| The White Shadow | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama, Basketball, School |
| Created by | Bruce Paltrow |
| Written by | David Assael Steven Bochco Joshua Brand Tom Chehak John Falsey Steve Kline Gary Kott John Masius Bruce Paltrow Marc Rubin |
| Directed by | Thomas Carter Jackie Cooper Lawrence Levy Victor Lobl Marc Norman Bruce Paltrow Mark Tinker Virgil W. Vogel |
| Starring | Ken Howard |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 54 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Bruce Paltrow |
| Producer(s) | Mark Tinker |
| Running time | 60 mins. |
| Production company(s) | MTM Enterprises |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | November 27, 1978 – March 16, 1981 |
The White Shadow is an American drama television series that ran on the CBS network from November 27, 1978, to March 16, 1981.
Contents |
Thematically similar to Welcome Back, Kotter, but more dramatic than comedic, The White Shadow starred Ken Howard as Ken Reeves, a white professional basketball player who retires from the Chicago Bulls of the NBA after a severe knee injury. Upon his retirement, Reeves takes a job as a basketball coach at Carver High School, a mostly black and Hispanic urban high school in South Central Los Angeles. Carver's principal is former college classmate Jim Willis (Jason Bernard in the pilot, and Ed Bernard for seasons 1 and 2). Sybil Buchanan, played by Joan Pringle, is the vice principal who was against Reeves' hiring and clashed with Reeves in the areas of discipline and education on more than a few occasions. In season 3, Willis is promoted to a position with the Oakland Board of Education and Buchanan becomes principal of Carver.
According to the storyline, Reeves and Willis were roommates at Boston College. Reeves played college basketball and went on to be drafted into the NBA and played mostly with the Chicago Bulls.
The show was produced by Bruce Paltrow for MTM Enterprises. On November 8, 2005, the series' first season was released on DVD, with the second season following on March 7, 2006.
The White Shadow was the first ensemble drama on prime-time television with a predominantly African-American cast. With 54 episodes, it is the third-longest running drama with a predominantly African-American cast in the history of American prime-time television. Only Soul Food and The Wire have had more episodes.
The show's title is derived from a statement by Reeves in the last scene of the pilot episode, where he told the members of the team that he would support them and be right behind them, to quote Thorpe, "like a white shadow".
In October 2011, ESPN Classic began reairing all 54 episodes of the White Shadow.
| Character | Actor/Actress | Role/Uniform No. | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ken Reeves | Ken Howard | Head Coach | No-nonsense coach hired to whip some "hard-nosed back-breakers" into a cohesive team, also to steer them in the right direction in life after high school. Attended Boston College on a basketball scholarship, where he and Jim Willis were roommates. Drafted into the NBA by the Chicago Bulls |
| Jim Willis | Jason Bernard in pilot, Ed Bernard thereafter |
Principal of Carver High | Reeves' roommate at Boston College who offers him the job at Carver after Reeves' final game with the Bulls. Remains Reeves' most ardent supporter through his difficulties. After Carver wins the city championship, he takes a job with the Oakland Board of Education. |
| Sybil Buchanan | Joan Pringle | Vice-principal, later principal of Carver High | Reeves' main antagonist over matters of education and discipline. At first, a love-hate relationship, but mutual respect between the two grows as each season goes on. Divorced from her husband, despite an attempt at reconciliation. Becomes pregnant with twins and decides to raise them on her own. Eventually becomes principal of Carver High, much to Reeves' chagrin. |
