BJ & THE BEAR-RUN FOR THE MONEY PART TWO

BJ & THE BEAR-RUN FOR THE MONEY PART ONE

Eventually Supertrain Episode #1 Is Avaialble For Listening!

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Eventually Supertrain!

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Eventually Supertrain: The Short-Lived TV Show Podcast

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BJ and The Bear S2 E5: Cain's Son-In-Law

Originally aired on October 27, 1979
Directed by Charles Rondeau
Written by Frank Lupo

(Rather than subject everyone to those strange shaped screenshots of past reviews, I went online and grabbed screenshots from a variety of places. To heighten that change of pace, I decided to forego captions this time around...  trying something new.)

This is more like it. After the last couple episodes (especially Pogo Lil), I was getting worried about our favorite show starring a chimp and his trucker buddy. Cain's Son-In-Law is fun and exciting and brawl-filled and pretty charming. If this is the "average" for an episode of the show in this season, then this seasons should be a good time.

B.J. sees a man harassing a young woman named Carol, played by Audrey Landers. B.J. rescues her...  but there are problems. Carol was engaged to that man, named Conway, and he's a police officer..  and her father is...  Captain Cain! Oh boy. B.J. can't catch a break, can he? He hangs out with Carol for a while. Cain mobilizes his considerable forces...  and, just at that point when B.J. and Carol are sharing a motel room...  just at the point where Carol is wearing just a towel...  Cain and Conway storm in and arrest B.J. But, Carol announces that B.J. and her are getting married. Is it for real? Or it a ruse to try to get Conway to step up and get her back?

I won't answer those questions here (although the screenshots might). Suffice it to say, this episode ends at Country Comfort with a big wedding...  that may (or may not) devolve into pie throwing, fist fights and crowds of tuxedo-wearing men falling into hot tubs. B.J. is not a jerk in this episode. Bear gets to mow a lawn. Cain acts very vexed by having B.J. lazing around his house all day. Carol is cute as pie. It's a fun episode.

I think Frank Lupo might be a name to trust here. I've seen his name pop up on other shows and he seems to be a solid writer. I don't know if an episode of anything he wrote ever changed the world. But, when I see his name listed as Writer, I know the episode is going to be an entertaining one. This episode is no different. It's saved by the structure. The way Pogo Lil's structure involved covering the same tired ground over and over did nothing for anyone. But, Cain's Son-In-Law spends its first half with Cain going after B.J. Then, the second half starts with B.J. lounging around Cain's house before it ends at the lengthy, but fun, wedding sequence at Country Comfort. (The final fight sequence really does go on for a long time but it never overstays its welcome.) The episode is constantly moving forward, which is what makes a show like this succeed.

There's not much to really critique in an episode like this. It does what it does well. It's still entertaining today. Greg Evigan brings on the hunk. Audrey Landers is beautiful. And, Bear rides a freakin' lawn mower around. That's a good time. Can the show keep it up?

BJ and the Bear S2 E4: Pogo Lil

Originally aired October 20, 1979
Directed by Bernard McEveety
Written by Richard Kelbaugh

Anne Lockhart plays Pogo Lil. (Her real name is very Eastern European. We'll stick with her nickname/ handle.) Lil is a trucker. She has a run-in with B.J, almost sending B.J., Bear and the rig off a cliff. (Unfortunately, my copy of the episode is missing the pre-credit sequence where this occurs. So, I don't know exactly what happens.) After this near-death experience, Lil and BJ become good friends. From that point on, the episode breaks down into two interweaving storylines: 1) two goofy debt collectors trying to get money from Lil & 2) set-up for, and then the actual, Big Rig Races at Country Comfort. Lil is going to win! Or is BJ? Or maybe it's Hammer, who returns for some comedy bits by a pool. Regardless, there will be wackiness, rig racing and BJ sings Lil a midnight song by a campfire. It's all here, folks.

Here's Lil!

