Critically lauded drama about life and pressures at a prestigious Eastern law school, with an imperious contract-law professor named Charles Kingsfield (John Houseman, reprising his Oscar-winning role), who alternately inspires and terrifies first-year students. The series premiered on CBS in September 1978, and was yanked after one season, only to be resurrected four years later for a three-year term on Showtime, making it the first network dramatic series to make the jump to cable.