generation -- I don't know. I'm finding it strange because I've run into a lot of people who really are -- they're so well-versed in Superman's background. There was a guy here the other day who told me -- he listed all the five kinds of kryptonite for me -- [laughter] -- and all these things, and I was just -- I had no idea.

I guess I have a little homework to do, but I think we're creating a little bit of different background and different things. And so -- I think it's also -- I think it's almost to my benefit that I don't know, especially for the way this character is.

He doesn't know everything, and it's a lot of discovery --it's a lot of self-discovery, and that is very interesting for me because right now I don't know, you know, where he's headed and what's going to happen, and I sort of discover it as Deborah writes it. [he laughs]

QUESTION: Deborah Joy, you -- the intro said you sort of immersed yourself in the comic books. I'm curious about the most surprising thing that you pulled away after all that reading that you wanted to retain in some way in the series.

And then, also, if you had just to be knowledgeable and to consider yourself well-versed enough to see all the movies, to see the "Superboy" syndicated show so that you would know the other approaches before you tackled yours?

LeVINE: I guess the most surprising thing for me, because I grew up in a household where we didn't read comic books. We were reading Shakespeare. I mean, I -- we were sort of quite an intellectual little gathering there, and we -- and I guess that maybe when I went to school, I snuck a look at Archie and Veronica, but that was it.

I think the surprising thing for me when I started to read the comic books was how sophisticated they've become. The artwork and the dialogue. And when I went to New York to meet with all the comic-book writers, I suppose they thought, well, here's this sort of Hollywood writer, this sort of snobby woman coming to down on us.

And, in fact, what happened is I got there and said, "You guys are fabulous."

They're -- the writing is really terrific, and the stories are complex. And there's beginning, middle and ends, and sometimes in Hollywood, we don't even have stories that good.

So, I was very surprised and happy to see the sophistication of the comic books.

I did see all the "Superman" movies. I have to say, I have never seen the "Superboy" series.

QUESTION: Deborah, how many episodes has ABC committed to, and was it ever considered that this would be a half-hour?

LeVINE: It was never considered it would be a half-hour, not to my knowledge. There are 13 episodes, but they count the pilot as two, so we finished the pilot -- just about finished t, in terms of editing it -- and we have 11 episodes now to shoot.

QUESTION: You've updated the "Great Caesar's ghost" reference, I guess, though I couldn't catch it all -- there was something with Elyis. What did he say, and what other taglines does Perry White have?

LeVINE: Perry White now says, "Great shades of Elvis" --[laughter] -- and I guess the biggest compliment paid to me is that D.C. Comics will now have Perry White saying, from now on, "Great shades of E1vis."

I think that how this came about was -- also had to do with Lane Smith, who is our Perry White, who is from the South. And it just seemed very natural for him to be saying something about Elvis, and part of his character is that he is a true devoted Elvis fan, even in death.

QUESTION: This is the second time you've mentioned a tie-in with the D.C. Comics. To what extent does the Time Warner media conglomerate play in all of this?

It seems like there's a lot of cross-referencing, and cross-promotion.

LeVINE: You know, I'm not really sure about what goes on behind. All I know is that when my writers and when I have stories, we talk to DC Comics in tens of their ideas, and we send them our paragraphs and they report back to us.

So I'm Just dealing on a creative end, and I'm really not sure about the business end.

QUESTION: Teri, after working with Robert Loggia in "Sunday Dinner," how was it to have Dean -- a man closer to your age -- as a leading man?

HATCHER: Well, Robert and I had a great time in that, working with Norman Lear -- that whole experience was wonderful: the live audience, and all of that.

But Dean is just -- I could not say enough great things about him, as a co-star. He's just the most kind, giving, you know, actor and person, and he's just terrific. You know, no ego, no -- just really there for you all the time. He's really -- it's, like, the greatest place to work, The Daily Planet. [she laughs] [laughter]

QUESTION: Do the adventure aspects of the series appeal to you, or is it the romantic aspects, or playing a journalist, or what?

HATCHER: There's certainly -- like I said before, you know, just the availability to this character to just be so full, you know, in terms of emotions, and the comedy really appealed to me.

And you know, I didn't really think about the flying and all of that as something that, oh, that would be really fun. I mean, I'm very athletic, and I like that, but I didn't think about it until we got to those things -- shooting those things.

And then you think, oh, this is going to be really great. [she laughs] This will be -- you know, how fun, getting to fly, and then you put on these miserable harnesses and wear them for six hours, and get bruises all over your body. [she laughs].

