Clark Kent performer Tom Welling
Television
Adventures of Superman, which aired from 1952 to 1958, was the first television series based on a superhero. It starred George Reeves as Superman. Whereas the radio serial was aimed at children, this television show was aimed at a general audience, although children made up the majority of viewers. Robert Maxwell, who produced the radio serial, was the producer for the first season. For the second season, Maxwell was replaced with Whitney Ellsworth. Ellsworth toned down the violence of the show to make it more suitable for children, though he still aimed for a general audience. This show was extremely popular in Japan, where it achieved an audience share rating of 74.2% in 1958.
His first animated television series was The New Adventures of Superman, which aired from 1966 to 1970. The show also feature a seven-minute part focused on Superboy named The Adventures of Superboy.
Starting in 1974, Superman was one of the leading characters in the Hanna-Barbera-produced animated series Super Friends and all its sequels until 1986.
To celebrate his 50th anniversary, Ruby Spears produced an animated series partially based on Superman (1978) and post-Crisis Superman comics created by John Byrne. The model sheets for Superman (1988) were drawn by legendary comics artist Gil Kane and most of the episodes were written by comics writer Marv Wolfman.
Superboy aired from 1988 to 1992. It was produced by Alexander and Ilya Salkind, the same men who had produced the Superman films starring Christopher Reeve.
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman aired from 1993 to 1997. This show was aimed at adults and focused on the relationship between Clark Kent and Lois Lane as much as Superman's heroics. Dean Cain played Superman, and Teri Hatcher played Lois.
Smallville aired from 2001 to 2011. The show was targeted at young adults. Played by Tom Welling, the series covered Clark Kent's life prior to becoming Superman, spanning ten years from his high school years in Smallville to his early life in Metropolis. Although Clark engages in heroics, he doesn't wear a costume, nor does he call himself Superboy. Rather, he relies on misdirection and his blinding speed to avoid being recognized. Later seasons find him becoming a public hero called the Red-Blue Blur, eventually shortened to the Blur, in a proto-Justice League before taking on the mantle of Superman.
Superman: The Animated Series (with the voice of Tim Daly on the main character) aired from 1996 to 2000. After the show's conclusion, this version of Superman appeared in the sequel shows Batman Beyond (voiced by Christopher McDonald) aired from 1999 to 2001 and Justice League and Justice League Unlimited (voiced by George Newbern), which ran from 2001 to 2006. All of these shows were produced by Bruce Timm. This was the most successful and longest-running animated version of Superman.
In the Arrowverse, the main Superman (played by Tyler Hoechlin), appears as a guest star in several television series: Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. A Supergirl spin-off, Superman & Lois, premiered on February 23, 2021.
Superman appears as an ensemble character in the animated shows Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and Justice League Action. He appears as a guest character in other animated shows such as Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Harley Quinn.