The Paper Chase

From Includipedia, the inclusionist encyclopedia

The Paper Chase is a 1970 novel, as well as a 1973 film based on the novel and a television series based on the movie.

Written by John Jay Osborn, Jr., a 1970 graduate of Harvard Law School, the book tells the story of Hart, a first-year law student at Harvard, and his experiences with Professor Charles Kingsfield, the brilliant, demanding contracts instructor whom he both idolizes and finds incredibly intimidating.

[edit] The Film

The 1973 movie, based "almost word for word" on the novel according to Osborn, starred John Houseman as Kingsfield and Timothy Bottoms as Hart.

[edit] The Television Series

The CBS television network aired a one-hour drama series in the 1978–1979 season based on the movie. John Houseman reprised his movie role, and James Stephens played Hart.

Cancelled after one year, PBS subsequently rebroadcast all of the episodes.

In 1983, pay-cable network Showtime brought back the show with both Houseman and Stephens. At the end of three seasons on Showtime, Hart finally graduated law school.

In the late 1980s, The Family Channel rebroadcast the entire series in a late-night time slot, at midnight Eastern Time, which did not receive wide reception.^{[citation needed]} The series was later seen in the early-2000s on GoodLife Television.

The characters of the film and the TV series were different in several ways. For instance, in the film Kingsfield was a remote, almost god-like figure, but he became somewhat more accessible in the TV series.

Template:Drama-tv-prog-stub