The White Shadow
Wanna Bet?
TV Flash files “Wanna Bet?” as hour 6 of 54 in the TV Flash guide — The White Shadow (1978–1981) on CBS, season 1, episode 6, aired 1979-01-08, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E06: listed hour 6 of 54 in the The White Shadow guide, hour 6 of 15 in season 1. It aired 1979-01-08 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Pregnant Pause” (S01E05). Next is “That Old Gang of Mine” (S01E07).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The team heads for Las Vegas to compete in a basketball game, but ends up competing—and losing—at the gaming tables instead. Las Vegas is indeed a town for gamblers as Coach Reeves' boys learn the hard way. They not only have problems with monetary wagers, but the squad encounters problems on the court in the tournament in which they've come to Vegas to play.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Wanna Bet? sit in the The White Shadow guide?
S01E06 is listed hour 6 of 54 — hour 6 of 15 in season 1, season 1 episode 6.
When did The White Shadow S01E06 air?
Wanna Bet? aired 1979-01-08 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Is it a basketball show or a social drama?
Sports ensemble that treats race, class, and teenagers with unusual honesty. The gym is a classroom; the buzzer still ends the hour.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Ken Howard's white ex-pro coaches a mostly Black Los Angeles high-school team, and the gym becomes a social-drama classroom. Bruce Paltrow's shop lets race, class, and teenage ego into the locker room without after-school-special frosting. Sports television that actually talks, then hits the buzzer.
Picture a network night that still thought a gym could be civic furniture. CBS, 1978–1981: Ken Howard's Ken Reeves, white ex-pro, walks into a mostly Black Los Angeles high-school locker room and Bruce Paltrow's shop declines to frost it. The White Shadow is sports television that actually talks, then hits the buzzer. Jason Bernard, Byron Stewart, and Timothy Van Patten among the young ensemble. Race, class, and teenage ego in the paint. On the palate: gym varnish, a whistle, and a three-act clock that treats the…
Filed against
- Ken Howard as Coach Ken Reeves
Ken Howard's Coach Ken Reeves made The White Shadow a gym that talked — a white ex-pro coaching a mostly Black Los Angeles high-school team, Bruce Paltrow's shop letting race, class, and teenage ego into the locker room. TV Flash files…
- Jason Bernard as Jim Willis
Jason Bernard’s Jim Willis put The White Shadow’s gym in conversation with a grown-up — Ken Howard’s white ex-pro coaching a mostly Black Los Angeles high-school team, Bruce Paltrow’s shop letting race and class into the locker room.…
- Byron Stewart as Warren Coolidge
Byron Stewart played Warren Coolidge on The White Shadow — Ken Howard's white ex-pro coaching a mostly Black Los Angeles high-school team, the gym as a social-drama classroom. Bruce Paltrow's shop let race, class, and teenage ego into the…
- Timothy Van Patten as Mario 'Salami' Pettrino
Timothy Van Patten suited up The White Shadow as Mario 'Salami' Pettrino — white ex-pro coaching a mostly Black Los Angeles high-school team, gym as social-drama classroom, race and class in the locker room without after-school-special…