The Fall Guy
Trial by Fire
TV Flash files “Trial by Fire” as hour 101 of 111 in the TV Flash guide — The Fall Guy (1981–1986) on ABC, season 5, episode 12, aired 1986-01-24, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E12: listed hour 101 of 111 in the The Fall Guy guide, hour 12 of 22 in season 5. It aired 1986-01-24 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Reunion” (S05E11). Next is “In His Shadow” (S05E13).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
In Bangkok, Colt is approached by a man he knew in Vietnam who wants to go after a buddy who was recently seen in a Cambodian prison camp.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Trial by Fire sit in the The Fall Guy guide?
S05E12 is listed hour 101 of 111 — hour 12 of 22 in season 5, season 5 episode 12.
When did The Fall Guy S05E12 air?
Trial by Fire aired 1986-01-24 and is listed at 60 minutes.
What's the double life?
Hollywood stuntman and freelance bounty hunter. Cases exist to justify the jumps; the job description is in the theme song.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Majors charm plus stunt-world celebration — action TV that actually tips its hat to the people who hit the ground. Colt Seavers moonlights as a bounty hunter between takes; Larson's truck jumps included. Theme song alone is a time machine. Post–Six Million Dollar Man reinvention, pure stunt poetry.
He hits the ground for a living, then moonlights in a truck. ABC's The Fall Guy (1981–1986), Glen A. Larson, reinvents Lee Majors post–Six Million Dollar Man as Colt Seavers: movie stunts by day, bounty hunting between takes. Douglas Barr and Heather Thomas along for the gags as Howie and Jody. The theme song advertised the job description better than any pitch meeting. *Denim, a GMC, a body as choreography, Hollywood as the fitting room.* Style is the plot. **This was not a soft launch of a second action brand;…
Filed against
- Lee Majors as Colt Seavers
Lee Majors’s Col. Steve Austin made The Six Million Dollar Man a national slow-motion language — 1970s catalog cyborg adventure, better-stronger-faster as a family-hour religion. The Bionic Woman and The Fall Guy kept the jawline in…
- Douglas Barr as Howie Munson
Douglas Barr rode shotgun as Howie Munson on The Fall Guy — stunt-world celebration, bounty-hunter moonlighting, and 1980s action that actually tipped its hat to the people who hit the ground. Lee Majors had the charm; Barr had the crew…
- Heather Thomas as Jody Banks
Heather Thomas played Jody Banks on The Fall Guy — Lee Majors charm, stunt-world celebration, Colt Seavers moonlighting as a bounty hunter between takes, truck jumps included. Theme song as a time machine. TV Flash files her as 1980s…