"Simon & Simon" (1981) TV series 1981-1988

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Creator:

Philip DeGuere

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Release Date:

24 November 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Mystery | Drama

Plot:

Two brothers of disparate tastes and manners run a private detective agency.

Plot Keywords:

People With Same Name | San Diego California | Domineering Mother | Brother Brother Relationship | Detective

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 4 nominations

Cast

Gerald McRaney	...	Rick Simon (156 episodes, 1981-1989)
Jameson Parker	...	Andrew Jackson 'A.J.' Simon / ... (156 episodes, 1981-1989)
Mary Carver	...	Cecilia Simon (154 episodes, 1981-1989)
Tim Reid	...	Det. Marcel 'Downtown' Brown / ... (79 episodes, 1983-1987)

Also Known As:

Pirate's Key (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Universal TV

Trivia:

The show was filmed in San Diego. During the run of the show, CBS tried to get the locale of the show switched because they felt San Diego wasn't "sexy" enough. The effort failed.

Quotes:

[Rick & A.J. are trying to talk Town into letting them look at a car in the police impound]
Rick Simon: Town, now this assignment you got, it's probably gonna be very tiring, right? And you could use a rest... well we're gonna be doing a big celebration when this is all over, y'know, we're gonna do a kind of a blow-out weekend over in Vegas... why don't you kinda tag along with us, y'know, we'll comp you to the Robert Goulet show... it'll be great.
Lt. M.P. 'Downtown' Brown: Robert Goulet? If you're gonna bribe me, at least make it interesting. I'll give you half an hour.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Boomtown: Insured by Smith & Wesson (#1.7)" (2002)

Theme song trivia

The theme song to "Simon & Simon" changed after the first season. The song in the first season had a sound I can only describe as "An American in Tijuana." The replacement theme song had a snappier rhythm, more like "Zany Times in San Diego-- Er, Los Angeles." The theme music was played at the beginning and end of each episode. At the end of the final episode for the first season, some guy actually sang lyrics, which he probably had written, to the music. I don't remember the lyrics, but there was something along the lines of "'cuz they're brothers." First and only time I've ever seen that happen on a TV show. The original theme song didn't entirely vanish. It continued to be used as a lead-in between the end of the new song and the "brought to you by..." commercial intro.