1978 saw the debut of a classic program from MTM Productions,
The White Shadow. It was the story of Ken Reeves, a pro basketball player on the Chicago Bulls (played by Ken Howard, who went on to be in
Dynasty and
The Colbys, and more recently in
Crossing Jordan) who was injured and had to leave the NBA. An old friend of his, Jim Willis (played by
V's Jason Bernard in the pilot, but replaced in the weekly episodes by Ed Bernard...no relation; Ed was fresh off of
Police Woman when he took over the role) offers Ken the opportunity to coach basketball at the inner city high school Jim is principal of. Ken accepts, and despite his tangles with vice principal Sybil Buchanan (Joan Pringle of
General Hospital) manages to be a profound help to his student players, both on and off the basketball court.
27 years later, it looks like Fox Home Entertainment is bringing
The White Shadow - The Complete 1st Season to DVD sometime this Fall. While a formal announcement hasn't been made yet, we've received the handsome box art you see below. The first season of the 3-year run consisted of 15 hour-long episodes, including the pilot episode which was written by the show's Executive Producer, Bruce Paltrow (Gwyneth's dad, and also a producer/writer for
St. Elsewhere) and directed by Jackie Cooper (who started in show business as part of
Our Gang and retired not only as a great TV director but a film star best known as "Perry White" in the Christopher Reeve
Superman flicks). Jackie Cooper won an Emmy Award for directing the pilot episode. Here's that box art, and stay tuned for a street date and further details about this upcoming release:
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