TV & VIDEO - Aug. 15, 1988

Look, up in the sky! If it’s not a bird, a plane or Superman, it’s probably John Haymes Newton, the revealed identity of Viacom’s Boy of Steel in “Superboy,” a half-hour syndicated series that is set to premiere Oct. 3. Newton, 22, who can still be seen in Levi’s 501 commercials, will play Clark Kent as a 19-year-old journalism student at fictional Shuster University, battling the problems that accompany secret powers and, of course, Lex Luthor. “They liked me because I physically fit Superboy, and they thought I could handle the two different characters,” said Newton, who has worked in theater in New York. “It was a fluke how I got the part.” The show, which is being produced by the makers of the “Superman” films, begins production on Aug. 15 at the Disney-MGM Studios in Florida.