WHITE SHADOW, THE: THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING (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. In this episode, a Russian high school basketball team arrives to play against Carver High. Reeves is not happy about playing the Russian team because his players are unfamiliar with the international rules of basketball, which will apply during the first half of the game. And since the Carver players are the Russians' hosts, they must be on their best behavior. When the two teams finally meet, Carver's team has no idea how to keep the Russians entertained, and Hayward cannot understand why one of the Russian players, Ilya, is so friendly toward him. During the game, Carver High is down by a large margin because of the international rues. While the second half looks promising since they get to play by their own rules, they lose by two points. After the game, Ilya exchanges addresses with Hayward so they can keep in touch. That night, Hayward is shocked when Ilya shows up at his house and asks for a place to hide so he can defect. Uncertain of what to do, Hayward brings Ilya to Reeves's apartment, but the coach leaves Ilya alone the next day and returns to find he is gone. While wandering through the streets of Los Angeles, Ilya calls Hayward, who agrees to hide him and realizes why the Russian boy is so eager to stay in the United States. Ilya suddenly says he wants to return to Russia, claiming he made the decision of his own free will, but Hayward knows he is not speaking the truth. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: February 26, 1980 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:49:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:16811
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; African-American Collection - Drama
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1978-1981
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Bruce Paltrow … Executive Producer, Created by
- Mark Tinker … Producer
- Scott Brazil … Associate Producer
- Victor Lobl … Director
- Joshua Brand … Writer
- David Assael … Writer
- Robert DiPietro … Writer
- Mike Post … Music by
- Pete 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, Reese
- Eric Kilpatrick … Cast, Jackson
- Byron Stewart … Cast, Warren Coolidge
- Ken Michelman … Cast, Abner Goldstein
- Van Patten, Timothy … Cast, Mario "Salami" Pettrino
- Ira Angustain … Cast, Ricardo Gomez
- Jerry Fogel … Cast, Bill Donahue
- Robin Rose … Cast, Katie Donahue
- John Mengatti … Cast, Vitaglia
- Russell Phillip Robinson … Cast, Phil Jeffers
- Chris Mulkey … Cast, Ilya Rassivich
- Kenneth Kimmins … Cast, Stewart McKenzie
- Zitto Kazann … Cast, Dimitri Gregov
- Gene Scherer … Cast, Dimitrov
- Jonathan Gries … Cast, Uri Kogenski
- Brad Maule … Cast, Alexi Korchov
- Gregory Fisher … Cast, the Russian Player
- McKee Anderson … Cast, Mrs. Johnson
- Jaison Walker … Cast, the Beggar