White Shadow season one, episode 12 - The Great White Dope

***the author watched this episode a couple of weeks ago, but was not moved to blog about it. After moving on to the next episode, he found inspiration again and is now belatedly writing this.

Plot - This episode centers around Mario "Salami" Petrino. He is one of two "white" players on the team, and plays to the stereotypical archetype of an Italian-American kid. He is extremely stressed out in this episode, and it is because he ardently wants to become a boxer. He takes his lumps in the backrooms of bars for $15 a fight. About midway through the episode we learn that his father was once a little-known boxer from New York, and that they have communication problems.
Coach Reeves of course does his usual job of putting the pieces together, working through the issues with the other characters, and eventually bringing us to a satisfying conclusion. In this case Mario and father are reunited in the corner of the ring, and father is reminding son of all the boxing techniques they reviewed years ago.
Observations - At this point in season one it is painfully clear that Timothy Van Patten, son of Dick, is the least talented actor in the series. His lack of range, facial expressions, and vocal intonations make him the direct forebearer of Keanu Reeves. Coach Reeves is the only one that made this episode bearable, and he was even uncharacteristically morose about inserting himself into Salami's woes. We were due for a Salami-centered episode at one point, and this was it.
One mildly interesting aspect to this was the club-fighting scene that was around these times in Los Angeles. The club he fought at was on Western Avenue, a long, well-known street in the city.
Some special cameos - Former welterweight boxing champ Carlos Palomino had a small role with some dialogue. Coach Reeves listened to a faux radio interview between Chick Hearn and Artis Gilmore where Gilmoer 'disses' Kennie Reeves.

White Shadow season one, episode eleven - Spare the Rod

Plot - Coach Reeves is volunteered by the principal to be the substitute gym teacher. Lucious Robinson, a menacing ne'er do well is a student in the class who refuses to participate. Reeves cajoles him into standing up at which point he lashes out at Reeves. Reeves catches him and sends him off, and then receives a cheap shot punch in the face from Lucious. Reeves quickly retaliates with a sharp right to the mouth and we are on our way to a compelling episode about corporal punishment.
There are different camps around the school. The team is unhappy about it and question Reeves' intentions. Reeves is mad at himself and really broken up about the incident as he opposes getting physical. The adminstration supports Reeves and moves to expel Robinson. The faculty treat Reeves as a hero. Reeves was willing to "spare the rod" until Robinson makes a very unwanted advance on Ms. Buchanan and loses all hope.
Observations - A welcome return to a quality episode after the last two turkeys. The director did excellent with some different camera angles. The lack of music augmented the tension rather than detracting from it. Solid acting all around from the cast.
At one point Reeves visited the Robinson house expecting to see a rat-infested house with an abusive drunk father. The parents were humble and admittedly had struggled with raising Lucious. In the small but well-kept house there pictures of JFK and MLK on the wall. I've seen this before on TV and movies from that era. It used to be ordinary for people to put a picture of the president or other figure on the wall. Today it would appear odd to see a picture of a national figure such Dubya, Obama, or the Grizzly Mama and would seem to cause serious tension with half of the people that see it. Such is the divisive country we live in.

White Shadow season one, episode nine - We're in the Money

Plot - The Carver team is invited to play in an invitational tournament in Las Vegas.
Coach Reeves acts as the coach and chaperone. The players hatch an idea to win money gambling and are able to raise $420 from the student body. Eventually they sneak out of the hotel,find a minor-league casino, and eventually lose most of the money. Reeves does not explode as expected but seems resigned to this type of behavior. They lose both of the tournament games. Near the end, Goldstein finds a wallet with $6000. Reeves forces them to return it and the collect a finders fee.
Observations - This episode was poor but relatively better than Airball. For the second straight episode there was no basketball action. The casino scenes were fairly well-done and shows that Vegas hasn't really changed, just evolved. I can't explain why the producers felt these two episodes were necessary. Perhaps they felt that we'd had too many serious topics and needed a break.

White Shadow season one episode eight - Just One of the Boys

Plot - When this episode opens we see Coach Reeves wearing a bad-fitting floral apron and teaching a cooking class to a well-behaved Carver class. The apron was not coincidental, for the wrenching topic du jour for this installment was homosexuality. Carver recently received a transfer student/basketball player from Palisades High named Collins, played by Peter Horton. At first only the administration and Reeves were aware of Collins' alleged homosexuality, but later the team and the school found out as well. Reeves and Miss Buchanan worked through the delicate issue throughout the episode with the confident yet confused Collins. Ultimately, Reeves used the topic to teach his team a lesson in tolerance, and Buchanan took a star turn in her closing heartfelt conversation with Collins that convinced him to return to Palisades High.
Observations - I was impressed with this episode as it clearly was not a typical topic for a drama series in 1979. Reeves captured his generation's ambivalence and inarticulateness towards homosexuality early in the episode but ended up taking the high road and teaching us all a lesson.
The well-behaved class was refreshing to see. It seems all classroom tv shows since this time have had disruptive and disrespectful students trying to one-up each other.
Reeves paid a visit to Collins' parents. His father was the kind of old-school So Cal power player that was common on tv in this age. He dismissed his wife from the room and was disrespectful to Reeves. He also wanted nothing to do with what was going on with his son.
While this was not the most entertaining episode it was certainly well-acted, thanks to Peter Horton and Reeves and Buchanan upping their game.
Horton was 25 years old at the time of the episode so he fit in with the other members of the team.

