B.J. and the Bear

B. J. and the Bear is a comedy series which aired on NBC from 1979 to 1981. Created by Glen A. Larson and Christopher Crowe, the series stars Greg Evigan as Billie Joe (B. J.) McKay. The series was produced when the CB Radio/trucking craze had peaked in the United States, following the 1974-1976 television series Movin' On, the number one song Convoy (1975) by C.W. McCall, as well as the films White Line Fever (1975) and Convoy (1978).

Billie Joe "B.J." McKay, a professional freelance itinerant trucker who travels the country's highways in a red and white Kenworth K-100 Aerodyne (a COE semi truck) with his pet chimpanzee Bear (named after Bear Bryant, the famed football coach for the University of Alabama). In the pilot movie, it is stated that he had spent two years in Vietnam as a medical helicopter pilot, had been a captain and earned a distinguished service cross. He was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam at the Hanoi Hilton for four months in 1973 after his helicopter went down over the DMZ. Episodes typically deal with B.J. uncovering or getting mixed up with crime in the area he's traveling through, and a local resident—usually, a young, beautiful woman—appealing to him for help.

Subject ID: 22493

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B. J. and the Bear is a comedy series which aired on NBC from 1979 to 1981. Created by Glen A. Larson and Christopher Crowe, the series stars Greg Evigan as Billie Joe (B. J.) McKay. The series was produced when the CB Radio/trucking craze had peaked in the United States, following the 1974-1976 television series Movin' On, the number one song Convoy (1975) by C.W. McCall, as well as the films White Line Fever (1975) and Convoy (1978).

Billie Joe "B.J." McKay, a professional freelance itinerant trucker who travels the country's highways in a red and white Kenworth K-100 Aerodyne (a COE semi truck) with his pet chimpanzee Bear (named after Bear Bryant, the famed football coach for the University of Alabama). In the pilot movie, it is stated that he had spent two years in Vietnam as a medical helicopter pilot, had been a captain and earned a distinguished service cross. He was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam at the Hanoi Hilton for four months in 1973 after his helicopter went down over the DMZ. Episodes typically deal with B.J. uncovering or getting mixed up with crime in the area he's traveling through, and a local resident—usually, a young, beautiful woman—appealing to him for help.

A frequent guest star in the first season is Sheriff Elroy P. Lobo (Claude Akins, who had previously starred in the trucking series Movin' On), whose character eventually spun off onto his own show The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo along with guest character "Waverly" Ben Cooper).

 

Subject ID: 22493

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