The White Shadow – One Cool Shot

For a boy just starting to play junior-high basketball in rural Ohio, it was the coolest thing going.

“It” was “The White Shadow,” which debuted in November of 1978. The show’s premise was simple: A former NBA player whose playing career had ended due to knee problems takes a job coaching high-school kids at an inner-city school in Los Angeles. The mostly black team dubs the Caucasian coach the “White Shadow.”

For those viewers who might not have been exposed to inner-city issues, the show was eye-opening. Ken Howard, who played coach Ken Reeves, said in an interview that both he and Bruce Paltrow (the show’s executive producer and, yes, the father of Gwyneth) wanted to make sure as much edgy street stuff got in as often as possible, even if it did make network execs nervous.

The show highlighted numerous issues that affect high-school kids. In the first season, the topics included gambling, homosexuality, alcoholism, interracial dating, teen pregnancy and dealing with an autistic person. As Howard pointed out, “The issues haven’t changed for young people.”

The topics were strong, but that wouldn’t have mattered if the actors and the basketball were weak. Howard, who said that the basketball scenes were the show’s version of “car chases,” and Paltrow made sure that the basketball being played on the show looked realistic.

Equally important was the fact that the actors who played the team members were skilled in their portrayals. They inspired viewers to tune in weekly to follow the characters’ exploits as they tried to survive in a difficult environment — not to mention adjust to their new coach.

In fact, three of the actors — Thomas Carter (“Hayward”), Kevin Hooks (“Thorpe”) and Timothy Van Patten (“Salami”) all went on to forge solid directing careers.

It was a shame that “The White Shadow” lasted only three seasons on CBS. But it got a second go-round in syndication, and the first season has been released on DVD.

Does it hold up? Today’s young critics might have a tough time getting past the short basketball shorts, and some observers might find certain situations in the show to be a bit contrived at times.

But the truth is that it does hold up. Fans who can barely recall their distant junior-high days will still remember why it was they liked the show the first time. It might not be the coolest thing going anymore, but it’s good television, and that seems a bit harder to find these days.