MovieChat Forums > The White Shadow (1978) Discussion > Why this show was cancelled...

Why this show was cancelled...

posted 19 years ago by lepermessiah-1
13 replies | jump to latest

To be honest, I am only starting this thread because of the way the review for this show explained the cancelling of the show.

Yeah, it was cool for the time, but it doesn't work nowadays. A bunch of inner city, delinquent, minority teens are all in some form of trouble, into a white guy comes in and reaches his hand down from the spires of his republican castle, and raises them all up to be responsible people. The scary thing is, people don't seem to grasp how freaking racist that is by today's standards! Seriously, this show was part of another era. It's the same thing with the Honeymooners and the movie they made based on it. You can't have the Honeymooners without "To the moon, Alice, to the Moon!", and you can't say that on tv these days. A lot of things are relaxed, but a lot of other areas have become more sensitive than ever before. I'm sorry, this was a great show for the 1970s, but if it had run as long as Married... with Children, heck, forget cancelling the show... someone would get sued.

[–] dumbassgreg 19 years ago

it was sadly cancelled for one reason & one reason only low ratings

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] uno1072 17 years ago

there is a problem with shows that have a team like this. eventually the players have to graduate. in high school you have 4 years tops with a player. this means you have to keep creating new characters who are different from previous characters. the fans will like the original characters better and lose interest in the show. i believe "friday night lights" will suffer a similar fate.

[–] sweet1310452 17 years ago

The show should have had a complete 3rd season- there were only 15 shows that year instead of 22. Aside from that it is probably just as well that the show didn't run longer. As was mentioned, after the third season Coolidge, Thorpe and Salami would have had to have been written out and of the year 3 newcomers only Larry Flash Jenkins and to a much lesser extent Wolfe Perry really stood out as having any real personality (notice that in the year 3 shows they kept doing episodes written around the older players more so than the new ones). Besides this show seems to have done better in the long run and has gotten more long term love than its higher rated emmy winning sister series Lou Grant. So there!
What is really pathetic is that this is just about the best series about black teens that has ever been on TV. You'd think in 27 years there'd be something better, like a series with a black authority figure/teacher working with black youth, but with FCC deregulation (in 1996)networks have been very timid about putting on shows with "black" leads interacting with predominantly "black" supporting casts.
I've never seen it but the reverse of the White Shadow was a 1991 CBS sitcom called Teech with character actor Phill Lewis as a music teacher at a posh prep school where all the students were white.

[–] patriotssbchmp02 17 years ago

I don't think that this show was racist at all. Yes I'm white, but this show portrayed blacks in a positive yet realistic manner. Not all the players were black, so it's not like Coach Reeves was this authority figure for blacks only. They could've had a show with a former NBA player, who was black, going to coach at an all white school and he coaches them with problems on and off the court. That show could be a hit with the right characters.

[–] mobocracy 17 years ago

into a white guy comes in and reaches his hand down from the spires of his republican castle, and raises them all up to be responsible people.

Let's take your absurd logic to its even more absurd conclusion: Eliminate affirmative action, welfare and the housing projects, since all of these things represent the "racist" white man reaching down from his ivory tower to teach non-whites to be responsible.

[–] SnoozeAlarm 12 years ago

>>> Let's take your absurd logic to its even more absurd conclusion: Eliminate affirmative action, welfare and the housing projects, since all of these things represent the "racist" white man reaching down from his ivory tower to teach non-whites to be responsible

I don't get your point. People who live in republican castles in fact often do want to eliminate the very programs you cite, so why do you call that the absurd conclusion?

I cried because I had no shoes üntil I met a man with no sole. ~ Ancient Disco Proverb

[–] jstang411 12 years ago

People who live in republican castles

So in one thread we get both racism and the politics angle. OY VEY....feel free to add in the Goldstein angle.

[–] SnoozeAlarm 12 years ago

Not sure why you're directing your remark to me. I was simply quoting the OP back to him/her.

I cried because I had no shoes üntil I met a man with no sole. ~ Ancient Disco Proverb

[–] jstang411 12 years ago

It was a comment on the stream of conversation, simply adding in.

[–] snoops 11 years ago

Reeves got the job b/c Jim Willis was his friend, and he couldn't play basketball anymore. He just happened to be white.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Reeves was as far left as they come. And they were not all responsible. Did you even watch the show? It was a constant struggle to keep them in line. Shove this thread up your ass, pal.