Well, I'm not the kind to kiss and tell,
But I've been seen with Farrah.
I've never been with anything less than a nine, so fine.
I've been on fire with Sally Field,
Gone fast with a girl named Bo.
But somehow they just don't end up as mine.
It's a death-defyin' life I lead,
I take my chances.
I die for a livin' in the movies and TV.
But the hardest thing I ever do is watch my leading ladies
Kiss some other guy while I'm bandagin' my knee.
I might fall from a tall buildin',
I might roll a brand-new car.
'Cause I'm the unknown stuntman
That made Redford such a star.
I've never spent much time in school,
But I've taught ladies plenty.
It's true I hire my body out for pay,
A hey, hey!
I've gotten burned over Cheryl Tiegs,
Blown up for Raquel Welch,
But when I wind up in the hay, it's only hay,
A hey hey!
I might jump an open drawbridge,
Or Tarzan from a vine,
'Cause I'm the unknown stuntman
That makes Eastwood look so fine.

Producer and creator Glen A. Larson's The Fall Guy was the kind of series I used to call a "homework show." If I needed background noise while I was studying, it perfectly served that purpose. You could pick up and follow the plots no matter how much you missed, and every five or ten minutes, something would blow up, or a good-looking girl (frequently that angel, Heather Thomas) would show up in some revealing get-up, giving you a nice break from that odious studying. Now Fall Guy fans - don't email. I'm not knocking the show; back then, I had nothing but good (albeit vague) feelings about Lee Majors early-80s ratings hit. Watching this entire first season of The Fall Guy on DVD this past week (with no study breaks), I was more than pleasantly surprised at how much laid-back fun I had with this "high-concept" nonsense.

"High-concept," as I'm sure you know, was a much-maligned production guideline for movies and later television shows in the late 70s and early 80s (some attribute its inception to then-Paramount whiz-kid Michael Eisner). The key to "high concept" was that the entire movie or TV show could be summed up in one sentence - for all departments, including production, marketing - and especially the audience. The Fall Guy was a perfect example: Tough-guy Hollywood stuntman uses his moviemaking skills to moonlight as a bounty hunter. Simple, right? You know exactly what you're going to see with that description. Now, one of the big problems with "high concept" projects (beside the general disdain that critics heaped upon the practice, charging the studios with a deliberate dumbing down of material for mass-produced hits), was actually delivering on that promise. If the concept was great, the movie or TV had better live up to that promise, or the essential emptiness of the procedure was painfully obvious to all involved, especially the viewers.

Happily, The Fall Guy delivers exactly what it promises. Coming out in 1981, when Burt Reynolds was the biggest box office star in the world, the empty, big-budget stunt movie was finally starting to come into its own as a genre, and The Fall Guy liberally borrowed from those theatrical successes such as Smokey and the Bandit and Hooper (as well as from Steven McQueen's final film, The Hunter, from 1980), boiling them down to workable weekly TV episodes. This isn't rocket science, kids. The Fall Guy, co-produced by Lee Majors, features standard, serviceable action/adventure scripts, with mysteries warmed over from a thousand other TV shows and movies you've seen before, jacked up by some pretty impressive, big screen-type stunts (sometimes cobbled from clips from big-screen movies and passed off as originals here), and served up by a cast clearly trying to have fun. It's directed and cut to move fast; it has a generous budget; and at no time do we linger on anything substantial or heavy in the ideas department. It's all light and fun, even if a serious sub-plot tries to muscle its way into the forefront. Since The Fall Guy manages to carry out its prime function, if you will - to simple entertain - it's not insulting to our intelligence.

