Trivia
Arnold Schwarzenegger was considered for the role of The Hulk but, even at 6' 2", was reportedly not tall enough (Lou Ferrigno is 6' 5").
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The Hulk's nemesis, newspaper reporter Jack McGee, was modeled after Javert, the policeman from the novel "Les Miserables."
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After its debut, the series was described by Starlog magazine as "one of the most promising shows to appear in some time."
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Bill Bixby wouldn't allow his son to watch the show, fearing that it would scare the boy to see his own father transforming into a green-skinned creature.
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The word "Anger" is the first thing seen onscreen in every episode. The camera pulls out to reveal that it is the word "danger" on the Gamma Ray device.
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In 1980, Universal tried to reduce the show's budget (which was a minimum of $600,000 per episode). The studio's proposed cuts included reducing the special effects and having the Hulk appear only once per episode. Another proposed change was to add a character who would travel with David via a motor home (providing at least one stock set to be used, and curtailing the number of sets used in each episode). However, all those ideas were dropped when CBS provided more money to keep the quality of the show intact.
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In his autobiography 'My Incredible Life as the Hulk', Lou Ferrigno admitted to having encountered fans who told him they wanted to see more of the Hulk character. In addition to pleasing the fans, he was convinced that being given more screen time would further justify his difficulties with the Hulk makeup. For those reasons, he lobbied to get the Hulk's appearances increased to three per episode. However, the producers rejected the idea because of budgetary concerns.
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In some episodes, it is mentioned that Robert Steinhauer is the name of the publisher of the National Register (the newspaper that Jack McGee works for). This is an in-joke reference to the show's production manager/co-producer Robert Bennett Steinhauer.
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To avoid sweating (which caused his green makeup to come off), Lou Ferrigno spent much of his time on the set in a refrigerated motor home.
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In most episodes, David Banner turned into the Hulk twice. The first transformation typically occurred 20 to 30 minutes after the start of the show, while the second transformation took place during the climax.
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The Hulk is always barefoot, but in outdoor scenes Lou Ferrigno often wore Hulk-green slippers to protect his feet. These are most noticeable in "Terror in Times Square", as the Hulk storms through the streets of New York (Ferrigno once joked that even the mighty Hulk wouldn't want to go barefoot in Times Square in the 1970s).
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Whenever Dr. Banner chose an alias, he always used the first name of David, his own first name, and his last name always began with a "B", since his last name was Banner.
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Ted Cassidy, the uncredited narrator of the show's opening credits, also did the Hulk's growls for the first two seasons. When he died in 1979, dubbed animal growls were used, in addition to growls by Charles Napier.
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Because David Banner never has any recollection of his actions as the Hulk, Bill Bixby did not watch Lou Ferrigno perform on set, and Ferrigno was never present for Bixby's scenes.
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Richard Kiel was originally chosen to play The Hulk. However, as the pilot began filming, the producers felt that he wasn't bulky enough. Although his scenes were re-shot with Lou Ferrigno, one scene with Kiel as the Hulk in the pilot remains intact, a brief high-angle shot of the Hulk looking up at a tree just before he saves a girl from drowning in the lake.
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CBS initially did not want to continue with the series for the fall of 1981, even though the show's ratings were still respectable. Kenneth Johnson claimed that Harvey Sheppard, then head of CBS programming, felt that the series had run its course, and canceled it. With seven new episodes already filmed, Johnson tried unsuccessfully to persuade Sheppard to buy more episodes; also, according to Lou Ferrigno's book My Incredible Life As the Hulk, Bill Bixby talked to other networks about picking up the show, but no deal could be reached in time to keep the series in production. Nevertheless, CBS aired those seven episodes sporadically during the 1981-82 season. Due to the sudden cancellation, the producers never had a chance to plan a series finale, in which David Banner would have been successfully cured of the Hulk.
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In the comic book, the Hulk's alter ego is named Bruce Banner (although his full name is Robert Bruce Banner). For the show, however, the character was renamed David, in part because the name "Bruce" was considered too homosexual. A contributing factor was series producer Kenneth Johnson's dislike for alliterative names, which are typically used in comic books; Johnson decided that "David" (his son's name) was more solid.
