"James at 16" Pilot (1977)"James at 15" Pilot (original title)

Director:

Joseph Hardy

Writer:

Dan Wakefield (written by)

TV Series:

"James at 16" (1977)

Original Air Date:

5 September 1977 (Season 1, Episode 1)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A 15-year-old whose family moves from Oregon to Boston misses the girlfriend he left behind, so he runs away to see her...

Plot Keywords:

TV Series Pilot | Teenager | Based On Novel | Character Name In Title | Photographer

Cast

Lance Kerwin	...	James Hunter
Linden Chiles	...	Alan Hunter
Lynn Carlin	...	Meg Hunter
Kim Richards	...	Sandy Hunter
Melissa Sue Anderson	...	Lacey Stevens
Vincent Van Patten	...	Rip Lindeman
Kate Jackson	...	Robin
Deirdre Berthrong	...	Kathy Hunter
Marc McClure	...	Richie Gammons
Dennis Rucker	...	Tiger
Jenifer Shaw	...	Mrs. Larson
K Callan	...	Mrs. Stevens
Anne Seymour	...	Miss Moger
John Devlin	...	Salesman
Tom Lacy	...	Counselor
Benny Medina	...	Roland
Michael Biehn	...	Tony
Lanny Horn	...	Tom
Raymond Singer	...	Jonah
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Frank Verroca	...	Fred Sherwood (uncredited)
Donald Warnock	...	Park Street Station Hanger-on (uncredited)

Directed by
Joseph Hardy

Writing credits
Dan Wakefield		(written by)

Produced by
Martin Manulis	....	producer

Original Music by
Richard Baskin

Cinematography by
Charles F. Wheeler		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
John Loeffler
J. Frank O'Neill

Casting by
Ramsay King
Joe Scully

Art Direction by
Kim Swados

Set Decoration by
Bert Allen
Richard D. Kent		(as Richard Kent)

Production Management
Jack Barry	....	unit production manager
Mark Evans	....	executive production manager
Joseph Silver	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Carl 'Major' Roup	....	assistant director (as Major Roup)

Sound Department
Don Higgins	....	sound editor
Gary Vaughan	....	sound editor
John Speak	....	sound designer (uncredited)

Stunts
Hubie Kerns Jr.	....	stunts (uncredited)
Steve Walters	....	stunt performer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Lola Bullion Chambers	....	set costumer (set costumer)

Music Department
John R. Harris	....	music editor
Lionel Newman	....	music supervisor

Transportation Department
Chris Haynes	....	driver (uncredited)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Dan Wakefield		creator

Production Companies

• 20th Century Fox Television

Distributors

• National Broadcasting Company (NBC)

Also Known As:

"James at 15: Pilot (#1.1)" - USA (original title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Movie Connections:

Followed by "James at 16" (1977)

Over-hyped Politically Correct Garbage

For a few years in the mid-1970s, Lance Kerwin, Robby Benson, and Shaun Cassidy were the most over-hyped teenage actors on earth. Kerwin had the weirdest looking face, he always reminded me of some kind of lizard. Unlike Shaun (and David) Cassidy, who at least tried to be cool, Kerwin and Robby Benson went for the Politically Correct Sensitive Teenager awards.

In The Death of Richie, Benson and Kerwin played confused teens who turn to drugs. Of course, they were the victims. In The Family Holvak, Kerwin was the confused teenage boy trying to cope with family problems. In James At 15, Kerwin was the confused teenager trying to deal with being 15 years old. Yes, that was the whole story. Back in the 1970s, the Politically Correct crowd concluded that the reason that teenagers were doing drugs, murdering, raping, and committing suicide was because they were misunderstood. So a ton of TV shows and TV movies popped up about confused teenagers, and Lance Kerwin and Robby Benson were in most of those movies. Did I mention The Loneliest Runner, where Kerwin played a 14 year old bed-wetter? Anyhow, like all his other TV movies, in James at 15, Lance Kerwin played a very sensitive, sweet, sincere, confused teenage boy who has to cope with the problems around him and the demands of his family, friends, and school.

A really insipid show, with a saccharine actor like Lance Kerwin. Clichés abound, and every corny idea is explored. The moral of the story is that James at 15 is confused. Audiences were supposed to tune in to see James deal with such challenging issues as what cereal to eat; whether or not to like girls or boys; get high; go joyriding; disobey his Dad; talk back to his teachers, skip class, etc. No matter what happened to James, he was always unhappy about it; because he was so sensitive and sweet, and nobody understood James, and that confused him.