Evening Shade
Encyclopedia
Evening Shade was an American
sitcom television series that aired on CBS
from 1990 to 1994. The series starred Burt Reynolds
as Wood Newton, an ex-professional football
player for the Pittsburgh Steelers
, 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 former team because he is a fan.
The general theme
of the show was the appeal of small town life. Episodes ended with a closing narration by Ossie Davis
summing up the events of the episode, always closing with "... in a place called Evening Shade." The show's final episode saw the guest appearances of Willie Nelson
and Buzz Aldrin
as escaped convicts on the run from authorities, the final scene being a spectacular shoot-out reminiscent of the final scene of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
.
The opening segment included clips from around Arkansas, including the famous McClard's Bar-be-que, which is situated on Albert Pike Blvd. and South Patterson St. in Hot Springs National Park
.
of Missouri
and her husband, Arkansas
native, Harry Thomason
, which concurrently produced another successful show set in the South, Designing Women
. Hal Holbrook
'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
(now CBS Television Distribution), Burt Reynolds Productions, and MTM Enterprises
(now 20th Television
). CBS retained full ownership of the series while MTM syndicated the series in the United States. CBS DVD/Paramount Home Entertainment
has released the entire first season on DVD, albeit with music changes and rescoring.
) released Season 1 of Evening Shade on DVD in Region 1.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sitcom television series that aired on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
from 1990 to 1994. The series starred Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
as Wood Newton, an ex-professional football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player for the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
, who returns to rural Evening Shade, Arkansas
Evening Shade, Arkansas
Evening Shade is a town in Sharp County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 465 at the 2000 census. The town was fictionalized in a television situation comedy starring Burt Reynolds and entitled Evening Shade in the U.S.-Geography:...
to coach a high school football team with a long losing streak. Reynolds personally requested to use the Steelers as his former team because he is a fan.
The general theme
Theme (literature)
A theme is a broad, message, or moral of a story. The message may be about life, society, or human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and are almost always implied rather than stated explicitly. Along with plot, character,...
of the show was the appeal of small town life. Episodes ended with a closing narration by Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
summing up the events of the episode, always closing with "... in a place called Evening Shade." The show's final episode saw the guest appearances of Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
and Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin is an American mechanical engineer, retired United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history...
as escaped convicts on the run from authorities, the final scene being a spectacular shoot-out reminiscent of the final scene of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a 1969 American Western film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman...
.
The opening segment included clips from around Arkansas, including the famous McClard's Bar-be-que, which is situated on Albert Pike Blvd. and South Patterson St. in Hot Springs National Park
Hot Springs National Park
Established from Hot Springs Reservation, Hot Springs National Park is a United States National Park in central Arkansas adjacent to the city of Hot Springs. Hot Springs Reservation was initially created by an act of the United States Congress on April 20, 1832, and the area was made a national...
.
Main
- Woodrow "Wood" Newton (Burt ReynoldsBurt ReynoldsBurton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
) - Ava Evans Newton (Marilu HennerMarilu HennerMary Lucy Denise "Marilu" Henner is an American actress, producer and author. She is best known for her role as Elaine O'Connor Nardo on the sitcom Taxi from 1978 to 1983.-Early life:...
) - Evan Evans (Hal HolbrookHal HolbrookHarold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for...
) - Ponder Blue (Ossie DavisOssie DavisOssie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
) - Dr. Harlan Eldridge (Charles DurningCharles DurningCharles Durning is an American actor. With appearances in over 100 films, Durning's memorable roles include police officers in the Oscar-winning The Sting and crime drama Dog Day Afternoon , along with the comedies Tootsie, To Be Or Not To Be and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, the last two...
) - Herman Stiles (Michael JeterMichael JeterMichael Jeter was an American actor.- Early life :Michael Jeter was born in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. His mother, Virginia , was a housewife...
) - Taylor Newton (Jay R. FergusonJay R. FergusonJay Rowland Ferguson Jr. is an American actor.His notable roles include Taylor Newton in four seasons of the CBS sitcom Evening Shade, and a starring role as Rich Connelly in the 2005 NBC television series Surface, which was originally conceived as a mini-series and then expanded to a run of 15...
