History Series / LoisAndClark

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: As the series progresses, Clark no longer needs to duck into a room to change clothes, instead spinning furiously and coming to a stop in his Superman outfit.

* IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow: Diana Stride and her henchman in "Top Copy".
-->'''Diana:''' I made [Superman] swallow a radioactive substance.
-->'''Rolf:''' I'll just bet you did.
** Perry chastises Lois & Clark for coming into work late:
-->'''Clark:''' We were on assignment!\\
'''Perry:''' Oh, is that what they're calling it now?

* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Let's save ourselves some time: Doctors are bad. ''Period''. That extends to {{psycho|Psychologist}}logists, as well, and even [[UpToEleven opthamologists]].

* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Super-memory, super-sketch drawing (this would work from his microscopic vision), super-smell, super-fingerprint analysis, and [[UpToEleven super-teleportation]].

* StockSubtitle: "The New" when the series had the subtitle "The New Adventures of Superman" for the first few seasons.

** Both of [Lex Luthor's sons [[AbductionIsLove abduct Lois]] at some point.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Lois]] [[TakingTheBullet takes the bullet]] for Superman by jumping in front of Lex's DisintegratorRay, zapping both herself and Lex.

*** Sorry, but Funky is a DC character, first introduced in ''Comic/MisterMiracle''. The Marvel connection is that he is said to be a caricature of Stan Lee.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

For the 2015 comics series, see ''ComicBook/SupermanLoisAndClark''.

-->--"All Shook Up"

->'''Clark Kent''': Lois, you're talking about war. This is journalism.\\
'''Lois''': See, your problem is you think there's a difference.

* AbsentMindedProfessor: Generally, the only trustworthy doctors on this show are the forgetful ones. See: Dr. Samuel Platt from the Pilot, followed by Emil Hamilton in "That Old Gang of Mine."

** Perry doing the peace sign, or a Watergate headline hanging behind his head, etc. Lane Smith played the [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon 37th President]] in the television movie ''The Final Days''.

--->'''Perry''': "Why don't we just think of it as '''[[TakeThisJobAndShoveIt our divorce - PERIOD]]'''." ''(grabs [[CompanionCube Elvis picture]] and leaves)''

--->'''Lois:''' "How long did that take?"\\
'''Clark:''' [considers] "I think the show ran four years."

** Clark. Lois notes after spying in his fridge that he eats like an eight year old and looks like Mr Hardbody. This recurs at other points with Clark constantly snitching donuts, sometimes with superpowers. It seems he does not even have to eat. In a S4 episode, Martha Kent is shown carrying a huge bag full of junk food and candy to stock up the larder with, because she's missing her boy and wants to welcome him home just right, with all of his favourite foods. Another episode opens with Clark fixing breakfast in the morning with eggs ([[MundaneUtility cooked with heat vision, of course]]), coffee, and a big jug of milk, and another episode confirms that even after ''all that'' he goes into work and starts snacking on doughnuts.

--->"Lois, we're out of [[ExpospeakGag high-sugar, high-fat, nutritionally-worthless snack items.]]"

* ChickMagnet: Clark attracts an ''obscene'' amount of women throughout the show's run. (Superman more so, but even when he is just plain Clark.) Even the city's crooks are avowed fans of Superman: In the episode where Superman is arrested, the police take extra mugshots to give some streetwalkers a chance to pose with him!

** Lois, a decorated investigative journalist, is unable to realize that her partner, Clark Kent, is just Superman with glasses. This was not helped by Creator/DeanCain not changing his voice, posture, or facial expression between the two personae as much as Christopher Reeve famously did.[[note]]He tried to pitch his voice lower and grittier as Superman, but failed miserably.[[/note]]Creator/TeriHatcher's monologue on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' parodied this, demonstrating her general inability to recognize people with glasses.

--->'''Lois''': "I think I've got you figured out."\\
'''Clark''': "Really. Didn't take you long."\\
'''Lois''': "It's my business looking beyond the external."

--->'''Tempus''': Look (puts glasses on), I'm Clark Kent. (Takes glasses off) No, I'm Superman! (Puts glasses on) Mild-mannered reporter. (Takes glasses off) Superhero! Hello! Duh! Clark Kent is Superman! Ha, ha, ha! Well, that was worth the whole trip, to actually meet the most ''galactically stupid woman'' who ever lived.

