And then at the end of the episode the sad man would walk away, and the sad music would start, and you knew he was just going to end up in another small town, and somebody would make him angry, and then he'd get sad all over again.
I used to watch that show just waiting for the moment where he turned into The Hulk. I didn't care about the rest of it; I just wanted Hulk. I wanted a whole show of Hulk, not a show about a sad man, who turned into The Hulk for about two minutes per 45 minute episode. I didn't understand that the drama came from him avoiding anything that might make him angry, but that his better nature would invariably lead him towards situations where there was a risk of him unleashing his green alter-ego. I just wanted a monster throwing bins around.
But that was fine. I got that it was probably a faff to cover a large man in green paint, and probably expensive to get all those throwable bins in. I knew that two minutes of Hulk was all I'd ever get each week. I could live with that, because I still got to see the character I loved from the comics come to life, and knew that the boring bits were there for the people who didn't like super-heroes. This was the price to pay for having the moments I wanted.
Oh, how the tables have turned.
My mind would've collapsed in on itself if I knew that within my lifetime I'd see all of my favourite Marvel super-heroes brought to life in a way that wasn't limited to just once every 45 minutes, that the boring bits would all be stripped out. That those who didn't like super-heroes were now the minority, and the comics fans were the ones being catered for.
Yes: I'm talking about Avengers: Infinity War, like everyone else is. But this isn't a review. It's about snobbery.