Simon et Simon: Les retrouvailles

What happened to Rick and A J Simon after the TV series was boarded up? Well, they got older, like the rest of us, but seem to have lost their collective sense of humor.

Rick's still a bit if a rogue. A J tried to go up in the world. We get glimpses of old friends like Janet and Downtown Brown.

I'm glad "Town" is back. The original show got better with the inclusion of Tim Reid in the cast and his were its best years. The show folded a year or two after he left.

They've moved their operations up the left coast from San Diego to Seattle.

On the down side, their mother is screechy and abrasive and she'd have had a happier life in this movie if she'd been a little more conciliatory.

The original S & S music is gone, probably due to rights issues. The new music is a downer but fits an autumnal show.

If you enjoyed the wackiness of the original there's some up front but it's subdued through the rest of the movie. The Simon's aren't kids anymore. I've retained my youthful wackiness but most of my old friends have lost theirs, so that's par for the course.

Oh, there's also a cameo by an almost unrecognizable Delta Burke that's almost the best scene.

So what happened to Rick and A.J. when their detective agency's license was revoked by CBS after seven years? According to "Simon & Simon: Precious Cargo," Rick is still something of a loser - we first see him sleeping with the wife of a demented Scotsman and departing in a hurry with said cuckolded husband determined to catch him - while his younger brother A.J. has become a lawyer and married Janet, but this being TV Movie Reunion Land there's trouble in paradise (indeed, she files for divorce en route).

The plot has them coming together again on a boat, the "Precious Cargo," which Rick was hired to sail to Seattle by the owner, and he's brought their mother along; he, she and we know it's not really his boat, but there's also more to the goings-on than that. This is TV Movie Reunion Land, after all.

"Simon & Simon"'s creator Philip DeGuere had nothing to do with this one, which is probably why it's not as entertaining as the series had been known to be (it was made for USA Network, which helps explain why we get to see Gerald McRaney naked - very briefly, thankfully), and it lacks the show's casual appeal, but it makes for a decent time-passer if there's nothing else on. And it's still closer to the original than some recent and future revivals; certainly closer than what that mooted "Magnum, p.i." movie threatens to be like. (But couldn't they have brought back the theme music

as well?)

Little older, little greyer, but not bad, their mom is kidnapped and the guys get back together to go get her. I remember that CBS threw this away by throwing it against 'Seinfeld' and of course it got killed...fine way to treat a show that was a bulwark of the network for 8 years.

Anyways, it would be nice to see them make more of these-the guys still have the chemistry and the show is still pretty good. Reunions can be rusty or dull or whatever, this one fortunately wasn't.

**1/2 outta ****. Do it again.