WHITE SHADOW, THE: GLOBETROTTERS (TV)
Summary
One in this series of dramas about Ken Reeves, a former professional basketball player who begins a new life as the basketball coach of Carver High, an inner-city high school in Los Angeles. Reeves wants the team to help him with a charity car wash over the weekend, but they already have plans and their recent winning streak imbues them with an extreme sense of egotism. They all take Salami's car to the car wash and while goofing around they make fun of the staff at the car wash, belittling their jobs. Unbeknownst to them, the car wash staff is actually the Harlem Globetrotters, who are practicing to help Reeves and other basketball players at the charity car wash. The Globetrotters discuss their encounter with the Carver team with Reeves. Without their uniforms, nobody seems to recognize the Globetrotters. The Carver team engages in their various weekend activities, making trouble wherever they go. They learn that the Globetrotters are in town and contemplate asking Reeves to get them tickets to see them. When Thorpe speaks rudely to Sybil, she puts him on report and orders Reeves to get his players to curb their arrogant behavior. Reeves attempts to talk to his players about the issue, but they will not listen. They are scheduled to face a school whose team is dead last; Reeve's comments that they were once in last place as well fall on deaf ears. When the team asks about the Globetrotter tickets, Reeves reveals he was going to get them tickets as a surprise, but changed his mind when they backed out of helping him at the car wash. During the game, the Carver team gets a huge lead and with less than two minutes remaining Carver asks them not to run the score up. However, they ignore his advice and humiliate the other team by showboating around the court. After the game the opposing coach approaches Reeves about his team's "disgusting display of bad sportsmanship." To remedy this situation once and for all, Reeves calls up the Harlem Globetrotters and asks them to play a game against his team for charity, posing as the car wash staff. Reeves gets his team to participate by saying they will be playing against "a team of old men off the street." The game begins and the Carver team's mocking attitude is soon squelched by the Globetrotters, who dominate the game and eventually force them to flee to the locker room. Reeves comes in to show them how the experience is a lesson in humility and they appear to have gotten the message. The episode ends as they return from the locker room to find the Globetrotters in uniform, thus informing them as to the true identity of their opponents. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: November 5, 1979 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:49:04
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:16819
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; African-American Collection - Drama
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1978-1981
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Bruce Paltrow … Executive Producer, Director, Created by
- Mark Tinker … Producer
- Scott Brazil … Associate Producer
- John Masius … Writer
- Mike Post … Music by
- Pete Carpenter (See also: Peter Carpenter) … Music by
- Ken Howard … Cast, Ken Reeves
- Joan Pringle … Cast, Sybil Buchanan
- Ed Bernard … Cast, Jim Willis
- Thomas Carter … Cast, James Hayward
- Kevin Hooks … Cast, Morris Thorpe
- Nathan Cook … Cast, Milton Reese
- Eric Kilpatrick … Cast, Curtis Jackson
- Byron Coolidge … Cast, Warren Coolidge
- Ken Michelman … Cast, Abner Goldstein
- Timothy Van Patten … Cast, Mario "Salami" Pettrino
- Ira Angustain … Cast, Ricky Gomez
- John Mengatti … Cast, Nick Vitaglia
- Russell Phillip Robinson … Cast, Team Manager
- Hubert "Geese" Ausbie … Cast, Himself
- Fred "Curly" Neal … Cast, Himself
- Nate Branch … Cast, Himself
- Robert "Baby Face" Paige … Cast, Himself
- James "Twiggy" Sanders … Cast, Himself
- Louis "Sweet Lou" Dunbar … Cast, Himself
- Jimmy Blacklock … Cast, Himself
- Stanley Brock … Cast, Salesman
- Bob Delegall … Cast, Pimlico Coach
- Joseph Burns … Cast, Rocky
- Mark James … Cast, Kid
- James E. dePriest … Cast, Newsman
- Renee Jones … Cast, Girl