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.
3 comments:
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.
I 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........
True that!!
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