White Shadow season one, episode seven - This Old Gang of Mine

Plot - Ricky "Gogo" Gomez has been kicked off the basketball team due to poor grades and then falls back into hanging out with his old gang called "The Aztecs" who speak a blend of Spanish and accented English. Enter Coach Reeves. Reeves is visibly upset by the decision and goes about uncovering clues and fighting for Gomez throughout the episode.
Gomez is seemingly one of the only Hispanics at the school. He struggles to read books such as Little Women and understand the nomenclature of biology class. Reeves fights on two fronts to restore Gomez to Carver and the team: one of getting him safely away from the Aztecs and the other to fight the Carver administration and faculty to cater more to Gomez. It works and at the end everyone is happy.
Observations - This is an interesting look at multi-culturalism and takes us away from simple black and white as the show is sometimes viewed. Gomez is proud of his Mexican heritage.
Reeves and an LA detective spend some time driving around LA at night looking for a "rumble" that Gomez was a part of. Some of the exteriors were reminiscent of "Grease" and others of The Terminator movies.
The Mexican actors were not very convincing. First, Gomez' mother made a terrible grammatical error when speaking to Reeves through an interpreter. Second, the Aztecs actors didn't look Mexican or menacing at all for that matter.
I'm willing to give this the benefit of the doubt as this is not the White Shadow's strength, and the producers and writers were willing to go out of their comfort zone to try to create a compelling episode.

White Shadow season 1 episode 4 - Bonus Baby

Plot - Warren Coolidge stars at the Inter-city tournament and becomes MVP despite Carver finishing second. This attracts the attention of unsavory sports agents that want him to forego college and declare for the NBA. Never mind that he is nowhere near that level of player. They just want a piece of his bonus. Coolidge aids them by become prideful and arrogant.
Coolidge is seduced by the fast talking agent and sexy lady who shows him around town. Luckily Reeves and a certain dishwasher were able to prevent Coolidge from making the wrong decision, and by the end he had shunned the agent and returned to his simple life.

Observations - This is another example of White Shadow being before its time. Nowadays this would be a blah story as we've seen so many real-life Coolidges either succeed in the NBA or fall way short.
The agent wore an suit, unbottoned shirt and gold chain.
Many references that Coolidge was the nest "Dr. J".

WS season one, episode 3 - The Offer

Plot - Coach Reeves is approached by a lovely local newslady named Sally Adams to be part of human interest story. The turning point of the episode is when she reviews raw footage of Reeves with her producer. He was enthralled and wanted to push Reeves into being a color commentator for NCAA or NBA games. Backing up a pit, Reeves was never really comfortable with the concept. He lost his cool and was ejected from a game with cameras rolling. Later he blew off a phone call from Gomez because he was on his way to a swanky party with the TV people.
That foreshadowed why Reeves ultimately rejected the offer. He lost the team after Gomez was sent to juvenile detention from shoplifting. Gomez was in jail when he called. Reeves' focus was on winning back the trust of the team, and less and less on the tv project. Finally, he parted ways with the lovely blonde and coached his team to a close loss at the end of the episode. All is well at Carver High.

Observations - I liked seeing how the TV producer dressed, which was eerily similar to Sean Penn in Carlito's Way. When did white guys stop unbuttoning their shirts and wearing gold chains? I guess when leisure suits and disco went out of style.
As in Pregnant Pause we are treated to a shower singing scene, only this time it takes an ugly turn. The wood board that was placed to cover private parts didn't work this time, as there was "something" showing with Goldstein. It wasn't clear but it was fleshy and unappealing. I hope that doesn't happen again.

WS season one, episode six - Wanna Bet?

Plot - Coach Reeves is on a picnic in the park with a pretty blonde but doesn't pay much attention to her. That's because he's watching Bobby Magnum, played by Michael Warren, hustling others in basketball for cash. Reeves takes an interest in him and then cajoles him into enrolling and playing for Carver. Bobby has a lot of baggage, mostly owing money to loansharks. The other Carver players don't immediately accept him.
Eventually Bobby's past catches up with him, and despite Reeves best intentions it just doesn't work out. The show ends with Bobby heading back to Oakland pledging to be a better person.
Observations - this is the least satisfying episode so far. First of all, Michael Warren, a former UCLA player and character on Hill Street Blues, was 34 when the episode aired, yet claimed to not be 18 yet in the show. Two parts of the plot were never tied up. First, what happened after Reeves dined with his date. Second, Bobby still owed some $880 when the show ended.
One thing I did like was how Bobby called Reeves and the pawn shop owner "old folks." I will try to use that term at some point if I can find the right situation.

WS season one, episode five - Pregnant Pause

Plot - Milton Reese is enjoying a fine season and even attacting the attention of college scouts. As the episode opens we see the closing of a game in which Reese improbably scores four points and gets an assist in literally seconds. Reggie Miller would have been jealous. He is quickly brought back to earth after the game when his girlfriend informs him she is pregnant.
The rest of the episode goes back and forth between the young lovers' predicament and Reeves doing some thinking and investigating. Reeves discovers, perhaps even before the audience does, that Darlene is not actually pregnant. She is the oldest of eight or nine siblings and doesn't want to lose Reese to a scholarship, and concocted the plan to trap him into marrying her.
Thanks to coach Reeves, with a minor assist from Miss Buchanan, the problem was averted.
Observations -
In the pilot Reeves drove a nice convertible Roadster; in this episode he drove a massive Woody.
The principal changed. It was no longer his benign buddy from the pilot but a more intense man who seems more likely to bend to Miss Buchanan but is still somehow Reeves' old friend, although they have little rapport or chemistry.
Teen pregnancy was not a typical topic on tv in 1978, so this was considered a bold episode at the time.