They’re the kinds of guys nobody ever notices. The Simon brothers are totally unglamorous. Thomas Magnum is the ultimate glamorous private eye even if his glamour is borrowed (he lives in a mansion he doesn’t own and drives a Ferrari he doesn’t own). Both series have a slightly offbeat feel but each has its own distinctive flavour. remains the great American private eye series of the 80s Simon & Simon runs it a pretty close second. It was given the opportunity to survive and viewers came to love the show enough to keep it going for eight seasons. There have been plenty of series with enormous potential that were cancelled after a single season because in those days the networks had no patience with any series that was not an immediate hit. It was a series that had enormous potential. It’s a classic Odd Couple setup but it works because Gerald McRaney (as Rick) and Jameson Parker (as A.J.) have genuine charm and the scripts make the most of their relationship. And they work together as a team because they trust each other. Despite their differences they like one another. squabble constantly but in fact they’re very close. He looks disreputable and he’s totally irresponsible. does the paperwork he watches sports on TV and drinks beer. He drives a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible. Everything about him screams middle class. looks like he could be an accountant and he has the sense of responsibility and the work ethic to match. The brothers (in the finest television tradition) make an ill-matched pair. She’s a lawyer and she helps them out a lot, much to Myron’s disgust. do get along very well with Myron’s daughter Janet (Jeannie Wilson). Their relationship with Myron Fowler is uneasy to say the least but this is basically a lighthearted series so that aspect is mostly played in a humorous way. The Simon & Simon agency survives (just) because it offers the personal touch. Simon run a small private detective agency in San Diego, right cross the street from Myron Fowler’s huge Peerless Detective Agency. That first season remains genuinely offbeat and incredibly entertaining.īrothers Rick and A.J. fans would probably enjoy Simon & Simon was a pretty sound one.Īs so often happened in American television the series gradually became, under network pressure, more and more conventional. Simon & Simon is more consistently light-hearted but the idea that Magnum, P.I. skilfully combines these elements this with some occasional very dark subject matter. Both are slightly offbeat and both rely quite a bit on charm, style and wit. There’s some similarity in tone between the two series. Simon & Simon now became a major hit (and Magnum, P.I.’s ratings were boosted as well). and to cement the relationship in viewers’ minds a crossover episode was made. A very clever change of time slot - it now followed the established private eye hit Magnum, P.I. Simon & Simon was an immediate ratings disaster and after a single 13-episode season was on the verge of cancellation. Apparently the pilot also has a very different kind of tone. When the series was finally given the green light the setting was changed to San Diego. The original pilot, Pirate’s Key, went to air in 1978. Its roots however go back further than that. Alas, Tim Reid didn’t become a regular cast member ’til Season 3…and as it stands right now, there’s no word on whether Shout has plans to release that or not.Simon & Simon is a quirky private eye series that premiered on CBS in 1981. Jaws in the Bond flicks, but don’t go looking for Downtown Brown to rear his head. Guest stars this season include Ray Walton (“My Favorite Martian”), Eddie Albert (“Green Acres”), Richard Anderson (“The Six Million Dollar Man”), Dean Stockwell (“Quantum Leap”), and Richard Kiel, a.k.a. While it’s unfortunate that there aren’t any special features on the set, the packaging reminds us that it is indeed a bonus that Shout opted to spend the coin to include the “Magnum, PI” crossover episode that kicked off the second season of “Simon & Simon.” As far as the show itself goes, it’s relatively pedestrian as detective shows go, but it does manage to rise above its one-liner concept – “They’re detectives and they’re brothers!” – thanks to the performances of McRaney and Parker as well as Mary Carver, who plays the boys’ mother, Cecilia Simon. Fortunately, Shout! Factory has picked up the torch that Universal dropped. Simon (Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker) released onto DVD. It’s been so long since the first season of “Simon & Simon” hit stores – we’ve passed the two-year mark and we’re heading for three – that fans of the series may have feared that they’d never see any more of the adventures of private detectives Rick and A.J.
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