“The Outsiders”

A continuation of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 feature film The Outsiders, which in turn adapted S.E. Hinton’s 1967 novel, this quality drama was cancelled after only thirteen episodes were produced in 1990. When it premiered in March of 1990, it was the highest-rated dramatic series ever broadcast on the FOX network. The series dealt with the clash of social classes in a Midwestern town — between the “Greasers” and the “Socs” — and followed the trials and tribulations of three brothers living on their own in a world continually dealing them bum hands.

First published in 1967, The Outsiders told the story of two groups of teenagers, the continually down-on-their-luck Greasers and the high-class “Socs” (short for Socials), as they fought with themselves and one another trying to find their place in society. The narrator of the novel was Ponyboy Curtis, the youngest brother of three in a family that had lost their parents and were fighting to stay together. The author, S.E. Hinton, was still a teenager herself when the novel was published.

In a May 1967 review, The New York Times wrote: “At an age when most youngsters are still writing 800-word compositions, she [Hinton] has produced a book alive with the fresh dialogue of her contemporaries, and has wound around it a story that captures, in vivid patches at least, a rather unnerving slice of teen-age America” [1].

Some sixteen years later, on March 25th, 1983, a film version of The Outsiders, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, was released in theaters. The cast, made up almost entirely of contemporary or soon-to-be teen heartthrobs, included Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell and, to offset all that testosterone, Diane Lane.

Gene Siskel gave the film three-and-a-half stars, critical only of what he called “an extremely abrupt ending,” but nonetheless writing “I will always treasure this film for the way it photographs its subjects and for the poetic words they speak. The teenagers in ‘The Outsiders’ are truly noble, and on that basis I can’t think of a recent movie quite like it” [2].

Other critics were equally taken with the film. John Engstrom of The Boston Globe called it “a small, sincere and nearly perfectly realized film about adolescence in Oklahoma” and Rick Lyman of The Philadelphia Inquirer called it “welcome return to form for Coppola,” with its themes of “life, death and the swift passage of youth [...] treated intelligently and powerfully” [3, 4]. Vincent Canby of The New York Times, on the other hand, called the film “spectacularly out of touch, a laughably earnest attempt to impose heroic attitudes on some nice, small characters” [5].

The Outsiders

In March of 1989, it was reported that Francis Ford Coppola would act as executive producer on a pilot for a proposed television series based on The Outsiders, potentially to air on FOX. Casting, overseen by co-executive producer Fred Roos, producer of the film version [6]. The pilot would take the form of a two-hour sequel to the film, written by S.E. Hinton and directed by Alan Shapiro [7].

The concept was actually pitched to the other three networks before FOX picked it up. Joe Byrne and Jeb Rosebrook, co-executive producers the series, found network executives at FOX interested in acquiring the series: “They were very youth-oriented, new kids on the block, and were aggressive and wanted to do something different” [8].

Plans for the television series were firmed up somewhat in May of 1989, when FOX announced it had 13 pilots, including The Outsiders, under consideration to fill its expansion to Monday nights, to take place September 11th [9]. Eventually, however, it was decided that The Outsiders would be held in reserve as a midseason replacement for the 1989-1990 season, rather than premiering in the fall [10].

By January of 1990, however, FOX was looking to expand again, this time to Wednesday and Friday nights, and The Outsiders was listed as a possibility for Friday evenings [11]. Instead, in early March, FOX announced The Outsiders would premiere on Sunday, March 25th, with a special 90-minute episode before taking over the timeslot held by Booker, which in turn would replace The Tracey Ullman Show and It’s Garry Shandling’s Show (the former would move to Saturdays, the latter would be cancelled) [12].

Randy, Marcia, Cherry

By the time the decision to create a series based on The Outsiders was made, the actors from the film were either too famous or too old to reprise their roles. Reportedly, some 2,500 actors were auditioned by the producers before they settled on a group of relative unknowns [13]. Jay R. Ferguson won the role of Ponyboy Curtis, played in the film by C. Thomas Howell. His older brothers, Sodapop and Darry, were played by Rodney Harvey and Boyd Kestner, respectively (Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze in the film).

Steve Randle and Two-Bit Matthews, friends of the Curtis brothers, were played by Harold Pruett and David Arquette (Tom Cruise and Emilio Estevez in the film). Tim Shephard, a rough-and-tumble greaser, was played by Robert Rusler, and Buck Merrill, owner of a bar/garage, by Billy Bob Thornton (in the film, those roles were played by Glenn Withrow and Tom Waits). A new character created for the television series, a female greaser named Scout, was played by Heather McComb.

