B.J. and the Bear (1978–1981)

A trucker and his pet monkey travel the highways of America, getting into various adventures and misadventures along the way.

Creators:

Christopher Crowe, Glen A. Larson

Stars:

Greg Evigan, Eric Server, Linda McCullough

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Greg Evigan	...	B.J. McKay (47 episodes, 1978-1981)

Storyline

B.J. McCay was a good-looking young trucker who traveled around the country in his big red & white rig, with a single companion - his pet chimp, Bear. B.J. was based in rural Georgia and was confronted by a succession of corrupt local sheriffs - Elroy P. Lobo (who was later given his own series, Lobo); Sgt. Wiley of Winslow County and his two fellow lawmen, Sheriffs Cain and Masters. The only honest cop B.J. seemed to encounter was the Fox, who spent much of her time trying to trap the crooked local cops. Tommy was a lady trucker friend and Bullets ran the local hangout, the Country Comfort Truck Stop.In 1981, B.J. settled down to run a trucking business in Los Angeles called Bear Enterprises. His new adversary was Rutherford T. Grant, a corrupt politician who headed the state Special Crimes Action Team. Grant was a silent partner in TransCal, the largest trucking firm in California and stopped at nothing to stomp out potential competition. Because of Grant's intervention, B.J. found ...

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Plot Keywords:

chimpanzee | character name in title

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Also Known As:

As Aventuras de B.J.

Filming Locations:

RMS Queen Mary - 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Glen A. Larson Productions, Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 60 min (46 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

When this show was an instant hit, the producers quickly spun off Sheriff Lobo's character in The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo. However, ratings quickly dried up, and neither show lasted long. To make a more compelling product for syndication, all episodes of both shows were packaged as a bundle titled "The B.J./Lobo Show".

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Magic Sword (1992)

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Soundtracks

"B.J. and the Bear"
Written by Glen A. Larson
Performed by Greg Evigan

User Reviews

Monkey Do

Not sure why monkeys used to be on so many TV series. Lost In Space had a chimp, and for a time it seemed that monkeys usually were worked into a guest appearance of almost any show.

In the days before Cable TV, there were only 4-6 channels to watch. One was PBS, with their opera and ballet shows. One or two were the independent stations, that usually played old movies. So the original 3 networks had the TV series.

Greg Evigan was an easy going guy, and he usually acted as if he knew that riding in a truck with a monkey was ridiculous, and he knew that the audience knew that the stinky monkey went back in the cage at the end of every episode. That is what made the show so funny.

Greg Evigan never took the stories or the role very seriously, and he was clearly just laughing through it, and that made it all better. You knew that this was a TV show as fake as if it were filmed in front of a live audience, like The Carol Burnett Show, and everyone was just there to laugh it up and have a good time. The fact that the Hee Haw girls and other characters from similar shows were on BJ just made it all the more like a variety show for truckers and CB Radio fans.

Someone else said it was like Dukes of Hazzard and a few other shows mixed together. That is a good description. The only thing missing was Dean Martin introducing the characters, or Sammy Davis, Jr. making some jokes, or Rowan and Martin, and Goldie Hawn.