The TV adventure series B. J. and the Bear premiered as a midseason replacement on February 10, 1979. Greg Evigan starred as B.J. McCay, a wildcat trucker who'd do anything for a price, as long as it was honest. He travelled the length and breadth of the country in the company of his pet chimp "Bear." In the 90-minute pilot episode, B.J. is framed for a crime he didn't commit by his perennial enemy, corrupt Southern sheriff Elroy P. Lobo (Claude Akins). He is busted out of jail by toothsome female inmates JoAnn Harris and Randi Oakes. The B.J. and the Bear series proper ran until 1981, by which time Sheriff Lobo had turned honest, thus smoothing the road for the spin-off series Lobo. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi