Friday, May 8, 2020

What Might've Been: Goldie & The Bears (1984)

Seems to me that ABC wanted their own A-Team. What they got was something else entirely.

Hulk Hogan was a few months into his first reign as World Wrestling Federation champion when he turned up in an unsold pilot, Goldie & The Bears, which cast Hogan as a football player recruited to become a detective to help the widow (Stephanie Faracy) of a former teammate solve the teammate's murder. NFL great Ben Davidson co-starred.

Edit, 10/17/22: Had to change the video. Now, we have an actual clip from the show. Watching Hogan & Davidson turn over a car and turn it around on its roof is worth the price of admission.



The show itself appears to be lost. What I do remember is that the intro to the program was narrated by no less than Howard Cosell (you were expecting maybe, Mean Gene Okerlund?).

Co-star Julius Carry would later resurface on The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., co-starring with Bruce Campbell.

There is hope that a tape will surface. After all, a Minolta commercial with another WWE Hall of Famer, George "The Animal" Steele & Tony Randall has surfaced, and after that, anything is possible.

As for the show itself, the sight of Hogan's character learning how to use a computer is interesting to say the least.

Edit, 11/9/23: The complete episode is now available. We have Warner Bros. to thank for this show.


Rating: B-.

5 comments:

Goldstar said...

I don't think that Hulk Hogan was ever good enough of an actor to convincingly play a detective who solves problems with deductive reasoning rather than grappling.

Silverstar said...

In a word: snore. I actually have to give some kudos to the Hulkster's other TV effort, "Thunder in Paradise". That at least looked entertainingly dumb, plus that show's tropical setting might've attracted some of the "Baywatch" audience (which I'm sure was the idea); this just looked like a painfully generic TV movie pilot.

It's called "Goldie and the Bears", get it? Like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, 'cause Stephanie Faracy is a blonde and the Bears are a football team. Get it? Get it?? Whomp-whomp. Somehow that title alone is veeeery 1980's NBC.

hobbyfan said...

"Thunder" came from the "Baywatch" producers. Hogan appeared on "Baywatch" some time prior.

Yes, this was a play on "Goldilocks", but with a twist.

When you consider the Huckster's movie resume also includes clunkers like "Secret Agent Club" and a 3 Ninjas movie, while Roddy Piper scored some TV appearances on Outer Limits & Walker, Texas Ranger, and Dusty Rhodes (!) turned up on the remake of "Burke's Law".......

magicdog said...

Don't forget, "They Live"! Piper was awesome in that!

I never expected HH to be a great actor. Think back to all the other athletes turned actors - not all of them could pull it off (Chuck Connors and Clint Walker were but a handful of exceptions) but he wasn't bad if he was just being himself - if amped up a bit.

hobbyfan said...

"They Live" is why Piper landed more movie roles than Hogan, and more believable parts. He applied himself to avoid being typecast. Hogan didn't. I saw "They Live" back in '87. Awesome movie.