September 20, 1990: "The Flash" Premieres On CBS

September 20, 1990: The Flash premieres on CBS, based on the 1956 version of the comic book character.

John Wesley Shipp plays Barry Allen, a police scientist – think Gil Grissom of CSI or Abby Sciuto of NCIS – in fictional Central City, who helps solve crimes without superpowers, but has a habit of running late. That is, until a freak accident gives him super-speed, and he becomes the Flash, a.k.a. the Scarlet Speedster.

Ironically, this series debuted 5 years after the character he was playing died in the comics, in Crisis On Infinite Earths, and had been replaced by his nephew Wally West, formerly Kid Flash.

Or, rather, Wally was Barry's nephew by marriage, as his aunt was Iris West, Barry's 1st wife in the comics. One major difference between this show and every other version of Barry is that he and Iris (played here by Paula Marshall) broke up in the pilot, and his love interest became Tina McGee (Amanda Pays), a scientist at S.T.A.R. Labs (usually in Superman's hometown of Metropolis in the comics), who helps Barry deal with his speed, and designed his costume.

M. Emmet Walsh plays Barry's father, Henry, a retired Centrasl City policeman. Priscilla Pointer plays Barry's mother, Nora. Tim Thomersen plays Barry's brother Jay, also a cop, a character created for this series. Wally does not appear in the series, but Mariko Tse plays newscaster Linda Park, who, in the comics, marries Wally. Richard Belzer plays another newscaster, Joe Kline. Another character created for this series is Barry's co-worker, Julio Mendez, played by Alex Désert.

The series follows the pre-Crisis version of the Flash, in which his mother was not murdered when he was a boy, and his father wasn't wrongly convicted for it. That was changed to give the Flash more of a Batman-like edge.

Robert Shayne, who played Inspector Henderson in the 1950s The Adventures of Superman, plays Reg, a newsstand vendor. Another nod to earlier superhero stories is that, at one point, in civilian clothes, Barry stands outside a movie theater showing a double bill of the 1978 Superman and the 1989 Batman. This is an inside joke, because Batman '89 inspired CBS to give this show the green light (not to be confused with Green Lantern), and they got Danny Elfman from that film to compose the music for the series.

The series did not catch on, and was canceled after 1 season, 22 episodes. But it had some interesting guest stars to make up the Flash's "Rogues Gallery," included David Cassidy as Mirror Master, and Mark Hamill as The Trickster. Captain Cold was played by singer Michael Champion. Bryan Cranston, Denise Crosby and Jeri Ryan had early roles. Typically tight TV budgets probably prevented the appearances of such Flash opponents as Mr. Element, a.k.a. Dr. Alchemy, Gorilla Grodd, and Eobard Thawne, a.k.a. Professor Zoom, a.k.a. the Reverse-Flash.

In 2014, The CW would start a new The Flash series, as part of their interconnected collection of superhero shows, the "Arrowverse." Grant Gustin played Barry Allen. In 2019, Shipp's Flash was brought into the series, explained as being from an alternate Earth, and sacrificed his life in their version of Crisis On Infinite Earths. Shipp also played Henry Allen, father of Grant's Flash; and Jay Garrick, the Earth-2 "Golden Age" Flash, who debuted in comics in 1940.

Left to right Ezra Miller from the DC Extended Universe,

John Wesley Shipp from the 1990-91 Flash series,

and Grant Gustin from the 2014-23 Flash series,

brought together for the 2019 Crisis On Infinite Earths event.

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September 20, 1990 was a Thursday. Hockey star John Tavares was born. And these 9 Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 12-7 at Yankee Stadium. Indians starter Greg Swindell didn't get out of the 2nd inning, and Yankee starter Dave Eiland didn't get out of the 4th. Steve Balboni hit a home run, playing 1st base in place of the injured Don Mattingly. For the Indians, Carlos Baerga went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs.

* The New York Mets were swept in a doubleheader by the Montreal Expos, 6-4 and 2-0 at She Stadium. The Expos jumped on Frank Viola for 4 runs in the top of the 8th in the opener. In the nightcap, Chris Nabholz allowed only 1 hit, a single by Tommy Herr in the 6th.

Theoretically, a fan could have seen at least parts of all 3 games in one day, but not all of all 3. The attendance for the Mets was 33,711, as they came into the day just 1 game behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Eastern Division, and were playing in daylight in a stadium surrounded by a well-policed parking lot in Queens.

In contrast, the Yankees, playing that night, in the South Bronx, and 21 1/2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East, headed for the only last-place finish they've had since 1966, got only 18,050 fans.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 11-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Andy Van Slyke went 2-for-3 with 2 home runs, 3 walks and 3 RBIs. Barry Bonds went 1-for-3 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Houston Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 7-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Tony Gwynn did not play.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-3 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Ken Griffey Jr. did not play.