The Incredible Hulk was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962 for Marvel Comics.
The Hulk's nemesis, newspaper reporter Jack McGee, was modeled after Javert, the policeman from the novel "Les Miserables."
For the show, executive producer Kenneth Johnson wanted the Hulk's skin color to be red, believing that it would reflect the character's anger. Hulk co-creator Stan Lee, however, rejected the idea.
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 Kenneth Johnson's dislike for alliterative names, which are typically used in comic books. (Johnson came up with "David" because he has a son named David.)
The casting department sought Arnold Schwarzenegger for the role of the Hulk, but the producers felt that he wasn't tall enough.
Richard Kiel was initially cast as the Hulk, but shortly after filming began, it became apparent to the producers that he wasn't "bulky" enough to play the role. There is, however, an intact, but brief high-angle scene with Richard Kiel as the Hulk (when he looks up at a tree).
Lou Ferrigno had hoped that the Hulk would talk on the show (as he does in the comic book), but it never happened. Stan Lee (Hulk's comic book co-creator) said he agreed with producer Kenneth Johnson's decision not to have the Hulk speak on the show, because he felt it would have sounded "corny".
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.
When "The Incredible Hulk" debuted, Bill Bixby (Dr. Banner) was worried that his son Christopher would be scared to see his own father turning into a green creature. Therefore, he wouldn't let the boy watch the show.
Soon after its 1978 premiere, the series was described by Starlog magazine as "one of the most promising shows to appear in some time."
Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno appeared on screen together only twice during the run of the series. Once in 'Married' during a dream sequence when Banner was trying to trap the Hulk. The second time was when Lou Ferrigno played a body builder in the episode "King of the Beach."
The episode entitled "The Psychic" features Bill Bixby's first wife, actress Brenda Benet. (By the time the episode aired in early 1980, the couple had divorced.)
Banner turned into the Hulk at the same time on every episode: 28 minutes after the start of the show and once again at 45 minutes after the start of the show.
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.
Various episodes have in-joke references to show producer Nicholas Corea. This includes the episode "Jake", when a man announced over a loud speaker that there was a lost boy named Nicky Corea.
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.
One episode contains a reference to "Six Million Dollar Man, The" (1974). In the episode "Prometheus, Part 2" after the Hulk causes a power overload, the voice of a technician is heard reporting, "I've got a blowout in Damper Three. Ganger base to zero: Basic out... I can't hold her." Excluding the additional line "She's breaking up, she's breaking up, she..." this is verbatim what Steve Austin was saying as his spacecraft was going down, as used in the opening credits of each episode of that series.
The stylized "CA" airline logo on the plane featured in the episode "747" turns up much later in the episode "Prometheus", this time as the logo for a brand of condensed soup in the blind woman's cupboard.
Film director Steven Spielberg was displeased to discover that Universal used footage from his 1971 movie "Duel" in the Hulk episode "Never Give A Trucker An Even Break". Unable to sue on the matter (due to the studio's ownership of both "Duel" and "The Incredible Hulk"), he insisted that all his future contracts have a clause that would protect his movies from being used as stock footage.
Bill Bixby (Dr. Banner) was a director on some of the Hulk episodes during the 1977 series (as well as the 1976 series "Charlie's Angels" amongst others), and was a producer on the following 3 Hulk movies.
Before becoming an actor, Bill Bixby (Dr. Banner) was a lifeguard and a bellhop.
Bill Bixby was a professional magician, and starred & directed the 1973 series "The Magician".
Bill Bixby has had a long career in the entertainment industry, with 43 starring roles, 30 director roles, 4 producer roles, and at least 45 guest appearances to his name.
Bill Bixby was a contestant on "The Dating Game" 3 times, and never won a date.
Lou Ferrigno was a fan of the Incredible Hulk comic books whilst growing up. He went on to play the Hulk in the 1977 series, provided the voice of the Hulk in the 1996 animated series, and played a security guard in the 2003 movie "The Hulk".
Lou Ferrigno (the Hulk) was a professional bodybuilder, and played professional football in Canada.
Lou Ferrigno was the youngest (aged 20) and twice (1973 & 1974) holder of the "Mr. Universe" title. Lou weighs 275 pounds, with a 59" chest, 34" waist, 22½" bicep, 29" thighs and 19" neck.
Growing up, Lou Ferrigno was a fan of the 1950s Hercules films that starred body builder Steve Reeves. He later played Hercules (his voice was also dubbed, like his predecessors).
Lou Ferrigno has, from a young age, been partially hearing-impaired.
CBS initially did not want to continue with the series for the fall of 1981, even though the show's ratings were still respectable. The network (which underwent a change in management at the time) felt that the series had run its course. With seven new episodes already filmed, producer Kenneth Johnson tried to persuade CBS to commission more episodes, but to no avail. Nevertheless, the network aired those seven shows sporadically during the 1981-82 season. Due to the sudden nature of the show's cancellation, the producers never had a chance to write and film a series finale, in which David Banner would have been successfully cured of the Hulk.
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.
