| The Bear Bryant Show | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sports |
| Presented by | Bear Bryant John Forney Bill Austin Charley Thornton Steadman Shealy |
| No. of seasons | 25 |
| No. of episodes | 250+ |
| Production | |
| Production location | Birmingham, Alabama |
| Original release | |
| Network | WVTM-TV |
| Release | 1958 (1958) – 1982 (1982) |
The Bear Bryant Show is a weekly coaches' show that served as a weekly recap of theAlabama Crimson Tide football team's previous day's game. The show ran during the tenure ofhead coachPaul "Bear" Bryant from the1958 through the1982 seasons. Co-hosted by John Forney (1961–1965), Bill Austin (1966),Charley Thornton (1967–1981) andSteadman Shealy (1982),The Bear Bryant Show was a cultural phenomenon within thestate ofAlabama that contributed to the rise in popularity and awareness of the university's football program during the 1960s and 1970s. The show ran for an hour during its entire run.
As part of Bryant's contract with the University, he retained all of the rights to Alabama football game films.[1] As such, he became one of the first collegiate football head coaches to have his own television program with the start ofThe Bear Bryant Show in 1958.[1] Bryant was paid $3,000 per show and insisted on it being an hour long in order to cover the game in its entirety and for its perceivedrecruiting benefits.[2][3] In 1966, the show became one of the first television shows produced in the state of Alabama to be broadcast in color.[4]
During the 25-year run of the program, several persons served as its co-host alongside Bryant. From the1961 through1965 seasons, the show was co-hosted by former Alabama broadcaster John Forney.[5] Bill Austin, sports director ofWCFT-TV in Tuscaloosa, co-hosted the 1966 season,Charley Thornton was later brought on as co-host and served alongside coach Bryant through the1981 season.[6] At the conclusion of that season, Thornton left Alabama to become an executive athletics director atTexas A&M University.[6] In September 1982, former Crimson TidequarterbackSteadman Shealy was selected to serve as the co-host for the show.[7] The announcement was made by theproducer of the program, Sloan-Major Advertising.[7] The show ended at the conclusion of the1982 season with the retirement of Bryant as head coach of the Crimson Tide.[5] During its run, over 250 episodes were produced and for several years the show was one of the highest-ratedsyndicated television shows in the country.[5]
Although over 250 episodes were produced, only 77 episodes survive on tape.[8] So few recordings of the show remain as a result of both the show being aired live, and many of the videotapes used to record the show in the 1970s being reused week-to-week.[5] Many of the tapes that date back to the 1970s were recorded at the request of the father of former Alabamahalfback Mike Stock, so he could watch highlights of his son with the Crimson Tide.[8] In 1992, Golden Flake and Coke donated the 77 surviving episodes to thePaul W. Bryant Museum, and in 2001 an exhibition that featured the show called "Sundays at Four" opened at the Bryant Museum.[9] Efforts to re-release the show onDVD have been discussed at various times, but have yet to yield fruit.[10]
The title sponsors of the show were theBirmingham Coca-Cola Bottling Company andGolden Flake Snack Foods.[8] Their slogan was "a great pair, says the Bear," and each episode opened with Bryant and his co-host opening a bag of Golden Flakepotato chips and bottles ofCoca-Cola.[3][4][11]
Culturally, the show reflected many of the values of the state not only in the way Bryant spoke about the game, but also in how he spoke about God, family and country.[1] The ability of Bryant to connect with the fan base through the show helped to both "create and sustain the legend of Bear Bryant" as observed by Keith Dunnavant.[12] During the 1960s and 1970s,National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules prohibited teams from appearing in more than two televised games onABC per season.[13] As such,The Bear Bryant Show became the primary way that fans of the Crimson Tide from across the state were able to see the games.[13] For years, the show aired on Sundays at 4:00 p.m., and its popularity regularly caused many of the stations that carried it topreempt live coverage ofNational Football League games during the same timeslot.[3][5] In addition to providing the fans a way to see highlights from the weekly games, the show was also watched by Crimson Tide players to see what coach Bryant had to say about their individual performances.[4][14]
Located in:Tuscaloosa, Alabama | |||||
| Academics |  | ||||
| People | |||||
| Campus | |||||
| Athletics |
| ||||
| History | |||||
| Media | |||||
| Other | |||||
| |||||