''The Fall Guy'' is an American action/

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

television series produced for ABC and originally broadcast from November 4, 1981, to May 2, 1986. It starred

Lee Majors Lee Majors (born Harvey Lee Yeary; April 23, 1939) is an American actor. Majors portrayed the characters of Heath Barkley in the American television Western series ''The Big Valley'' (1965–1969), Colonel Steve Austin in the American televisio ...

, Douglas Barr, and Heather Thomas as Hollywood

stunt performer A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

s who moonlight as

bounty hunter A bounty hunter is a private agent working for bail bonds who captures fugitives or criminals for a commission or bounty. The occupation, officially known as bail enforcement agent, or fugitive recovery agent, has traditionally operated outsid ...

Plot

Lee Majors plays Colt Seavers, a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

stunt man who moonlights as a

. He uses his physical skills and knowledge of stunt effects (especially stunts involving cars or his large GMC

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...

) to capture fugitives and criminals. He is accompanied by his cousin and stuntman-in-training Howie Munson (Barr), who studied in Nashville—whom Colt frequently calls "Kid", and occasionally by fellow stuntwoman Jody Banks (Thomas).

Cast

as Colt Seavers * Douglas Barr as Howie "Kid" Munson * Heather Thomas as Jody Banks * Jo Ann Pflug as Samantha "Big Jack" Jack (1981–82) * Markie Post as Terri Shannon / Michaels (1982–1985)

Episodes

Adaptations and spin-offs

A board game adaptation based on the show was released by the

Milton Bradley Company Milton Bradley Company or simply Milton Bradley (MB) was an American board game manufacturer established by Milton Bradley in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1860. In 1920, it absorbed the game production of McLoughlin Brothers, formerly the ...

in 1981. A comic strip adaptation was drawn by Jim Baikie for '' Look-In'' magazine. A video game adaptation was produced by British video game developer Elite Systems in 1984. A comedy advertising campaign ran in 1990 using various scenes and music to advertise a small town in Derbyshire (Codnor) selling a spring water soft drink called Codnor Falls.

Home media

On June 5, 2007,

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

released the first season of ''The Fall Guy'' on DVD in Region 1. As with a number of other TV shows of the era released on DVD, the six-disc set contains extensive music substitutions due to

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

reasons (as well as completely editing out the sequences with actor/singer Paul Williams, in the pilot). Due to poor sales, whether the remaining seasons will be released is unknown. Season one was released on DVD in Region 2 in Germany and the UK. Season two has also been released in Region 2, in Germany on November 28, 2008 and in the UK on February 16, 2009.

Nielsen ratings

The highest rating is in bold text.

Intros

The series introductions were composed mainly by both scenes from the TV series and from risk scenes taken from films that dated before 1981. In season one, the montage of scenes was borrowed from the films ''

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry ''Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry'' is a 1974 American road crime drama film based on the 1963 Richard Unekis novel titled ''The Chase'' (later retitled ''Pursuit''). Directed by John Hough, the film stars Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, an ...

'', '' The Stunt Man'', '' Silver Streak'', ''

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' is a 1969 American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch C ...

'', '' The Hot Rock'', '' Our Man Flint'', '' The Poseidon Adventure'', '' Speedway'', and '' Sky Riders''. Exclusively for the season-one opening narration, ''

Singin' in the Rain ''Singin' in the Rain'' is a 1952 American musical romantic comedy film directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds and featuring Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell and Cyd C ...

'', ''

The Blue Max ''The Blue Max'' is a 1966 British war film directed by John Guillermin and starring George Peppard, James Mason, Ursula Andress, Karl Michael Vogler, and Jeremy Kemp. The film was made in DeLuxe Color and filmed in CinemaScope. The plot i ...

'', ''

Race with the Devil ''Race with the Devil'' is a 1975 American action horror film directed by Jack Starrett, written by Wes Bishop and Lee Frost, and starring Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit, and Lara Parker. This was the second of three films Fonda and O ...

'', and '' Moving Violation'' were used. Also included are archival footages from stunt shows made in the 1930s. Following season two, a few of the borrowed movie risk scenes were replaced by stunt scenes from the TV series.

The truck

Seavers's truck was a Rounded-Line 1981 GMC K-2500 Wideside with the Sierra Grande equipment package. A Rounded-Line 1980 GMC K-25 Wideside with the High Sierra equipment package was also used. During the show's initial series, the stunts took their toll on the modified production trucks, supplied at low cost to the production by

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

, so several different years, makes (Chevy/GMC), and models were used during the show's initial run. As a result, some inconsistencies appear in the episodes. From the second season onwards, General Motors supplied three specially adapted trucks for the stunt sequences, with the engine moved to a midchassis position immediately under the cab seat. This meant that these trucks flew further and pitched less in the air, allowing them to be reused for multiple takes and shows. At the end of the series, the remaining trucks were either auctioned or given away in a contest. One of them was sold on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

in 2003.

Film remake

In July 2010, the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' reported that a film based on the series was in development. DreamWorks had teamed up with producers

Walter F. Parkes Walter F. Parkes (born April 15, 1951) is an American producer, screenwriter, and media executive. The producer of more than 50 films, including the ''Men in Black'' series and '' Minority Report,'' he is the co-founder and co-chairman of Dre ...

and Laurie MacDonald on the project, and

Martin Campbell Martin Campbell (born 24 October 1943) is a New Zealand film and television director based in the United Kingdom. He is known for having directed '' The Mask of Zorro'' as well as the James Bond films '' GoldenEye'' and '' Casino Royale''. He ...

was in talks to direct the film. DreamWorks, through

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

Touchstone Pictures Touchstone Pictures, Inc. was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Feature films released under the Touchstone label were produced and financed by Walt Disney Studios, and featu ...

distribution label, was to release the film in North America, Latin America, Russia, Australia, and Asia, while Mister Smith Entertainment would have handled sales in the remaining territories. In September 2013,

Dwayne Johnson Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and former professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he was integral to the develop ...

was in negotiations to play the title role and McG was in talks to direct. As of 2020, however, that planned movie was never made, and a different film more loosely based on the television series was being planned by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

, with

Ryan Gosling Ryan Thomas Gosling (born November 12, 1980) is a Canadian actor. Prominent in independent film, he has also worked in blockbuster films of varying genres, and has accrued a worldwide box office gross of over 1.9 billion USD. He has receive ...

in the starring role and

David Leitch David Leitch (born November 16, 1975) is an American filmmaker, actor, stunt performer and stunt coordinator who made his directorial debut on the 2014 action film ''John Wick'' with Chad Stahelski, though only Stahelski was credited. Leitch the ...

in the director's chair. In August 2022, Emily Blunt was cast. The film is set to be released on March 1, 2024.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fall Guy, The 1981 American television series debuts 1986 American television series endings American action adventure television series American action comedy television series American Broadcasting Company original programming English-language television shows Fictional bounty hunters Fictional stunt performers Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television series created by Glen A. Larson Television shows adapted into comics Television shows adapted into films Television shows set in Los Angeles