mattbcoach

This T.V show flopped in midyear during a time when most networks kept even bad shows on for at least a year. Hard to see why. This show, based on the movie starring Gary Cooper, was an interesting one about a simple country man who inherits a vast financial fortune, including an unspecified corporation which controled groups of manufacturing and real estate properties. Monte Markham, who played Longfellow Deeds, was convincing in the role. Unlike the movie, Deeds plays a more active role in managing the corporations businesses---often with humorous results. Check out Pat Harrington's performance as the highly elegant,erudite Executive Assistant to Deeds. He sure wasn't "Schneider" of "One Day at a Time" in this show. He did a great job as well.

This is the true story of Jim Gregory, Grambling University's first white football player. Back when Gregory was at Grambling, it had not been THAT many years since Blacks were allowed to play football at most Southern Schools. Since many of the players at Grambling felt heavily discriminated against, they naturally resented Gregory for encroaching on "their" school. Further resentment happened against Gregory because he played Quarterback, a position that in those days was considered reserved for Whites only. Grambling in those days sent more players to the NFL than any other school, largely because the opportunities were not there for many of the Black players to go to largely White Universities in the South. Gregory encounters discrimination on all sides. He is not liked by the Black football players because he is in their school. And hes not liked by Whites because he plays football for a Black school. As time goes on, however, Gregory's work ethic and personality wins over almost all of his teammates at Grambling. We learn a lot about race relations in those days, and how a proper attitude can overcome them. If there is a weakness, its the rather so-so acting of Bruce Jenner. He was a great athlete, but hes not much of an actor. Still, the story was so interesting that Jenner's performance really doesn't matter.

CBS had high hopes for this series, which they hoped would break the seven year stranglehold that "The Love Boat" had on its time slot. But this show was gone after only a few weeks. It really wasn't bad, just not a show for its time. People didn't really want to see Westerns. They wanted to see jiggly babes and modern situations. This show was cool in that you got to see a young Mimi Rogers in a main role, and she does it quite well. The show's sets were well done as well, as in keeping with the decent budget allocated for this TV drama, in that the network had high hopes for it. The rest of I wouldn't mind seeing the four or five episodes of this show on DVD.