Evening Shade

This article is about the television series. For the city in Arkansas, see Evening Shade, Arkansas. For the community in Oklahoma, see Evening Shade, Oklahoma.

Evening Shade
Promotional cast photo
Format	Sitcom
Created by	Linda Bloodworth-Thomason
Starring	Burt Reynolds Marilu Henner Michael Jeter Jay R. Ferguson Hal Holbrook Ossie Davis Charles Durning Elizabeth Ashley Ann Wedgeworth Charlie Dell Candace Hutson Jacob Parker
Narrated by	Ossie Davis
Opening theme	Instrumental theme by Sonny Curtis (1990–1992) Theme with lyrics by Bobby Goldsboro (1992–1994)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	100
Production
Executive producer(s)	Linda Bloodworth-Thomason
Running time	30 minutes (with commercials)
Production company(s)	Mozark Productions CBS Productions Burt Reynolds Productions MTM Productions
Distributor	20th Television (domestically) CBS Television Distribution (internationally)
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	September 21, 1990 – May 23, 1994

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.

Characters

Main

• Woodrow "Wood" Newton (Burt Reynolds)
• Ava Evans Newton (Marilu Henner)
• Evan Evans (Hal Holbrook)
• Ponder Blue (Ossie Davis)
• Dr. Harlan Eldridge (Charles Durning)
• Herman Stiles (Michael Jeter)
• Taylor Newton (Jay R. Ferguson)
• Molly Newton (Melissa Renée Martin) (1990–1991), (Candace Hutson) (1991–1994)
• 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)
• Doug (Nick Toth)
• Aimee Thompson (Hilary Swank) (1991–1992), (Ari Meyers) (1992–1993)
• Emily Newton (Alexa Vega) (1993–1994)

Production

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

DVD release

On July 15, 2008, CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) released Season 1 of Evening Shade on DVD in Region 1.

External links

• Evening Shade at the Internet Movie Database
• Evening Shade at TV.com