The San Pedro Beach Bums
From TeeVeePedia, the Internet TV Encyclopedia.
The San Pedro Beach Bums was a series of documentaries first shown on ABC in the fall of 1977. Directed and produced by Aaron Spelling, The San Pedro Beach Bums gave an uncompromising yet sympathetic look into the lives of five unemployed young men then living in the San Pedro beachside community in Los Angeles. Many critics cite The San Pedro Beach Bums as an early example of a reality television show.
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Background
In 1977, America was in the grips of a severe recession due to the effects of disco. Despite the best efforts of then-President Harrison Ford, unemployment was at its highest levels since the Great Depression. Roone Arledge, who had recently been named chairman of ABC News and ABC Sports, decided to help out by hiring some local actors as extras for Battle of the Network Stars. Arledge hired then-unknown filmmaker Aaron Spelling to film the hiring process for later broadcast on World News Tonight.
Development
On arriving at the studio, Spelling was stunned to find that over 10,000 unknowns had responded to a simple ad in the Los Angeles Tribune. Realizing that the situation was far worse than anyone had realized, Spelling turned his camera into the crowd and began filming, searching for the right people to represent the desperate situation. After several hours of filming and extensive review of the tapes, Spelling and Arledge chose five young men whose struggles would be documented. The show, initially titled The Beach Bums, was given a Monday time slot against Little House on the Prairie, which Arledge believed to be NBC's most vulnerable show.
Production Problems
Since reality television hadn't been invented yet, production of The San Pedro Beach Bums immediately ran into several problems. Key among these was exactly how "real" the real lives of the group would be. Arledge argued that the men should be shown as-is with no changes in their miserable lives. Spelling argued that the men should be moved into a house in Beverly Hills, hopefully with the actresses from Charlie's Angels. In the end, a compromise was reached; the men would move into a houseboat in the then-downtrodden community of San Pedro. The show format would be similar to that of past programs such as The Beatles.
Attempted Entry Into the NFL
Thirteen episodes of The San Pedro Beach Bums were filmed, of which ten were aired. While the show had a dedicated following, ratings for The San Pedro Beach Bums were never very high as viewers didn't want to be reminded of their problems. In an attempt to draw viewers, Spelling challenged the Los Angeles Raiders, then coached by John Madden, to a game on Monday Night Football. The winning team would get promoted to the NFL. The Raiders accepted the challenge and met the Bums in a game played in the Los Angeles Colosseum in November 1977. Led by the play of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the coaching of Madden, the Raiders proceeded to thrash the Bums in the worst beatdown in NFL history.
Aftermath
Unwilling to accept defeat, ABC broadcast a heavily edited episode of The San Pedro Beach Bums which showed the Bums beating the Raiders. Outraged, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle forced the Raiders to move from Los Angeles to Oakland and forbade NFL teams from playing in or near Los Angeles, a ban which is still in effect. The loss of the show's "reality" also drove away most of the remaining fans, and in December The San Pedro Beach Bums was cancelled in favor of Blansky's Beauties.
Remake
In 2003, the rights to The San Pedro Beach Bums were purchased by FOX. After extensive rewrites and a change in title to The O.C., the reimaged show was broadcast from 2003 until 2007.
