1st & Ten (1984 TV series)

*1st & Ten*
1st & Ten
Genre	Comedy; Sports;
Created by	Carl Kleinschmitt
Starring	Delta Burke; O. J. Simpson; Shannon Tweed; John Matuszak; Jason Beghe; Geoffrey Scott; Keith Amos; Paul Tuerpe; Prince Hughes; Shanna Reed; Reid Shelton;
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	80
Production
Executive producers	Donald Kushner; Peter Locke;
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	25 minutes
Production company	The Kushner-Locke Company
Original release
Network	HBO
Release	December 2, 1984 –; January 23, 1991

1st & Ten is an American sitcom that aired between December 1984 and January 1991 on the cable television network HBO. Featuring series regulars Delta Burke and veteran Reid Shelton, it was one of cable's first attempts to lure the lucrative sitcom audience away from the then-dominant "Big Three" broadcast television networks, by taking advantage of their freedom to include occasional profanity and nudity.

Plot

The sports-themed series follows the on-and off-field antics of the fictional American football team, the California Bulls.^[1]^[2] The team changed owners throughout the series' history, with the premise that a woman is in charge.

During the first season Diane Barrow (Delta Burke) becomes the owner of her ex-husband's team as part of a divorce settlement, after he has an affair with the team's tight end. She quickly learns the ups and downs of pro football. In one episode, she is forced to coach the team herself after the head coach, Ernie Denardo, is placed in the hospital. She also has constant battles with her General Manager/husband's nephew, who has dealings with the local mob, and fights off advances made by her quarterback (played by Geoffrey Scott).

The second season dealt with two themes: training camp and the playoffs. Barrow was dealing with her players taking recreational drugs during training camp. During this season, O. J. Simpson joined the cast as T.D. Parker, a veteran running back who is forced to make the transition from player to coach. Two real-life football stars made cameo appearances: Marcus Allen portrayed a rookie who was taking over T.D.'s spot on the team, and Vince Ferragamo played "Mainstreet" Manneti, a veteran quarterback. Jason Beghe joined the cast to play Tom Yinessa, a walk-on quarterback who deals with his overnight celebrity.

Delta Burke left the show midway through the third season, after committing herself exclusively to CBS' Designing Women, which she had begun starring on in 1986, and which was renewed. Diane loses control of the Bulls to Teddy Schraeder, her former lover, who manipulates everyone to his own ends. His antics include having T.D. fire Ernie as coach, letting Yinessa practice without a contract, and ignoring steroid use. Legal issues force him to leave the country and turn control over to his daughter, played by Leah Ayres.

Season 4 was briefly renamed 1st and Ten: The Bulls Mean Business. Shanna Reed joins the cast as the team's new female president, representing the new owners, the Dodds Corporation. Her attempts to innovate include bringing a female soccer player in to kick, and signing an Olympic sprinter as wide receiver. Joe Namath has a cameo appearance. Shannon Tweed would replace her in Season 5, and remain with the show to the end. The show was renamed 1st and Ten: Do it Again for the fifth season. The final season was 1st and Ten: In Your Face.

Series themes

The Bulls somehow manage to make it to the championship football game, yet lose in a controversial, heartbreaking manner.
Mad Dog and Dr. Death haze the rookies and rally the defense.
Bubba and Jethro help each other with their various (often sex-related) mishaps. Bubba's voracious appetite is also a running gag
The volatile ownership position of the franchise.
Controversial aspects of professional sports in the late 1980s: steroids, the instant replay, women in the locker room, the role of free agency, multi-sport stars, endorsements.

Game footage

Footage was used from USFL's Los Angeles Express. During simulated game shots, the Bulls football helmet has a decal of horns on the side. When the show uses actual game footage, you can clearly see the letters "L" and "A" on the helmets side, representing the L.A. Express. The Bulls quarterbacks wore #14 to match the actual game footage of L.A. Express real-life quarterback Tom Ramsey. Many generic shots of USFL stadiums were used to depict where the Bulls were playing. As the series went on, aerial shots were used of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to represent the Bulls home stadium. Game footage from the USFL stopped midway through the third season, as scripted football plays were being used instead, and the USFL had ceased operations by that point.

At one point, Denardo suggests trading for a running back. He mentions the Bulls from "that other league." He was talking about the Jacksonville Bulls from the United States Football League.

Characters

Only Donald Gibb, Cliff Frazier, Prince Hughes and Reid Shelton appeared in all six seasons. John Kassir and O.J. Simpson joined the cast the second season and stayed till the show's end.

