![]() ![]() Then there’s the almost obligatory-for-the-eighties Vietnam flashback show, “I Thought The War Was Over,” co-written by McRaney himself. tracks down a long-lost manuscript by his favorite detective novelist, allowing the cast to play out a 1940’s detective story. The boys got to play dress up again in “Play It Again, Simon, “ wherein A.J. head to Boston to track down the family tree, and end up discovering the stories of various Simons brothers throughout American history - all played by McRaney and Parker, of course. ![]() And a few episodes were scripted by various crime novelists, including Ross Thomas, Thomas Perry and Howard Browne, who adapted his own 1948 novel, Thin Air (not the first time that puppy’s been walked around the block).īut for every moderately intelligent script there were plenty of gimmick shows and “very special episodes.” In “The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From The Tree,” Rick And A.J. Robert Lansing, as Sam Penny, returned in “Reunion At Alcatraz,” to enlist the boys’ help once more, this time to track down the only con to ever escape from Alcatraz, over twenty-five years ago. (he played the gunsel in the 1941 film version) in the cast. It’s a moderately witty homage to Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, but they get extra points for including Elisha Cook Jr. In “The Shadow Of Sam Penny,” A.J.’s idol, a famous private eye (Sam “The Man Who Wrote The Book” Penny) hires the Simons to help crack a thirty-year old cold case. Struggling in its first season, the show was almost canceled, until executive producer and creator Philip DeGuere suggested CBS move it to a Thursday night slot immediately following Magnum, P.I. CBS agreed, and Simon & Simon’s second season kicked off with a two-hour crossover episode with a story that began on Magnum (already a rating blockbuster) and concluded on Simon & Simon with “Emeralds Are Not A Girl’s Best Friend”. The scheduling change worked, and Simon & Simon became a top ten show for the next several seasons. The scripts, alas, were for the most part merely serviceable. Not that there weren’t a few interesting shows. Still, some of their bickering was amusing, and McRaney and Parker were affable and easy enough to watch. But the big differences were hardly on the level of, say, Oscar and Felix of The Odd Couple - more on the level of Fred and Barney, if you ask me. ![]() as actually all that refined, the show had an amusing premise. Rick lives on it with his dog, Marlowe.įorgetting for a moment that, despite the boots and the pickup, only on television would anyone really buy Rick as a tough guy, or that A.J. Which is where Hole in the Water is parked… on a trailer. He’s the good one, responsible and successful enough to own waterfront property. He listens to classical music and opera, dresses in expensively tailored suits and ties, enjoys fine wine and french cuisine, and favors classic cars (including at one point a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible). (Andrew Jackson), an idealistic, ambitious former law student and current suit who thinks of himself as refined. ![]() He was pretty much the complete opposite of his slick-as-spit brother, cutie-pie yuppie A.J. He favored jeans, cowboy hats and cowboy boots. He’s cynical, a bit of a scrapper, and perfectly content to live his life on his boat, Hole in the Water, and drive his beat-up, big-ass pickup truck. He was the theoretical wild card the street-smart one with the rough edges, and some bad memories from his two tours of duty as a Marine in Vietnam. Rick (Gerald McRaney) was the older of the two, the one with the cowboy hat. Maybe Fenton shoulda taken ’em behind the woodshed more often. Squabbling siblings and San Diego private eye brothers RICK and ANDREW JACKSON “A.J.” SIMON attempted to answer that question every week for seven seasons on Simon & Simon, one of the eighties’ more popular detective series. Ever wonder what would happen if the HARDY BOYS grew up? ![]()
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