There is never any shortage of private investigator TV series. This is one of what seems to be thousands.
Here, we have two brothers. The older one, with the mustache, has a backwoods manliness. The younger one is the 1981 attempt to bring back the blond young man as something besides a red neck or sissy.
It's important to remember that other than Eastwood, Redford, and Newman, those whom already had acceptance, the handsome blond man of the seventies was viewed as the "great evil empire".
Strangely, blond women were treated as "invulnerable". The seventies were the ideal decade for neo Nazis who worshiped Adolf and Eva, the dark haired man and the blond woman. They were the American model. Any deviation from this genotype was to be eliminated in the action movies of the seventies. It was truly the "neo nazi decade".
Then came "Star Wars", which shattered the stereotype, and soon after, TV followed suit, again allowing blond men to exist. It would be a while before brunette women would be allowed to live. The nazi machine wasn't going to give up that easy.
So instead of romantic lead men always being Fonz and his clones, Simon and Simon dared to bring a romantic blond man into the TV set. It was revolutionary. He still wasn't allowed to be very macho, but it was a step.
But a private eye show had to have more than just a new gimmick. It had to click. These two as brothers clicked. The stories clicked, and it was entertaining. The actors, amazingly, weren't sure if they would click, which is even a bigger tribute to their acting. They made it work, as did the rest of the crew.
Like most TV series, there was a need for a recurring character to come into focus. "Bronco" the brute was chosen. He was a bit of comic relief, but too much was put on his shoulders. The writers tended to go too much into clichés, but they started out very fresh. Too bad they lost it.
Here, we have two brothers. The older one, with the mustache, has a backwoods manliness. The younger one is the 1981 attempt to bring back the blond young man as something besides a red neck or sissy.
It's important to remember that other than Eastwood, Redford, and Newman, those whom already had acceptance, the handsome blond man of the seventies was viewed as the "great evil empire".
Strangely, blond women were treated as "invulnerable". The seventies were the ideal decade for neo Nazis who worshiped Adolf and Eva, the dark haired man and the blond woman. They were the American model. Any deviation from this genotype was to be eliminated in the action movies of the seventies. It was truly the "neo nazi decade".
Then came "Star Wars", which shattered the stereotype, and soon after, TV followed suit, again allowing blond men to exist. It would be a while before brunette women would be allowed to live. The nazi machine wasn't going to give up that easy.
So instead of romantic lead men always being Fonz and his clones, Simon and Simon dared to bring a romantic blond man into the TV set. It was revolutionary. He still wasn't allowed to be very macho, but it was a step.
But a private eye show had to have more than just a new gimmick. It had to click. These two as brothers clicked. The stories clicked, and it was entertaining. The actors, amazingly, weren't sure if they would click, which is even a bigger tribute to their acting. They made it work, as did the rest of the crew.
Like most TV series, there was a need for a recurring character to come into focus. "Bronco" the brute was chosen. He was a bit of comic relief, but too much was put on his shoulders. The writers tended to go too much into clichés, but they started out very fresh. Too bad they lost it.