| Warren "Cool" Coolidge | Byron Stewart | Center-45 | One of Reeves' few players with a legitimate shot at a career in basketball. Special bond with the coach because of their unusual heights (Reeves is 6'6", Coolidge 6'8"). Was almost goaded by a crooked agent into signing a pro contract after one of his best games. Dated Diana and contracted venereal disease. Tried to pursue a career in acting. Also tried out for the Harlem Globetrotters, but was advised to finish school. Later resurfaced as a hospital orderly in St. Elsewhere. |
| Morris Thorpe | Kevin Hooks | Guard-11 | As a basketball player, a point guard and ballhawk on defense. According to Reeves, as good a defensive player as Dean Meminger. Eloquent speaker. Dated Karen LeGrand, a Caucasian girl with an unsavory reputation. Talented artist; struggled between pursuing a career in art or basketball. Father played semi-pro ball, and expected Morris to play in the NBA. This led Morris to tell him "I aint gonna be no NBA." Mother's name is Wanda. Thorpe was voted as one of America's 100 favorite characters in the history of television.[1] |
| James "Hollywood" Hayward | Thomas Carter | Guard-21 | Highest IQ of all the players, and one of the biggest attitudes. Father died young, so he took care of his mother, Roberta, and his little brother, Jackie. Almost murdered a drug dealer after his cousin ODed. Known for referring to his friends as "blood". Went to college and, after an impressive freshman year, was offered a summer job at a law firm. Almost did not take it because of pressure from his old peers, but the lawyer who interviewed him convinced him of his potential and to break away from his element. |
| Milton Reese | Nathan Cook | Guard/Forward-24 | Talented singer. Appeared on his way to a college scholarship, but had to deal with a girlfriend who tried to fake a pregnancy so he would not take the scholarship. His run-ins with Reeves' discipline led him to try to transfer to Oak Ridge, but he later relented. Graduated and tried to get a job as a nightclub singer, but was fired and started a brawl with the owner. Ended up doing community service and talked a girl out of committing suicide over the phone. Later became a cab driver while still pursuing his singing dream. |
| Curtis "C.J." Jackson | Erik Kilpatrick | Forward-34 | Overcame an alcohol problem with Reeves' help. Old girlfriend Delores, who he wanted to marry, turned out to be a prostitute. Was once offered money by a bookie to shave points at one of Carver's games. Was shot and killed while witnessing a liquor store holdup before the team was to play for the city championship. |
| Mario "Salami" Pettrino | Timothy Van Patten | Guard-3 | Tough-as-nails New Yorker with Italian roots. Aspires to be a professional boxer, initially against his father's wishes. Drives the "Motel California", a 1963 Oldsmobile Cutlass, which he constantly tinkers with. Once obtained amphetamines for a sprained knee and was baited by his teammates into handing them out before a game, which almost got Reeves fired. Was the object of attraction of a history teacher for Sadie Hawkins Day. His combative nature almost got the best of him when he broke the jaw of a player from a rival high school during an on-court fight and the player's parents had him arrested for battery shortly after his 18th birthday. |
| Ricardo "Go-Go" Gomez | Ira Angustain | Guard-15 | Team's resident Mexicano. Often in trouble with the law, occasionally with his old street gang, the Aztecs. Abusive father at home, whom he eventually gets his mother and younger sister away from. Graduated and became a car mechanic, but struggled to make ends meet with a pregnant wife. |
| Abner Goldstein | Ken Michelman | Forward/Center-31 | Team's "outcast", struggled to fit in with the predominately Afro-American team. Lives with Jewish grandparents; father and mother died in a car crash when he was 11. Follows the Jewish customs, but never a proclaimed Jew. Naive in his relations with the team, often letting his desire to be "cool" and fit in open him up to being hurt by their rejections. Confronted the team over his mistreatment. Graduated and was offered a full four-year scholarship, but knew he wasn't ready to be out on his own, so he joined the Marine Corps. After a year, finally found the courage to ask a girl out that he admired from a distance while at Carver. |