Main

Delta Burke as Diane Barrow (seasons 1–3)
Jason Beghe as Tom Yinessa
Cliff Frazier as Jethro Snell
Donald Gibb as Leslie "Dr. Death" Krunchner
Prince Hughes as Buford "Bubba" Kincaid
Stan Kamber as Coach Grier
Shannon Tweed as Kristy Fulbright
John Kassir as Zagreb Shkenusky
Tommy 'Tiny' Lister as Otis
Tony Longo as Mad Dog Smears
Michael Toland as Billy Cooper
O. J. Simpson as T.D. Parker
Leah Ayres as Jill Schrader

Guest Stars

Mariann Aalda as Ellen
Robert Costanzo as Jake
Alexa Hamilton as Kay
Liam Sullivan as Doctor

Episodes

Season 1: 1984–85

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"By the Bulls"	Rod Daniel	Carl Kleinschmitt	December 2, 1984 (1984-12-02)
2	2	"The Opener"	Bruce Seth Green	Nick Arnold	December 2, 1984 (1984-12-02)
3	3	"All Roads Lead to Dayton"	Bruce Seth Green	Nick Arnold	December 9, 1984 (1984-12-09)
4	4	"The Slump"	Bruce Seth Green	Nick Arnold	December 16, 1984 (1984-12-16)
5	5	"Play Me or Trade Me"	Bruce Seth Green	Eric Cohen	December 23, 1984 (1984-12-23)
6	6	"You Are Who You Eat"	Bruce Seth Green	Nick Arnold	December 30, 1984 (1984-12-30)
7	7	"Uneasy Lies the Head"	Bruce Seth Green	George Yanok	January 6, 1985 (1985-01-06)
8	8	"The Sins of the Quarterback"	Bruce Seth Green	Gary H. Miller	January 13, 1985 (1985-01-13)
9	9	"I Only Read Defenses"	Bruce Seth Green	George Tricker & Neil Rosen	January 20, 1985 (1985-01-20)
10	10	"Wine Time"	Bruce Seth Green	Hank Bradford & Eric Cohen	January 27, 1985 (1985-01-27)
11	11	"Rona's Fling"	Bruce Seth Green	Eric Cohen	February 3, 1985 (1985-02-03)
12	12	"Not Quite Mr. Right"	Bruce Seth Green	Eric Cohen	February 10, 1985 (1985-02-10)
13	13	"Super Bull Sunday"	Bruce Seth Green	Eric Cohen	February 17, 1985 (1985-02-17)

Season 2 (The Championship, 1986–87)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
14	1	"The Rookies"	Bruce Seth Green	Maxwell Pitt & Gary H. Miller	August 25, 1986 (1986-08-25)
15	2	"The Veterans"	Bruce Seth Green	Maxwell Pitt & Gary H. Miller	September 1, 1986 (1986-09-01)
16	3	"A Second Chance"	Unknown	Unknown	September 8, 1986 (1986-09-08)
17	4	"Quarterbacks Tell No Tales"	Unknown	Unknown	September 15, 1986 (1986-09-15)
18	5	"California Freeze Out"	Unknown	Unknown	September 22, 1986 (1986-09-22)
19	6	"The Unkindest Cut"	Unknown	Unknown	September 29, 1986 (1986-09-29)
20	7	"Yinessa's Interview"	Unknown	Unknown	December 30, 1986 (1986-12-30)
21	8	"Easy Come, Easy Go"	Unknown	Unknown	January 6, 1987 (1987-01-06)
22	9	"A Family Affair"	Unknown	Unknown	January 13, 1987 (1987-01-13)
23	10	"The Big One"	Unknown	Unknown	January 20, 1987 (1987-01-20)