And seriously, you have to give Lee Majors a big part of the credit for this show's success (it was a big hit, landing 26th in the Nielsen's for the year, and going even higher in later seasons). I think Majors, to his great credit, would be the first guy to admit that's he not a Shakespearian actor. He is, though, a perfect TV actor, a personality that viewers like seeing popping up on their TV sets. It's a cliche, but it's true: TV audiences don't want to watch actors on a regular basis whom they wouldn't want in their living room (interesting sidebar: has that changed with the changing TV series today?). And Majors projects precisely that kind of good-natured, self-effacing, handsome, middle-of-the-road, polite but manly image that women love, and guys instantly identify with and instinctively like. But putting aside likeability, he's really good at this kind of stuff. Remember, prior to The Fall Guy, Majors had four successful TV series (The Big Valley, The Virginian, Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, The Six Million Dollar Man, a pretty neat trick, and a testament to his skill at performing for the little screen (his big screen career never took off. Believe me; I know - I paid full price for The Norseman when it came out). He knows how to play to the TV camera, and with a role like The Fall Guy's Colt Seavers, an amiable, rough-and-tumble stuntman/bounty hunter, Major's physicality is perfectly in synch with his ingratiating mugging. Majors' double-takes may not rival Jack Benny's for subtlety, but considering the sometimes over-the-top, cartoonish nature of The Fall Guy, they fit in quite well. And come on, give the guy major credit for singing one of TV's most memorable theme songs (it's been going through my head all week). Speaking of going through my head all week: Heather Thomas. If you can manage to see past her knock-out good looks and concentrate on her acting, you'll find she's quite good as spunky stuntwoman Jody who frequently helps out Colt with his cases. And as the more than slightly naive, good-natured younger cousin of Colt's, Howie, Douglas Barr brings just the right, light touch. Only Jo Ann Pflug as "Big Jack" Jack, the bails bondman who employs Colt, comes off as odd-woman-out in this team.

Helping The Fall Guy stand out from other action series was a commitment to bringing large-scale stunts to TV viewers on a regular weekly basis. Each episode features a central sequence that highlights a big, fat, juicy gag that meshes hilariously with the obvious process shots feature Majors "falling" or "flying" or "swinging" or whatever else the expert stunt team dreamed up for that particular episode. Certainly that's not Majors in most of those fight scenes, but that's part of the fun with The Fall Guy. It's make-believe; it's fluff, and most importantly, it's expertly executed. Adding to the fun are the numerous celebrity cameos that further the backstage Hollywood feel of the series. Showing up for this premier season (as well as in the TV movie pilot that's included), Farrah Fawcett, James Coburn, Eddie Albert, Henry Gibson, Pamela Shoop, Carol Wayne, Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez, Robert Wagner, Brett Halsey, Peter Haskell, Milton Berle, Judith Chapman, Bill Fletcher, Richard Kiel, Don Stroud, Sid Haig, Linda Evans, Severn Darden, Peter Breck, Dennis Fimple, Don Ho, Joe Lewis, Jamie Farr, Shecky Greene, Richard Fullerton, Cathy Lee Crosby, Cesare Danova, Monte Markham, William Smith, Ken Swofford, Lou Ferrigno, Erin Gray, Glenn Corbett, Buddy Hackett, Alejandro Rey, J. D. Cannon, Mary Crosby, Charlie Callas, David Hedison, Anne Lockhart, Alfie Wise, Morgan Woodward, James Wainwright, Jason Evers, Albert Salmi, James Booth, Dana Hill, Jock Mahoney, Heather Locklear, Gary Lockwood, Doug McClure, Jan Murray, and Herve Villechaize all lend their varying degrees of star power to keep viewers guessing who might show up on the next week's show.

DISC ONE

The Fall Guy Pilot
Hollywood stuntman Colt Seavers hatches an elaborate plan to nab a corrupt sheriff, and he runs into trouble trying to protect an old friend.

The Meek Shall Inherit Rhonda
Trying to catch a dangerous white-collar thief, Colt heads south of the border, where the man's wife is living with an actor past his prime.

The Rich Get Richer.
Colt and Howie chase an embezzler heading for the airport to make an illicit transaction and a quick getaway.

