1976 - 1976
5.5 / 10
2 votes
1 Seasons • 7 Episodes
Overview
Ball Four is a 1976 American situation comedy that aired on CBS in 1976. The series is inspired by the 1970 book of the same name by Jim Bouton. Bouton co-created the show with humorist and television critic Marvin Kitman and sportswriter Vic Ziegel. Bouton also starred in the series. Ball Four followed the Washington Americans, a fictitious minor league baseball team, dealing with the fallout from a series of Sports Illustrated articles written by Americans player Jim Barton. Like the book, the series covered controversial subjects including womanizing players, drug use, homosexuality in sports and religion. The series included a gay rookie ballplayer, one of the earliest regular gay characters on television. The trio began developing the series in 1975, looking to other series like M*A*S*H and All in the Family as models. CBS expressed interest and the creative team developed a script. CBS shot the pilot episode and ultimately bought the series. Ball Four aired at 8:30 PM Eastern time, which was during the Family Viewing Hour, an FCC-mandated hour of early evening "family-friendly" broadcasting. Consequently the writers had some trouble with the network's Standards and Practices in their attempt to portray realistic locker room scenes, especially the language used by the players. Pseudo-profanity such as "bullpimp" was disallowed, while "horse-crock" and "bullhorse" were approved.Seasons
Episodes
What I Like About You
2002
Keeping Up Appearances
1990
El Chavo del Ocho
1973
That '70s Show
1998
Growing Pains
1985
The European Side
2004
Only Fools and Horses
1981
Ever Decreasing Circles
1984
Two Guys and a Girl
1998
As Time Goes By
1992
The Drew Carey Show
1995
Sex and the City
1998
The Andy Griffith Show
1960
Blue Water High
2005
Less than Perfect
2002
7 vidas
1999
Nathan Barley
2005
A Different World
1987
To the Manor Born
1979
Ink
1996