| Character | Actor/Actress | Role/Uniform No. | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phil Jeffers | Russell Philip Robinson | Team Manager | Depicted as responsible & introverted and did not speak at all until Ssn 2 ep 12 "Delores, Of Course". He is cajoled into throwing the Christmas party at his Mom's home in (Ssn 2 Ep 13) "A Christmas Present" as we find he's a straight A student. Eventually revealed that he had a very outgoing personality until he became addicted to drugs (specifically, PCP) at the age of 12. |
| Nick "New York" Vitaglia | John Mengatti | Guard-51 | Salami's troubled cousin from New York who came to live with the Pettrinos by agreement from his parents. Constantly complaining about the slower lifestyle of Los Angeles as compared to New York. Signs with Carver's baseball team, being an ace pitcher. Leaves the Pettrinos after a falling-out over a car-repossessing job of his and Salami's, but comes back. |
| Eddie Franklin | Art Holliday | Forward/Center-31 | Showed up at tryouts late during final cuts in worn out sneakers, jeans and a tattered sweatshirt. Challenged Coach Reeves to a one-on-one and convinced him to let him on the team. Reeves would comment later, "a little meat on him and a new pair of sneakers and he might give Coolidge trouble." Gave Coolidge a fellow tall "brother" to hang with. He, Coolidge and Thorpe were the targets of unfair and brutal treatment by police during a mistaken arrest for mugging a senior citizen. |
| Wardell Stone | Larry "Flash" Jenkins | Guard-34 | "Class clown" type who talks a good game, but rarely produces. Prone to mischief, he blows up a toilet in the locker room and tries to steal a Trans-Am Firebird. While he and his friend are joyriding in the stolen car, they are blocked by a stalled car with an unconscious lady inside. Stone pulls the lady from the car, but it explodes before he can move it. Stone is lauded a hero and milks the attention for all it is worth until his hat is found in the car he and his friend stole that night. |
| Paddy Falahey | John Laughlin | Forward-15 | Tough, Irish kid "who thinks he's Jimmy Cagney" according to Reeves. Became the team's "white heavy". Was confronted by a girl who he supposedly got pregnant. |
| Jesse Mitchell | Stoney Jackson | Guard-24 | When the team decided to call themselves "Shower of Power", he took the role of lead singer. |
| Teddy Rutherford | Wolfe Perry | Forward-21 | Talented, intelligent and articulate. One of three Carver players who actually dunked in games, Coolidge and Franklin were the others. Only storyline that involved him was his distraught feelings over unfair grades handed out by a teacher experiencing burnout, especially considering he enjoyed the class and earned his good grades in it. |
| Baker | ? | Forward/Center-22 | Almost as tall as Cool, we have seen him in a number of episodes during Ssn 1 & 2, in Ssn 2, Ep. 8 "Me ?" Coach Reeves finally mentions his name (standing just off-screen) as 1 of the 5 players who 'hustled' at the previous game & becomes 'skins' in the ensuing practice scrimmage; by Ssn 2 Ep 12 there is someone else wearing 22 |
| Kathy Plunkett | Fran Myers | Faculty member | Dating interest of Coach Reeves (the only one on the show that was developed with any depth). Relationship started when she asked Reeves to a Sadie Hawkins Day dance. Celebrated with him after Carver won the city championship and comforted him after Curtis Jackson's death. Wanted Reeves to go on a summer trip to Greece and threatened to ask another teacher to go if Reeves wouldn't. |
| Jenny | Mary Moon | Ms. Buchanan's secretary | Another dating interest of Reeves who appeared in more than one episode. Actually appeared for the first time in Season 1's "Wanna Bet?" Went out with Reeves on two other occasions where at least one team member ruined the date, (1) when Coolidge and the team trashed Reeves' apartment while Coolidge was staying with Reeves after his home burned down, and (2) Thorpe interrupted needing to talk after being diagnosed with venereal disease. |
