JAMES AT 15

Show Type: Drama

First Telecast: October 27, 1977

Last Telecast: July 27, 1978

Broadcast History:

October 1977 – March 1978, Thursday 9:00-10:00 on NBC

June 1978 – July 1978, Thursday 9:00-10:00 on NBC

Cast

James Hunter..... Lance Kerwin

Mr. Paul Hunter..... Linden Chiles

Mrs. Joan Hunter..... Lynn Carlin

Sandy Hunter..... Kim Richards

Kathy Hunter..... Deirdre Berthrong

Sly Hazeltine..... David Hubbard

Marlene Mahoney..... Susan Myers

Mr. Shamley..... Jack Knight

SYNOPSIS

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.

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