James At 15
was one of TV's most honest attempts to portray the pains and joys of growing up
in the 1970's. Fifteen-year-old James was a bright, sensitive boy who found his
world completely disrupted when his father, a college professor, moved the
family from Oregon to Boston, Mass., in order to accept a new teaching position.
At first
James tried to run away; then he began to learn how to cope with life in a new
city environment. Among his new friends at Bunker Hill High School were a hip
black kid named Sly, who always had a little sage advice, or, "slychology," when
James needed it; and Marlene, a plain but very intelligent girl who always took
the intellectual point of view. Sandy was James’s teenage sister, and Kathy was
their older sister.
James was an
avid photographer and also a daydreamer. One of the novel elements of the series
was his periodic lapses into daydreaming of himself as he would like it to be –
heroic, suave, etc… - portrayed in special dream-like sequences. Although there
was comedy in James At 15, none of the main characters were caricatures,
and likewise the subject matter was sometimes rather serious: a young friend who
was dying of cancer, teenage alcoholism, venereal disease, the discovery Kathy
was having a premarital affair. Perhaps the most controversial episode was one
in which James lost his own virginity in an affair with a Swedish exchange
student, Christina Killberg (portrayed by Kirsten Baker). Although subject
matter in the series was tastefully handled, and NBC had high hopes for the
show, it did not attract a large audience and was canceled after a single
season.
Effective
February 9, 1978 - the episode dealing with James’s affair, the series’ title
was changed to James At 16.