Throughout the episode, something weird keeps happening. The first three episodes of this season are very much about lady truckers and lady engineers. The first two episodes are about proving that lady truckers are as good as male truckers. (Although the ladies do get flummoxed by the guys every time, except at the end... where BJ and Hammer actually save the day.) BJ is always and firmly on the side of the lady truckers...  So, why, in this episode, is BJ constantly questioning Lil's competence? Yes, she is overenthusiastic. Yes, she can be sloppy. But, BJ's attitude towards her treads a calmer version of "Lil, women can't drive rigs." And that kind of taints the episode for me.

 The set-up of the joke

The aftermath of the joke

Most of Pogo Lil is very generic BJ and the Bear. BJ falls for a young lady. She's in trouble. BJ gets involved in the trouble. A song is sung. Soft rock pops up on the soundtrack. Comedy villains. Final race/ chase. Bear makes some noises and drinks booze/ ogles ladies. "Very Generic" works for some shows. A generic Green Acres episode can be very funny. A generic Rockford Files can be a thrill. Generic BJ and the Bear is a little trickier. Because the show is such a mix of generic topical pop culture elements already, a generic episode is not so great. An episode of this show either needs to: 1) subvert the generic elements (I don't believe the show ever does this.) 2) Tell a story dealing with the elements themselves. (There will be several of these in this season.) 3) Tell a good story. Pogo Lil does none of these three things.

There needs to be the feeling that someone is trying here... mainly because 1) Bear hasn't really done anything on the show for a while. So, the show is mainly BJ and the ladies he meets. 2) In this season, probably because of the Lobo spin-off, they've really upped the comedy portions of the show.* And, being honest, the comedy elements of this show were never that great. There's usually a lot of noise and wacky music. But, actual laugh-out-loud (or even amusing) comedy isn't something BJ and the Bear does well. Pogo Lil is loaded with "comedy" bits that are tiresome. The two scenes by the pool with BJ, Lil and Hammer have such an obvious payoff that I knew it was coming the moment I saw the pool. And, when it happens the second time, I sighed.

Even Bear has seen this one too many times



Is it hanging around Country Comfort that's doing this? I hope not because we're going to be doing more of that in the future. Are they out of interesting stories to tell about BJ and Bear? No. Future episodes will restore the interest. The one thing I know for certain is that very mildly entertaining episodes like this one could have led to the ratings dropping so precipitously during the season. Anne Lockhart is the best part of this episode and she's playing an annoying character. It does seems like no one else is trying. There's no spark in the episode. One could look away for ten minutes and return to the episode without having felt like they missed a thing. One could also watch those same ten minutes and feel like they've watched nothing. The episode requires effort to keep focused on it. That's a problem.

For the ladies!

I know that the show does better than this in future. But, the episodes of a show consisting of a generic mix of topical pop culture tropes can never be generic themselves. At that point, the show fades into the background and becomes visual Muzak. 

Two Gun Lil!

*For some reason this episode is making me overdose on the numbering of things. There are two reasons for that: 1) I'm wrestling with why I just don't like this episode. 2) I like doing this in reviews and don't do it nearly enough.  

BJ And The Bear S2 E3: Cain's Cruiser

Originally aired on October 13, 1979
Directed by Christian I. Nyby II
Written by Robert L. McCullough

(As always, for some reason, I can't the screenshots to stop stretching. Sorry about that.)

Note: There is a new trucker introduced here named Frenchie. He wears a beret.

Second note: I believe Glen A. Larson was given a set of "Comedy Incidental Music" albums for a birthday. And, to possibly save some money, he had the editors score this episode and the two before it with tunes from those records. The wacky music here really has gone through the roof. Almost everything is scored with "wah wah wah" or dippy music...  even moments that shouldn't be "wacky."

 Erin Grey in the Proto-KITT

Erin Grey plays Samantha, an engineer who has designed the most technologically advanced, indestructible police cruiser. It's sort of KITT from Knight Rider but it looks clunkier and it doesn't talk. But, it does everything else. It goes through brick walls. It goes very, very fast. It can monitor tire pressure, vital signs and heartbeats on the people that it follows...  But, it's very expensive and the company who made it needs to sell one now. So, Sam and Mr. Morley, the company rep, go to Bishop County, where the police force is run by the notorious Captain Cain, played by Ed Lauter.

