Two brothers as diverse and different as night & day join forces as detectives. In a variant on the buddy cop movie concept, Phil DeGeuere created Simon & Simon for Universal & CBS in 1981.
Rick (Gerald McRaney) was an ex-Marine. AJ (Jameson Parker) was wealthy and a Wall Street maven. Of course, there would be conflicts between the two in between, and sometimes during, cases. It just goes with the territory.
Simon & Simon ran for 8 seasons, the last being a truncated season of 13 episodes due to declining ratings. For a while early on, the series had the benefit of airing in back of the original Magnum, P. I. following a crossover between the two shows. But then, at the start of season 4, ratings fortunes changed thanks to The Cosby Show as the anchor on NBC's sitcom-laden lineup, which had an adverse effect on both Magnum & Simon.
The supporting cast could be described as fluid. Long time Miller Lite voice-over pitchman Eddie Barth co-starred in the first couple of seasons, but left. Tim Reid (ex-WKRP in Cincinnati) joined the show as police contact "Downtown" Brown. Reid's wife, Daphne, also joined the show in season 3, but the Reids left after about 3 seasons to develop their own series, Frank's Place.
Also, there were a couple of crossovers with another DeGeuere creation, Whiz Kids. Parker appeared as AJ in one episode, while the young sleuths appeared on Simon some time after.
Following is a sample intro from season 2.
Rating: B.
My dad and I used to watch this show back in the day! The Simon brothers couldn't have been more different (If the show were made today, I think they'd have them as half brothers or stepbrothers) but you could tell they were friends to the end! The chemistry between McRaney and Parker was strong from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI think there was a reunion TV movie shortly after the show ended in which AJ was divorced from his lawyer girlfriend from the series.
This is a show I wouldn't mind seeing a "next generation" iteration of. I can see Rick and AJ settling into retirement and their grown kids getting into the action in some capacity. Imagine two boys and their sister/cousin getting all sorts of cases in San Diego of the 21st century. It could be called, "Simon & Simon & Simon".
Yes, there was a reunion movie a few years after the series ended. With Hollywood reviving or rebooting established properties because of creative bankruptcy, a "next generation" version of this series would work.....as long as it didn't land on the CW........
ReplyDeleteTrue that!!
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