DVD REVIEW: THE WHITE SHADOW SEASON 2 (1979-80)

Stars Ken Howard (Coach Reeves), Ed Bernard (Jim), Joan Pringle (Sybil Buchanan), Byron Stewart (Coolidge), Timothy Van Patten (Salami), Kevin Hooks (Thorpe), Thomas Carter (Hayward), Eric Kilpatrick (Curtis Jackson) and Nathan Cook (Reese). Originally aired on CBS. Each episode 48:50 in length.

I feel the series peaked during this second season. After it, many key cast members graduated from high school in a realistic, gutsy, but dramatically depleting move. By Season 3, Gomez, Hayward, Goldstein, Jackson, and Reese were all gone and replaced by new cast members that didn't have the same appeal. Also missing in S3: Ed Bernard, as Joan Pringle's Sybil Buchanan was promoted to principal. They were all sorely missed, and the series was cancelled after that third and final season.

But in Season Two, THE WHITE SHADOW really hit its stride. For starters, the show's prescience is astounding. You had episodes on athletes gambling on their own games ("On the Line"; a full decade before the Pete Rose controversy), female teachers having sex with their students ("Salami's Affair"; just compare this 25 year old episode to today's headlines!), segregated country clubs ("Links"; this would become a big controversy in the early 1990's), venereal disease ("Me?"), black athletes encouraged to change positions in football and basketball from QB and point guard ("Crosstown Hustle"; sadly, still relevant today), and child abuse ("The Hitter") for starters.

A quick review, episode by episode. Key episodes in bold:

"On the Line": Curtis Jackson (poor guy, a dark cloud follows him around all season) gets involved with a bookie, with predictable results, at the same time that an aspiring journalist follows the team around. A point is also made about journalistic responsibility, and done far, far better than in the awful Happy Days episode in which we learn the Fonz is afraid of liver. *** 1/2

"Albert Hodges" After wrongful imprisonment, the bitter Mr. Hodges comes back to finish high school with a new awareness of racism, and a major chip on his shoulder, threatening to divide the team. A great, open ended final scene. *** 1/2

"Crosstown Hustle" Unscrupulous coach at an almost all-white school hoodwinks Reese into transferring. As noted above, relevant points, made in subtle fashion, about racism towards black athletes playing positions like QB in football or point guard in basketball. ****

"Sudden Death" Haywood Nelson of What's Happening! guest stars as a new player with an undetected heart defect, with tragic results. Great performances by Ken Howard and by Madge Sinclair as the boy's mother. Some very uncomfortable moments. ***1/2

"A Silent Cheer" Coach Reeves and the father one of his players both have to face the fact that dreams die hard, and it is time to move on. ****

"No Place Like Home" Coolidge moves in with the coach after his apartment building burns down. ** 1/2

"Globetrotters" I was never a fan of the "special guest star" episodes, which were fortunately very scarce during seasons 1 and 2. Coach Reeves enlists the help of his good friends, the Harlem Globetrotters. to cure his team's collective big head. **1/2 This episode has a commentary with Byron Stewart (Coolidge), Kevin Hooks (Thorpe), Erik Kilpatrick (Jackson) and Ira Augustain (Gomez).

"Me?" A triangle involving Coolidge, Thorpe and Coolidge's new girlfriend, and the consequences of one casual encounter. Many memorable scenes, especially the wordless finale in the locker room between Coolidge and Thorpe. ****

"Needle" Hayward deals with his grief after the overdose death of his young cousin. Despite the 'Hayward as Paul Kersey' plot echo, this one is emotionally draining from beginning to end. **** Commentary by Victor Lobl, director

"Sliding By" An episode dealing with the perils of grades being handed out for athletic prowess. In this case a very gifted transfer student with an impeccable transcript turns out to be less gifted than we thought. Still very relevant. ****

"Delores, of Course" Gorgeous Debbi Morgan guest stars. Poor Curtis Jackson. A bout with alcoholism, a gambling problem, and now the love of his life returns to Carver from San Francisco....with a very dark secret. Heartbreaking, memorable final shot. **** My favorite episode of the series, very well acted by Kilpatrick, Morgan and Pringle.

"A Christmas Present" The obligatory Christmas episode. Oh well, it's pretty good as these things go. We learn here that Sybil (Joan Pringle) has a husband. I had always suspected she and Coach Reeves secretly had the hots for each other, myself. :) *** GUEST STAR: Sybil's husband is played by Joan Pringle's real life husband, the late Theodore "Teddy" Wilson. You'll recognize him as Sweet Daddy from "Good Times".

