Carolyn Perry (Markie Post) witnesses her stepfather Wade Christian (Peter Graves) bribing government officials with cash from money-launderers. He is a TV news anchor but it does not look like part of a hidden-camera special report. In fact, in the lead up to Christian's run for city council it looks like the establishment of a corruption network. Wade's bosses have cause for concern. Carolyn stole documents of theirs.
Socialite Helena Christian (Sharon Acker) hires private investigators the Simon Brothers - sometime free-spirit/sometime grouch Vietnam vet Rick (Gerald McCraney) and his snobby, fastidious preppie little brother A.J. (Jameson Parker) to find Carolyn - her wild college girl daughter whom she says has been missing for three days. Her sorority sisters at San Diego State University say she met a Mexican dude and is hanging out in Ensenada.
Competing detective Myron Fowler (Eddie Barth), owner of Peerless Detectives, is on the case too following a different angle. Myron their former boss and mentor, is nevertheless an unscrupulous scrounger who epitomizes the notion that private detective work is the realm of bottom-feeders. His own daughter Janet (Jeannie Wilson) helps the brothers while working for her father. The Simons also offer more courteous service at a lower rate.
There is kind of an unsettling voyeuristic feel to this first episode and was clearly intended by director Corey Allen. The opening titles montage is framed through the view of binoculars. The original series theme which sounded like a mariachi band was played over top. It suggested a whimsical interpretation of surveillance work as well as lack of deference to privacy in general. But none of that makes it less unsettling.
The original titles sequence included the theme song "Best of Friends" by the Thrasher Brothers. The new improved theme composed by Barry De Vorzon and Michael Towers debuted during season two and remained the theme up until the series end.
Corey Allen - a director of limited ability but considerable experience appeared to be under the impression that people who watch detective shows are voyeuristic. Perhaps that was why he gave audiences shots that were obstructed and views that would be illegal if they were real sight-lines of real people. In that respect he can't really be faulted. Private detective work really is invasive and should never be used without foreknowledge of that.
The script itself encapsulates one of the main conflicts of investigative work i.e. the balancing of a client's interest with actual right and wrong. some in the much maligned profession are prepared to put the wrong one before the other.
Theoretically Peter Graves was born to play a news anchor or a small-time politician. But that is only a theory you might formulate if you look at what level his acting was at and what he probably should have done INSTEAD of acting. Just because he was of a certain age, was stodgy and monotone like a lot of news anchors and politicians did not mean he could realistically play one. Eventually an actor has to move or talk.
Nevertheless Graves was a big guest star around the time this episode was shot. The production company might have had high hopes. The inclusion of Graves, the hiring Corey Allen (Who had directed features and a lot of TV) probably meant it had higher hopes for getting picked-up as a series than some of the other prospects CBS had.
Markie Post appeared in this network production having already proven herself series worthy via productions on each of the three networks. They still didn't know what to do with her and a couple of series she did bombed early in their development. she wouldn't find her wheel-house until a year later playing Terri Michaels on the Fall Guy. Her inclusion on the first episode of this show indicates how serious they were about launching this show.
The ratings weren't as co-operative (It was in a time-slot against Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley on ABC) and it was touch and and go whether there would be a second season. Given the time-slot (Thursday at 9 PM) with Magnum P.I. as lead-in in Fall 1982, the show flourished.
Though Gerald McCraney played the older brother, in real life he was born only a few months before Jameson Parker.
Socialite Helena Christian (Sharon Acker) hires private investigators the Simon Brothers - sometime free-spirit/sometime grouch Vietnam vet Rick (Gerald McCraney) and his snobby, fastidious preppie little brother A.J. (Jameson Parker) to find Carolyn - her wild college girl daughter whom she says has been missing for three days. Her sorority sisters at San Diego State University say she met a Mexican dude and is hanging out in Ensenada.
Competing detective Myron Fowler (Eddie Barth), owner of Peerless Detectives, is on the case too following a different angle. Myron their former boss and mentor, is nevertheless an unscrupulous scrounger who epitomizes the notion that private detective work is the realm of bottom-feeders. His own daughter Janet (Jeannie Wilson) helps the brothers while working for her father. The Simons also offer more courteous service at a lower rate.
There is kind of an unsettling voyeuristic feel to this first episode and was clearly intended by director Corey Allen. The opening titles montage is framed through the view of binoculars. The original series theme which sounded like a mariachi band was played over top. It suggested a whimsical interpretation of surveillance work as well as lack of deference to privacy in general. But none of that makes it less unsettling.
The original titles sequence included the theme song "Best of Friends" by the Thrasher Brothers. The new improved theme composed by Barry De Vorzon and Michael Towers debuted during season two and remained the theme up until the series end.
Corey Allen - a director of limited ability but considerable experience appeared to be under the impression that people who watch detective shows are voyeuristic. Perhaps that was why he gave audiences shots that were obstructed and views that would be illegal if they were real sight-lines of real people. In that respect he can't really be faulted. Private detective work really is invasive and should never be used without foreknowledge of that.
The script itself encapsulates one of the main conflicts of investigative work i.e. the balancing of a client's interest with actual right and wrong. some in the much maligned profession are prepared to put the wrong one before the other.
Theoretically Peter Graves was born to play a news anchor or a small-time politician. But that is only a theory you might formulate if you look at what level his acting was at and what he probably should have done INSTEAD of acting. Just because he was of a certain age, was stodgy and monotone like a lot of news anchors and politicians did not mean he could realistically play one. Eventually an actor has to move or talk.
Nevertheless Graves was a big guest star around the time this episode was shot. The production company might have had high hopes. The inclusion of Graves, the hiring Corey Allen (Who had directed features and a lot of TV) probably meant it had higher hopes for getting picked-up as a series than some of the other prospects CBS had.
Markie Post appeared in this network production having already proven herself series worthy via productions on each of the three networks. They still didn't know what to do with her and a couple of series she did bombed early in their development. she wouldn't find her wheel-house until a year later playing Terri Michaels on the Fall Guy. Her inclusion on the first episode of this show indicates how serious they were about launching this show.
The ratings weren't as co-operative (It was in a time-slot against Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley on ABC) and it was touch and and go whether there would be a second season. Given the time-slot (Thursday at 9 PM) with Magnum P.I. as lead-in in Fall 1982, the show flourished.
Though Gerald McCraney played the older brother, in real life he was born only a few months before Jameson Parker.
