In the early 80s, we were treated to films full of wacky stunts (Hooper, Smokey & the Bandit) thanks to Burt Reynolds. Lee Majors saw the success of those films and had a notion to bring that kind of wacky fun to the small screen.
And so The Fall Guy was born.
Lee Majors stars as Colt Seavers, stunt man and part-time bounty hunter. He is assisted in his stunts and crime fighting by his younger cousin Howie (Douglas Barr) and Jodie (Heather Thomas).
Each episode features a stunt and some sort of mystery/crime storyline. The crime stories are nothing you not seen before on numerous other shows, but anyone watching this show is likely not looking for brilliant, original writing.
No, what they are looking for is a little fun. And on that front, The Fall Guy does it’s job.
To keep the show authentic, the producers had to keep a steady stream of stars making guest appearances. In these early episodes, we see Farrah Fawcett, James Coburn, Eddie Albert, Robert Wagner, Milton Berle, Linda Evans, Don Ho, Jamie Farr, Shecky Greene, Cathy Lee Crosby, Buddy Hackett, Heather Locklear and Herve Villechaize.
Certainly that list seems less than impressive today, but most were stars at the time.
For extras, we do get a segment featuring the cast and creators looking back at the show, but it runs a little over ten minutes and really doesn’t run long enough to provide much other than a few fun bits of info.
We also get a look at the title song, which apparently was a bit of a hit in…Germany. The same country that seems fond of the vocal stylings of one Mr. David Hasslehoff. Must be something in the water.
Jeremy Lynch
For more reviews from myself, and the rest of the Crimespree crew, check out the index of reviews.
Click here to order The Fall Guy: The Complete Season One from Amazon.
