Reboot of ‘Coach’ benched

A few weeks after a pilot was shot for NBC’s reboot of “Coach,” the network has decided not to pursue the project.

The show once again would have starred Craig T. Nelson as coach Hayden Fox and Landrum resident Pam Stone as Judy Watkins.

Stone, a popular The (Spartanburg) Herald-Journal columnist, author and stand-up comic, had hoped to appear in 13 episodes of the reboot.

The original series, which aired from 1989 to 1997, also starred Jerry Van Dyke as Luther, Shelley Fabares as Christine, and Bill Fagerbakke as Dauber.

Stone went to Los Angeles in early August and spent 10 days filming the pilot episode. She reprised her role as Judy Watkins, who was Hayden Fox’s nemesis on the series.

At the time, Stone said she understood that “this new incarnation of ‘Coach’ is a sequel, where we pick up 20 years into the future,” she said. “Coach is retired and his adopted son is now a young, grown man who has been named the head coach of an Ivy League school. He asks his father to come out of retirement and work as his assistant coach,” she said.

The (Spartanburg) Herald-Journal

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Reboot of ‘Coach’ benched."