Simon & Simon
Simon & Simon is an American detective television series that originally ran from November 24, 1981 to January 21, 1989. The series was broadcast on CBS, and starred Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker as two disparate brothers who run a San Diego private detective agency.
Premise
The show revolves around the decisively polar-opposite Simon brothers, Rick and Andrew Jackson/"A.J.". Rick is the less-refined, but still pleasant, United States Marine Corps Vietnam veteran with a penchant for cowboy boots, denim and four-wheel drive pickups. His brother, A.J. Simon, is a college graduate with a Wall Street look, a polished fellow with a taste for classic cars and tailored suits. A.J. was a practicing Catholic; Rick was not. Rick lived on a boat in A.J.'s waterfront property. A.J. preferred to follow the rules, while Rick was much more of a free spirit, using a classic P.I. type of approach. Rick's Dodge Power Wagon is notable for its dull paint and conspicuously large metal bumper/ramming device, used in one episode -- "Love, Christy" -- to crush the engine of a car. A.J. could afford to be more fashionable in his 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible, and later, a customized Chevrolet Camaro Z28 or 1968 Chevrolet Camaro RS convertible in the two-part episode, "Pirate's Key".Together, the two brothers run a private detective agency in San Diego, California during the 1980s; the contrasting ways in which the brothers go about their investigations and the subsequent personality conflicts between them provided much of the drama in each week's episode.
Although Rick Simon is a few years older than A.J., in fact McRaney and Parker were both born in 1947 and have only a three-month age difference.
Cast
Main
- Gerald McRaney as Richard "Rick" Simon
- Jameson Parker as Andrew Jackson "A.J." Simon
- Mary Carver as Cecilia Simon, the brothers' mother
- Eddie Barth as Myron Fowler, A.J.'s ex-boss and their more successful competitor
- Jeannie Wilson as Janet Fowler, Myron's daughter. She works for her father, attends law school and helps the Simons from time to time, much to her father's annoyance. During season two, she works as an assistant D.A.
- Tim Reid as Lieutenant Marcel Proust "Downtown" Brown, the Simons' friend in the police department
- Joan McMurtrey as Lieutenant Abigail Marsh
Recurring
- Daphne Reid as reporter Temple Hill
- Scott Murphy as Police Officer Nixon
- Donna Jepsen as Officer Susie Jepsen
Episodes
Production
Development
The original 1978 pilot, called Pirate's Key, was set in Florida. When CBS picked up the show, the characters' home was changed from Florida to San Diego, California, where the show was filmed for the first season. Due to the production costs and low ratings, filming and production moved to Los Angeles, although the show continued to be set in San Diego for the course of its eight-year run on CBS.The series was created by executive producer Philip DeGuere, who credited his inspirations as a request from a CBS executive to create something like a modern "Butch and Sundance", and a spec pilot DeGuere had recently read about a divorced husband and wife detective team written by Bob Shayne, whom DeGuere hired to write during the first two seasons. Shayne continued to write episodes for the series during its run, and together, they went on to create the CBS series Whiz Kids.
Original run
Simon & Simon was almost canceled in 1982 due to low ratings. However, at DeGuere and Shayne's request, CBS decided to give the series another chance by moving it to Thursday nights at 9 p.m., following Magnum, P.I. The new season began with a two-hour cross-over episode with a story that began on the already popular Magnum and continued on Simon & Simon, in an attempt to carry Magnums audience over to Simon & Simon. The effort worked, and the show's ratings quickly rose; it became a hit in that slot and continued to draw ratings for the next several seasons. Simon and Simon's peak years in the ratings were seasons 2-4, where it landed at no. 7, no. 5 and no. 7 respectively. In September 1984, the Cosby Show premiered in the 8 p.m. time slot against "Magnum" and was an immediate ratings hit and also substantially increased the ratings of the following NBC comedy shows, such as Cheers airing at 9 p.m. against "Simon & Simon". "Simon & Simon" fell to 29th in the 85-86 season and never recovered.Simon & Simon moved to Saturday nights late in its run, and the ratings dropped considerably. CBS only committed to a 13-episode season for the fall of 1988 but cancelled the series with two episodes left unaired, including the series finale. That episode did not air until the show entered syndication.
Theme music
For the first season, the song "Best of Friends", performed by the Thrasher Brothers, served as the series' theme song. More specifically, the instrumental version of "Best of Friends" appeared at the beginning of each episode, while the lyrical version appeared at the conclusion of each episode.At the beginning of the second season, the second and more recognizable instrumental theme song, composed by Barry De Vorzon and Michael Towers, was introduced. The theme consists primarily of an electric bottle-slide guitar lead with a saxophone interlude and remained until the last episode of the final season.
Both theme songs had extended versions released; the Thrasher Brothers in 1982, and De Vorzon/Towers's version in 1984.
Crossover with ''[Magnum, P.I.]''
The episode "Emeralds Are Not a Girl's Best Friend" concludes a crossover that begins on the Magnum, P.I. episode "Ki'is Don't Lie", wherein Higgins helps the Simons track the woman with stolen Hawaiian artifacts to Latin America. For repeat and syndication purposes, a second conclusion was also shot, wherein the fleeing villain is caught, allowing the Magnum episode to be wrapped up and the episode to be rerun as a "stand alone" episode. Consequently, the Simon & Simon concluding hour, "Emeralds Are Not a Girl's Best Friend", did not appear in reruns for many years, nor did the original broadcast version of "Ki'Is Don't Lie". Both original versions have since been released on DVD.Additionally, A.J. Simon appeared on the Whiz Kids episode "Deadly Access". In return, the Whiz Kids characters Richie Adler, Hamilton Parker, Jeremy Saldino, Alice Parker, and Irene Adler appeared on the Simon & Simon episode "Fly the Alibi Skies" the following night.
Home media
On October 10, 2006, Universal Studios released the first season of Simon & Simon on DVD in Region 1. Due to poor sales, no subsequent seasons were immediately released, because of the synthesized background music scores, where it had entirely replaced the original music scores, due to music licensing issues.In Fall 2008, Shout! Factory announced that they had acquired the distribution rights through an agreement with Universal. They subsequently released seasons 2–8 on DVD, with seasons 5-8 originally released as Shout! exclusives.
Season 5 was re-released as a general retail release on May 9, 2017. Season 6 was re-released in general retail on September 19, 2017. Season 7 was re-released on November 14, 2017, Season 8 was re-released on December 12, 2017.
Mill Creek Entertainment released two "best-of" collections of Simon & Simon. On January 18, 2011, they released Simon & Simon – The Best of Season Two, while on July 19, 2011 they released Simon & Simon – The Best of Season Three.
In Region 4, Madman Entertainment released Season 1 on DVD in Australia on July 6, 2011.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
| Season 1 | 13 | October 10, 2006 |
| Season 2 | 23 | February 10, 2009 |
| Season 3 | 23 | August 18, 2009 |
| Season 4 | 21 | April 6, 2010 |
| Season 5 | 24 | July 20, 2010♦ May 9, 2017 |
| Season 6 | 22 | February 21, 2012♦ September 19, 2017 |
| Season 7 | 16 | October 16, 2012♦ November 14, 2017 |
| Season 8 | 13 | January 15, 2013♦ December 12, 2017 |
♦- Shout! Factory Exclusives title, sold exclusively through Shout's online store