The hero of The Fall Guy, Colt Seavers--played by Lee Majors, the former Six Million Dollar Man--is a Hollywood stunt man, which lets the show do all kinds of spectacular car crashes with no justification whatsoever, and he's a bounty hunter, which lets him get into all kinds of fist fights and ridiculous plots with no justification whatsoever. It's the perfect 1980s TV show, and it's no surprise it was created by Glen Larson, the mastermind behind such hits as Knight Rider, Battlestar Galactica, and Magnum, P.I. Assisted by his handsome but not-too-bright cousin Howie Munson (Douglas Barr) and sexy stuntwoman Jody Banks (blonde bombshell Heather Thomas), Colt grapples with a corrupt sheriff, a mob hit man, a government secret agent, a neo-Nazi biker gang (which, naturally, Colt had to infiltrate through cunning disguise), women wrestlers, and more, more, more. Preposterous? Absolutely! It's all an excuse to set things on fire and parade scantily clad young women around (Thomas had a popular bikini scene that led to a top-selling poster), while the Hollywood setting allowed for cameo appearances by stars ranging from James Coburn (In Like Flint) to Lou Ferrigno (appearing as himself playing the Incredible Hulk--it's downright postmodern) to Farrah Fawcett (Charlie's Angels), Majors' just-divorced ex-wife. But what kept The Fall Guy running for five seasons wasn't silly plots or leaping cars. Lee Majors is one of those relaxed, genial actors who were made for television. Manly but gentle, handsome but down-to-earth, Majors appealed to men and women equally, could toss off a snappy one-liner without effort, and gave the impression that, no matter what happened, it would come out all right in the end. He even sang his own theme song. The Fall Guy: The Complete First Season is pure comfort television. (Season 1 is the only season with Jo Ann Pflug as Colt's boss, "Big Jack"; her adult sexiness and worldly wit were much-missed on later seasons.) The only extras are a couple of brief but entertaining featurettes, featuring interviews with Majors, Thomas, and Larson. --Bret Fetzer
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