Although this was not the last episode shown, as the production numbers tell, it was the last one produced. I remember that the last episode was about Hart falling in love with a Russian gymnast. John Houseman did not appear as Kingsfield in this episode. I heard that, because the network had caused the scripts to be ""dumbed"" down to this level, that Houseman refused to be in it. A visiting professor played by Pernell Roberts had to help Hart with his love life. I also understand that Houseman refused to do the Showtime seasons unless it was understood that this episode would never be reshown.
Overview
Critically lauded drama about the life and pressures of a group of students at a prestigious Eastern law school, with a strict and domineering contract-law professor named Charles Kingsfield, who alternately inspires and terrifies the students.
Episodes
S01E01 The Paper Chase
September 9, 1978
James Hart (James Stephens), a farmboy from Minnesota, starts his first year of law school. Being unprepared for his first day of ""Contracts"" he is 'shrouded' by Professor Charles W. Kingsfield, Jr. (John Houseman), pronouncing...
Anderson pushes Hart to run for the first-year slot on the Law School Council. Elsewhere, Ford's father and sister come for a visit. Ford's father is an alumnus of the school, and his very presence...
Hart asks Kingsfield to answer a question before he thoroughly researched the case himself. As a penalty, Kingsfield gives Hart additional research that is due the following morning. Hart is lost in thought while bicycling...
The study group plans a weekend getaway picnic to blow off steam, but Professor Kingsfield assigns a lot of work at the last minute, causing the group to drop the getaway and just have an...
As part of Prof. Rolf's prison internship program for first year students, Logan is assigned to help in a hearing of a political activist, Eric Ryerson, who was put in solitary confinement for stabbing a...
Hart has a girlfriend with whom he is very close and share's his deep love of the law. Together they uncover a ""secret"" repository of all of the collected books, articles, and even class notes...
This episode focuses on Tom Clayton, the guy with the ""photographic memory"" in the study group. Early in the episode Kingsfield intimidates Tom to the point he is incapable of speaking and freezes up. In...
The ""Paper Chase"" meets ""I love Lucy:"" as the weekend approaches, Hart gets a special, paying assignment to index Kingsfield's new book of essays, due Monday – an impossibly difficult deadline. On top of that,...
This is one of the standout episodes written by the John Jay Osborn, Jr., the author of the original book and screenplay for the 1974 movie. Moot court is the chance for first year law...
This episode features Elizabeth Logan. Supreme Court Justice Reynolds pays a visit to campus to commemorate a milestone anniversary of women being admitted to the law school. During a question and answer session in Kingsfield's...
A female friend from Hart's hometown comes to visit Hart while trying to sort out her struggling marriage. As usual, Hart is swamped, so he asks Bell to keep her company for a few days....
A struggling Jonathan is so desperate to pass Kingsfield's midterm, he hires someone to steal a copy of the test. He tricks the rest of his study group into believing that it is an old...
Anderson, who has been making a small killing at poker amonst his friends, sees a lovely 3L (3rd year law student), Chris Carlyle (Christine Belford), and wants to get to know her better. She lives...
A new student, Paul Chandler, joins the class mid semester. He is wheelchair bound yet athletic and handsome. The study group welcomes him in and in their interactions we gradually see that contrary to the...
A black woman has an inferiority complex because she was accepted to law school through the Affirmative Action program. At Kingsfield's request, Hart reluctantly becomes the angry woman's tutor. An influential white alumnus, his son...
Kingsfield hires Hart to help his assistant on an important appellate case, an unprecedented distinction for a first year student. The assistant, much sought after and soon to graduate, dumps most of the work on...
When Logan spurns a respected law professor who makes improper advances toward her, she is surprised to see the result is a low grade. However, Kingsfield, head of the disciplinary committee, dismisses her complaint because...
Kingsfield has his students form groups to argue both sides of a case of their choice. When Hart's study group selects a case that the professor lost early in his career, they start to question...
This episode further develops Kingsfield's character and fleshes-out his past. It begins with the news that Ernie's bar, a favorite campus hangout for generations, will be closed along with the other small businesses on the...
Although this was not the last episode shown, as the production numbers tell, it was the last one produced. I remember that the last episode was about Hart falling in love with a Russian gymnast....
The main story concerns a ""scavenger hunt"" assignment that Prof. Kingsfield gives the students. They must get at least 70 questions correct out of 100 concerning various aspects of contract law whose answers may be...
