On this National Student Athlete Day, our nation's student athletes are sidelined. However, we can still enjoy the timeless exploits of the fellas at Carver High:
Showing posts with label White Shadow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label White Shadow. Show all posts
Monday, April 6, 2020
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Celebrating Teacher Appreciation Day!
One of our favorite teachers on the small screen is Coach Reeves, pro basketball great who takes his talents to Carver High and shares his hoops wisdom--and his life wisdom--with an ethnically diverse group of player-students.
Just look at Coach dropping some knowledge on the team:
And you can tell by the rapt attention they are giving him just how effective a teacher he is:
We talked about The White Shadow in our first season! Click here to get the MP3 of that episode or here to get it on YouTube.
Just look at Coach dropping some knowledge on the team:
And you can tell by the rapt attention they are giving him just how effective a teacher he is:
We talked about The White Shadow in our first season! Click here to get the MP3 of that episode or here to get it on YouTube.
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Further viewing: "The Black Shadow" on Saturday Night Live
In our most recent episode, we mentioned the Saturday Night Live sketch "The Black Shadow," a bit sending up the "social relevance" angle of The White Shadow. The entire episode (Season 5, episode 3) is available on Hulu and is recommended as another reaction to the series.
SNL could be pretty clever about sending up race relations in those days, but it could also be pretty clumsy. This segment is in the series weird fifth season, in which some of the original cast remained, but Belushi and Aykroyd were mostly absent, Bill Murray became the foundation of the program, and featured players like Paul Shaffer and writers Al Franken and Tom Davis were constantly featured out of necessity. So with the show's depth lacking, poor Garrett Morris must have wondered why the hell it took bringing on a black guest host--not even an actor, mind you, but an NBA player--to do these kinds of sketches while he languished in drag roles or in unimportant exposition-type parts.
Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell had made various guest appearances on TV in the 1970s, but nothing like hosting SNL. It's an odd fit considering the contentious relationship he had with the media. At this time, in 1979, he was out of the game, having coached Seattle for several years after leaving the Celtics franchise.
"The Black Shadow" begins with Russell as a basketball coach addressing his all-white team after a big loss, defending his decision to play only 3 guys on the court at once. The guys accuse him of betting against them to get money for his drug habit, and he accuses THEM of saying that because he's black!
A voice-over introduces us to The Black Shadow: "Black coach, white team. He gets in trouble; they bail him out." Meanwhile, Russell sends his players to the showers, then goes through their lockers and takes stuff!
The offenses Russell's Coach Lewis has committed pile up: distributing pornography, assaulting a student, arson (!). We see a 15-year-old student (Laraine Newman) break up with him because he's too old, and he asks, "Is this because I'm black?" Another student (Gilda Radner), visibly pregnant with "Curtis Jr.," accosts him for support, and he brushes her off by saying he's too old for her.
When the team confronts him in the hallway after another missed practice, Coach Lewis says he had to take care of his sick mother, then walks off after telling them to leave him alone but not before offering pot, LSD, and hash to them. So the players decide to visit Mrs. Lewis to verify the story, and I'll give you one guess who plays her.
The segment pokes fun not only at The White Shadow, but at other TV shows that were set in schools and attempted to discuss "issues." A crawl at the end of the sketch notes the producers acknowledge their debt to the following programs: Mr. Novak, Lucas Tanner, Room 222, The Paper Chase, Welcome Back Kotter.
I think one of those shows is not like the other, and I also think that "The Black Shadow" uses the basketball framework of The White Shadow and utilizes Russell to hilarious effect, but it seems to be poking more fun at the other programs. The scene in the principal's office, with the well-meaning whites twisting themselves around trying to figure out how to save Coach Lewis, is a little more overwrought than the kind of well-meaning liberalism on the real White Shadow. Bill Murray's super-earnest teenager is funny but not really indicative of Coach Howard or his players.
I think this sketch is great, though, with a predictable but still funny punchline. Russell's awkwardness as a performer doesn't hurt any, even when he can't keep from chuckling at one of Radner's lines. Stick around for other sketches that are far more offensive to certain minority groups, as well as for the two performances by musical guest Chicago. Peter Cetera's growling vocals on "I'm a Man" are overshadowed by his sweet hairdo, and the big takeaway for me is how much it sucks that NBC/Universal only cleared music for the first 5 seasons, leaving us with butchered versions of every episode afterwards.
SNL could be pretty clever about sending up race relations in those days, but it could also be pretty clumsy. This segment is in the series weird fifth season, in which some of the original cast remained, but Belushi and Aykroyd were mostly absent, Bill Murray became the foundation of the program, and featured players like Paul Shaffer and writers Al Franken and Tom Davis were constantly featured out of necessity. So with the show's depth lacking, poor Garrett Morris must have wondered why the hell it took bringing on a black guest host--not even an actor, mind you, but an NBA player--to do these kinds of sketches while he languished in drag roles or in unimportant exposition-type parts.
Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell had made various guest appearances on TV in the 1970s, but nothing like hosting SNL. It's an odd fit considering the contentious relationship he had with the media. At this time, in 1979, he was out of the game, having coached Seattle for several years after leaving the Celtics franchise.
"The Black Shadow" begins with Russell as a basketball coach addressing his all-white team after a big loss, defending his decision to play only 3 guys on the court at once. The guys accuse him of betting against them to get money for his drug habit, and he accuses THEM of saying that because he's black!
A voice-over introduces us to The Black Shadow: "Black coach, white team. He gets in trouble; they bail him out." Meanwhile, Russell sends his players to the showers, then goes through their lockers and takes stuff!
The offenses Russell's Coach Lewis has committed pile up: distributing pornography, assaulting a student, arson (!). We see a 15-year-old student (Laraine Newman) break up with him because he's too old, and he asks, "Is this because I'm black?" Another student (Gilda Radner), visibly pregnant with "Curtis Jr.," accosts him for support, and he brushes her off by saying he's too old for her.
When the team confronts him in the hallway after another missed practice, Coach Lewis says he had to take care of his sick mother, then walks off after telling them to leave him alone but not before offering pot, LSD, and hash to them. So the players decide to visit Mrs. Lewis to verify the story, and I'll give you one guess who plays her.
The segment pokes fun not only at The White Shadow, but at other TV shows that were set in schools and attempted to discuss "issues." A crawl at the end of the sketch notes the producers acknowledge their debt to the following programs: Mr. Novak, Lucas Tanner, Room 222, The Paper Chase, Welcome Back Kotter.
I think one of those shows is not like the other, and I also think that "The Black Shadow" uses the basketball framework of The White Shadow and utilizes Russell to hilarious effect, but it seems to be poking more fun at the other programs. The scene in the principal's office, with the well-meaning whites twisting themselves around trying to figure out how to save Coach Lewis, is a little more overwrought than the kind of well-meaning liberalism on the real White Shadow. Bill Murray's super-earnest teenager is funny but not really indicative of Coach Howard or his players.
I think this sketch is great, though, with a predictable but still funny punchline. Russell's awkwardness as a performer doesn't hurt any, even when he can't keep from chuckling at one of Radner's lines. Stick around for other sketches that are far more offensive to certain minority groups, as well as for the two performances by musical guest Chicago. Peter Cetera's growling vocals on "I'm a Man" are overshadowed by his sweet hairdo, and the big takeaway for me is how much it sucks that NBC/Universal only cleared music for the first 5 seasons, leaving us with butchered versions of every episode afterwards.
Friday, September 30, 2016
Show Notes: Episode 2: The White Shadow, "The Death of Me Yet?"
*This episode premiered Monday, March 11, 1980, at 8:00 P.M. on CBS.
*Other episodes we mention in our
conversation include: “One of the Boys” (Peter Horton is a new
teammate who is homosexual), “ME?” (Thorpe gets VD), “Gonna
Fly Now” (Phil Jefferson, the equipment manager, gets slipped PCP),
“Here's Mud in Your Eye” (Jackson is outed as an alcoholic), and
"Salami's Affair" (Self-explanatory).
*Lou Grant, an hourlong drama set
in the newspaper industry and featuring social issues of the day,
aired on CBS from 1977 to 1982, winning Emmys for Outstanding Drama
Series in 1979 and 1980.
*Guest star James Cromwell, who was in
tons of 70s TV and in numerous movies before his breakthrough
role as the farmer in Babe, was also in a first season episode,
playing a different character. He was billed as “Jamie” Cromwell
in 1984's Revenge of the Nerds.
*Beany Williams, who plays Willie
Jackson, has only one other credit on IMDB, and not even as Willie,
but as “student” in a later White Shadow episode. His
post-acting life and current whereabouts remain a mystery.
*The NBA's Clippers were in San Diego
during this time. They moved into Los Angeles and the Sports Arena in
1984. USC did play home games here, though, until 2006, and for a
while it housed the Lakers and UCLA. Now the Clips and Lakers share
the Staples Center, and the Arena didn't have a real sports franchise
home after USC left. Sadly it was demolished in June.
*Bob Cousy and Bill Russell, both
Boston Celtics icons, were two of the best players in NBA history.
The Bill Russell-hosted SNL episode Rick mentions is from
season 5 and is available for streaming on Hulu Plus and Seeso.
*Frank Bonham wrote several of the
“urban” youth novels Rick enjoyed as a kid, books such as
Durango Street and Viva Chicano.
*In their discussion of failed sports
TV shows, we forgot one of the most critically acclaimed examples,
Friday Night Lights.
*Ken Howard's untimely death came after
we recorded this episode.
*”What We'd Like to See” begins at
38:23.
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Episode 2: The White Shadow "The Death of me Yet?"
This week, we discuss Episode 22 of Season 2 of The White Shadow "The Death of me Yet?" The Carver High basketball team tries to win the city championships while grieving the loss of one of their own and worrying whether Coach Reeves will leave Carver for a job at a fancy college. Also, What We'd Like to See!
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
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