But, actually, the greatest thing about that shot -- and I think you guys saw it, when he flies me into The Daily Planet -- you know, Dean and I are hanging -- it was actually right out those doors -- we're hanging about, I guess 30 feet in the air, and you're hanging out there for about 10 minutes, you know, waiting for the camera to roll, and everything.

And we're, kind of, you know, not so comfortable, and so they say, okay, we're getting ready to roll.

And so Dean, you know, we get into position and he picks me up , which is really miserable because he's, like, straining his biceps and I'm sucking in my stomach -- [laughter] -- but as soon as they say, "Action," and you start moving, and the doors open, and everyone's busy milling around The Daily Planet, and you fly in and you fly across -- I said to Deborah, after we shot it the first time I came down, and I mean, I think almost exactly I said, "That is the most romantic thing a woman could ever, ever do," you know. [laughter]

It was amazing.

QUESTION: Deborah, in the films, John Williams' music played a key role in the fanfares and the believability of the character.

Who's your composer on this series, and are you going for the same sort of grandiose orchestral sound?

LeVINE: Our composer on the series is Jay Gurska, and actually, the way things work out, we have just started to think about the music.

I think that we still want the heroicism [sic] of the John Williams score, however, I think we would like to see it a little bit updated because I think what that score says is "I am here to save the day," and I think what we would prefer our score to say is, "I am back. I am Superman, with a twist."

QUESTION: Deborah, to what extent are you going to use special effects? I don't mean the flying, but other elements of the series.

LeVINE: We have on the show now a man by the name of John Scheeley [sp], who just finished "Coneheads" for Paramount, who I think is an incredibly brilliant man to do our special effects.

There is quite a bit of it involved, in terms of heat vision, x-ray vision -- we're still doing all that -- and the green-screen process, the flying process, is a real art, to get it looking different.

I mean part of the reason that I was watching all the "Superman" movies is that I wanted our Clark to fly differently. I wanted him to fly more like a guy out on a Sunday fly -- [laughter] -- and I think that we studied that for a long time to try and get the look of the flying to be different.

And it does play quite a big part in the show.

QUESTION: Deborah, it's bad enough to have to go up against "Murder, She Wrote" and Angela Lansbury, but now you've got Steven Spielberg on the other network.

How do you feel about that? Do you think -- what do you think of the time-slot?

LeVINE: I think it's a terrific time-slot. And, maybe I'm crazy, but I'm not that worried.

I think that there will be people definitely who will turn on the show because it is Spielberg, but I think that "Lois & Clark" bring so much more to the public.

I think there's a history there, and I think people feel that history. They want to watch the show. They want their kids to watch the show the way they watched the show.

And I think once they come to the part and see the show, and they see these guys -- these fantastic people and the great cast that we have -- that they'll stay.

QUESTION: [overlapping] Teri, [sic] with Superman flying all around Metropolis and every place else, how much more of an expense is this budget-wise compared to a regular hour-long adventure drama show? Is that--?

LeVINE: I'm sorry, I thought they asked you.

CAIN: No, he was trying to get your attention. He was talking to you.

QUESTION: No, I'm sorry. Deborah.

LeVINE: It's an expensive show. It's quite an expensive show because it's not just an ensemble show in a big city. You can see the set we're sitting in here. This was.a very expensive set. I think these sets are the finest I've ever seen in television, or in many features. A woman by the name of May Ling Cheng, who's a Chinese architect, designed all of our sets. And they're quite expensive.

And the show has a large cast. It's urban. And there's special effects. So it is an expensive show.

QUESTION: Teri, what's your familiarity with the other Lois Lanes? Margot Kidder, Noel Neill, have you seen a lot of them in action? And how would you say yours stacks up to theirs?

HATCHER: You know --[David Jacobs arrives]--oh, here's David. As Dean said, you know, I saw the movies. I never really saw the show in the '50s or anything. And when I got the role I didn't make a big effort to research what other Lois's did or who they were, because I really felt like what's important about this is me bringing what I think she needs to be to what's written on the page.

And I certainly think she's -- compared to the movies -- much -- probably more independent, and is spunkier. But it's really -- it's just going to be me doing it. And I don't think it can be compared really.

QUESTION: Just for an idea, it seems like the spunkiness that Margot Kidder had for example, sometimes looked like they were having fun with it, because she was so independent and so spunky. How would you say, again if you can compare it to that?

HATCHER: I don't know if I can -- I don't know that I can remember enough to compare it, you know. I just know that we have a great -- a great chemistry together. And great characters individually. And they just work. You know, they work well together. And the romance is terrific.

QUESTION: David -- back here in the balcony, hello?

DAVID JACOBS: Yes.

QUESTION: We were discussing just as you came in the budget on the show and...