Season 3 (Going for Broke, 1987)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
24	1	"Ernie's Last Quarter"	Stan Lathan	Gary H. Miller	August 5, 1987 (1987-08-05)
25	2	"A Second Chance Once Removed"	Stan Lathan	Phil Mishkin	August 12, 1987 (1987-08-12)
26	3	"A Loaded Gun"	Stan Lathan	Barry Rubinowitz	August 19, 1987 (1987-08-19)
27	4	"The Comeback Trail"	Stan Lathan	Kimmer Ringwald	August 26, 1987 (1987-08-26)
28	5	"Illegal Use of Love"	Stan Lathan	Phil Mishkin	September 2, 1987 (1987-09-02)
29	6	"The Bulls Change Hands"	Stan Lathan	Gary H. Miller	September 9, 1987 (1987-09-09)
30	7	"Mutiny on the Bull Team"	Stan Lathan	Gary H. Miller	October 7, 1987 (1987-10-07)
31	8	"The Brink of Death"	Bruce Seth Green	Jay Abramowitz & Zach Wechsler	October 20, 1987 (1987-10-20)
32	9	"Call for the Hall"	Bruce Seth Green	Barry Gurstein & David Pitlik	November 4, 1987 (1987-11-04)
33	10	"Blood on Blood"	Bruce Seth Green	Phil Mishkin	November 27, 1987 (1987-11-27)
34	11	"Land of the Free (Agent)"	Bruce Seth Green	Jay Abramowitz & Zach Wechsler	December 2, 1987 (1987-12-02)
35	12	"Of Scalpers and Superstars"	Bruce Seth Green	Gary H. Miller	December 9, 1987 (1987-12-09)
36	13	"Championship Game Jinx"	Bruce Seth Green	Gary H. Miller	December 16, 1987 (1987-12-16)

Season 4 (The Bulls Mean Business, 1988–89)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
37	1	"The Bulls Own Up"	Stan Lathan	Gary H. Miller	October 5, 1988 (1988-10-05)
38	2	"The Inmates Buy the Asylum"	Stan Lathan	Kenneth R. Carlton	October 12, 1988 (1988-10-12)
39	3	"Caught in the Draft"	Stan Lathan	Zach Wechsler & Jay Abramowitz	October 19, 1988 (1988-10-19)
40	4	"Down and Out in Bulls' Stadium"	Stan Lathan	Barry Gurstein & David Pitlik	October 26, 1988 (1988-10-26)
41	5	"…The Clock Runs Out"	Stan Lathan	Barry Gurstein & David Pitlik	November 2, 1988 (1988-11-02)
42	6	"The Dark Side"	Stan Lathan	Danny Rivera	November 9, 1988 (1988-11-09)
43	7	"Saturday, Bloody Saturday"	Stan Lathan	Stephen Glantz	November 16, 1988 (1988-11-16)
44	8	"Injustice for All"	Stan Lathan	Gary H. Miller	November 23, 1988 (1988-11-23)
45	9	"Team Picture"	Stan Lathan	Kenneth R. Carlton	November 30, 1988 (1988-11-30)
46	10	"Out of the Past"	Stan Lathan	Jay Abramowitz	December 7, 1988 (1988-12-07)
47	11	"Final Bow"	Stan Lathan	Zach Wechsler	December 14, 1988 (1988-12-14)
48	12	"Duty Calls"	Stan Lathan	Farnsworth Gallagher	December 21, 1988 (1988-12-21)
49	13	"The High and the Mighty"	Stan Lathan	Farnsworth Gallagher	December 28, 1988 (1988-12-28)
50	14	"The Irreducible Bottom Line"	Stan Lathan	Marty Kurtz	January 4, 1989 (1989-01-04)

Season 5 (Do It Again, 1989–90)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
51	1	"The Book According to Zagreb"	Stan Lathan	Maxwell Pitt	October 11, 1989 (1989-10-11)
52	2	"The Con"	Stan Lathan	Maxwell Pitt	October 18, 1989 (1989-10-18)
53	3	"False Start"	Stan Lathan	Tom O'Brien	October 25, 1989 (1989-10-25)
54	4	"Mind Games"	Stan Lathan	Bill Fuller & Jim Pond	November 1, 1989 (1989-11-01)
55	5	"Love and Marriage"	Stan Lathan	Scott Spencer Gorden	November 8, 1989 (1989-11-08)
56	6	"Clean and Sober"	Stan Lathan	Richard Marcus	November 15, 1989 (1989-11-15)
57	7	"Blood Money"	Stan Lathan	Maxwell Pitt	November 22, 1989 (1989-11-22)
58	8	"Vindication"	Stan Lathan	Daniel Finneran	December 6, 1989 (1989-12-06)
59	9	"Gunn and Bullette"	Stan Lathan	David Ehrman	December 13, 1989 (1989-12-13)
60	10	"Heaven Help Me"	Stan Lathan	Maxwell Pitt	December 20, 1989 (1989-12-20)
61	11	"Surprise, Surprise"	Stan Lathan	W. Reed Moran & Grant Moran and Maxwell Pitt	December 27, 1989 (1989-12-27)
62	12	"All's Fair in Love and Football"	Ethan Lathan	Scott Spencer Gorden	January 10, 1990 (1990-01-10)
63	13	"Earn This One for Ernie"	Stan Lathan	Richard Marcus	January 17, 1990 (1990-01-17)
64	14	"Who Stole Johnny Gunn?"	Stan Lathan	Maxwell Pitt	January 24, 1990 (1990-01-24)