 Cain!

Cain is a 100% by the book officer who overspends hilariously to make sure his county has the finest everything. He is continually harassing the truckers who go through his county, including a young man name B.J. and his best friend Bear. He's also after a trucker who is hauling illegal aliens up "from the Gulf." (The episode keeps calling these people "aliens." My wife expected to see actual X-Files-style aliens. Their terminology may be very topical but it's slightly misleading.) He signs a lease on the Super Cruiser and begins Super Harassing the truckers, including Frenchie, a guy named Cooper and Tommy, the only one of the "7 Lady Truckers" who remains from the season opener.

 Super Car, outside and in

Yes, Country Comfort is back! And they still play terrible Eagles-esque soft rock all the time. (At one point, BJ says "Bear's favorite tape" and pops in The Eagles Greatest Hits 1971-1975. Bear is a chimp though. So I don't expect him to have good taste in music.) Bullets shows up. As mentioned, Janet Louise Johnson's character Tommy shows up. But, that's it. All the other characters are new ones that we won't see again. That seems a little odd to me. Out of the--  how many? 10, 12--  however many characters they introduced in the last 2-parter, only Bullets and Tommy are back? It seems odd.

 At the Country Comfort hot tub

 "I was just in a hot tub with Erin Grey!"

Cain is clearly ruthless when it comes to ticketing these truckers. In fact, he has to be because the county doesn't have the budget for the cruiser so everyone has to increase their ticket quota. Sam becomes disgusted by Cain and goes to visit BJ at Country Comfort...  in the hot tub...  in a bikini. BJ has great times. A lot of great times. They arrange an elaborate scheme to get the cruiser from Cain and catch the trucker hauling the "aliens." And it is one of those epic chase sequences where they break about 20 or 30 laws but everything's fine in the end. I'm going to refer to the law in these scenes as being "Larson's Law." You're under his jurisdiction now. And things are illegal until they're not.

The episode is pretty standard BJ and the Bear fun. It has action, beautiful women, mean sheriffs, good looking BJ and lots of shots of cars and rigs on dusty, dusty roads. Cain is a formidable character who may be incredibly overzealous but, unlike Lobo and Wiley & The Fox, he's not doing anything illegal. I applaud them trying to top load as many Lobo replacements as they could in the show. Is it repetitive? Well, yes. of course it is. Could it all be the setup for something bigger down the line? Possibly.

 Popsicle Time!

To me, the most fascinating thing about this episode is the geography of everything. So...  BJ passes through Bishop County a lot. Mention is made of the "aliens" coming up from the Gulf. Cain says that a truck filled with the "aliens" was spotted near New Orleans and is going to be passing through Bishop County. So, apparently, Bishop County is near New Orleans. But, Bishop County is a desert-like, dusty place, which doesn't fit being near New Orleans. It looks more the Southwestern United States (maybe in the Los Angeles area). On top of that, the truckers are all able to get to Country Comfort very easy at the end of the day. So, Country Comfort is near Bishop County, which might be near New Orleans.  And, Wiley & The Fox's jurisdiction is near Country Comfort also because they visit the truck stop at the start of the previous episode.

 All's well that ends with cuddles

They go out of their way to be unhelpful on this, apart from the mention of New Orleans and the Gulf. When Tommy is given a ticket, she holds her thumb over the address of the courthouse. So, this is conjecture. It seems odd thought that the past three episodes take place, apparently, in such close proximity. In Season 1, BJ and Bear seemed to travel all over the country (except when they kept ending up in Orly County). Now, things have apparently changed. I'm interested to see how the rest of the season will play out. Is this nitpicking? Sure. Is that the point of doing reviews like this? Absolutely.

So, we have a new Sheriff on the show. We see some reoccurring characters. And, Bear gets to do some stuff here, well, mainly he plays pinball and gets to kiss a lady at the Country Comfort bar. Bear has great times too.

End it with some Erin