Enjoyed this show.


I really enjoyed this show. It's a shame that it only lasted one season. Couldn't the networks have given it a little more time?

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Didn't they start a second season and called it "James at 16," but only made a few episodes?

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This was just about my favorite show when it was cancelled. There was, in fact, a second season called James at 16. I'm not sure how many episodes were made. I wish Nick at Night, or Ted Turner, or whoever owns this show will at least run it sometime.

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I liked this show a lot too. Lance seemed to be pretty popular around this time of the 70's, he was perfect for James at 15. Then he kind of fadded away.

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if so, please email me ! thanks

[email protected]

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I have 3 or 4 6hour tapes of James at 15 and 16. I really loved this show also. One of the episodes sound is no very good but the others are in pretty good condition. I wish they would rerun it again I tape it when it was on A&E network. Write me back if want to know more info. thanks

[email protected]

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I think it was on for two seasons, and the second was James at 16. Might not have made it all the way to the end of the season though. It was one of my favorite shows growing up.

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i was 15 when it was shown in the philippines and i have never watched it again, even on reruns. up to now, it is on my mind. i loved this show very much.

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It was only on for one season. For some reason they changed the name of the show in the middle of the first season.

Here's a list of the episodes:

http://www.tvrage.com/shows/id-71/episode_list/

I found this in the James at 15 trivia section:

Trivia for
"James at 15" (1977)

* Beginning on 9 February 1978 this series was known as "James at 16".





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I lived in Hong Kong throughout most of the 1970's and this was essential viewing on Saturday mornings, I related to it as I was the same age as the lead characters. James had a best friend who was black who was very funny, and I remember him falling in love with a Swedish exchange student.
Fantastic character observations. I wish it could be found again on some cable or satelitte station.

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I was 12 when I watched this show and I really liked it. The funny thing is, though, I really don't remember it well. Does that make sense? That is, I used to like to watch it, but I don't really remember much of it - any episodes, etc. except that James was a photographer and had a dark room under the stairs, I think...

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Pretty good. I forgot about the darkroom and photography, but you're right. I also loved this show but don't remember too much about it. The only episode I really remember is when there was a deaf kid in school, and James wanted to see what it was like for him. He put some wax in his ears so he couldn't hear. The only other thing I remember about that episode was that James almost got beat up when he didn't throw a basketball back to some street kids, because he couldn't hear them when they asked him to throw it back.

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That's the episode I remember the most, with the Swedish Girl. I remember when they started making out, Rod Stewarts 'Tonights the Night' was playing. To this day whenever I hear that song, I remember that show. It's to bad it got cancelled. Almost twenty years later the same thing happened with Freaks and Geeks.

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the reason was James had a birthday. He was no longer 15.

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you can get the entire series at ioffer.com

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And I recall this tryst was the finale of season 1 and as a consequence the next year they called it James at 16

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I loved "James at 15/16" also and was saddened that Lance Kerwin faded into drugs and obscurity. I wish he'd come back with "James at 46."

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I remember the big outrage when James lost his virginity -- he was a virgin before that, right? I think some local stations wouldn't show the episode in certain markets. It seems like there were only a few episodes of "James at 16," and we never got to see James at 17 or beyond. That's too bad.

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YES, I remember that movie! Wow, you've just taken me back 30 years. That title was vaguely familiar, but when you mentioned the mother displaying his wet sheets out the window, it all came back to me. It's amazing how some of those corny/soapy/trashy TV movies stick with us. I'd love to find that.

A little off-topic here, but remember "Born Innocent," a TV movie from 1974 in which Linda Blair is sent to a reform school? It has a notorious rape scene. There's also "Sarah T, Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic," where Linda hits the bottle and Larry Hagman plays her dad in a bit of typecasting. I found both on DVD.

There were lots of "Portrait" TV movies in the '70s and early '80s: "Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway" with Eve Plumb, and "Portrait of a Teenage Shoplifter." Also the "Little Ladies of the Night."

And don't get me started on the ABC After School specials, starring the usual suspects: Kristy and Jimmy McNichol, Scott Baio, Linda Purl, Valerie Bertinelli.

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A lot of those DVDs (or DVD-R's) of TV movies are ripoffs, just people who have bad copies of shows making more bad copies and profiting from it. But sometimes you just have to buy a bootleg to get it out of your system. The plot for "The Loneliest Runner" sounds pretty bizarre now, so I wonder if it's because teenage bedwetting is no longer a problem or because the networks no longer want to address it? Regardless, his mother was horrible.

