Breaking Away (TV series)

Breaking Away is a 1980 American comedy-drama television series that was based on the 1979 film of the same name. It was created by Steve Tesich, who wrote the original film, and the film's director Peter Yates served as Executive Producer.

Breaking Away
Genre	Comedy/Drama
Created by	Steve Tesich
Starring	Shaun Cassidy Jackie Earle Haley Barbara Barrie
Composer(s)	Lance Rubin
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	8
Production
Executive producer(s)	Peter Yates
Producer(s)	Sam Manners Glenn Gordon Caron (Supervising Producer)
Cinematography	Brianne Murphy
Editor(s)	Artie Mandelberg Gene Ruggiero
Running time	1 hour (inc. commercials)
Production company(s)	20th Century Fox Television
Release
Original network	ABC
Picture format	4:3 color film
Original release	November 29, 1980 – January 10, 1981
Chronology
Preceded by	Breaking Away

As a prequel, the series was set during the year prior to the events of the film. Shaun Cassidy took over the role of Dave Stohler (played by Dennis Christopher in the film),[1] a young man crazy about bicycle racing and all things Italian. Barbara Barrie, Jackie Earle Haley and John Ashton reprised their roles from the film.[2] The television series was set in Bloomington, Indiana, but was actually shot in Athens, Georgia.

The series was caught up in the 1980 Screen Actors Guild Strike and did not begin production until that fall. While heavily promoted by ABC, it was overlooked by TV audiences once it got on the air and suffered low ratings. It was cancelled after eight episodes were filmed, though only seven episodes aired during its original run.[3] ABC showed reruns of the series during the summer of 1981, and it was also rerun by A&E during 1985–1987.