DISC TWO

That's Right, We're Bad
Colt and Howie purposefully land themselves in jail to catch a notorious robber, but when the warden suffers a sudden heart attack, they've got to break out.

Colt's Angels
While in pursuit of a dangerous bail jumper, Colt, Howie and Jody disguise themselves as bikers and infiltrate an outlaw motorcycle gang.

The Human Torch
The trail of a fugitive arsonist and a missing insurance investigator leads Colt and Howie to a small town where the locals are less than helpful.

The Japanese Connection
Colt heads to Hawaii to pick up two seemingly harmless moonshiners and winds up tangling with Japanese mobsters who want the men dead.

DISC THREE

No Way Out
A wanted, deep-in-debt gambler gives himself up, hoping that Colt and Howie can get him out of Las Vegas alive.

License to Kill (Part 1)
It's back to Hawaii as Colt tracks a man named Ryker, a government agent out to kill an international terrorist.

License to Kill (Part 2)
When Ryker is killed by a rogue agent, Colt takes to the air to expose the killer.

Goin' For It
When his stuntman friend is injured in a near-fatal accident, Colt teams up with investigator Kay Faulkner to uncover a sinister plot.

DISC FOUR

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harold
A homeless man living in his own fantasy world is on the run after witnessing a murder, and only Colt can save him.

Soldiers of Misfortune
Colt and Howie are caught in an explosive situation when they join a survival training unit in order to bring an ex-Green Beret to justice.

Ready, Aim, Die
A mob assassin uses an unwilling Colt to find her mark, a relocated government witness with a distinctive gambling habit.

Ladies on the Rope
Colt enters the world of women's professional wrestling, where the Golden Girls and their shady manager are preparing for a championship match.

DISC FIVE

The Snow Job
While in Aspen, Colt comes to the aid of an old acquaintance, the wife of a crooked politician with dangerous mob ties.

Guess Who's Coming to Town?
Howie and Jody's luck is all bad in Lucky, Nevada, where the town's leading citizens are hiding a secret.

Child's Play
A girl with a photographic memory holds the key to the case of a man robbed by the mob while preparing to testify against them.

Charlie
The stakes are high when Colt becomes entangled in a Las Vegas real estate scam.

DISC FIVE

Three For the Road
Colt reluctantly teams up with Kay Faulkner on a trip to Mexico recover a stolen cache of jewels.

The Silent Partner
When a country music star kills his ghost writer and pins the blame on his chauffeur, it's up to Colt to set the record straight.

Scavenger Hunt
Howie clashes with a group of disgruntled naval officers on the trail of the $5 million that they helped steal.

The DVD:

The Video:
The full screen image for The Fall Guy: The Complete First Season does have some occasional grain and scratches, with an sometimes soft picture that I remember from the original airings. Still, its colors are bright and vivid.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English mono soundtrack accurately reflects the original broadcast presentation. English and Spanish subtitles are available, and close-captioning -- very helpful when you want to get those lyrics down for the theme song!

The Extras:
There are two small extras for this The Fall Guy: The Complete First Season six-disc set. First, there's a twelve minute look at the history of the show, Remembering The Fall Guy: An American Classic, which features new interviews with Glen A. Larson, Lee Majors and Heather Thomas (sigh). It's fun and informative, but a little shy of some heavy-duty trivia and info that the fans want. Just as an indication of Major's unpretentiousness, when commenting on his hit single of the theme song charting in Germany, Majors says, "I guess they don't know good music there." There's also a short, four minute look at the origin of the theme song, The Unknown Stuntman: The Theme Song, which apparently helped Larson create the concept for the show.

Final Thoughts:
Airy, fun, certainly trivial, but filled with plenty of escapist entertainment and some fantastic slam-bang action scenes, the Hollywood stuntman-turned-bounty hunter TV series, The Fall Guy: The Complete First Season is no-guilt bubble-gum TV. Why? Because it's professionally executed, breezy, and well acted, with a charming central performance by Lee Majors. I recommend The Fall Guy: The Complete First Season.