There are only two things that I remember from the initial broadcast run of “The Fall Guy.” The first was it’s theme song, “The Ballad of the Unknown Stuntman.” And the second was Heather Thomas in a red bikini during the opening credits.

While the theme song is there in the first season, sadly, Ms. Thomas’s bikini shot doesn’t show up until later seasons. Sigh... at least she got in a bikini a couple other times during the show for me to enjoy.

“The Fall Guy” is a quintessentially 80s television show. It was made at a time between the big studio set shows like Lee Major’s other series “The Big Valley” and before the cinemafication of television, which resulted in the modern shows looking like movies (e.g., “Lost” and “24”). It was made at a time where people just didn’t die on screen during prime time and everything was made with a healthy dose of cheese.

The story follows a stuntman named Colt Seavers (Lee Majors) who moonlights as a bounty hunter when the stunt gigs run dry. Hi assistant is the lovely blond bombshell Jody (Heather Thomas), whom he is training in the biz. Along for the ride is his cousin Howie (Douglass Barr), who shows up unannounced in the first episode of the season.

Colt takes most of his cases from Big Jack (Jo Ann Pflug), a bail bondswoman who doesn’t always make the best decisions on who to spring from jail. Colt’s not just the best stuntman in the business, but he’s also pretty good at shaking down the fugitives.

If “The Fall Guy” were made today, it would be a gritty, violent show probably found only on FX or HBO. Think “The Shield” meets Dog the Bounty Hunter. However, in the easier television time of the early 80s, “The Fall Guy” was almost a family show. Made with an “A-Team” mentality (i.e., no one gets show, and anyone can emerge from an exploding car with nothing more than a headache), “The Fall Guy” is good, clean Reagan-era fun.

It’s a bit hard to watch this show in the context of today, especially considering we have reality shows out there now that follow real bounty hunters. However, this show paved the way for this type of program. It’s steeped in 80s action TV schmaltz, but it can be enjoyable in small doses.

Lee Majors works exceedingly well as the star, which is a fortunate thing because he had his hands in producing the show as well. Barr as the naive and often incompetent Howie got on my nerves at time, but he wasn’t too bad. And while I enjoyed watching Heather Thomas in the series, they could have done more with her instead of just dropping her in the beginning or the end.

The six-disc DVD set contains all 22 episodes of the premiere season, including the double-length (yet most slow episode) pilot. Otherwise, the show’s a bit scarce on special features, offering only a retrospective of the series on disc 1 and a look at the popular theme song on disc 6. Still, if you’re into the television of the 80s, it’s worth checking out for nostalgia’s sake.



Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 Mono Sound. Fullscreen (1.33:1). Spanish subtitles. English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.