Rounding out the main cast were Kim Walker as Cherry Valance, a Soc who went to high school with Ponyboy and was friendly with him, and Heather McComb as a young Greaser named Scout, a new character created for the television series. Buck Merrill, the owner of the bar/service station where Sodapop worked, would be played by Billy Bob Thornton. Tim Shepard, the roughest of the Greasers, would be played by Robert Rusler. Their friends Steve Randle and Two-Bit Matthews would be played by Harold P.
Rodney Harvey and Boyd Kestner would play Ponyboy’s older brothers, Sodapop and Darry. Like the rest of the young cast, Ferguson made a splash in teen magazines. Ferguson won the lead role of Ponyboy Curtis. We also wanted them to be attractive in their own right." The producers of "The Outsiders" auditioned some 2,500 actors before settling on on a group of relative unknowns.Ĭo-executive producer Joe Byrne explained, “you wanted them to have an edge and be a little different looking.
Shapiro served as director alongside Sharron Miller, but Hinton did serve as executive story consultant.įOX later gave the series a 13-episode order. Instead, Alan Shapiro penned the pilot script. Ultimately, Hinton did not write the pilot episode. Zoetrope Studios produced in association with Papazian-Hirsch Entertainment.
Hinton, Joe Byrne and Jeb Rosebrook developed the TV series. It captures the nostalgic value of what growing up was like in the ’60s." It would premiere with a special 90-minute episode on March 25th, airing from 9:30-11:00 PM, and then move to its regular time slot on April 1st.Īccording to Peter Chernin, president of FOX Entertainment Group, the show would be "distinctive, emotional, fun and an affirmation of family values.
"The Outsiders" was given the Sunday 7:00 to 8:00 PM time slot. However, in early March, Fox revealed that it was making some spring changes to its 1989-1990 schedule. In January of 1990, FOX announced its plan to expand to Wednesday and Friday nights and one possible Friday-night entry was "The Outsiders." Instead, the series would be held in reserve for use as a mid-season replacement In August, The Los Angeles Times reported that FOX had ordered six episodes of the series. Later that month, the network released its 1989-1990 schedule and the pilot was not given a slot on Mondays. In early May, FOX was considering 13 pilots for use on Monday nights, including the television version of The Outsiders."
We had a book that was very successful, a movie that had a lot of big-name actors that came out of it, and then we had the cassette." The movie’s popularity on home video helped sell the concept and FOX expressed interest.Īccording to co-executive producer Joe Byrne, "They were very youth-oriented, new kids on the block, and were aggressive and wanted to do something different. Reportedly, ABC, CBS, and NBC all turned down a TV series based on the novel and movie. Hinton would write the script while Alan Shapiro would directĪccording to the Houston Chronicle, FOX was considering a weekly series, potentially to premiere in September 1989 when FOX expanded to Monday nights. On March 6th, 1989, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that a sequel to "The Outsiders" was in the works.įrancis Ford Coppola would co-executive produce a two-hour made-for-TV movie to air on FOX.