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Producer Kenneth Johnson wanted the Hulk's skin color to be red, believing that it would reflect the character's anger. However, Stan Lee rejected the idea.
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In 1984, two years after the series went off the air, Bill Bixby offered Nicholas Hammond a chance to reprise his titular role from The Amazing Spider-Man TV series in a proposed Hulk/Spider-Man TV-movie crossover that would have been distributed by Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures. Hammond agreed to the offer, but Universal Studios eventually canceled the project, claiming that Lou Ferrigno was unavailable. However, Ferrigno said that he was never contacted about the project, and had no knowledge of it until he discovered the information while working on his autobiography in 2003.
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In an interview from the season 3 DVD set, Kenneth Johnson stated that Bill Bixby was his "first and only choice" for the role of David Banner.
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When the TV series was on the air, Bill Bixby was very careful never to be photographed with Lou Ferrigno in his Hulk makeup because he felt for photos to get out of the two of them together would destroy the illusion to children and fans of the show that they were not the same person. The tabloids of that era were always trying to get a picture of David Banner and the Hulk creature together but were unable to do so.
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It has been claimed that Kenneth Johnson had planned to film a two-hour series finale in which David Banner was put on trial for the death of Elaina Marks (who was killed in the pilot). However, in an interview that was taped for the show's fifth season DVD set, Johnson said that a finale was never written, due to the surprise cancellation of the series. Nevertheless, he admitted that he had wanted to do a final episode in which David Banner would have been successfully cured of the Hulk.
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The name of the tabloid Jack McGee worked for was The National Register, whose main office was located in Chicago. The Register's primary competitor was Lime Lite Magazine.
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While Javert from Les Miserables is cited as the main influence for Jack McGee, McGee also reflected Thunderbolt Ross, an Army General who obsessively pursued the Hulk in the comic book series.
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When the show was established as a hit, Producer 'Kenneth Johnson (I') was rumored to be considering creation of a female version of the Hulk. The character would be used on the series with the intent of possibly spinning her off into her own series (as Johnson had done with the The Six Million Dollar Man/The Bionic Woman). When Marvel Comics got wind of this, they quickly responded by creating She-Hulk, ensuring they would own the rights of such a Hulk branded character.
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The first series as part of an agreement for Universal to produce a string of live action TV projects based on Marvel Comics characters. Producer Kenneth Johnson was given the choice of adapting any Marvel character he wanted, but with little interest and knowledge in the comic book genre initially turned the assignment down. He changed his mind after finding inspiration for plot elements from Hugo's Les Miserables.
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Bill Bixby has said that prior to the show's premiere, he was openly questioned as to why he agreed to be cast as the star of a series based on a comic book. Bixby responded by telling them that the series wasn't at all like they thought, and to give it a chance once it started to air.
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This series actually draws inspiration from three works of classic literature. Stan Lee says the Hulk himself was inspired by Frankenstein's monster, while the alter ego of Dr. Banner was inspired by Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Kenneth Johnston added the element of Jack McGee pursuing the creature, so that the series was not unlike The Fugitive with Gerard pursuing Kimble each week. That element of the previous series was inspired by Les Miserables.
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Lou Ferrigno was the only actor to appear in every episode. Bill Bixby was forced to miss one episode due to court hearings relating to a messy divorce he was going through. Banner appeared very briefly with no dialogue in the episode and was portrayed by Bixby's stunt double.
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Lou Ferrigno said that he had become so frustrated on the set one day that he stormed off and drove home while still wearing his full Hulk make-up and costuming. Ferrigno added that the sight of him driving as such resulted in a passing motorist having a minor automobile accident.
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CBS tried to push at times to steer the series more to using full Sci-Fi/Fantasy elements (i.e aliens from outer space and other super powered villains). According to Lou Ferrigno, Bill Bixby always fought back to maintain the show's more realistic and dramatic format.
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At one point a cost cutting move was proposed to eliminate the Jack McGee character. Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno both said if that happened they would walk off themselves in protest out of loyalty and support towards Jack Colvin.
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