''The Bad News Bears'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

from March 24, 1979, until July 26, 1980, consisting of 26 episodes (three unaired by CBS). It was based on the 1976 film of the same name, that was followed by two sequels in 1977 and 1978.

Synopsis

In the television series,

Jack Warden Jack Warden (born John Warden Lebzelter Jr.; September 18, 1920July 19, 2006) was an American character actor of film and television. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Shampoo'' (1975) and '' Heaven Can Wait ...

portrayed former minor-leaguer Morris Buttermaker, the coach of the Hoover Junior High Bears, a team of young adolescents with poor skills and little ability to play baseball.

Catherine Hicks Catherine Mary Hicks (born August 6, 1951) is an American actress. She played the character Annie Camden on the long-running television series ''7th Heaven (TV series), 7th Heaven''. Other roles included Dr. Faith Coleridge on the soap opera ''R ...

played the role of Hoover Junior High principal Dr. Emily Rappant,

Phillip Richard Allen Phillip Richard Allen (March 26, 1939 – March 1, 2012) was an American stage, film, and television actor probably best known today for his role as Captain Esteban in '' Star Trek III: The Search for Spock'' (1984). Biography Allen studied ...

played Roy Turner, the coach of the rival team the Lions.

Corey Feldman Corey Scott Feldman (born July 16, 1971) is an American actor and musician. As a youth, he became well known for roles in the 1980s in films such as '' Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter'' (1984), ''Gremlins'' (1984), ''The Goonies'' (1985), a ...

Billy Jayne William Jayne Jacoby (born April 10, 1969), known professionally as Billy Jayne and previously Billy Jacoby is an American actor. His siblings, Robert Jayne, Susan Jayne, Laura Jacoby, as well as his half-brother Scott Jacoby are also actors. ...

(then credited as Billy Jacoby) and

Meeno Peluce Miro Fiore "Meeno" Peluce (born February 26, 1970) is a Dutch-born American photographer and actor. Life and career Peluce was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, the son of Sondra Londy, a Jewish-American personal manager and caterer, and Floyd P ...

were cast amongst the team's players, and

Tricia Cast Patricia M. Cast (born November 16, 1966) is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Nina Webster on the CBS soap opera ''The Young and the Restless''. Career Cast came to prominence on the television series ''The Bad Ne ...

played Amanda Wurlitzer, the Bears' talented pitcher. The series was originally scheduled on Saturday nights at 8:00 p.m. In September 1979, it was moved to 8:30 p.m. Three episodes into the series' second season, CBS canceled ''The Bad News Bears'' due to low ratings. When the CBS broadcast unaired episodes in June 1980 it was moved back to 8:00 p.m. In July 1980, the series was again moved to the 8:30 timeslot, but by then audiences were confused by the frequent time changes and stopped tuning in.

Cast

... Morris Buttermaker *

... Dr. Emily Rappant *Phillip Richard Allen ... Roy Turner *

Sparky Marcus Sparky Marcus (born Marcus Issoglio; December 6, 1967) is an American former actor. Early life Marcus was born in Hollywood, California. Career Marcus was well known for playing the role of the precocious child but also worked extensively as a ...

... Leslie Ogilvie *

... Tanner Boyle *

... Rudi Stein *

... Regi Tower *Shane Butterworth ... Timmy Lupus *

Kristoff St. John Kristoff St. John (July 15, 1966 – February 3, 2019) was an American actor best known for playing Neil Winters on the CBS daytime soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'' from 1991 until his death in 2019, which earned him two Daytime Emmy Aw ...

... Ahmad Abdul Rahim *J. Brennan Smith ... Mike Engelberg *Charles Nunez ... Miguel Agilar *Danny Nunez ... Jose Agilar *

... Amanda Wurlitzer *Bill Lazarus ... Frosty *Gregg Forrest ... Kelly Leak *Rad Daly ... Josh Matthews *Persephanie Silverthorn ... Student *Sherrie Wills ... Marsha

Episodes

Season 1: 1979

Season 2: 1979–80

Syndication

In the late 1980s, the show was occasionally rerun on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

and

Nick at Nite Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET/Pac ...

. In the early 1990s, it was rerun on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

Home media

On October 31, 2018,

Visual Entertainment Visual Entertainment Inc. (VEI) is a home video/television distribution company that is based in Toronto, Ontario. An independent label, it has released several well-known TV series on DVD, some through sub-licensing deals with other labels such ...

released the complete series on DVD in Region 1.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bad News Bears, The Bad News Bears (franchise) 1979 American television series debuts 1980 American television series endings 1970s American sitcoms 1980s American sitcoms American sports television series Baseball television series CBS original programming English-language television shows Television series by CBS Studios Live action television shows based on films Television shows set in Los Angeles