Season 6 (1990–91)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
65	1	"Opening Night"	Peter Bonerz	Bruce Kirschbaum	October 3, 1990 (1990-10-03)
66	2	"Old Dogs... New Tricks"	Peter Bonerz	Scott Spencer Gorden	October 10, 1990 (1990-10-10)
67	3	"She's Ba-ack"	Peter Bonerz	Richard Marcus	October 17, 1990 (1990-10-17)
68	4	"Altared States"	Peter Bonerz	David Ehrman	October 24, 1990 (1990-10-24)
69	5	"Going in Style"	Peter Bonerz	Maxwell Pitt	October 31, 1990 (1990-10-31)
70	6	"Don't Powerburst My Bubble"	Peter Bonerz	Tom O'Brien	November 7, 1990 (1990-11-07)
71	7	"The Squeeze"	Peter Bonerz	Jim Kearns	November 14, 1990 (1990-11-14)
72	8	"Take My Wives... Please!"	Peter Bonerz	Nick Arnold	November 21, 1990 (1990-11-21)
73	9	"Bull Day Afternoon"	Peter Bonerz	Bruce Kirschbaum	November 28, 1990 (1990-11-28)
74	10	"Sex, Bulls and Videotape"	Peter Bonerz	Larry Balmagia	December 5, 1990 (1990-12-05)
75	11	"Irma Za-greb"	Peter Bonerz	Richard Marcus	December 12, 1990 (1990-12-12)
76	12	"If I Didn't Play Football"	Peter Bonerz	Scott Spencer Gorden	December 19, 1990 (1990-12-19)
77	13	"A Roast is a Roast"	Peter Bonerz	Richard Marcus	December 26, 1990 (1990-12-26)
78	14	"Close Encounters of the Third Down"	Peter Bonerz	Scott Spencer Gorden	January 9, 1991 (1991-01-09)
79	15	"Flashbacks"	Jonathan Debin	Bruce Kirschbaum	January 16, 1991 (1991-01-16)
80	16	"Championship Game"	Peter Bonerz	Larry Balmagia	January 23, 1991 (1991-01-23)

Syndication and home media

At the height of the O. J. Simpson murder case, the show made its way to syndicated reruns. The complete series was released on DVD on January 24, 2006.

The original HBO versions ran for 30 minutes, while the edited-for-syndication versions ran for 22 minutes, and had some dialog and scenes edited for content, as well as the addition of a laugh-track. The majority of episodes on the "Complete Collection" DVD are the syndicated versions.^[3]

The original opening credits showed former professional football player Fran Tarkenton introducing the players and the plot points at the beginning of each episode. Completely different closing credits were originally used, too. They showed credits rolling over scenes from the episode. In syndication, these were replaced with later opening credits featuring Miracle Miles Coolidge (even though he did not join the cast until the last season) and a generic "Copyright 1991" disclaimer on a blue background respectively.

In popular culture

Outtake promos for the "championship" season with OJ and Marcus Allen were featured in the 2016 Oscar-winning documentary OJ: Made in America.^[4]^[5]

References

^ "Television & Film Helmets". Misterhabs.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-12.
^ "Movie/TV helmets". Mghelmets.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-12.
^ "HBO Classics: 1ST & TEN". 12 November 2013. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
^ "O.J.: Made in America (2016)-Connections-IMDB". IMDb. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
^ "1st & Ten: The Championship Season (TV Series 1984-1991)-Connections-IMDB". IMDb. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2018-10-26.

External links

1st and Ten at IMDb

[1] "Television & Film Helmets". Misterhabs.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-12.

[2] "Movie/TV helmets". Mghelmets.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-12.

[3] "HBO Classics: 1ST & TEN". 12 November 2013. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2018-10-26.

[4] "O.J.: Made in America (2016)-Connections-IMDB". IMDb. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2018-10-26.

[5] "1st & Ten: The Championship Season (TV Series 1984-1991)-Connections-IMDB". IMDb. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2018-10-26.

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