JACOBS: Did you have any good ideas about it? [laughter]

QUESTION: What is the average cost of an hour drama now? And what's the budget on your show? Does it come anywhere close to the Spielberg show, which is supposed to be $2 million an hour.

JACOBS: Comes nowhere close to that.

QUESTION: Okay, then what is it?

JACOBS: I don't even know. I mean, it changes from week to week.

QUESTION: From what to what? [laughter]

JACOBS: I don't know if anybody wants us to talk about budget.

QUESTION: Sure we do.

JACOBS: I mean anybody that's, you know...[laughter] It's --first of all, let me apologize for being late.

QUESTION: And...

JACOBS: I don't think -- I don't think I can discuss the budget.

QUESTION: Okay.

JACOBS: Okay.

QUESTION: How about percentages over the normal average hour? What would you say this is running? If a normal one-hour show is X, this is X-plus-what percent?

JACOBS: I would say that this is -- well, it's hard to come up with an average. Average new show?

QUESTION: Yeah. Average one-hour drama.

JACOBS: New. It's different...I don't know. About 20%, I guess, or more.

QUESTION: You told us that "Homefront" was very expensive because it was a period show. Does a period--

JACOBS: "Homefront" turned out not to be that expensive. It was expensive, but not as expensive as it could have been. The "Homefront" pilot was very expensive, but the show itself wasn't all that expensive.

QUESTION: So "Lois & Clark" is more expensive per hour than--

JACOBS: Yes.

QUESTION: --"Homefront."

JACOBS: Yes.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Deborah -- up in the balcony again -- I guess following up on that question, does the fact that it is so expensive to make hour shows make it -- do you have to exercise caution in writing special effects types of sequences, because those would probably be more expensive than any other.

And a question for Teri. It says in your bio that you did a guest-starring role in "Seinfeld." Could you tell us what you did and what it was like to work with Jerry?

LeVINE: You want to go first, Teri?

HATCHER: It'd probably be funnier if I re-enacted it. [laughs] I was the girl in the episode that -- well, let me 3ust explain -- no, I was the girl in the episode where Jerry was trying to figure out if her breasts were real or fake.

That was me. And Julia fell on me in the sauna and...yeah.

LeVINE: Back to the -- yes, well, I think what we're aware of, first of all, is we can't do the same special effects that you can see on the big screen, period. I think that what we have to do is be creative in our approach to them.

For example, in the pilot, instead of a bomb blowing up a rocket, for example, we have Superman come in and swallow the bomb and then burp. It's a very, very funny bit, and it didn't cost that much money. [laughter] And we're trying to be very creative in our approach.

QUESTION: How does one prepare for such a scene?

CAIN: Diet soda. [laughter]

QUESTION: Dean, we know you can't really fly or see through · walls, but why don't you tell us a little bit about your athletic background?

CAIN: Well, I've grown up -- basically, my whole life has been as an athlete. Since I was a little kid, I've been playing every sport under the sun. I played football, basketball, baseball. You know, surfed, skied, rode motorcycles, did everything. And in high school I did the same thing: played volleyball.

Actually, I played college football and volleyball and ran track, and then played professional football for one season for the Buffalo Bills. And found out that I wasn't so super.

I took a knee injury and I retired in my rookie season. Unfortunately -- I mean, fortunately but unfortunately -- I mean, I would have enjoyed playing, being an athlete, but this is certainly a lot less painful. At least most of the time if I'm not flying. The flylng's a very painful thing.

JACOBS: You know, when he got the part, 'he told us he could fly. [laughter] About 80% of the actors told us in fact that they could. That's one of the reasons the show's so expensive.

LeVINE: When we do green screen, usually they have -- we have a stunt double for Dean to do some of the flying harness tricks. But they came up to us recently and said, the stunt double doesn't compare to Dean; Dean is so fabulous that we rarely use that double for flying, because Dean is so much better.

CAIN: They've used the stunt double one time.

LeVINE: His athleticism has hurt him in that regard.

QUESTION: Dean -- in the balcony, other side -- what position did you play and what season was it?

CAIN: I played free safety, and it was the '88 season, '88-89. They lost, I think, in the AFC Championship that year. That was the year that they basically became a contender.

QUESTION: And how do you feel about them having lost four Super Bowls.

QUESTION: Three.

CAIN: Three. Yeah.

QUESTION: Five or whatever.

CAIN: A Bowl prediction. [laughter] I think -- I have a lot of friends who still play for Buffalo. Actually, this year a few of them got traded off. A lot of free agency going on. I feel, you know, I feel like I would have liked to have been there, you know. You always feel like, as an athlete, you could have made a difference somewhere.

