You won't be disappointed!

Good concept, poorly executed.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Coach was one of my favorite shows during the 90's. Craig T. Nelson was fantastic as Hayden Fox and the show had a great sense of humor. Now that was for the first six seasons where Coach knew how to continue to grow as a show. They had known that Stuart had worn out his welcome and replaced him, they knew that Kelly and her whiney child act had grown old and replaced her, and they knew that the focus was better when the show concentrated on the three coaches. Season 7, though, was the start of the decline of the show. Luther's character went from a bumbling Three Stooges type of caricature to a mean spirited, spoiled, self-centered character who was no longer funny or endearing. By season 8 the Luther was so spiteful and mean that I actually hated his character and that continued until the end of the show. Season 8 was a big mistake and the end of the show - even though it went another year - this was the beginning of the end. The entire NFL run made a mockery of the show that everyone had known and loved - it was so bad that ratings went down and it caused a beloved show to be cancelled. Nothing was good about seasons 8 and 9 - it made a fool out of Coach Fox, it continued the nastiness of Luther Van Damme and introduced the two worse characters in the entire 9 year run: Doris and Martine. Even getting rid of the ridiculous houseman Martine was too late to save the show. While Katherine Helmond was great in SOAP (and a bit in Who's the Boss), she was dreadful and annoying in Coach. A 10 for seasons 1-6, an 8 for season 7, a 3 for seasons 8 and 9.

COACH, the TV series about a Minnesota State University head football coach and the way he tries to use everyone around him, is a classic, and you don't have to be a football fan to enjoy the show. Most of the comedy stems from the lead man's villainous ways, and how they backfire at him. Yes, the coach is the bad guy, and that's what makes this so funny. He surrounds himself with dopey, old school, red neck assistants, but wait! These assistants know more about computers than he does. They are more understanding and tolerant of homosexuals, emotional actors, and successful women than he is. They are less red neck than he is. Get the picture? He keeps coming up with a semblance of being a respectable, informed leader, when all the time, he is the biggest bigot on the campus. And he always gets his come uppance. The supporting cast make this show, and Nelson is excellent as the "J R Ewing" of the group. Not enough can be said about the genius of Van Dyke and the others. The coach is always forced into situations he hates, such as having to get a dog to please a wealthy widow so he can get her to donate money to his program. All along, she knows he is an ogre, and she plays him for the sucker. And who saves the day for him? His dopey assistant, who really cares for the dog, who really has some dignity and integrity in him. Does "Coach" learn anything about "Integrity"? Yes, each episode. He learns that you keep have to try faking it better. Almost every show is a classic. I'm partial to the ones where he feuds with the tall woman's basketball coach, and where he tries unsuccessfully, to manipulate wealthy widows while assistant Van Dam (Van Dyke) will just be himself and outdo the coach each time.

A perfect trio, Coach, Luther, and Dauber. Coach fox being the ring leader, however Luther really steals the show in most episodes.My personal favorite episode is when Coach Fox, and Luther go to a clinic for help with a snoring problem they both have.Dauber is just an all around good guy who respects Coach as his mentor. He is a perfect fit to the other two. Christine (Coaches wife) keeps Coach in check many times against his own wishes, but in the end she prevails. Kelly (Coaches daughter) is a good looking young girl that has daddy tied around her little finger. I never could figure out though how such a pretty little thing like that could or would end up with stewart (the wimp of all wimps). I guess she doesn't end up with him after all as they divorce (his loss).If this show ever ends up as a DVD box set first show through final show, get it, it will give you hours of fun and laughter over and over again.

Parts of Coach were okay, especially the relationship building between the romantic leads. And while I'll pass on the dumber-than-humanly-possible assistant coaches, they were only minor annoyances.But the way this show treated football is outrageous. Hey - I'm not one of those zealots who thinks NCAA sports are God's own work. But the writers blew every opportunity to misrepresent anything resembling a college team. And clearly not out of ignorance - the plots that relied heavily on football completely distorted aspects of the game so as to be ridiculously unbelievable. A few times for the sake of plot development would have been okay, but just about every time out they set up one unbelievable situation after another.The worst part about this is that the main characters strutted around every episode as if they breathed and ate the game. I realize there are intricacies of any sport or job that need to get glossed over for the sake of the larger audience. But the fact remains that Nelson's "Coach" character was interchangeable with any other macho-idealized profession. He could have been a sky-diving instructor, and the show would've followed roughly the same path.The real NCAA has so many unpredictable nuances (scandals, grade fixing, gambling, kickbacks, overblown media coverage - not to mention the real excitement of the actual season) that you'd think a group of competent writers could draw enough realistic raw material for a show. But instead they copped out and removed any halfway-realistic aspect in order to make their plots work. The most egregious example comes in the show's climax - the coach's Screaming Eagles win the national championship bowl. In order to make the coach look like a genius, the writers concoct a plot where he intentionally leaves his star quarterback out of the entire game, only so he can bring him in during the last series to surprise the other team and win the game. It's not even questionable judgment - it completely distorts both the basic point of the game and the real intricate strategizing that goes into games such as these.