EVENING SHADE: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CLUTCH NEWTON? (TV)
Summary
One in this comedy series about Wood Newton, a former pro football star who returns to his rural hometown in Arkansas to coach the high school football team.
In this episode, Wood is somewhat embarrassed when a documentary television crew arrives in Evening Shade to profile him for "Out of the Record Book," wishing to explore his journey "from huge success to huge failure." The director, Steve, meets Harlan, Ponder and the other locals, who are only too glad to share stories about Wood; Harlan invites everyone over to watch the footage of the state championship game at which the teenage Wood earned his nickname, "Clutch," by making the game-winning touchdown. When the tape is shown, however, Steve watches closely and notices that Wood was actually out of bounds when he made the impressive catch, meaning that "the greatest moment of his life" did not truly happen.
The town is "devastated" by the discovery, though Freida opines that legendary local tales like his are often exaggerated. Evan surprises everyone by defending his son-in-law and highlighting his many legitimate accomplishments since high school – though reaffirming that Wood "ruined his life" by marrying Ava at age eighteen. Later, Merleen helps out with Will's tree costume for a school play, and Wood reluctantly admits that he will "never forget" his father-in-law kindly words. Taylor declares that he is relieved to learn that the touchdown didn't count, as his father's retroactive failure takes some of the pressure to become a world-class athlete off him. Ava praises Wood's loving parenting skills, after which they are interrupted by Molly, whose request for a cartwheel lesson does not go as planned. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: October 5, 1990 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:23:29
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:67169
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; Football; High school
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1990-1994
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Linda Bloodworth-Thomason … Executive Producer, Created by
- Harry Thomason … Executive Producer, Director
- Burt Reynolds … Co-Executive Producer
- Douglas Jackson … Producer
- Tommy Thompson … Producer
- David Nichols … Co-Producer, Writer
- Lamar Jackson … Associate Producer
- Snuff Garrett … Music by
- Sonny Curtis … Theme Music by
- Burt Reynolds … Cast, Wood Newton
- Charles Durning … Cast, Dr. Harlan Elldridge
- Jay R. Ferguson … Cast, Taylor Newton
- Marilu Henner … Cast, Ava Evans Newton
- Hal Holbrook … Cast, Evan Evans
- Michael Jeter … Cast, Herman Stiles
- Melissa Renee Martin … Cast, Molly Newton
- Jacob Parker … Cast, Will Newton
- Elizabeth Ashley … Cast, Frieda Evans
- Ossie Davis … Cast, Ponder Blue
- Charlie Dell … Cast, Nub Oliver
- Ann Wedgeworth … Cast, Merleen Elldridge
- Florence Schauffler … Cast, Pauline Newton
- Dan Gilvezan … Cast, Steve
- George Parker … Cast, Mike
- Michael O. Smith … Cast, Marion
- Dale Stern … Cast, Tony