| Ezra Davis | Roosevelt Grier | Wrestling coach | Wrestling coach and good friend of Coach Reeves who sometimes filled in for him during absences from the basketball team. Tried unsuccessfully to recruit Coolidge, Falahey, and Franklin for the wrestling team. Sympathetic to the need of a mobile health-care clinic because he himself suffers from high blood pressure. |
| № | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | "I'm Gonna to Fly" |
| 2 | "Coolidge Goes to College" |
15 episodes:
| № | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pilot" | 1978-Nov-27 |
| 2 | "Here's Mud in Your Eye" | 1978-Dec-04 |
| 3 | "The Offer" | 1978-Dec-11 |
| 4 | "Bonus Baby" | 1978-Dec-25 |
| 5 | "Pregnant Pause" | 1979-Jan-01 |
| 6 | "Wanna Bet?" | 1979-Jan-08 |
| 7 | "That Old Gang of Mine" | 1979-Jan-15 |
| 8 | "One of the Boys" | 1979-Jan-27 |
| 9 | "Airball" | 1979-Feb-03 |
| 10 | "We're in the Money" | 1979-Feb-10 |
| 11 | "Spare the Rod" | 1979-Feb-17 |
| 12 | "The Great White Dope" | 1979-Feb-24 |
| 13 | "Mainstream" | 1979-Mar-05 |
| 14 | "Little Orphan Abner" | 1979-Mar-26 |
| 15 | "LeGrand Finale" | 1979-Apr-09 |
24 episodes:
| № | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | "On the Line" | 1979-Sep-17 |
| 17 | "Albert Hodges" | 1979-Sep-24 |
| 18 | "The Cross-Town Hustle" | 1979-Oct-01 |
| 19 | "Sudden Death" | 1979-Oct-08 |
| 20 | "A Silent Cheer" | 1979-Oct-15 |
| 21 | "No Place Like Home" | 1979-Oct-29 |
| 22 | "Globetrotters" | 1979-Nov-05 |
| 23 | "Me?" | 1979-Nov-12 |
| 24 | "Needle" | 1979-Nov-26 |
| 25 | "Sliding By" | 1979-Dec-03 |
| 26 | "Delores, of Course" | 1979-Dec-18 |
| 27 | "A Christmas Present" | 1979-Dec-25 |
| 28 | "Feeling No Pain" | 1980-Jan-01 |
| 29 | "Artist" | 1980-Jan-08 |
| 30 | "Salami's Affair" | 1980-Jan-15 |
| 31 | "Links" | 1980-Jan-22 |
| 32 | "The Stripper" | 1980-Jan-29 |
| 33 | "Gonna Fly Now" | 1980-Feb-05 |
| 34 | "Out at Home" | 1980-Feb-19 |
| 35 | "The Russians Are Coming" | 1980-Feb-26 |
| 36 | "The Hitter" | 1980-Mar-04 |
| 37 | "The Death of Me Yet?" | 1980-Mar-11 |
| 38 | "Coolidge Goes Hollywood" | 1980-Mar-18 |
| 39 | "A Few Good Men" | 1980-Apr-04 |
15 episodes:
| № | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | "Reunion (Part 1)" | 1980-Oct-16 |
| 41 | "Reunion (Part 2)" | 1980-Oct-23 |
| 42 | "Georgia on My Mind" | 1980-Oct-30 |
| 43 | "If Your Number's Up, Get It Down" | 1980-Dec-16 |
| 44 | "Christmas Story" | 1980-Dec-23 |
| 45 | "No Blood, No Foul" | 1980-Dec-30 |
| 46 | "The Vanity Fare" | 1981-Jan-06 |
| 47 | "Mister Hero" | 1981-Jan-13 |
| 48 | "B.M.O.C." | 1981-Feb-02 |
| 49 | "Trial and Error" | 1981-Feb-09 |
| 50 | "Car Repo" | 1981-Feb-16 |
| 51 | "Psyched Out" | 1981-Feb-23 |
| 52 | "Cops" | 1981-Mar-02 |
| 53 | "Burnout" | 1981-Mar-09 |
| 54 | "A Day in the Life" | 1981-Mar-16 |
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1.[1][2]
When aired in 1980s in Turkey the series gained a lot of interest and the then unknown sport of basketball attracted millions of youth.[3] Larry Flash Jenkins went on to star in Steven Bochco's TV series Bay City Blues and Aaron Spelling's Finder of Lost Love. Later he became the first African American actor to star in a major TV series on ABC, CBS and NBC. Jenkins has since starred in several more TV series, like The Fugitive and Providence where Arnold Kopleson and John Masius wrote him in. Jenkins was discovered in a Broadway play by Ray Powers and personal manager Steve Block, who labeled Jenkins as the best actor he had ever seen. Jenkins currently writes, produces and directs gospel, comedy and horror films.
Saturday Night Live did a parody skit of the show titled The Black Shadow when NBA Hall of Famer Bill Russell hosted the show on November 3, 1979.
![[1]](http://www.nba.com/media/white_shadow_thorpe.jpg){kind=link}