The White Shadow (TV series)

The White Shadow
File:The White Shadow dvd.jpg DVD cover
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
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	54 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Bruce Paltrow
Producer(s)	Mark Tinker
Running time	48 minutes
Production company(s)	Company Four MTM Enterprises
Distributor	20th Television
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	November 27, 1978 – March 16, 1981
External links
[{{#property:P856}} Website]

The White Shadow is an American drama television series that ran on the CBS network from November 27, 1978 to March 16, 1981.

Overview

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 the head 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.

Main cast

• Ken Howard as Coach Ken Reeves
• Jason Bernard as Principal Jim Willis (pilot episode)
• Ed Bernard as Principal Jim Willis (seasons 1–2)
• Joan Pringle as Vice-Principal (later Principal) Sybil Buchanan
• Byron Stewart as Warren Coolidge
• Kevin Hooks as Morris Thorpe
• Timothy Van Patten as Mario "Salami" Pettrino
• Thomas Carter as James "Hollywood" Hayward (seasons 1–2, 3 episodes season 3)
• Nathan Cook as Milton Reese (seasons 1–2, 1 episode season 3)
• Erik Kilpatrick as Curtis "CJ" Jackson (seasons 1–2)
• Ira Angustain as Ricardo "Go-Go" Gomez (seasons 1–2, 1 episode season 3)
• Ken Michelman as Abner Goldstein (seasons 1–2, 1 episode season 3)
• Russell Philip Robinson as Team Manager Phil Jefferson (seasons 1–2)
• John Mengatti as Nick "New York" Vitaglia (seasons 2–3)
• Art Holliday as Eddie Franklin (season 3)
• Larry "Flash" Jenkins as Wardell Stone (season 3)
• John Laughlin as Paddy Falahey (season 3)
• Stoney Jackson as Jesse B. Mitchell (season 3)
• Wolfe Perry as Teddy Rutherford (season 3)

DVD/syndication

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1.

The program has intermittently been seen in syndication and on cable since ending it's network run (including airing on ESPN Classic), and as of 2016, the show airs on the Heroes & Icons classic TV network on Saturday afternoons.

Cultural effects

When aired in the 1980s in Turkey the series gained a lot of interest and the then unknown sport of basketball attracted millions of youth.

Saturday Night Live did a parody skit of the show titled The Black Shadow when NBA star Bill Russell hosted the show on November 3, 1979.

In the 1998 film The Cable Guy, antagonist Chip Douglas (Jim Carrey) references the show during his basketball game, remarking, "Let's see what you got, White Shadow" to Rick (Jack Black) the friend of the movies hero Steven M. Kovacs (Matthew Broderick).

See also

• List of The White Shadow episodes

External links

• The White Shadow at IMDb
• The White Shadow at TV.com
• The White Shadow at epguides.com
• Thamel, Pete. "In the Bird and Magic Era, Inspired by Coolidge and Salami," The New York Times, Friday, September 10, 2010.