Simon & Simon (TV Series) A Recipe for Disaster (1981) User Reviews

A recipe for distaster

[coltras35 · 6/10 · 30 August 2023]

Rick and AJ are hired to bring back a kidnapped child from Mexico. Well not exactly kidnapped as the troublesome girl sneaks into her father's car, and the mother jumps to conclusions. The case takes a turn when they discover the girl's father works for an oil company that's planning to possibly blow up a town to get to a new oil field.

Simon and Simon have more than their work cut out helping a mother bring her daughter back from Mexico. The little girl is a nightmare - she yells and makes shrill noises, much to the PI's despair. It's a serviceable episode with a nifty helicopter and car chase.

Convincing Argument For Planned Parenthood

[JasonDanielBaker · 30 December 2018]

A worried mother fears that her little girl has been abducted by her demolition expert ex-husband (Taylor Lacher) and taken to Mexico. She hires small-time local private investigators the Simon Brothers - Rick (Gerald McCraney) and A.J. (Jameson Parker) to find her.

A.J. warns her that the laws are different in Mexico and that they are not certified as private investigators there. But Rick also tells her that he and his brother are her best shot at finding the child. Rick lived in Mexico for awhile and has many shady associates there whom we frequently meet on the show.

The case is not quite what it seems. It is in fact considerably more dangerous. The insane, shrill brat of a child offers her own x-factor which the viewer may or may not find interesting, may or may not find entertaining or amusing in any way.

Good actors know to avoid working with kids whenever they can. Believable child actors are rare. This episode featured a particularly irritating and loud one in a fair number of scenes with significant dialogue. She wasn't convincing and this, at times unbearable, episode is the low-light of season one.

They first changed the theme music and titles montage in this episode from the original titles sequence including the mariachi band theme song "Best of Friends" by the Thrasher Brothers. The song would eventually be replaced by the theme "Recipe For Disaster" a catchier slide-guitar jam with a great saxophone solo. "Recipe For Disaster" made its debut in this namesake episode. But it would not fully displace "Best of Friends" as the show theme until season 2.