Outsiders, The

1 9 9 0 (USA)
1 x 90 minute episode
12 x 60 minute episodes

Based on the S. E. Hinton “young adult” novel and the 1983 movie version from Francis Ford Coppola  (which starred Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise and Leif Garrett), this hour-long Fox Television series was also created and produced by Coppola and picked up two weeks after the movie ended with the police shooting death of Dallas Winston (Matt Dillon).

The television cast, though, were significantly lower on the marquee than the cast of the film. Jay R Ferguson, Boyd Kestner and David Arquette were not only not household names, they had never appeared on the tube until The Outsiders.

Set in Oklahoma in 1966, the stories were told through the eyes of 15-year-old Ponyboy Curtis (Ferguson), who, with his barely older brother Sodapop (Rodney Harvey), was put under the charge of their adult brother Darrel (Kestner) after their parents died.

The Curtis boys were “greasers”. Their friends were the toughest-of-them-all Tim Shepard (Robert Rusler), Two-Bit Mathews (Arquette), Steve Randle (Harold Pruett) and the 14-year-old tomboy Scout Jenkins (Heather McComb).

Over on the other side were the “Socs” (pronounced ‘soashes’ and short for ‘socialites’): tease Cherry Valance (Kim Walker), prepster Randy Anderson (Scott Coffey), square-chinned Gregg (Sean Kanan)  and cute Marcia (Jennifer McComb).

Guests in the episodes included Patricia Arquette, Jenny Agutter, Michael Madsen, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The TV version of The Outsiders had something of a chronology problem. It was about 1950s heroes and villains, ostensibly set in the 1960s, intended to appeal to 1970s teenagers with characters spouting 1980s speech patterns and ideas.

The series lasted less than one season.

Ponyboy Curtis
Jay R Ferguson
Sodapop Curtis
Rodney Harvey
Darrel ‘Darry’ Curtis
Boyd Kestner
Keith ‘Two-Bit’ Mathews
David Arquette
Steve Randle
Harold Pruett
Tim Shepard
Robert Rusler
Sherri ‘Cherry’ Valance
Kim Walker
Belinda ‘Scout’ Jenkins
Heather McComb
Buck Merrill
Billy Bob Thornton
Randy Anderson
Scott Coffey
Gregg Parker
Sean Kanan
Marcia
Jennifer McComb