| Simon & Simon | |
|---|---|
Title screen from Season 1 |
|
| Format | Drama |
| Created by | Philip DeGuere |
| Starring | Gerald McRaney Jameson Parker Mary Carver Eddie Barth Jeannie Wilson Tim Reid Joan McMurtrey |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 157 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | November 24, 1981 – January 21, 1989 |
Simon & Simon is an American detective television series starring Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker.
Contents |
The original 1978 pilot called Pirate's Key was set in Florida. When the show was picked up by CBS, the characters' home was changed from Florida to San Diego, California, where the show's storyline remained for the course of its eight-year run on CBS. The series was created by executive producer Philip DeGuere, who credited his inspirations as being a request from a CBS executive to create something like a modern "Butch and Sundance" and a spec pilot DeGuere had recently read about a divorced husband and wife detective team that was written by Bob Shayne who DeGuere hired to write several of "Simon's" first two seasons' episodes. Shayne wrote off and on for the series during its run, and Shayne and DeGuere went on to create the spin-off CBS series "Whiz Kids."
Simon & Simon was almost canceled in 1982 due to low ratings. However, at DeGuere and Shayne's request, CBS decided to give the series another chance by moving it to Thursday nights at 9 PM following Magnum, P.I. Simon & Simon became am instant hit in that slot, and continued to draw ratings for the next several seasons. The new season began with a two-hour cross-over episode with a story that began on the already popular "Magnum" and continued on the, to that moment, mostly unknown Simon & Simon, forcing the audience to stay tuned if they wanted to know what happened. They did. In droves. The crossover is what saved the new series. Now suddenly both shows were hits. The special episode was written by Shayne and DeGuere along with "Simon" producer Richard Chapman. The Magnum, P.I. first hour was entitled "Ki's Don't Lie" and in the second hour, continuing on Simon, was "Emeralds Are Not a Girl's Best Friend" (both in 1982). The trick for the writers was creating a cliff-hanger ending for the first hour when the two shows played together, and a different, wrap-up ending for the first hour when they played separately, as they do on DVD.
Simon & Simon moved to Saturday nights late in its run, and the ratings dropped considerably. CBS only committed to a 13-episode season for fall of 1988, but canceled the series with two episodes left unaired including the series finale. That episode did not air until the show entered syndication.
The show revolves around polar opposite Simon brothers, Rick (McRaney) and Andrew Jackson aka A.J. (Parker). Rick was a United States Marine Corps Vietnam veteran and had much more street sense, while A.J. went to college and had book smarts. Rick preferred things that were viewed by his brother as lower-class, like pickup trucks (Rick's Dodge Power Wagon is notable for its dull paint and large metal bumper used in one episode to crush the engine of a car), while A.J. took care of his money and could afford to be more fashionable (A.J. often drove a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible, and later, a customized Chevrolet Camaro Z28 and also drove a 1968 Chevrolet Camaro RS convertible in the two-part episode, "Pirate's Key"). A.J. was a practicing Catholic, while Rick was not. Rick lived on a boat in A.J.'s yard. A.J. preferred to first try to do things by the rules while Rick was much more of a free spirit, using a classic P.I. type of justice. Even their guns are different: Rick has a .44 Magnum and A.J. has a .357 Magnum revolver.
The two went into business together, running a private detective service; the contrasting ways that the brothers went about their investigations and the subsequent conflicts between them provided much of the story each week, in addition to the plots of solving the cases. Although the premise in the series is that Rick is older and A.J. is younger, in fact McRaney and Parker were both born in 1947 with only a four-month age difference.
Guest stars included Eddie Albert, Richard Anderson, Delta Burke, Darlene Carr, Michael Constantine, Olivia d'Abo, Patti Davis, Gene Evans, Fionnula Flanagan, Kathy Garver, Clarence Gilyard, Don Gordon, Don Grady, Kevin Hagen, Alan Hale, Jr., Robert Lansing, Kay Lenz, Anne Lockhart, Gary Lockwood, Joe Mantegna, Kip Niven, John M. Pickard (his last two acting appearances), Tom Simcox, Olan Soule, Guy Stockwell, Linnea Quigley, Robert Totten, Harry Townes, Ray Walston, Vanna White, Stuart Whitman and James Whitmore, Jr. John Vivyan made his last screen appearance on Simon and Simon before his death in 1983.
For the first season, the song "Best of Friends" performed by the Thrasher Brothers served as the theme song for the series (with the exception of the fourth episode entitled "A Recipe For Disaster", which briefly debuted the second theme song written by Barry De Vorzon[1] and Michael Towers). More specifically, the instrumental version of "Best of Friends" appeared at the beginning of each episode (with short clips of the instrumental version occasionally appearing within episodes, even after the first season) and the lyrical version appeared at the conclusion of each episode.
At the beginning of the second season, the second and more recognizable instrumental theme song composed by Barry De Vorzon[1] (who had previously composed the theme to the 1970s police drama, S.W.A.T.) and Michael Towers was permanently inserted. The theme consists primarily of a bottle-slide electric guitar lead (or "hook") with a saxophone interlude and remained until the last episode of the final season.
This reunion movie premiered on February 23, 1995. Some years have passed and a now married A.J. works in Seattle as an attorney. Rick stops by to visit en route to delivering an expensive yacht. The trouble starts when the yacht is hijacked—with mom Cecilia on board.
On October 10, 2006, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the first season of Simon & Simon on DVD in Region 1. Due to poor sales, no subsequent seasons were released.
In Fall 2008, Shout! Factory announced that they had acquired the distribution rights through an agreement with Universal. They have subsequently released seasons 2-5 on DVD. Season 6 will be released on February 21, 2012 as a Shout! Select title.[2]
In Region 4, Madman Entertainment released Season 1 on DVD in Australia on July 6, 2011.[3]
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 13 | October 10, 2006 |
| Season 2 | 23 | February 10, 2009 |
| Season 3 | 23 | August 18, 2009 |
| Season 4 | 21 | April 6, 2010 |
| Season 5 | 24 | July 20, 2010♦ |
| Season 6 | 22 | February 21, 2012♦ |
♦- Shout! Factory select title, sold exclusively through Shout's online store