Television series

BJ and the Bear

Name: BJ and the Bear
Genre: Comedy, Action, Adventure
Released: 1979
Cast: Greg Evigan, Judy Landers, Linda McCullough, Claude Akins, Amanda Horan Kennedy

Buddy comedy
Light-hearted

A trucker and his chimpanzee partner cruise America's highways in their big rig, encountering con artists, crooked cops, and unlikely allies. It's buoyant, silly, and earnest all at once—a show that treats a chimp as a full character rather than a gimmick. Pure 1970s adventure comfort food for anyone who wants to feel like they're riding shotgun with a good-hearted rebel.

TVMaze rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a loose, episodic road show where a silly premise and a chimp riding shotgun carry you through small-town scrapes and light Americana capers.

Skip it if the episodes are formula-driven and the jokes are broad, so if you need sharp writing or a story that builds across the season, this will feel thin.

What it asks of you: Each episode runs an hour of self-contained wandering, so there is little commitment per sitting and you can drop in almost anywhere without losing the thread.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Dukes of Hazzard1979

Same era, same spirit of lovable outlaws outrunning authority with charm and improvisation. Faster cars, more explosions, but the DNA is identical—underdogs who always land on their feet.

But The politics aged poorly in ways that make viewing complicated. It's also relentlessly loud and can feel repetitive if you binge it.

Smokey and the Bandit1977

A trucker on a cross-country mission against the law, packed with the same swaggering humour and road-movie warmth. Burt Reynolds carries the same confident, mischievous energy BJ has in spades.

But It's a film, not a series, so you lose the episodic discovery. The Southern belle plot is thin and dated.

Knight Rider1982

A lone operator and his non-human sidekick solve problems across America. Swap the rig for a talking car and you've got the same formula—buddy adventure with heart and action that never takes itself seriously.

But The special effects feel synthetic now. Michael's constant brooding can slow the momentum that makes BJ breeze.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from BJ and the Bear

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Pee-wee's Big Adventure1985

Both centre on a vehicle as home, a journey as structure, and the principle that an odd couple—one human, one decidedly not—can survive anything through friendship and quick thinking. The tonal register is completely different, but the architecture is identical.

A man and his bicycle undertake an obsessive cross-country mission driven by whimsy and stubbornness, assisted by a menagerie of bizarre allies. It's the same road-trip DNA as BJ, but filtered through Dada surrealism instead of cop-show mechanics. Utterly joyful.

But The humour is idiosyncratic and often childlike in ways that can feel irritating. Pee-wee's affected voice and persona will either delight or exhaust you within minutes.

In Tandem1974

A trucker series that takes the road-adventure concept seriously while keeping things light. Real destinations, real obstacles, and genuine friendship between the leads—the template BJ and the Bear was built from.

But It predates the show by five years and feels more earnest, less silly. The pacing is slower and less kinetic than what you're seeking.

Enos1980

A spin-off that captures the same antic energy: a Southern sheriff loose in LA trying to catch crooks with charm and improvisation. It's goofy in exactly the register that BJ operates.

But It only lasted one season. The premise stretches thin fast, and without the rig and chimp, the formula feels thinner than the original.

The Rockford Files1974

James Garner as a scrappy ex-con solving cases, always outthinking authority with wit and ingenuity. Serious when it needs to be, funny when it can be, and absolutely solid craftsmanship underneath the adventure.

But It's more detective procedural than pure adventure, and the tone shifts away from comedy. At 50+ episodes, there's genuine filler.

The Cannonball Run1981

A cross-country race movie stuffed with bit players and pratfalls, the same loose, anything-goes energy. It's not sophisticated, but it's confident in its own dumbness in a way that's oddly charming.

But The plot is almost nonexistent and the humour is scattershot. It feels more like an excuse to film than a story with purpose.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century1979

Launched the same year, with the same pulpy adventure spirit and a sidekick dynamic. A fish-out-of-water hero and a wisecracking companion stumbling through strange scenarios with good humour.

But The sci-fi effects are distracting and the show struggles with tonal consistency. It oscillates between camp and sincerity in ways that don't always land.

The White Shadow1978

An outsider arrives in an unlikely place and builds community through charm and integrity. Different setting entirely, but the same warmth and the same faith that good people doing right things makes for compelling viewing.

But It's a basketball drama set in an inner-city school—a completely different genre. If you want adventure and action, you won't find it here.

Gentle Giant1967

The non-human partner is never anthropomorphized or made cutesy. Ben is a bear, BJ is a chimp, and both shows treat that with respect—they're characters because of their nature, not despite it. The relationship carries the entire series.

A boy and his bear navigate the Florida wilderness, solving small mysteries and learning big lessons. It's quieter, more earnest, almost folkloric compared to the highways of BJ. But it has the same implicit trust between human and animal, the same sense that animals are characters, not jokes.

But It's a children's show from the 1960s and plays like one—slower, sweeter, more sentimental. If you want action and comedy, you're looking at a wrong turn.

The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.1993

Both are episodic adventure shows built on the principle of two mismatched partners who argue but never break, encountering a new complication every week and improvising their way through. BJ is straightforward, Brisco is baroque, but the engine is the same.

A private detective and an outlaw team up to solve crimes across the Old West with anachronistic technology and pure audacity. It's absurdist, it's kinetic, it's genuinely inventive, and it never stops moving. A time period away but spiritually it's the same.

But It only lasted one season because Fox buried it. The premise is high-concept to the point of strangeness. It will seem uneven if you're expecting consistency.