The 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.

Plot

Colt Seavers is a Hollywood stunt man moonlighting as a bounty hunter. He uses his physical skills and knowledge of stunt effects to capture fugitives and criminals. He is accompanied by his cousin and stuntman-in-training, Howie Munson, and by fellow stuntwoman Jody Banks.

Cast

  • Lee Majors as Colt Seavers
  • Douglas Barr as Howie Munson
  • Heather Thomas as Jody Banks
  • Jo Ann Pflug as Samantha "Big Jack" Jack
  • Markie Post as Terri Shannon / Michaels

    Production

Seavers's truck was a Rounded-Line 1981 GMC K-2500 Wideside with the Sierra Grande equipment package. A Rounded-Line 1980 GMC K-25 Wideside with the High Sierra equipment package was also used. 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, 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.

Episodes

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.

Reception

These are the Nielsen ratings.
SeasonRankRating
1) 1981-1982#2719.0
2) 1982-1983#1419.4
3) 1983-1984#1619.9
4) 1984-1985#2017.1
5) 1985-1986#807.8

Legacy

A board game adaptation of the show was released by the Milton Bradley Company in 1981.
A comic strip adaptation was drawn by Jim Baikie for Look-In magazine.
A video game adaptation was produced by British video game developer Elite Systems in 1984.
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 schedule in the US, where it continues in 2026. The first two series are available for streaming on Prime Video. During 2025, it was part of the lineup on the Legend channel in the UK.
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. It was released on May 3, 2024 to positive reviews and did good business, but insufficient to recoup its costs, which were significant. Lee Majors and Heather Thomas appear together in a cameo as police officers.