''Evening Shade'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

that aired on CBS from September 21, 1990, to May 23, 1994. The series stars

Burt Reynolds Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor most famous during the 1970s and 1980s. He became well known in television series such as ''Gunsmoke'' (1962–1965), '' Hawk'' (1966) and '' Dan Augus ...

as Woodrow "Wood" Newton, an ex-professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

, who returns to rural Evening Shade, Arkansas, to coach a high-school football team with a long losing streak. Reynolds personally requested to use the Steelers as his character's former team because he was a fan. The general theme of the show is the appeal of small-town life. Episodes often ended with a closing narration by Ossie Davis, as his character Ponder Blue, summing up the events of the episode, always closing with "... in a place called Evening Shade." The opening segment included clips from around Arkansas, including the famous McClard's Bar-B-Q in

Hot Springs National Park Hot Springs National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in central Garland County, Arkansas, adjacent to the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas, Hot Springs. Hot Springs Reservation was initially ...

Summary

A former pro

football player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

for the Pittsburgh Steelers who quit due to injury, Wood Newton has settled down to a quiet life in Arkansas as the coach of the Evening Shade High School football team, which is notorious for its long losing streak. Wood and his wife Ava, whom he married when she was only 18 (a frequently voiced grievance made by her father Evan Evans, owner of the local newspaper) are devoted to each other despite their age difference. Ava is an ambitious, successful practicing lawyer who in the first season is elected District Attorney while pregnant with their fourth (unintended) child, Emily, who is born in the first season finale. Among Wood and Ava's closest friends are the somewhat-older town doctor Harlan Eldridge and his trusting wife Merleen, who always believes the best of people. The show's plots focus on the various difficulties that Wood faces in living a very different life than he ever expected, as well as the obvious family pressures of two jobs and four children. Additional tensions come from Ava's aunt Frieda, Evan's perennially discontented sister, who especially disapproves when Evan begins dating town stripper Fontana Beausoleil, who discovers in season two that she is the long-lost daughter Merleen gave up for adoption when she was 15. Evan and Fontana get married in a three-part episode in season two and have a child in season three. The show also gets mileage out of the incongruity of the decidedly unathletic, but well-meaning assistant coach Herman Stiles, the best the school's budget can afford. During the first season, he catches the eye of Evening Shade High's prim and proper principal, Margaret Fouch, and they start dating. On July 12 and 19, 1993, CBS aired two parts of an hour-long pilot, ''Harlan & Merleen'', as a proposed spin-off of the series. The pilot had the Eldridges open their home to young pregnant women who needed help (one of whom was played by Leah Remini). The pilot did not achieve series status.

Characters

Main

*Woodrow "Wood" Newton (

) *Ava Evans Newton (

Marilu Henner Marilu Henner (born April 6, 1952) is an American actress and author. She began her career appearing in the original production of the musical ''Grease (musical), Grease'' in 1971, before making her screen debut in the 1977 comedy-drama film ''B ...

) *Evan Evans (

Hal Holbrook Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. (February 17, 1925 – January 23, 2021) was an American actor. He first received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show that he developed called ''Mark Twain Tonight!'' while studying at Denison University. H ...

) *Ponder Blue ( Ossie Davis) *Dr. Harlan Eldridge ( Charles Durning) *Herman Stiles (

Michael Jeter Michael Jeter (; August 26, 1952 – March 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his career on stage and screen, Jeter played diverse characters. He won a Tony Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. He portrayed Herman Stiles on the sitcom '' Eve ...

) *Taylor Newton ( Jay R. Ferguson) *Molly Newton (Melissa Renée Martin, season 1), ( Candace Hutson, seasons 2-4) *Will Newton (Jacob Parker) *Nub Oliver (Charlie Dell) *Frieda Evans ( Elizabeth Ashley) *Merleen Eldridge ( Ann Wedgeworth) *Fontana Beausoleil (Linda Gehringer) *Margaret Fouch ( Ann Hearn)

Recurring

*Dorothy (Jane Abbott) *Virgil ( Burton Gilliam) *Andrew Phillpot ( David A. R. White), Taylor's best friend *Neal "Thor" Heck (Pepper Sweeney, 1991–93) *Aimee Thompson ( Hilary Swank, 1991–92), ( Ari Meyers, 1992–93), Taylor's girlfriend *Irma Wallingsford (

Alice Ghostley Alice Margaret Ghostley (August 14, 1923 – September 21, 2007) was an American actress and singer on stage, film and television. Ghostley was best known for her roles as bumbling witch Esmeralda (1969–72) on '' Bewitched'', as Cousin Alice ...

, 1992–94) *Daisy ( Leah Remini, 1993), Taylor's girlfriend after his break-up with Aimee, a New York transplant *Wanda (Wanda Jones, 1993–94), waitress at Blue's Bar-B-Que Villa *Emily Newton ( Alexa PenaVega, 1993–94), Ava and Wood's youngest child, who appears as a 5-year-old in the final season

Episode list

Production

The show's production company, Mozark Productions, was a joint venture by creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason of

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

and her husband,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

native Harry Thomason, which concurrently produced another successful show set in the South, '' Designing Women''.

's ''Designing Women'' character was killed off to free the actor to star in the newer program. The series was produced in association with CBS Productions, Burt Reynolds Productions, and

MTM Enterprises MTM Enterprises (also known as MTM Productions) was an American independent production company established in 1969 by Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker to produce ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' for CBS. The name for the produc ...

. CBS retained full ownership of the series while MTM syndicated the series in the United States.

Release

Home media

On July 15, 2008, CBS DVD/ Paramount Home Entertainment released the first season on DVD, albeit with redone music and editing. On April 12, 2019, Visual Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 for the first time.

Reception

The series enjoyed strong ratings during its entire run, hitting its peak in season two with a number 15 Nielsen ranking. At the time, this was a notably higher position than ''

The Cosby Show ''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom created by (along with Ed. Weinberger and Michael J. Leeson) and starring Bill Cosby that originally aired on NBC from September 20, 1984, to April 30, 1992, with a total of 201 half-hour e ...

'', which had recently fallen from a five-year streak as TV's number-one program. ''Evening Shade'' was still a top-30 performer, after CBS cancelled the series in May 1994. Skyrocketing production costs, mainly attributed to the large salaries of the show's top-caliber, all-star cast, were the primary reason given for the cancellation (which was confirmed by Marilu Henner in her September 1994 appearance on ''

Charlie Rose Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show ''Charlie Rose (talk show), Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg L.P., Bloombe ...

''). However, some have speculated that the show's ending was a decision made by Reynolds, rather than CBS, as his recent marriage troubles with

Loni Anderson Loni Anderson (born August 5, 1945) is an American actress. She played receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on the CBS sitcom ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' (1978–1982), which earned her three Golden Globe Awards and two Emmy Award nominations. Early life ...

(from whom he was divorced in 1993) were thought to have affected his work. After its cancellation, reruns of ''Evening Shade'' were picked up by The Family Channel, which were also edited considerably from their original broadcast versions.

Nielsen ratings

References

External links

* {{Pittsburgh Steelers 1990s American sitcoms 1990s American sports television series 1990 American television series debuts 1994 American television series endings American football television series American sports comedy television series American English-language television shows Pittsburgh Steelers in popular culture Primetime Emmy Award–winning television series Television series about families Television series by CBS Studios Television series by MTM Enterprises Television series created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason Television shows set in Arkansas CBS sitcoms