DETROIT — Make no mistake, Jalen Rose had no plans to become an actor.

"I did not want to play Nolan Thomas, OK?" says Rose, of the character he indeed plays on the new Detroit-filmed TV series "South West High," which premiered Monday, Feb. 23, on Tubi. "I promise you, there was never a day that I woke up saying, 'I want to do this.' Not one."

Yet there he is, playing an ex-NBA star who comes back to his hometown of Detroit and becomes principal of his old high school. If it sounds familiar, it's because the story is based on that of Rose, an ex-NBA star who came back to his hometown of Detroit and founded his own high school, the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy. Think "Welcome Back Kotter" mixed with a little bit of "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper," but as a family drama rather than a sitcom.

Rose says he suggested to the show's co-creators a list of many other actors who could — and should — play the series' lead. But ultimately, it was decreed the role could only go to one guy.

"They came to me and they were like, 'it's gotta be you. There's nobody better,'" says Rose. So the 53-year-old sucked it up and went to work with an acting coach, and he can now add acting to a resume that already includes basketball star (two trips to the NCAA finals at University of Michigan, 13 seasons in the NBA) and a successful post-basketball career as a media analyst, author, podcast host and television producer.

Rose was on hand Monday at the school which bears his name to show the series' first episode to a group of students and members of the show's cast. The show was partially filmed in the hallways of the JRLA, just off of 8 Mile on the city's west side.

Rose is an executive producer on the series, along with Ty Mopkins, Rose's childhood friend back from when they both were students at Detroit's now-shuttered Southwestern High School.

"South West High" is also produced by Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores, and is the first project under the umbrella of Rose and Gores' new multimedia production company, Same Page Entertainment. The company's tagline: "By Detroit, For the World."

Detroit rapper Royce da 5'9" is the show's music supervisor, and he composed the show's score alongside Detroit rapper and producer Denaun Porter. Theme song duties were shopped out to King Bethel, one of the students at the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy. "Everything we did, we kept Detroit first," says Mopkins, a fashion and lifestyle tastemaker in Detroit.

Mopkins suggested enlisting Dennis L. Reed II, one of the kings of Detroit's Tubi filmmaking community, to write and direct. After shadowing him on several of his sets and seeing how he works, he and Rose tapped Reed for "South West High."

"They had an idea, and they knew what they wanted," says Reed, whose credits include dozens of Detroit-made projects, including "Quik Money," "Street Legal South" and the "First Lady" trilogy.

So he got to writing along with his partner, Lavon Smith, and they came up with the five episodes that make up the show's first season. The first season's remaining episodes will be released over the course of the next four Mondays.

Reed took input from Rose, including having Principal Thomas refer to his students as "scholars," which is what Rose calls attendees at his school.

Rehearsals were three weeks, and the series was shot over the course of five weeks in summer 2024. It follows Rose as his Principal Thomas comes back to his alma mater and attempts to steer it in the right direction while also overseeing his daughter Maize (Brooklyn Oates), who is a freshman at the school, having deferred her enrollment at Cranbrook.

Towanda Braxton plays a fellow staffer at the school who tries to help Thomas on his path while also giving him a reality check on the obstacles he faces. The show also stars Dawn Halfkenny and Christina Cooper, and Detroit rapper Sada Baby makes a guest appearance.

The first episode features a dramatic death and teachable lessons about substance abuse. The show aims to show "the real Detroit," Rose says, the challenges but also the triumphs of the students, parents and educators in the community.

Even though he was playing a version of himself — Thomas and Rose's characters so closely mirror each other that in the show, a game shot of Rose and fellow Fab Fiver Chris Webber on the court in their UM uniforms hangs on the wall of Thomas' office — Rose took the assignment very seriously.

He says he watched "Lean on Me," the 1989 drama starring Morgan Freeman as the tough principal of an inner-city high school, "150 times" while preparing for the role. He also texted Denzel Washington for acting tips, he says.

Along with an acting coach who flew in from Atlanta, Rose says he got some tough love from his guides on his acting debut.

"They were very protective and loving, patting me on my back while also kicking my butt," he says. "They were saying, 'you need to enunciate this better, what's wrong with your body language here?' Everything from putting my elbow up on a chair in one scene to having to wear an undershirt in another scene. They were very tough critics, but ones who love me."

After watching the series, "I'm proud of myself," Rose says.

Reed describes Rose as a leader on set.

"He is the big brother," Reed says. "He wants everyone to feel like a star. He doesn't care if you last person or the top person, he wants everybody single person to feel appreciated."

Mopkins says the show landed at Tubi because of the freedoms and control it offered the show's creative team.

"We shopped it, and we listened to offers, and we got some great ones. Everyone was very generous. But we wanted to do something that we can own ourselves and we can create and market and do the things that we want to do," he says, adding a merch line of South West High apparel is coming and will be available by Easter.

Mopkins and Reed both said their phones were blowing up all day Monday with positive reactions from people watching the show. Next up, Reed says he's getting to work on writing season two.

And now that Rose has accepted his role as actor, he's ready to keep going.

"In my opinion, we're gonna have multiple seasons," Rose says, "and I'm excited about it."

'South West High'

Rating: TV-14

How to watch: Tubi

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