James at 15
| James at 15 | |
|---|---|
Lance Kerwin and Melissa Sue Anderson
in the pilot movie, James at 15. |
|
| Also known as | ''James at 16'' |
| Genre | Drama |
| Created by | Dan Wakefield |
| Written by | Wally Dalton Bill Nuss Dan Wakefield Shelley Zellman |
| Directed by |
Marc Daniels Joseph Hardy Peter Levin Ernest A. Losso Ernest Pintoff James Sheldon George Tyne |
| Starring |
Lance Kerwin Linden Chiles Lynn Carlin Kim Richards Deirdre Berthrong |
| Theme music composer | John Ford Coley |
| Opening theme | "James" performed by Lee Montgomery |
| Composer(s) |
Miles Goodman Jimmie Haskell J.A.C. Redford |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 1 movie / 20 episodes |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Joseph Hardy Martin Manulis |
| Producer(s) | Ernest A. Losso Ronald Rubin |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes |
| Production company(s) | 20th Century Fox Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release |
TV movie / Pilot September 5, 1977 Series October 27, 1977 – June 29, 1978 |
James at 15 (later James at 16) is an American drama series that aired on NBC during the 1977-1978 season. The series was preceded by the 1977 made-for-TV movie James at 15, which aired on Monday September 5, 1977 and was intended as a pilot for the series. Both were written by Dan Wakefield, a journalist and fiction writer whose novel Going All the Way, a tale of coming of age in the 1950s, had led to his being contacted by David Sontag of Twentieth Century Fox. David Sontag had had a lunch meeting in New York City with Paul Klein, the head of programming at NBC. At lunch Klein said he needed a series for Sunday night. On the spot Sontag created the idea for a coming of age series seen through the eyes of a teenage boy including his dreams, fantasies, and hopes. Klein loved the idea and asked Sontag who would write it. Sontag (Sr, VP of Creative Affairs at Twentieth Century Fox) suggested Dan Wakefield. Despite the above unsourced account of the creation of the series, the on-screen credit reads "Created by Dan Wakefield."
Protagonist James Hunter (Lance Kerwin) was the son of a college professor (Linden Chiles) who moved his family across the country to take a teaching job, transplanting James from Oregon to Boston, Massachusetts. James, who had Walter Mitty-like dreams and dabbled in photography, had a hard time fitting into his new surroundings. During the series run, James turned 16; the title was updated accordingly.
Wakefield, who was born and raised in Indianapolis but eventually moved to Boston, said he chose Boston both because he wanted to write about a city he knew well and also because he was tired of television's tendency to give programs Los Angeles or New York City settings. To update his own memories of growing up, the writer spoke with adolescents from Boston.
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Wikipedia