And "Little Darlings" was that Kristy McNichol/Tatum O'Neil film at the summer camp.

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I loved "Dawn: Portrait Of A Teenage Runaway" when I was a kid. I thought I was going to faint when I saw Eve Plumb in those skimpy hooker outfits. It's on youtube. Please click on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_ymje93Kuo

I discovered "James At 15" on reruns on the A&E channel in the mid '80s. My bro and I loved it ... as a goof. Now I realize that it was a very good show.

Since the mid-1990s, Lance Kerwin has not acted. He has worked as a minister with UTurn4Christ in Kaua'i, Hawaii. In 2010 Kerwin and his wife Yvonne pleaded guilty to falsifying documents to obtain food stamps and state medical assistance. The prosecutor stated Kerwin failed to mention in his application that he owned three properties on the mainland in Hawaii. Kerwin was sentenced to five years of probation and 300 hours of community service. At the time of his sentencing, he had paid nearly $22,000 in restitution. His wife was also ordered to pay crime victim compensation fees and to complete 300 hours of community service

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Thanks for the link to "Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway"! I love all those "Portrait" films ("Sarah T.: Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic," "Portrait of a Stripper," "Portrait of a Showgirl," etc.). They were a fascinating mix of exploitation and social consciousness.

It's unfortunate that Lance Kerwin left acting – and even more unfortunate the way his life turned out.

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Don't forget "Sweet Hostage" starring Linda Blair, of course. Martin Sheen costarred as a fugitive mental patient who kidnaps a simple farm girl played by Blair. Then they became lovers. I don't think that movie would be made today. Please click on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz1bWfAluCA

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"Sweet Hostage" looks very cool. Thanks for the link!

And no, they wouldn't make that today unless Linda Blair were older and Martin Sheen were younger.

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In my opinion the most underrated show I've seen. Good acting and scripts all around. David Hubbard was superb. Just a shame that alleged "oldie" stations like TV Land are still ignoring it!

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This was a great series and is a shame it only lasted a short time. The one episode that I remember that got rave reviews was the one where James befriended a deaf kid. I wish they would show these episodes again so we could enjoy them. A shame indeed.

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I really enjoyed this show. It's a shame that it only lasted one season. Couldn't the networks have given it a little more time?


Yeah, it seems that the best shows like this get shafted (they did the same thing to Freaks & Geeks). Bastards!

I loved this show and even though it wasn't on long, the four things that have stuck with me all this time are:

1. The theme song

2. the virginity ep. They actually aired it in Seattle -- who knew it was "controversial"? Certainly not me

3. The "deaf" ep where James tried to experince what it was like for his deaf friend

4. The ep where one of his black classmantes invited him to his house and it was nothing like what James imagined. And for those who don't remember, he imagined a wildy "enthnic" decorated home with parents who dressed in Soul Train like clothes and had loud funky music playing. What he experieinced was a ordinary home, conservatively decorated, parents dressed like "regular folk" who listened to Classical music - made me LMAO!

For me, one of the things I enjoyed most about the show was James' daydreams.





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I don't know. I remeber being forced to watch this show, because my Mom liked it,and we only had the one TV back then, but I always thought this show was just a bit creepy. It was just plain weird. Just my opinion, but I don't have fond memories of it.
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16 y.o.'s uncle pays for a hooker, excuse me, "call girl", for a birthday present - and you think it's creepy? A bit? You nailed it!

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I mostly just remember the title of the show and I liked it a lot. I might remember it better if I got to watch it more, but I was the only one in the house that liked that kind of thing, unfortunately it seems there isn't a big enough market for tv and film that actually make you think.

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I had forgotten all about this show. I happened to see a photo of Kerwin and thought he looked familiar but I couldn't place him. I was 17 when I watched; I wonder if I would like it now.

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I was 12 when this show aired and had such a huge crush on Lance Kerwin. It was a very controversial show especially the "virginity" episode, but he was only 16 and I don't remember if they used any birth control or not.

Lance Kerwin was in a lot of TV movies in the 70s, I think he might have just decided to do something else. He was a natural actor.

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A lot of memories: "Salem's Lot", "Children of Divorce",... He showed up in a couple of theatrical movies before he stopped acting: "Enemy Mine" and "Outbreak."

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