Evening Shade was an American comedy television series which aired on CBS from 1990 to 1994.The sitcom starred Burt Reynolds as Wood Newton, an ex-professional football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who returns to rural Evening Shade, Arkansas to coach a high school football team with a long losing streak. Reynolds personally requested to using the Steelers as his former team because he is a fan or so called member of Steeler Nation.

The general theme of the show was the appeal of small town life. Episodes ended with a closing narration by Ossie Davis summing up the events of the episode, always closing with "... in a place called Evening Shade.". The shows final episode saw the guest appearances of Willie Nelson and Buzz Aldrin as escaped convicts on the run from authorities, the final scene being a spectacular shoot-out reminiscent of the final scene of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid".

Characters

Main

• Woodrow "Wood" Newton (Burt Reynolds)
• Ava Evans Newton (Marilu Henner)
• Evan Evans (Hal Holbrook)
• Ponder Blue (Ossie Davis)
• Dr. Harlan Eldridge (Charles Durning)
• Herman Stiles (Michael Jeter)
• Taylor Newton (Jay R. Ferguson)
• Molly Newton (Melissa Renée Martin) (1990-1991), (Candace Hutson) (1991-1994)
• Will Newton (Jacob Parker)
• Nub Oliver (Charlie Dell)
• Frieda Evans (Elizabeth Ashley)
• Merleen Eldridge (Ann Wedgeworth)
• Fontana Beausoleil (Linda Gehringer)
• Margaret Fouch (Ann Hearn)

Recurring

• Dorothy (Jane Abbott)
• Virgil (Burton Gilliam)
• Andrew Phillpot (David A.R. White)
• Doug (Nick Toth)
• Aimee Thompson (Hilary Swank) (1991-1992), (Ari Meyers) (1992-1993)
• Emily Newton (Alexa Vega) (1993-1994)

Production

The show's production company, Mozark Productions, was a joint venture by creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason of Missouri and her husband, Arkansas native Harry Thomason, which concurrently produced another successful show set in the South, Designing Women. Hal Holbrook's Designing Women character was killed off to free the actor to star in the newer program.

The series was produced in association with CBS Productions (now CBS Television Distribution), Burt Reynolds Productions and MTM Enterprises (now 20th Television).

Due to this partnership, the DVD rights were not settled until 2008, with CBS having been awarded the US home video rights, while MTM successor 20th Century Fox got international rights (similar arrangements are made with other TV shows whose underlying rights are owned by two different companies). CBS DVD/Paramount Home Entertainment has now released the entire first season on DVD, albeit with music changes and rescoring. Fox has yet to make even an announcement regarding international releases.

DVD release

On July 15, 2008, CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) released Season 1 of Evening Shade on DVD in Region 1.

DVD Name	Ep#	Release Date
Season One	24	July 15, 2008

External links