The Good
Yet another great show from the ’80s comes to DVD.
The Bad
No commentary tracks by Lee Majors.
The Fall Guy: The Complete Season 1 tells the story of Colt Seavers (Lee Majors). His occupation is that of stuntman. He leaps tall buildings in a single bound, avoids getting blown to pieces and then, as a breather, will jump out of an airplane when someone calls action. If this wasn’t enough of a thrilling life Seavers spends his spare time (and what is actually the focal point of this show) working as a bounty hunter. With sidekicks Howie (Douglas Barr) and Jody (Heather Thomas), Colt might have a tough time of it but he always manages to get the job done.
Featuring 22 episodes we start off quick with “The Fall Guy Pilot” in which Seavers finds himself trying to take down a sheriff who has moved to the other side of the law. Amidst doing this, Colt realizes that helping a friend might just hurt him. “Colt’s Angels” is an especially good episode as we see Colt, Howie and Jody trying to bring down a motorcycle gang. In pretending to be bikers they get into all kinds of trouble. Lastly, “Soldiers of Misfortune” is a classic ’80s, action episode that sees Colt and Howie teaming up with a group of guys on the hunt for an ex-green beret.
Features
Remembering The Fall Guy: An American Classic
Glen A. Larson, who created such shows as Quincy, M.E. and Battlestar Galactica, takes us through how this show came about. He talks about hearing the story of the show in a song and then going in and basically singing the song in the pitch to the executives. After this, the featurette looks at casting and how Lee Major’s work with Glen on the The Six Million Dollar Man led to this role, how the idea of him being a bounty hunter was added to the mix, and we also get to hear from Majors, Heather Thomas and other people who brought this show to life. All in all, there’s some really good stuff here.
“The Unknown Stuntman:” The Theme Song
Video
Full Frame - 1.33:1 - Aspect Ratio. The DVD transfers of this show looked good. These being classically told stories from the 1980s, the set up of the scenes is pretty straight forward. There are master shots and then two shots to break things up. I noticed a little bit of dirt on some of the images, but for the most part these episodes look pretty clean on this release. When one takes into account that what we are watching is over 20 years old, I think Fox deserves credit for making these shows look as sharp and strongly composed as they usually do.
Audio
Dolby Digital. English - Mono. Close Captioned. Subtitled in English and Spanish. The audio for The Fall Guy was pretty normal. I didn’t hear any audio pops or points where the sound dropped out. Also, I noticed that once I leveled things on my system (I watched these discs on my one speaker TV in my bedroom), things played at about the same volume for all of them.
Package
Looking like something off of a tie-dyed shirt, this front cover features black and white pictures of Majors and Thomas, with the classic ’80s image of a truck flying through the air and an explosion following behind it. The back cover features another explosion only this time there is a body flying through the air. There are also some pictures on hand from various episodes, a Special Features listing and technical specs. All six discs are stored in three slim cases, each having the same front cover that features Thomas, Majors and an explosion. The back covers list out the shows, they offer up one line descriptions, airdates and more pictures from The Fall Guy.
Final Word
How was I not going to like this?
You have Lee Majors, you have ’80s poster girl Heather Thomas and a whole lot of action. What makes The Fall Guy: The Complete Season 1 so much fun is the fact that it returns us to the old style of television storytelling that was so prominent in the 1980s. We don’t get stories that are filled with a gazillion plots and characters. We don’t get heavy handed shows trying to address social issues (at least not in an overt way), and we don’t get any apologies for the action being is viscerally entertaining as possible. I am not saying that The Fall Guy is perfect but it is a well structured show with pure storytelling at its core. Things have changed in terms of action, effects and clothing styles, so yes, The Fall Guy: might look dated, but that certainly isn’t something you can blame the show for.
While this show might not be talked about in the same way as shows like The A-Team and MacGyver, make no mistake about it, The Fall Guy: The Complete Season 1 easily packs just as much of a punch.
The Fall Guy was released .