-->'''Lois''': How can they not know? I work with them every day! How can they not look past a small mask and see what is so obvious...''(sees Clark just smirking at her and rolls her eyes.)''
** Clark's powers of deception extend even to himself. In "All Shook Up," when he gets [[EasyAmnesia amnesia]] and everyone is running around trying to find Superman -- who has, for obvious reasons, gone missing -- he somehow manages to avoid making the connection until his parents spell it out for him.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Lex Luthor and Bill Church, among plenty others. [=CEOS=] are to the nineties what prohibition gangsters were to the fifties.
* CoverBlowingSuperpower: Clark, all the time. It was basically a RunningGag of how he will find some way to justify mild uses of his power, from finding a weak link in his hand-cuffs to "the force of the explosion must have pushed us away."

** Several other characters as well - at one point one recurring villain, Rollie Vale, manages to do this brazenly to Lex Luthor's face, [[BullyingADragon even as Luthor threatens to kill him if he doesn't show some respect.]]

* DomesticApplianceDisaster: A B-plot once involved Ma and Pa Kent [[SwappedRoles swapping roles]]. [[ADayInHerApron Jonathan tried to do the house chores]], but among others disasters such as turning his son's white shirts pink after washing them with his Superman cape, he also burned a hole in the cape with a hot iron. [[note]]Still, it's implied Jonathan [[MenCantKeepHouse cannot keep a house]] because he belongs to an older generation. Clark, on the other hand, was still single at the time and did not have his mother's help on an everyday basis. But it did not prevent him from being very capable with house chores; ''he'' could keep his shirts white and without iron holes.[[/note]]

--> '''Clark (trying to convince Lois an accused murderer was dangerous):''' "The man was tried and convicted by a jury of his peers!"
--> '''Lois (dismissively):''' "Oh, leave the truth and justice stuff to Superman, would you?"
--> '''Clark:''' <aggravated sigh>

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Several later villains were couples or relatives whose main redeeming quality was that they truly cared about each other. The first version of Toyman may have been a bitter JerkAss bent on poisoning Metropolis with mind altering drugs, but he legitimately cared about his compassionate assistant so much that when she eventually had enough all he wanted to do was see her before he went to jail (in stark contrast to the second version of Toyman, who immediately killed his compassionate assistant when she started questioning his plans too much). The show's version of Deathstroke - though in a case of UnholyMatrimony - did seem to care about his wife and vice versa. There was the couple that wanted to acquire Superman for their collection, etc.

* EvilBrit: Lenny Stoke, Lord Nor and Nigel St. John.
* EvilDuo: Villains typically came in pairs, usually "mastermind/planner and sidekick/leg work." Usually, [[MinionWithAnFInEvil the sidekick characters would be much kinder or at least more sympathetic than their boss,]] and [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal Mistreatment-Induced Betrayals]] were common as a result.

** In season 3 while Clark is cooking and Lois is fawning over him, he suggests that her not cooking is due to lack of time. She tells him flat out it is due to lack of talent. Subverted at the end of "Ghosts", in which she inherits cookery talent from the spirit of a housewife who possessed her.

--> '''Lois:''' You getting anywhere?\\
'''Clark:''' No, but now I know ''all five'' verses to "Windy."

-->'''Lois''': So how did I rate as a date?\\
'''Clark''': Oh, A+.\\
'''Lois''': I hung on your arm decoratively...\\
'''Clark''': You ''did.''\\
'''Lois''': Fawned appropriately...\\
'''Clark''': ''Absolutely''.\\
'''Lois''': ...And just faded into the background during your big moment.\\
'''Clark''': You were beautiful yet invisible.\\
'''Lois''': ''(cooing)'' Mmm, make me go through another night like that, and [[CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon I'll rip out your spleen.]]

'''Anonymous''': Really? Then by all means, [[BondOneLiner take two of these]]. (BLAM BLAM)

-->'''Mayson Drake:'''''(to Superman)'' Do you have a license to chase criminals? Do you read them their rights? [[StrawmanHasAPoint If you injure someone, are you insured?]]
** Also subverted and then played straight in Season 3's Ulra Woman, when Lois gets Clark's powers and takes on a costumed identity. When she saves a woman who was choking to death and trapped in her car, the woman's husband chews her out for the damage to his car, but the crowd sides with her response:

** In the season 2 finale, Superman is blackmailed into killing Lois Lane. To [[FauxDeath achieve the effect]] (but not the result), he uses his super-breath to temporarily freeze Lois, causing her to appear dead.