Rounding out the cast were Kim Walker as Cherry Valance, a Soc girl friendly with Ponyboy (Diane Lane in the film), and Scott Coffey, Jennifer McComb and Sean Kanan as Randy, Marcia and Greg, other Socs. The Outsiders was the television debut for Jay R. Ferguson, Boyd Kestner and David Arquette.

The Outsiders

The Outsiders was seen by many television critics as an unusual yet welcome addition to FOX’s schedule. Matt Roush of USA Today called it “a sweet family drama being enacted by some unschooled heartthrobs-to-be” as well as a “relatively harmless nostalgic diversion” [14]. Robert P. Laurence, of The San Diego Union, recognized the series as “another example of the Fox network’s willingness to take chances on unconventional stories told in unconventional ways” despite “cardboard characters, excessive violence and an episodic, disjointed story line” seen in the premiere [15].

The Los Angeles Time’s Howard Rosenberg wrote that “although the characters are too inconsistent to be entirely believable and often act too inanely to be respected, there are enough nice moments here to life ‘The Outsiders’ above the ordinary and give it promise” [16]. He also noted that “even the show’s young target audience may ultimately tire of week after week of greasers and socs sneering and snarling at each other [17]. Noel Holston of The Star Tribune worried that “in trying to pander to the prejudices of teens from the lower socioeconomic level, the producers come closer to patronizing them” [18].

The 90-minute premiere of The Outsiders, aired Sunday, March 25th, 1990 from 9:30-11PM, drew a 9.3/16 national Nielsen rating and 14.1 million viewers, and tied for 64th for the week. It was the best rating for a drama series in the history of the FOX network [19]. However, The Outsiders lost half the viewers from its Married… with Children lead-in.

The following week, in its regular 7-8PM timeslot, without the benefit of a strong lead-in, The Outsiders could only manage a 5.0/10 rating, placing it 81st for the week, ahead of only Booker, Alien Nation and The Reporters, other FOX shows [20].

Because FOX had considered using The Outsiders as a midseason replacement, it had completed filming thirteen episodes prior to premiering the series [21]. Thus, the cast and crew were forced to wait, hoping their series would be picked up for additional episodes. If the ratings warranted a second season, FOX pick up the series for the 1990-1991 season.

Kim Walker as Cherry

In the first episode, a social worker informs the Curtis brothers that if Ponyboy or Sodapop get into any trouble — any trouble at all — they are going to be taken from Darry and placed in foster care. This was a running theme in the series, as it was in the novel. The brothers want to stay together and Darry does his best to take care of his younger siblings.

Episodes of the series dealt with the typical problems that teenagers faced as well as those the greasers had to endure due to their special circumstances. In one episode, Steve, Two-Bit and Sodapop even formed a band and performed in front of their high school. Ponyboy worried about girls, dances and keeping his grades up while Sodapop dealt with the potential impact of being a father. Darry was under constant pressure to keep food on the table and his younger brothers on the right side of the law.

In the third episode, broadcast April 8th, 1990, Tim Shepard was released from jail and rejoined his greaser buddies. He had to decide whether to play it straight or fall back into his old habits. The character had appeared in the novel; he was an extra tough greaser who continually found himself trouble. He was a sort of elder statesman among the greasers.

Other episodes saw Ponyboy dealing with sex for the first time, Ponyboy and Darry fighting over whether or not to help a man who had escaped from a chain gang, Two-Bit coming to terms with his father issue after a baby girl is abandoned, and the Curtis brothers facing a tornado.

Ponyboy and Sodapop

On May 30th, 1990, after only eight episodes had been aired FOX cancelled The Outsiders, along with 21 Jump Street, Booker and Alien Nation [22]. The last first-run episode was shown on July 22nd, 1990, although repeats would continue to air through August. A total of twenty-episodes, including nine repeats, were broadcast.

Although several members of the cast went on to greater fame in the years following the demise of The Outsiders, including David Arquette and Billy Bob Thornton, the television series was not the launching pad the film version had been for the careers of its stars. And sadly, Rodney Harvey, Kim Walker and Harold Pruett have since passed away. All were in their early 30s.

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Last Updated June 26th, 2008