The Bad News Bears is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from March 24, 1979, until July 26, 1980, consisting of 26 episodes (three unaired by CBS). It was based on the 1976 film of the same name, that was followed by two sequels in 1977 and 1978.
In the television series, Jack Warden portrayed former minor-leaguer Morris Buttermaker, the coach of the W. Wendel Weever Junior High Bears, a team of young adolescents with poor skills and little ability to play baseball. Catherine Hicks played the role of Weever principal Dr. Emily Rappant, and Phillip Richard Allen played Roy Turner, the coach of rival team the Lions. Corey Feldman, Billy Jayne (then credited as Billy Jacoby) and Meeno Peluce were cast amongst the team's players, and Tricia Cast played Amanda Wurlitzer, the Bears' talented pitcher. Kristoff St. John, Cast's future co-star on The Young and the Restless, played Ahmad Abdul-Rahim.
The series was originally scheduled on Saturday nights at 8:00 p.m. In September 1979, it was moved to 8:30 p.m. Three episodes into the series' second season, CBS canceled The Bad News Bears due to low ratings. When CBS broadcast unaired episodes in June 1980, it was moved back to 8:00 p.m. One month later, the series was again moved to the 8:30 timeslot, but by then, audiences were confused by the frequent time changes and stopped tuning in.
In the late 1980s, the show was occasionally rerun on Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite. In the early 1990s, it was rerun on Comedy Central.
Visual Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 in October 2018.