-->'''Lois Lane''': Tell me the biggest secret you have.\\
'''Clark Kent''': Wha?\\
'''Lois Lane''': Tell me the biggest secret you have. Something you'd never reveal to anyone.\\
'''Clark Kent''': Why?\\
'''Lois Lane''': Because I'm about to tell you mine and I need blackmail material.

--> '''Joey Bermuda''': No, Cheryl Marie, you can not stay up past 9:00. Yes honey, you can watch TV, just none of that gratuitous violence, okay? [shoots hole through a cut-out of Superman] I'll see you tonight.

--> '''Garret Grady:''' When the world sees what [[KillSat The Annihilator]] can do, nations will beat their swords into ploughshares, and [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans mankind will live in perfect, blessed brotherhood]]...or I will blast the hell out of them!

** And again after being struck by a car, hitting her head on a fire hydrant. She loses her memory of who she really is, and believes she is "[[SplitPersonalityTakeover Wanda Detroit]]," the lounge singer character from the crappy novel she began pounding out a few years ago.

--> '''Diana:''' I made [Superman] swallow a radioactive substance.
--> '''Rolf:''' I'll just bet you did.

** This wasn't the case in an early draft of "Seconds", where she is punished for her crimes. Given that she never shows up again in the series proper, it can be assumed she was caught offscreen.

--->'''Lois''': The person who could really help, Superman, is probably off signing a deal to start his own television series by now.
--->'''Clark''': Superman on TV? I don't... think so.

--->'''Jimmy''': .....Chief?\\
'''Perry''': Yeah?\\
'''Jimmy''': Instead of always standing around, watching Lois and Clark, wondering what they're doing... What if we, uh... Got lives of our own that were a little more interesting.\\
'''Perry''': Now son, you've just hit the bulls-eye. It's like we're supporting characters in some TV show that's only about them.\\
'''Jimmy''': Yeah, it's like all we do is [[GreekChorus advance their plots!]]\\
'''Perry''': To tell you the truth I'm sick of it.\\
'''Jimmy''': Yeah, me too.\\

-->'''Tempus''': Only thing that would ruin this would be a commercial.\\

** Still the fact that none of his other co-workers are any closer to knowing the truth, so Lois Lane is not alone in being fooled. After Superman leaves Earth for New Krypton, it suddenly hits Jimmy that Clark's gone missing at the same time as Superman. But he ''can't....quite....connect....the dots''.

* MrFanservice: Dean Cain, ''hot damn.''

** Clark doesn't have a second home in Antarctica in this continuity, but he did have a treehouse in his backyard as a kid that he called "The Fortress Of Solitude." As an adult, he occasionally keeps important things in there, as the last place anyone would think to look.

--> '''Lex.''' Y'know, Shakespeare didn't write ''Othello''.
--> '''Lois.''' Hmmm.
--> '''Lex.''' It was actually written by Dr. Seuss.
--> '''Lois.''' Mm-hmm.

--> '''Jonathan Kent:''' We don't do much bowing here in Kansas.\\

-->'''Jimmy''': "Does this mean I should buy a tie?'''\\
''Perry gives him an perturbed look.''

** Leslie Luckabee is played by Patrick Cassidy. His father, Jack Cassidy, played the sleazy Max Menken in the 1966 Broadway musical, ''It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman!'' (In the 2010 revival, Patrick played his father's old role).

* RetroUniverse: Metropolis is intentionally designed with this is mind. There is a 40's-style ArtDeco feel to the city, particularly at ''The Daily Planet''; but every single time someone turns on a computer or picks up a phone, it is so painfully 90's, and it contrasts sharply with how retro everything else is. This makes it look more like Chicago than New York.

* ShesGotLegs: Lois, boy howdy. This became an {{ironic echo}} when Lois karate kicked a goon who previously complimented them. For the first two seasons (that is, the seasons that got the most mileage out of the WillTheyOrWontThey dynamic) the image of Lois seductively propping her leg on Clark's desk was ''everywhere.''