And I really would have enjoyed being there. Not many people get to say they played in three consecutive Super Bowls. And, you know, maybe had I been there, who knows. But I feel bad for my friends who've lost.

And again, there's teams that didn't make it to the Super Bowl. And so it's mixed, you know. You know, I looked '-Dallas has been my favorite team since I was a little kid, and there they were playing against my friends. So it was a little mixed. But I'm not heartbroken or anything.

QUESTION: Are there other characters from the Superman universe that aren't villains, like Lana Lang, that we might see surfacing along the way?

LeVINE: I don't think we are going to see Lana Lang, because I think Lana Lang originated in the Superboy comic strips, so I don't believe that we have access to her.

QUESTION: Is it strictly then whatever's in the Superman--

LeVINE: In the Superman comic, that's my understanding.

QUESTION: Deborah, because you're still in the post-production process, and we haven't been able to see the full two-hour pilot, I'm wondering if you're worried about -- I'm over here -- I'm wondering if you're concerned about being able to turn this out week after week and make a production deadline, since obviously this movie's been in production for quite a long time.

LeVINE: I think that we have a luxury here in terms of the pilot, because when you have a pilot and ~ou shoot it and you have a number of months to edit and dub t, I think you take the time. And I think that we, for the two-hour, did a lot of very spectacular effects. And for each one-hour, maybe we'll have only one great or two great effects per show. But there's so many of them in the pilot that we're taking our time to put it together.

QUESTION: Dean, could you give us your opinion of why you think that kids could use a little dose of a superhero in their diets?

CAIN: Well, it's funny. I was reading, I think' it was Newsweek about a week ago or two weeks ago, and they were talking about the types of shows that are on now. And they ranked, you know, so many violent acts and so many death-by-handguns, and so on and so forth.

This show is completely different because the hero is --he'll never use a weapon. He's got a conscience like you've never seen before. He's just a whole different kind of role model that the kids haven't seen in a long time on television. And, you know, he's very updated. He's very '90s.

He's not a nerd. He is -- maybe has some nerdy qualities about him: that he's honest or that he's forthright or works hard or whatever that is. But it's made to not make him an outsider, you know, a freak or anything ridiculous. I mean, he's -- it's okay, it's accepted.

I think that kids -- you know, kids are getting a lot smarter these days, and I think that they're starting to realize that those are values and things that are important.

BARRETT: A couple of final questions.

QUESTION: Dean, would you also talk about the flying sequences? How much time you had to spend in the harness, and was it as good for you as it was for Teri? [laughter]

CAIN: [laughs] It's really -- it can be very painful. We spent -- god, we spent five days -- I had to do some practice time, too, learning how to -- it's really difficult because you have wires coming -- just two spots for me most of the time -- two wires coming out just at my hips. And your whole body -- you have to straighten out and your whole body has to tense.

And I call this specific headache -- I get a headache really badly -- I call it the "green screen headache." After three days in that every time I'd tense my body up, my head feels like it's going to explode. But it's very difficult.

We spent, like, probably ten -- eights days on the pilot. We shot three days already before this It's very physically demanding, it's very tough. But it's getting easier. It's' like anything else, the more you do, the more your body adjusts its balance and things. It's getting easier for me.

BARRETT: Final question.

QUESTION: [overlapping]--the last time that DC Comics mounted a big series like this, it was "The Flash." And it came with a '90s sensibility. It had a fairly big budget. Critical reaction wasn't that bad, as far as I remember. And the network at the time didn't stay behind it in the same time slot for very long. What sort of assurances do you have from this network that this'11 be around for a while?

JACOBS: I don't -- you never have assurances. But we certainly have their enthusiasm, you know, which is obvious, I don't really know what happened with "The Flash," I don't even think I saw it more than once.

QUESTION: But didn't the DC people relay to you anything about "The Flash," when you go in to mount another big-budget comic series?

JACOBS: No. And it was -- I think this is a very different kind of show. And just remember the title. And that's really --that's what attracted me. The script was already written when I came into it, so it was just a matter of responding. And I responded, well, this is really different. Whereas, "The Flash" -- at least the one time I saw it -- was, you know, it was '90s humor and it was '90s sensibility, but it wasn't this kind of '90s relationship.

And it wasn't this kind of --I don't know what was said before I got here, but the great thing about the show is that it s a triangle. And the triangle is Lois, Superman and Clark. And that's funny. It's wonderful. And to me, that's the most attractive thing about it, much more attractive than any of the effects, although they're necessary, but -- to demonstrate why there's two sides to this coin.

BARRETT: Thank you very much.