B. J. and the Bear was a Syndication comedy series created by Glen A. Larson & Christopher Crowe, starring Greg Evigan.
The show aired from February 10, 1979 to August 11, 1981, lasting 3 seasons and 48 episodes.
It also had a spin-off series called "The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo" starring Claude Akins.
Plot[]
"B.J. and the Bear" was about Billie Joe "B.J." McKay, a professional freelance itinerant trucker who travels the country's highways in a red & white Kenworth K-100 Aerodyne (a COE semi truck) with his pet chimpanzee, Bear (named after Bear Bryant, the famed football coach for the University of Alabama).
In the pilot movie, it is stated that McKay had spent two years in Vietnam as a medical helicopter pilot, had been a captain and earned a distinguished service cross. He was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam at the Hanoi Hilton for four months in 1973 after his helicopter went down over the DMZ.
The episodes typically dealt with B.J. uncovering or getting mixed up with crime in the area he's traveling through and a local resident (usually, a young, beautiful woman) appealing to him for help.
Cast[]
- Greg Evigan as Billie Joe "B.J." McKay
- Claude Akins as Sheriff Lobo (1979)
- Richard Deacon as Sheriff Masters (1979-1980)
- Otto Felix as Deputy Higgins (1979-1980)
- Conchata Ferrell as Wilhemina "The Fox" Johnson (1979-1980)
- Janet Julian as Tommy (1979-1980)
- Ed Lauter as Sheriff Cain (1979-1980)
- Slim Pickens as Sergeant Beauregard Wiley (1979-1980)
- Joshua Shelley as Bullets (1979-1980)
- Mills Watson as Deputy Perkins (1979)
- Candi Brough as Teri Garrison (1981)
- Murray Hamilton as Captain Rutherford T. Grat (1981)
- Linda McCullough as Callie (1981)
- Barbara Horan as Samantha (1981)
- Randi Brough as Geri Garrison (1981)
- Judy Landers as Stacks (1981)
- Sheila DeWindt as Angie Cartwright (1981)
- Eric Server as Lieutenant Jim Steiger (1981)
- Sherilyn Wolter as Cindy Grant (1981)