"Feeling no Pain" The team has a brush with drugs after Salami hurts his knee. Another episode way ahead of its time. ***1/2

"Artist" Thorpe discovers a talent for art. His father is unenthused. **1/2

"Salami's Affair" Still very relevant as noted above; Salami gets very, very special attention from a 'progressive' teacher. Some very realistic and uncomfortable moments and one of the series' finest hours. ****

"Links" The coach takes the team to a country club, which turns out to be unofficially segregated. A major issue a decade later, and also many hilarious moments as Salami and Coach double date (real appropriate, huh?) and Coolidge and Thorpe try to golf ("hit it with a closed face").
**** A relevant and serious topic is explored and yet, thanks to the scenes described above, this is the funniest episode of the series.

"The Stripper" Special Guest Star alert! Actually, a good one, sports movie icon Randee Heller (she was Gabe Kaplan's wife in the underrated "Fast Break" and The Karate Kid's mom) plays another progressive teacher; no, she doesn't have the hots for a student, just Coach Reeves. But he doesn't know about her other job...... *** 1/2.

"Gonna Fly Now" The sale of angel dust around Carver High. A distant third to "Feeling No Pain" and "Needle" along these lines. **1/2

"Out at Home" Coach Reeves is promoted to athletic director, over the unpopular baseball coach. Very interesting episode in which most of the regulars take a back seat; more than anything a character study of the bitter old Carver baseball coach (well played by guest star James McEachin). ***1/2

"The Russians Are Coming" Dated and contrived Cold War episode. The usual cliches aren't avoided. *1/2

"The Hitter" Gomez deals with abuse at the hands of his father. ***1/2

"The Death of Me Yet" Once again, poor Curtis Jackson. Wrong place, wrong time yet again, this time fatal. As in "Sudden Death", a very powerful episode about the aftermath of the tragic, senseless death of a teenager. Perhaps the best scene of the entire series takes place when Coach Reeves meets Jackson's younger brother. ****

"Coolidge Goes Hollywood" Embarrassing. Sole value is camp value, as Coolidge improbably becomes a TV star. It does have valid points to make about racism in media 20 years before Spike Lee's "Bamboozled", but the setup is so unrealistic, so farfetched, and clumsily set up, that it is impossible to be very involved with anything happening here. Worst episode of the first two seasons. * Special Guest Stars: Ed Asner as himself(!) and George Wyner.

"A Few Good Men" Graduation approaches, Goldstein considers the Marines, and.....Reese considers a recording career? Anticlimactic, which might be the point, but a great, great season limped to a close with two very subpar episodes. *1/2

EXTRAS:
Director Lobl is very informative in discussing "Needle". There's also a
producer's commentary on "Death of Me Yet", a feature on the budding directing careers of Thomas Carter (Hayward) and Kevin Hooks (Thorpe), started on this show, and an 18 minute retrospective on Bruce Paltrow. A very nice set of extras, on par with the extras from season 1.

Myself, I would have liked some input from unsung heroine Joan Pringle. Season 3, perhaps? With the onscreen chemistry between the two actors, a Howard/Pringle commentary would be interesting.

OVERALL:
A very strong, solid season, despite ending with two false notes. Better than Season One, and the series is at a definite peak with "Needle", "Links" and "The Death of Me Yet" in particular. There's much more going on here than basketball, and though it is impossible for something 25 years old not to be dated, you'll be amazed how relevant many of the issues still are. And on DVD, the series never looked better. I think I can overlook 3 weak episodes out of 22 and give this ****.

I'm currently watching these shows now, courtesy of Netflix. There's absolutely nothing like THE WHITE SHADOW currently on television, and that's a damn shame. For all the talk about how "intelligent" today's shows allegedly are, I think we've actually gone backwards to the 1960's when everything was escapist fare. Not that there isn't room for that on television, but is there a single network prime-time drama that has something to say? Beyond solving murders or hiding in hatches or sleeping with nurses or talking to ghosts. THE WHITE SHADOW tackled serious issues and did so with earnestness, intelligence and a sense of humor that didn't overwhelm the drama.

True, it often neatly wrapped up its conflicts in an hour flat, but at least the dialogue and emotions were there. I also appreciate the occasional use of long tracking shots that allowed the performers to share dialogue and express themselves without the distraction of spinning cameras or unnecessary cutting. Not the rat-tat-tat walk-and-talks of THE WEST WING, but slow tracking shots with the director using background and foreground motion to put natural movement into the scene.

I followed Ken Howard for a long time after WHITE SHADOW went off the air, but I don't know that he has ever found another role that was better suited to him. He was great in a small bit on THE OFFICE this season as the hilariously (and appropriately) monikered Ed Truck.