B.J. and the Bear
- TV Series
- 1978–19811978–1981
- 1h
A trucker and his pet chimpanzee travel the highways of America, getting into various adventures and misadventures along the way.A trucker and his pet chimpanzee travel the highways of America, getting into various adventures and misadventures along the way.A trucker and his pet chimpanzee travel the highways of America, getting into various adventures and misadventures along the way.
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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 it impossible to get regular truck drivers to work for him and had to settle for a crew of 7 young, beautiful lady truckers, including a pair of identical twins and Grant's daughter, Cindy. —Anonymous
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Did you know
- TriviaWhen this show was an instant hit, the producers quickly spun off Sheriff Lobo's character in The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo (1979). 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".
- GoofsB.J. was supposedly a captain in the US Army and a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. Most pilots were actually Army warrant officers with higher-ranking commissioned officers only flying the less dangerous missions as their experience was required from administration and training. This conflicts with the series narrative as B.J. was actually shot down and taken captive for a short period of time which is unlikely to have occurred during the conflict.
- ConnectionsFeatured in I Love the '70s: 1978 (2003)
Top review
B.J. and The Bear,another nostaglic look at the trucking craze that swept the mid-70's
Synopsis: A trucker and his pet monkey travel the highways of America,getting into various adventures and misadventures along the way within the watchful eyes of the very pesky and law-abinding county sheriff.
"B.J. and The Bear",came out during the craze of the truck-driver shows that exploded during the mid-1970's and this show was a mixture of several formulas:It was part "Smokey and the Bandit",part "Every Which Way But Loose",part "Dukes Of Hazzard",and part "Convoy",with a mixture of three-fourths of "Hee Haw" for good measure. This show had a original premise since it was a mixture of the good ol'boy farce,romance with lots and lots of gorgeous girls,non-stop action,and of course,his pet monkey who was the sidekick and comical relief. The plot basically stayed the same during the show's run which lasted only two seasons. The show features B.J. McKay(Greg Evigan) who worked as a truck driver who constantly dealt with inept lawmen Sheriff Lobo(played Claude Akins who ineventually went on to get his own series,"The Misadventures Of Sheriff Lobo"),his lame deputy(Mills Watson) who were one step ahead of B.J. who would lose them in several of the episodes. Along the way,B.J. dealt with crooked truckers,outlandish hillbillies,and usually lots of beautiful women in tight clothes,which to some extent that this show was very sexist since the women worked so well especially when one of them were the object of every man's fantasy each week,who remembers the Borough sisters,Candi and Randi? How remembers Judy Landers?
The series was helmed by the TV maestro Glen Larson(of "It Takes A Thief","Alias Smith and Jones","Switch","Quincy,M.E.", "Battlestar Galactica","Buck Rogers","Mangum,PI","Murder,She Wrote","The Fall Guy")knew what basically worked in a series and kept the action going strong along with the tough guys and beautiful women in each episode,along with the monkey for comical support. However,in some syndicated markets
"B.J. and The Bear",would run alongside "The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo" on a weekly basis,and during the series original run from 1978-81 it was shown at least once with one series coming after the other.
"B.J. and The Bear",came out during the craze of the truck-driver shows that exploded during the mid-1970's and this show was a mixture of several formulas:It was part "Smokey and the Bandit",part "Every Which Way But Loose",part "Dukes Of Hazzard",and part "Convoy",with a mixture of three-fourths of "Hee Haw" for good measure. This show had a original premise since it was a mixture of the good ol'boy farce,romance with lots and lots of gorgeous girls,non-stop action,and of course,his pet monkey who was the sidekick and comical relief. The plot basically stayed the same during the show's run which lasted only two seasons. The show features B.J. McKay(Greg Evigan) who worked as a truck driver who constantly dealt with inept lawmen Sheriff Lobo(played Claude Akins who ineventually went on to get his own series,"The Misadventures Of Sheriff Lobo"),his lame deputy(Mills Watson) who were one step ahead of B.J. who would lose them in several of the episodes. Along the way,B.J. dealt with crooked truckers,outlandish hillbillies,and usually lots of beautiful women in tight clothes,which to some extent that this show was very sexist since the women worked so well especially when one of them were the object of every man's fantasy each week,who remembers the Borough sisters,Candi and Randi? How remembers Judy Landers?
The series was helmed by the TV maestro Glen Larson(of "It Takes A Thief","Alias Smith and Jones","Switch","Quincy,M.E.", "Battlestar Galactica","Buck Rogers","Mangum,PI","Murder,She Wrote","The Fall Guy")knew what basically worked in a series and kept the action going strong along with the tough guys and beautiful women in each episode,along with the monkey for comical support. However,in some syndicated markets
"B.J. and The Bear",would run alongside "The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo" on a weekly basis,and during the series original run from 1978-81 it was shown at least once with one series coming after the other.
helpful•135
- rcj5365
- Mar 26, 2004
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- Release date
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- Also known as
- B.J. und der Bär
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- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 4:3
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