The Fall Guy

This article is about the television series. For other uses, see Fall Guy.

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

The Fall Guy
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 Dave Somerville
Opening theme	"Unknown Stuntman" performed by Lee Majors
Composers	Stu Phillips Ron Ramin Frank DeVol Tom Worrall 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	47–48 minutes
Production companies	Glen A. Larson Productions 20th Century Fox Television
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	November 4, 1981 (1981-11-04) – May 2, 1986 (1986-05-02)

Plot

Colt Seavers (Lee Majors) is a Hollywood stunt man moonlighting 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 (Douglas Barr), and by fellow stuntwoman Jody Banks (Heather 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 (1981–1982)
• Markie Post as Terri Shannon / Michaels (1982–1985)

Production

Seavers's truck was a Rounded-Line 1981 GMC K-2500 Wideside with the Sierra Grande equipment package.^[1][2] A Rounded-Line 1980 GMC K-25 Wideside with the High Sierra equipment package was also used.^[3] 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.

From the second season, 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.

Intros

The series introductions were mainly composed of scenes from the series itself, and from risky stunt scenes of various films predating 1981. The theme song, "Unknown Stuntman", was sung by Lee Majors and later released as a single.^[4]

Episodes

Further information: List of The Fall Guy episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally released
			First released	Last released
1	23		November 4, 1981 (1981-11-04)	May 5, 1982 (1982-05-05)
2	23		October 27, 1982 (1982-10-27)	May 4, 1983 (1983-05-04)
3	23		September 21, 1983 (1983-09-21)	May 2, 1984 (1984-05-02)
4	22		September 19, 1984 (1984-09-19)	April 10, 1985 (1985-04-10)
5	22		September 26, 1985 (1985-09-26)	May 2, 1986 (1986-05-02)

Home media

On June 5, 2007, 20th Century Fox released the first season of The Fall Guy on DVD in Region 1. Season one was released on DVD in Region 2 in Germany and the UK. Season two has also been released in Region 2, in Germany on November 28, 2008, and in the UK on February 16, 2009, all with edits.

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		February 16, 2009	November 28, 2008

Reception

These are the Nielsen ratings.

Season	Rank	Rating
1) 1981–1982	#27	19.0
2) 1982–1983	#14	19.4
3) 1983–1984	#16[5]	19.9[5]
4) 1984–1985	#20[6]	17.1[6]
5) 1985–1986	#80[7]	7.8[7]

Legacy

A board game adaptation of the show was released by the Milton Bradley Company^[8] in 1981.

A comic strip adaptation was drawn by Jim Baikie for Look-In magazine.^[9]

A video game adaptation was produced by British video game developer Elite Systems in 1984.^[10]

It aired in reruns as part of the CBS Late Movie from 1984-85 and went into rerun syndication in the autumn of 1986, which eventually included a run on FX. In 2024, it was added to the H&I lineup in the US, and in 2025, to the lineup on the Legend channel in the UK. The first two series are available for streaming on Prime Video.

In September 2020, Universal Pictures announced the film The Fall Guy, loosely based on the television series, starring Ryan Gosling and directed by David Leitch.^[11] It was released on May 3, 2024 to positive reviews and did good business, but insufficient to recoup its costs, which were significant.^[12][13][14] Lee Majors and Heather Thomas appear together in a cameo as police officers.^[15]

See also

• 1981 in American television