* SomethingElseAlsoRises: "The Phoenix" has a SexySilhouette of Lois, causing Clark to pop his cork...of champagne, and then ''he'' got a SexySilhouette, causing her to wet the carpet...with spilled champagne. Subtle.

* SpecialGuest: Among those who made guest appearances were Creator/RichardBelzer, Music/SonnyBono, Creator/PeterBoyle, Creator/DeltaBurke, Creator/BruceCampbell, Creator/DrewCarey, Creator/RobertCarradine, Creator/DeniseCrosby, Creator/RobertCulp, Creator/TonyCurtis, [[Music/TheWho Roger Daltrey]], Creator/DavidDoyle, Creator/MorganFairchild, Creator/JonathanFrakes, Creator/FrankGorshin, Creator/JasmineGuy, Creator/ShermanHemsley, [[Creator/PennAndTeller Penn Jillette]], Creator/JamesEarlJones, Creator/ShelleyLong, Creator/HowieMandel, Creator/RickOverton, Creator/BronsonPinchot, Creator/IsabelSanford, Creator/DwightSchultz, Creator/DeanStockwell, Creator/DavidWarner, Creator/FredWillard, Creator/RaquelWelch and Creator/AdamWest.

* StatusQuoIsGod: While it starts out looking this way, big changes do occur over the course of the series - Lois learns Clark's secret, they marry, Lex Luthor dies, other Kryptonians arrive on Earth and start a minor war, etc. If the show had continued past Season 4, we would've gotten to see Lois and Clark raise a child as well.

* StockSubtitle: "The New" when the series had the subtitle "The New Adventures of Superman'' for the first few seasons.
* StuffedIntoATrashcan: Clark (disguised as a barkeep) ejected Lois from a mob-controlled club, carefully using his x-ray vision to toss her into the dumpster full of spoiled vegetables -- and ''not'' the one full of harmless paper shreddings. SuperDickery, indeed.

-->'''Jimmy''': New specs, CK?
-->'''Clark''': Yeah.
-->'''Jimmy''': ''(grabbing for Clark's glasses)'' Can I try 'em on?
-->'''Clark''': No! ... The prescription's too strong. It might hurt your eyes.

---> '''Tempus:''' I am the [[HundredPercentAdorationRating most popular President]] the world has ever known! Even [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Reagan]] in his heyday couldn't have gotten away with ''this''. (shoves bodyguard out a window)

* VillainousCrush: A.K.A. a day in the life of Lois Lane.

-->'''Clark:''': You are the same reporter you have always been: Hard-working. Dedicated. Maybe a little over the top sometimes. You could use some more vacations. Maybe a semblance of a life...\\

-->'''Monique:''' I'm waiting for the ''Reader's Digest'' version.[[note]][[GeniusBonus The actual treatise is extremely short already]][[/note]]
** Jaxon Xavier's [[SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence AI computer]] wonders aloud why they don't just kill Clark by yanking off his VR helmet, severing his mind-body connection. Xavier isn't receptive to this advice.

'''Perry''': Jimmy... never underestimate the importance of a good obituary. ''(leaves)''\\

** A second Toyman appeared during the show's run, this one actually called "The Toyman", played by Grant Shaud. Somewhat more sinister than the Winslow Schott character as portrayed by Helmsley, this Toyman whose real name is Harold Kripstly is responsible for several child abductions. Naturally, Superman foils his scheme and brings him to justice.

It hews a lot closer to the format of ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' TV show from the '50s; with several episodes, especially those in season 1, amounting to modernized re-creations of some of the best George Reeves episodes. Most episodes will start off with a strange happening, then [[ComicBook/LoisLane Lois]] (Creator/TeriHatcher) and Clark (Creator/DeanCain) use their reporter know-how to investigate. Eventually, one or more members of ''The Daily Planet'' will get into trouble and Superman will swoop in at the last minute and save them. As mentioned, there's a lot of [[WorkCom workplace]]/romantic comedy layered on top of this, and it's no coincidence that critics summed up the show as "''{{Series/Moonlighting}}'' with superpowers".

