The Fall Guy

Celebrated stunt craft while delivering truck-jumping prime-time thrills.

Why it matters

Episode guide

111 episodes across 5 seasons — titles, air dates, and synopses.

At a glance

Colt Seavers does movie stunts by day and bounty hunting between takes — meta Hollywood action with truck jumps included. ABC's The Fall Guy (1981–1986), from Glen A. Larson, reinvented Lee Majors post–Six Million Dollar Man with Douglas Barr and Heather Thomas along for the gags. The theme song advertised the job description better than any pitch meeting. It was a love letter to stunt people wrapped in case-of-the-week capture. Greatest American hero adjacent, pure stunt poetry.

Network & studio

• ABC — broadcast network
• 20th Century Studios — production studio

Why watch now

Majors charm plus stunt-world celebration — action TV that actually tips its hat to the people who hit the ground. Theme song alone is a time machine.

Cultural impact

The Fall Guy put stunt work in the narrative spotlight and gave Lee Majors a second major TV action brand. Its theme became 1980s earworm canon. A much later feature film revived the title for new audiences.

Creators

Glen A. Larson

Key cast

• Lee Majors as Colt Seavers
• Douglas Barr as Howie Munson
• Heather Thomas as Jody Banks

Flash facts

• ABC action series created by Glen A. Larson; aired 1981–1986.
• Starred Lee Majors as Colt Seavers, a stuntman/bounty hunter.
• Douglas Barr and Heather Thomas co-starred as Howie and Jody.
• Theme song prominently framed the stuntman-as-hero concept.
• Mixed bounty-hunting plots with Hollywood stunt spectacle.

FAQ

Back to the decade

More from the 1980s — Glitz, Soaps & Nighttime Neon. All shows.