By Kathryn PicsonAssistant Copy Chief
It was famous partly because of Teri Hatcher, the first pinupqueen of the Internet, but after Lois Lane and Clark Kent gotmarried, “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” disappearedfrom the small screen.
DeanCain, who played the less nerdy, more hunky Clark Kent (and hisalter-ego Superman) has more or less disappeared (save a couple ofstraight-to-video movies), and Hatcher has been appearing in RadioShack commercials.
But during its four-season run on ABC (1992-1997), “Lois andClark” gathered a small but loyal following on the Internet. The fanbase spawned hundreds of personal Web pages, fan sites for its stars,an e-mail list, fan clubs and fan fiction sites (fictional episodesor scenes written by fans for no profit).
CraigByrne, an advertising designer from Annapolis, Md. has been runningthe Krypton Club, an online newsletter and Web site for “Lois andClark.” Byrne started the fan club with a friend in 1995.
“My friend Dan Patterson and I were really into the show, andthere already was a ‘Lois and Clark’ fan club, but we were not happywith it so we decided to start our own,” Byrne said. “We wanted it tobe different so we made it interactive, with polls, questions, etc.”
The newsletter evolved from a daily to a monthly e-mailednewsletter, which can also be found on the Web (http://members.aol.com/planetkrypton).In 1997, the Krypton Club ventured into fan fiction with a “virtualfifth season” (after the series was unexpectedly canceled and left anunresolved season cliffhanger) on the Web, which can be found athttp://members.aol.com/thenando.
Byrneis quick to point out that though there are “obsessed” fans outthere, the members of his fanc club are “not freaks.”
“Now I think the fans, the normal ones at least, are a bit morecasual in that they liked ‘LandC’ a lot, and it still makes themsmile. Maybe they’ll catch repeats, but they’ve moved on a little,”he said.
TCC Vicki, a “Lois and Clark” fan who resides in New Jersey, has adifferent approach to her unofficial Web site The Cain Connection.Vicki’s Web site is “completely devoted to the professional life ofDean Cain.” Currently, that includes Cain”s acting, producing,writing and directing, as well as managing his brother Roger’s LosAngeles-based band Catch-22.
Vicki started her Dean Cain Web site when she found herself inmessage boards and on Web sites researching her favorite actor.
“Ifrequented lots of Dean related message boards and I always foundmyself answering questions about where he was and what he was doing,”Vicki said. “Being a fan, I made it my business to try (to) find outwhat was going on in his career since he hung up those famoustights.”
According to the Web site, Cain is quite busy with several movies,one of which is currently in post-production (“No Alibi” for HBO).
Even though the Web site is devoted to Cain’s professional life,it doesn’t stop adoring fans from writing letters of obsession in the”Dear Dean” section. And it doesn’t keep the women from swooning whenthey recount their real-life meetings with the famous actor in the”Close Encounters” section.
The Cain Connection can be found at http://www.cainconnection.com.
