In the television series, Jack Warden portrayed former minor-leaguer Morris Buttermaker, the coach of the Hoover Junior High Bears, a team of young adolescents with poor skills and little ability to play baseball.

Catherine Hicks played the role of Hoover Junior High principal Dr. Emily Rappant, Phillip Richard Allen played Roy Turner, the coach of the rival team the Lions.

Corey Feldman, Billy Jayne (then credited as Billy Jacoby) and Meeno Peluce were cast amongst the team's players, and Tricia Cast played Amanda Wurlitzer, the Bears' talented pitcher.

Kristoff St. John, Cast's future co-star on The Young and The Restless, played Ahmad.

In September 1979, it was moved to 8:30 p.m. Three episodes into the series' second season, CBS canceled The Bad News Bears due to low ratings.