Here we have a "lost" (meaning, "found") bit of TV history. In January of 1967, both CBS and NBC unveiled mid-season replacement sitcoms with the same premise: A nerdy guy becomes a super-hero. The NBC one was called Captain Nice and starred William Daniels. The CBS one was called Mr. Terrific and starred Stephen Strimpell. You can watch an entire episode of the latter at this link.
And below, you can watch the pilot for an earlier, unaired version of Mr. Terrific starring Alan Young. After his Mr. Ed went off, the network shoved him into this thing, which I actually prefer in every way to the version that replaced it. Mr. Young is very good and it also stars Edward Andrews, who was the funniest thing in an awful lot of sixties movies and TV shows.
I don't know why CBS rejected this pilot but they did. They kept the name and a rough premise and a few more other details and they had the whole thing rewritten and recast and reshot…and the Alan Young performance has gone largely unseen 'til now. Take a peek. Like I said, I like it better than the version they bought…