* MistakenForCheating: In the episode ''Sex, Lies and Videotape'', Lois and Clark kiss in an hotel room, without Clark took his costume off. A photo was taken and [[OhCrap is published in tabloids the next day]]. Everyone believe Superman have an ilicit relationship with a married woman. Clark only avoided to publicly have to admit he's Superman, because the paparazzi [[ContrivedCoincidence had lost the original photo]]. The published one was recreated through photoshop, then proved as fake.

-->'''Jimmy:''' Don't worry, I totally believe you that the picture is fake. But whoever made it did a pretty good job if I do say so myself I mean you can't see the lining and...''(Lois glares)'' Sorry. 100% on your team here.

** Additionally, the mayor of Metropolis, played by Sonny Bono, makes references to his lyrics in his speeches.

* [[AdaptationalSuperpowerChange Adaptational Superpower Changes]]: Superman's powers are toned down for the series compared to his film and comic book incarnations. He's still very powerful but more vulnerable to high-tech countermeasures, Kryptonite is more effective and it takes time for him to recover from its effects and generally it's easier for his opponents to provide a reasonable challenge without getting flattened in five seconds flat.

** A parody of ''Series/ILoveLucy'', with Dean Cain doing a passable Desi Arnaz, in "Don't Tug on Superman's Cape". Ay yi yi.
** That episode also featured a Bond spoof, with Clark as Bond and Lois as "Ms. Goodbottom".
** Cain and Hatcher provided their own voices for a ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' parody combining Lois and Clark with Lewis and Clark. They then admitted the sketch would be funnier had the show not been 20 years old at that point.

** In his early appearances, Inspector Henderson was played Mel Winkler and Brent Jennings. However, much like Two-Face in ''Film/BatmanForever'', it got reverse in his latter appearances, where he's played by Richard Belzer.

* {{Megane}}: Dean Cain's Clark leans on this trope hard.

*** Also, Superman saves the space shuttle, much like in Marv Wolfman's ''Comicbook/TheManOfSteel'' series, where he saves a "space-plane".

** "Long Legs Lulu", we hardly knew ye. Her nickname is apt, since all Lois finds is a pair of stiletto-clad legs [[StuffedIntoTheFridge sticking out of a trashbin]].

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Often, especially as the series went on. Villains typically came in pairs, usually "mastermind/planner and sidekick/leg work." Usually, [[MinionWithAnFInEvil the sidekick characters would be much kinder or at least more sympathetic than their boss,]] and [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal Mistreatment-Induced Betrayals]] were common as a result, though equally villainous partners did happen - especially if [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes they were a couple.]]

* BastardBastard: Lex Luthor's illegitimate sons.

* IdenticalGrandson: Clark's great-great-grandparents, Miss Martha and Marshall Kent(!). The latter is distinguished by his [[BadassMustache Rooseveltian mustache]].

* RealEstateScam: Lex is revealed to be bankrolling a gang of arsonists to drive down the value of Metropolis' port. Like the film version, he unveils a scale model of the {{Egopolis}} ("Lex Larbor") that he intends to erect in its place. ("I've Got a Crush On You")
** Lois' uncle runs afoul of Bill Church when he refuses to sell his café to Costmart.
** In "Ghosts" in season four, Lois and Clark are being subject to a very aggressive buyer involved in one of these.

-->'''Jimmy:''' "I think it's kinda cool the way he tied in the baseball theme. You know, the whole designated hitter... (Lois gives him an annoyed look) Oh, I sure wish someone would yell out 'copyboy' right about now."\\
'''Jimmy:''' "Don't worry, I totally believe you that the picture is fake. But whoever made it did a pretty good job if I do say so myself I mean you can't see the lining and...(Lois glares) Sorry. 100% on your team here."

-->'''Jimmy''': "New specs, CK?"
-->'''Clark''': "Yeah."
-->'''Jimmy''': "(grabbing for Clark's glasses)Can I try 'em on?"
-->'''Clark''': "No! ... The prescription's too strong. It might hurt your eyes."

* HeroInsurance: Subverted a couple times: First, in "Man of Steel Bars", when Metropolis' citizens blame Superman's heroics for an abnormal heat wave. In the Season 2 premiere, we see the after-effects of Lex Luthor's suicide; apparently, killing the man who employed half the city's population is [[RealityEnsues damaging to local interests]].