Down and out local private detectives the Simon Brothers - Rick (Gerald McCraney) and A.J. (Jameson Parker) are desperate for cases. So desperate they reluctantly accept an assignment delivering a summons to a mean biker dude. After that is done they return to the office and a more gruesome (At least for Rick) assignment awaits.
Their old high school is planning a reunion for the class of 1962 and their former teacher Mrs. Barlett (Lucille Benson) wants the Simon brothers to track down some members of the class. A.J. is delighted. It isn't like they are that busy. Rick loathes Barlett (She was tough on him) and only agrees to the assignment when she threatens to show his mom (Mary Carver) a list of the bad things he did in his senior year that she never knew about. Mama's boys that Rick and A.J. are, we know Bartlett has Rick cornered.
The first name they try to track down is Doug Sullivan (Tom Hallick) - Rick's former rival in every way that mattered and Mrs. Barlett's favourite student. Rick hopes they won't find him. They don't find him at a place he should be and instead encounter a ninja who clobbers them. Mrs. Barlett insists they continue to look for Sullivan.
They infiltrate the world of survivalists (or "preppers" - people who think World War 3 or the Rapture is about to happen and are hoarding food and guns) to track the man down. Rick is eager is to find fault with Sullivan because of their old rivalry. It shows the danger of personal feelings being a conflict of interest in his work. Consistent with the fact it was the end of the first season the volatile characters and situation are more dangerous than in earlier episodes.
This is a fun episode I remember seeing back in the 1980s when I was a child. A clip from it became part of the opening titles montage i.e. the showdown in the bar where A.J. is wearing sunglasses and Rick is brandishing a broken beer bottle. Even as a kid I wondered whether Sandy McPeak was trying to do an Irish accent, a Scottish accent or a Jamaican one!
Lance LeGault stole the show as wacko survivalist/mercenary Paul Stark. He, Burr DeBenning, Mickey Jones and Clyde Kusatsu were staples of early 1980s TV.
Notes:
Rick's locker has his name carved in it with "'62" written beside it PERHAPS indicating the year he would have graduated making him 39 years of age in this episode. We know Rick is older than A.J. by a few years but never exactly how old they are.
Mrs. Barlett mentions in the episode that for the reunion "Roland weary's restaurant" will be doing the catering. Roland Weary was a character in the Kurt Vonnegut novel Slaughterhouse Five. Lucille Benson was in the 1972 movie version of that book.
Their old high school is planning a reunion for the class of 1962 and their former teacher Mrs. Barlett (Lucille Benson) wants the Simon brothers to track down some members of the class. A.J. is delighted. It isn't like they are that busy. Rick loathes Barlett (She was tough on him) and only agrees to the assignment when she threatens to show his mom (Mary Carver) a list of the bad things he did in his senior year that she never knew about. Mama's boys that Rick and A.J. are, we know Bartlett has Rick cornered.
The first name they try to track down is Doug Sullivan (Tom Hallick) - Rick's former rival in every way that mattered and Mrs. Barlett's favourite student. Rick hopes they won't find him. They don't find him at a place he should be and instead encounter a ninja who clobbers them. Mrs. Barlett insists they continue to look for Sullivan.
They infiltrate the world of survivalists (or "preppers" - people who think World War 3 or the Rapture is about to happen and are hoarding food and guns) to track the man down. Rick is eager is to find fault with Sullivan because of their old rivalry. It shows the danger of personal feelings being a conflict of interest in his work. Consistent with the fact it was the end of the first season the volatile characters and situation are more dangerous than in earlier episodes.
This is a fun episode I remember seeing back in the 1980s when I was a child. A clip from it became part of the opening titles montage i.e. the showdown in the bar where A.J. is wearing sunglasses and Rick is brandishing a broken beer bottle. Even as a kid I wondered whether Sandy McPeak was trying to do an Irish accent, a Scottish accent or a Jamaican one!
Lance LeGault stole the show as wacko survivalist/mercenary Paul Stark. He, Burr DeBenning, Mickey Jones and Clyde Kusatsu were staples of early 1980s TV.
Notes:
Rick's locker has his name carved in it with "'62" written beside it PERHAPS indicating the year he would have graduated making him 39 years of age in this episode. We know Rick is older than A.J. by a few years but never exactly how old they are.
Mrs. Barlett mentions in the episode that for the reunion "Roland weary's restaurant" will be doing the catering. Roland Weary was a character in the Kurt Vonnegut novel Slaughterhouse Five. Lucille Benson was in the 1972 movie version of that book.