) - Molly Newton (Melissa Renée Martin) (1990–1991), (Candace HutsonCandace HutsonCandace Hutson is an American actress best known as the voice of Cera the Triceratops in The Land Before Time film series from the original movie to The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists....
) (1991–1994) - Will Newton (Jacob Parker)
- Nub Oliver (Charlie Dell)
- Frieda Evans (Elizabeth AshleyElizabeth AshleyElizabeth Ashley is an American actress who first came to prominence as the ingenue in the Broadway play Take Her, She's Mine, which earned her a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Play.-Early life:...
) - Merleen Eldridge (Ann WedgeworthAnn WedgeworthAnn Wedgeworth is a Tony award winning American actress, best known for her role as Lahoma Vane Lucas on the daytime dramas Another World and Somerset .-Early life:...
) - Fontana Beausoleil (Linda Gehringer)
- Margaret Fouch (Ann Hearn)
Recurring
- Dorothy (Jane Abbott)
- Virgil (Burton GilliamBurton GilliamBurton Gilliam is an American actor.-Career:Prior to acting, Gilliam was a member of the Coast Guard's boxing team and reportedly posted a record of 201 wins out of 217 fights during his enlistment. Gilliam was credited with winning more Golden Gloves bouts than anyone in its history at that time...
) - Andrew Phillpot (David A.R. WhiteDavid A.R. WhiteDavid Andrew Roy White, also known as David White, is an American actor, screenwriter and producer. He grew up in a small farming town that was located outside of Dodge City, Kansas. He is a co-founder of Pure Flix Entertainment, a distribution and production company...
) - Doug (Nick Toth)
- Aimee Thompson (Hilary SwankHilary SwankHilary Ann Swank is an American actress. Swank's film career began with a small part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then a major part in The Next Karate Kid , as Julie Pierce, the first female protégé of sensei Mr. Miyagi...
) (1991–1992), (Ari MeyersAri MeyersAri Meyers is an actress. She is best known for her role as Emma Jane McArdle in the television series Kate & Allie .-Early years:...
) (1992–1993) - Emily Newton (Alexa VegaAlexa VegaAlexa Ellesse Vega is an American actress, singer and pianist. She is best known for playing Carmen Cortez in the Spy Kids film series and Shilo Wallace in the movie Repo! the Genetic Opera. In 2009, she starred as the title character Ruby Gallagher in the ABC Family series Ruby & The...
) (1993–1994)
Production
The show's production company, Mozark Productions, was a joint venture by creator Linda Bloodworth-ThomasonLinda Bloodworth-Thomason
Linda Bloodworth-Thomason is an American writer and television producer....
of Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
and her husband, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
native, Harry Thomason
Harry Thomason
Harry Z. Thomason, , is an American film and television producer and director, best known for the television series Designing Women. Thomason and his wife, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, are close friends of President Bill Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and played a major...
, which concurrently produced another successful show set in the South, Designing Women
Designing Women
Designing Women is an American television sitcom that centered on the working and personal lives of four Southern women and one man in an interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia. It aired on the CBS television network from September 29, 1986 until May 24, 1993. The show was created by head writer...
. Hal Holbrook
Hal Holbrook
Harold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for...
'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
CBS Productions
CBS Productions is the production arm of the CBS television network now a part of CBS Corporation, formed in 1952 to produce shows in-house, instead of relying solely on outside productions. Its first production was CBS Television Workshop, a drama anthology series...
(now CBS Television Distribution), Burt Reynolds Productions, and MTM Enterprises
MTM Enterprises
MTM Enterprises 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...
(now 20th Television
20th Television
20th Television is an American television production and syndication company that was formed in 1992 by 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, a division of the Fox Entertainment Group, part of News Corporation....
). CBS retained full ownership of the series while MTM syndicated the series in the United States. CBS DVD/Paramount Home Entertainment
Paramount Home Entertainment
Paramount Home Entertainment is the division of Paramount Pictures dealing with home video founded in late 1975.-History:...
has released the entire first season on DVD, albeit with music changes and rescoring.
DVD release
On July 15, 2008, CBS DVD (distributed by ParamountParamount Home Entertainment
Paramount Home Entertainment is the division of Paramount Pictures dealing with home video founded in late 1975.-History:...
) released Season 1 of Evening Shade on DVD in Region 1.