Coach (TV series)
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| Coach | |
|---|---|
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| Format | Sitcom |
| Created by | Barry Kemp |
| Starring | Craig T. Nelson Shelley Fabares Jerry Van Dyke Bill Fagerbakke Clare Carey Kenneth Kimmins Georgia Engel Katherine Helmond Kris Kamm |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 9 |
| No. of episodes | 200 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 24 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | February 28, 1989 – May 14, 1997 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Coach is an American television sitcom that aired for nine seasons on ABC from 1989 to 1997.
The series starred Craig T. Nelson as Hayden Fox, coach of the fictional Division I-A college football team, the Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles. The series also starred Jerry Van Dyke as Luther Van Dam and Bill Fagerbakke as Michael "Dauber" Daubinski, assistant coaches under Nelson's character. The role of love interest Christine Armstrong Fox, a television news anchor, was played by Shelley Fabares. Rob Schneider also made occasional appearances, as did Lenore Kasdorf as Hayden's ex-wife and Nanette Fabray (Shelley's real-life aunt) as Christine's mom Mildred.
In early seasons, Coach Fox continues to come to grips with the emerging womanhood of his "little girl," Kelly, now a campus coed played by Clare Carey. Kelly dated, and eventually married in the second season, theater mime Stuart Rosebrock (Kris Kamm), whom Hayden could not stand. Their marriage ended in 1991, and Kelly left for a major ad agency job in 1993. She was only seen in occasional guest spots thereafter. Also seen throughout the run was Minnesota State Athletic Director Howard Burleigh (Kenneth Kimmins) and his nutty wife Shirley (Georgia Engel), who were close friends with Hayden and Christine. At the end of season 7 Hayden is offered a job with a fictional NFL expansion team called the "Orlando Breakers", Hayden agrees and takes his coaching staff with him for the final two seasons. The Foxes adopted a baby boy named Timothy (played by twins Brennan and Brian Felker). Many season 9 episodes focused on the couple's newfound joy of parenthood, as they had been unable to conceive a child together before they decided to adopt.
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[edit] Origins
The creator and producer of the show, Barry Kemp, was an alumnus of the University of Iowa. He named the main character of Coach (Hayden Fox) after the University of Iowa's long-time football coach Hayden Fry. Many of the exterior shots of "Minnesota State" are actually of the University of Iowa, usually of students walking around the Iowa Memorial Union in downtown Iowa City. The screen shot when returning from commercial breaks is of the outside of the Hillcrest dormitory.
The name Orlando Breakers was a salute to the defunct USFL and the Portland Breakers, New Orleans Breakers, and Boston Breakers.
[edit] Setting
[edit] Minnesota State University
The fictional college Minnesota State University was intended to reflect the University of Minnesota and its team the Golden Gophers, but the University of Minnesota withdrew its approval. At the time no school was named Minnesota State University, but since then two schools in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System have renamed themselves such: Minnesota State University Mankato (formerly Mankato State University) and Minnesota State University Moorhead (formerly Moorhead State University).
In the fictional world of Coach, Minnesota State takes the place of the University of Minnesota in the Big Ten Conference; in several episodes the characters talk about games with Big Ten schools like The University of Iowa and Michigan State University. The Minnesota State Screaming Eagle school colors of Purple and Gold are also the colors for Minnesota State University, Mankato and the Minnesota Vikings. The University of Minnesota has school colors of Maroon and Gold. The Screaming Eagles reflect the reputation of the real-world Golden Gophers, widely seen as a poor football team, albeit one with a glorious past. The location for the fictional Minnesota State University is never established. It is not located within the Twin Cities, as is the real University of Minnesota. In several episodes Hayden Fox refers to visiting Christine in the Twin Cities and it is evident that he is maintaining a long distance relationship.
The Coach opening theme by J.A.C. Redford, which also served as the Minnesota State Screaming Eagles school song, bears more than a passing resemblance to the Minnesota March authored by John Phillip Sousa. The theme song was recorded by the Iowa State University Marching Band, and the band was also shown in the opening sequence of the show.[1][2]
In the 1993-1994 television season, Hayden Fox led his Minnesota State Screaming Eagles to victory in the Pioneer Bowl, held at the Alamodome, winning the National Championship. In real life, Florida State won the National Championship that season. The Alamodome opened in May 1993, in time for the real-life 1993 football season. However, the first Alamo Bowl and Pioneer Bowl games had not been played yet. Also, the real-life Pioneer Bowl is not even an NCAA Division I game, but rather is a postseason game played between the champions of two Division II conferences whose members are all historically black schools. Footage from the 1993 Minnesota vs. Wisconsin game held in the Metrodome was used for the actual game to represent Minnesota State and the fictional West Texas University. Al Michaels provides the commentary during the game.
[edit] Orlando Breakers
In the 1995 season, Hayden gets a chance to fulfill his ultimate dream and become the head coach of an NFL team. But this opportunity comes at the expense of trying to do so with the fictional expansion team the Orlando Breakers, who are now owned by a recent widow, Doris Sherman, played by Katherine Helmond, who is more interested in making money off of the team rather than letting Coach Fox guide them to success on the football field. Nearly the entire crew from Minnesota State followed Hayden, including Luther and Dauber, who remained his assistant coaches. In the final season, Hayden is able to coach the Breakers to a wild card spot in the NFL Playoffs, but is blown out by the Buffalo Bills in that playoff game at Buffalo.
[edit] Series Finale
The final episode of the sitcom aired on ABC on May 14, 1997. The last scene in the final episode featured the whole cast thanking the audience for nine years of the show, with cast member Jerry Van Dyke denying the series ending thinking the show must go on. But the cast and director finally tell Van Dyke that the show is truly over, with Van Dyke still denying the show's finale - that is until the lights go out and Van Dyke finally accepts that the show is completed.
The final episode also includes an epilogue showing that Dauber had stayed with the Breakers and become their head coach, which he won two back to back Super Bowl championships and went on to join the Monday Night Football announce team after he had retired.
[edit] Syndication
Reruns of Coach aired on USA Network from September 1993 until January 2008. It is unknown if it will pick the show back up or be moved to another network. As of January 1st, it is not scheduled to be shown in the near future by USA or any other network. [1]
[edit] Scheduling conflict with Monday Night Football
For season seven, ABC aired original episodes of Coach on Monday night, before Monday Night Football, as part of a football-themed night. This was successful on the United States East Coast, where MNF games aired from 9:00 pm - 12:30 am, local time. However, on the West Coast, MNF games aired from 6:00 pm - 9:30 pm (with possible overtime), leaving some Monday network programming with no time slots. During this interval, the show was aired at unusual hours on the West Coast. For instance, Seattle ABC affiliate KOMO aired new episodes of Coach on Saturday afternoons. Some fans have cited this time-slot displacement on the West Coast as a reason for low ratings in season seven. Coach was moved to Wednesday nights the following season.
[edit] DVD releases
Universal Studios Home Entertainment has so far released the first three seasons of Coach on DVD in Region 1:
| Title | Region 1 | Region 2 |
|---|---|---|
| The First Season | June 13, 2006 | August 7, 2006 |
| The First Season Special Edition (Playbook Edition) |
June 13, 2006 (only available in R1) |
N/A |
| The Second Season | May 15, 2007 | TBA |
| The Third Season | February 19, 2008 | TBA |
[edit] References
- ^ Iowa State University Department of Music
- ^ Coach TV Show Coach Television Series DVD Download Review Coach Cast Characters Trivia 80's
