Simon & Simon

I started watching Simon & Simon when it aired in 1981 and from the very beginning I enjoyed the show, especially the shows setting in beautiful San Diego, CA.

I was a 14 yr. old kid when it aired in 1981 growing up in a crime ridden area of New York City (The South Bronx).

I could only dream of escaping to that beautiful sun soaked paradise I envisioned through the wonders of television as I watched episode after episode.

In 1989 a year after Simon & Simon was cancelled I happily moved to beautiful San Diego, CA and could now experience what life in such a wonderful town would be like first hand.

I lived in San Diego from 1989-1993 and could honestly say that those were the most memorable moments in my life, and I owe it all to the Simon & Simon T.V show for giving a teenage kid from The Bronx hope beyond the ghetto.

Simon & Simon was a rare series in the 1980s. While crime dramas have risen in popularity over the last thirty years, this series was both entertaining and enlightening without being violent or murderous. For the first season, the Simon brothers are San Diego private detectives. They are more involved in kidnapping, robbery, burglary, etc. There is some mild violence but nothing serious. Gerard McRaney and Jameson Parker are believable as brothers. Their characters are developed to be solid and different. The series has quite quirky theme song to go along with it. Their mother is played by Mary Carver. The San Diego setting is different and ideal for cases. I never watched the series on television and believe it followed Magnum P.I. on CBS. I'm not surprised that it lasted eight seasons. This series was a smart show and I caught the first season on DVD by chance. I love the dog, Marlow, and I enjoy the humor as well. McRaney and Parker were smart performers who should have been awarded with Emmys as well.

This series took a staple element of the detective genre - mismatched partners, and added the twist that they were brothers. Instead of setting it in a classic location for a detective series (NY, LA, Chicago), they took the 90 minute drive down the coast to the beautiful city of San Diego. What they found was a gold mine. Instead of the tired cliche locations, they banked on the little seen but widely known attractions of San Diego (the Zoo, Sea World, the Beaches, and the close proximity to Baja California). The pilot was set in Florida, but the series was wisely moved to the West Coast; Rick Simon, the older of the brothers, was a former marine that was the braun, while buttoned down preppy AJ (the embodiment of preppies in the 80's) was the cultured, refined brother. With Tim Reid as a supporting character (Downtown Brown) and Mary Carver as their mother Cecilia, this series produced many memorable episodes that not only entertained, but taught about the viewer history (WW2, John Dillinger, etc.). Catch it in syndication if you can.

I really enjoyed this show, and watched it religiously when me and my family lived in L.A. in the eighties.

I think it was one of the last P.I. shows on the air when it was cancelled, as by that time the sitcom was taking over and action/adventure shows like this had fallen out of favour.

It had the same kind of sense of humour as Rockford and Magnum, and was just as entertaining as either one. (No real surprise as the series creator Philip DeGuere had worked with Roy Huggins, Stephen J. Cannell and Donald P. Bellisario, who gave us those other two classics.)

Stand out episodes include: "Ashes to Ashes, and None Too Soon", "Thin Air", "Pirate's Key", "The List", "Grand Illusion", "The Dillinger Print", "C'est Simon", "Who Killed the Sixties?" "Simon Without Simon" Parts 1 and 2, and of course, "May the Road Rise Up"

There are more but not enough room or time to mention them all.

This was a really good series, great partner for Magnum which it followed for some years. Good action, good humor, decent chemistry between the two leads....this show has a lot going for it. And having Venus Flytrap be your pal can't hurt either! I hadn't seen the show for some years 'til A and E began rerunning it of late; and still enjoy it, about as much as I had back in the '80s. It is a little repetitive and etc. as most series are, but still....see it if you can.