The Fall Guy

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The Fall Guy
The Fall Guy opening title
Genre	Action/Adventure
Created by	Glen A. Larson
Starring	Lee Majors Douglas Barr Heather Thomas Jo Ann Pflug (1981–1982) Markie Post (1982–1985)
Theme music composer	Gail Jensen Glen A. Larson David Somerville
Opening theme	"Unknown Stuntman" performed by Lee Majors
Composers	Stu Phillips Ron Ramin Frank DeVol Morton Stevens Dennis McCarthy Ken Heller (uncredited) William Broughton (uncredited)
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	113 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Glen A. Larson
Producers	Robert Janes Larry Brody Paul Mason Lee Majors
Cinematography	Ben Colman Michael Hofstein
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	45–48 minutes
Production companies	Glen A. Larson Productions 20th Century Fox Television
Distributor	Fox 21 Television Studios (1981-2019) Walt Disney Television (2019-present)
Release
Original network	ABC
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	November 4, 1981 (1981-11-04) – May 2, 1986 (1986-05-02)

The Fall Guy is an American action/adventure television program produced for ABC and originally broadcast from November 4, 1981, to May 2, 1986. It starred Lee Majors, Douglas Barr, and Heather Thomas as Hollywood stunt performers who moonlight as bounty hunters.

Plot[]

Lee Majors plays Colt Seavers, a Hollywood stunt man who moonlights as a bounty hunter. He uses his physical skills and knowledge of stunt effects (especially stunts involving cars or his large GMC pickup truck) 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 stunt performer Jody Banks (Thomas).

Cast[]

• Lee Majors 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[]

Board Game[]

A board game adaptation based on the show was released by the Milton Bradley Company^[1] in 1981.

Media adaptations[]

A comic strip adaptation was drawn by Jim Baikie for Look-In magazine.^[2]

Home media[]

On June 5, 2007, 20th Century Fox 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 6-disc set contains extensive music substitutions due to copyright reasons (as well as completely editing out the sequences with actor/singer Paul Williams, in the Pilot). Due to poor sales it is unknown if the remaining seasons will be released.^{[citation needed]}

Season 1 was released on DVD in Region 2 in Germany and the UK. Season 2 has also been released in Region 2, in Germany on November 28, 2008 and in the UK on February 16, 2009.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release dates
		Region 1	Region 2 (UK)	Region 2 (Germany)
The Complete First Season	23	June 5, 2007	June 25, 2007	January 14, 2008
The Complete Second Season	23	N/A	February 16, 2009	November 28, 2008

Nielsen ratings[]

The highest rating is in bold text.

Season	Rank	Rating
1) 1981–1982	#27	19.0
2) 1982–1983	#14	19.4
3) 1983–1984	#16 [3]	19.9 [3]
4) 1984–1985	#22 [4]	17.1 [4]
5) 1985–1986	#80 [5]	7.8 [5]

Intros[]

The series intros were composed mainly by both scenes from the TV series as well from risk scenes taken from films that dated before 1981.

In Season 1, the montage of scenes were borrowed from the films Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, The Stunt Man, Silver Streak, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Hot Rock, Our Man Flint, The Poseidon Adventure, Speedway and Sky Riders. And exclusively for the Season 1 opening narration, Singin' in the Rain, The Blue Max, Race with the Devil and Moving Violation. Also included are archive footages from stunt shows made in the 1930s.

Following Season 2, 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 level package.^[6][7] A Rounded-Line 1980 GMC K-25 Wideside with the High Sierra equipment level package was also used.^[8] 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, so several different years, makes (Chevy/GMC) and models were used during the show's initial run. As a result, there are some inconsistencies 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 mid-chassis 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 in 2003.^{[citation needed]}

Film remake[]

In July 2010, the Los Angeles Times reported that a film based on the series was in development. DreamWorks has teamed up with producers Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald on the project.^[9] Martin Campbell was in talks to direct the film.^[10] DreamWorks, through Disney's Touchstone Pictures distribution label, will release the film in North America, Latin America, Russia, Australia and Asia, while Mister Smith Entertainment will handle sales in the remaining territories. In September 2013, Dwayne Johnson was in negotiations to play the title role and McG was in talks to direct.^[11]

See also[]

• 1981 in American television

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Fall Guy.

• The Fall Guy at IMDb
• The Fall Guy at epguides.com