Series synopsis
Evening Shade is an American comedy television series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1990. It ended on May 23, 1994. It was created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason. It stars Burt Reynolds, Marilu Henner, Hal Holbrook and Charles Durning.
Evening Shade is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from 1990 to 1994. The series stars 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 is the appeal of small town life. Episodes ended with a closing narr ...
Premise
Evening Shade is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from 1990 to 1994. The series stars 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 is 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.
Premise: YOU CAN ALWAYS FIND LAUGHTER... IN A PLACE CALLED EVENING SHADE!
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Burt Reynolds as Wood Newton
- Marilu Henner as Ava Evans Newton
- Hal Holbrook as Evan Evans
- Charles Durning as Harlan Elldridge
- Ann Wedgeworth as Merleen Elldridge
- Michael Jeter as Herman Stiles
- Jay R. Ferguson as Taylor Newton
- Ossie Davis as Ponder Blue
Supporting cast
- Candace Hutson as Molly Newton
- Elizabeth Ashley as Freida Evans
- Jacob Parker as Will Newton
- Melissa Reneé Martin as Molly Newton
- Charles Nelson Reilly
- Doug McClure
- Alice Ghostley
- Christian Hoff
- Rick Hurst
- Fred Applegate
- Leslie Nielsen
- Tony Bennett as Tony Lombardi
Guest cast
Episodes
This series spans 4 seasons with 100 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 24 | September 21, 1990 | May 6, 1991 |
| Season 2 | 25 | September 16, 1991 | May 18, 1992 |
| Season 3 | 25 | September 21, 1992 | May 17, 1993 |
| Season 4 | 26 | September 20, 1993 | May 23, 1994 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
A Day in the Life of Wood Newton On his birthday/wedding anniversary, an innocent Wood is photographed with a stripper; and Prosecuting Attorney candidate Ava discovers she's pregnant despite Wood's vasectomy. |
September 21, 1990 |
| 2 |
There Once Was A Boy Named Wood Frieda babysits, and fills in for Evan on poker night when he has a date with Miss Beausoleil. |
September 28, 1990 |
| 3 |
Whatever Happened to Clutch Newton? On seeing an old game film, Wood discovers his most celebrated high school touchdown catch was actually out of bounds. |
October 5, 1990 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Three Naked Men (Part 1) War breaks out between the women and the men on a segregated camping expedition after Wood scares the girls with his bear costume and gets whacked with a shovel—and culminates with the women abandoning the men during their ritual skinny-dipping. (Part 1 of 2) |
September 16, 1991 |
| 2 |
Three Naked Men (Part 2) The women begin to feel guilty about having abandoned the men naked in the woods. (Part 2 of 2) |
September 23, 1991 |
| 3 |
I'm With Stupid Molly caves in under pressure from her boyfriend and agrees to take part in a beauty contest. |
September 30, 1991 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
First Heroes Taylor returns, transformed by his three months in Amsterdam; Wood's late father's store is slated to be demolished. |
September 21, 1992 |
| 2 |
The Diary of Molly Newton Wood is having trouble dealing with Molly's growing womanhood— even before he discovers her erotic diary. And he totally overreacts to her first ""date"" (slides at the church followed by ice cream). Meanwhile, Harlan's visiting inlaws are putting a damper on his sex life. |
September 28, 1992 |
| 3 |
You Scratch My Back, I'll Arrest You Ava sends Wood to investigate when Harlan rents property to a massage parlor. |
October 5, 1992 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Four Naked Women After the women play a joke on them, the guys get even by locking them out of Fontana's house—while they're clad in Fontana's stripper costumes. |
September 20, 1993 |
| 2 |
One Down, Three to Go Ava has a hard time adjusting when Taylor moves out ioto his own apartment. |
September 27, 1993 |
| 3 |
One Hot Game Wood and Frieda get locked inside a sauna while everyone else in Evening Shade sweats out the football team's first game of the season. |
October 4, 1993 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | CBS |
|---|---|
| First aired | September 21, 1990 |
| Last aired | May 23, 1994 |
| Runtime | 30 minutes |
| Status | ended |
| Schedule | Monday at 20:00:00 |