''Coming to America'' is the name of a proposed weekly

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

, based on the 1988 film of the same name. The

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

ultimately went unsold, but it was still televised on CBS on July 4, 1989 as part of the ''

CBS Summer Playhouse ''CBS Summer Playhouse'' is an American anthology series that ran from June 12, 1987 to August 22, 1989 on CBS. It aired unsold television pilots during the summer season. Overview Tim Reid and Daphne Maxwell Reid acted as hosts during the first ...

'' pilot anthology series.

Plot

Irresponsible Prince Tariq of Zamunda has been exiled to attend college in America by the king, his brother Akeem. It however, takes only nine days living in

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long I ...

for Tariq to blow his allowance. So in order to make ends meet, Tariq and his assistant Oha, find jobs in the diner owned by their landlord, Carl Mackey. At one point in the pilot, Tariq says in

reference Reference is a relationship between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object. The first object in this relation is said to ''refer to'' the second object. It is called a ''name'' ...

Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...

, “I'm a Beverly Hills Cop, you're a Beverly Hills cop too and in 48 hours, we're Trading Places.” Also, Tariq at another point, shows up at the diner with a copy of ''

The Art of the Deal ''Trump: The Art of the Deal'' is a 1987 book credited to Donald J. Trump and journalist Tony Schwartz. Part memoir and part business-advice book, it was the first book credited to Trump, and helped to make him a household name. It reached num ...

'', which he explains that someone threw at him. Tariq believes he's "just like this Donald Trump guy," and that he'll get rich by buying and selling property, despite the fact that he doesn't have any money.

Cast

The pilot starred Tommy Davidson as Prince Tariq, Paul Bates reprising his role as Oha from the film, and John Hancock as their landlord, Carl Mackey. Also among the cast are Hattie Winston and Paris Vaughan as Carl's wife and daughter respectively. * Tommy Davidson as Prince Tariq * Paul Bates as Oha * John Hancock as Carl Mackey * Hattie Winston as Pauline Mackey * Paris Vaughan as Phyliss Mackey * A.J. Johnson as Annie * C. Darnell Rose as Steve * Francis MacGuire as Amy

Production

The show was produced by Eddie Murphy Television Enterprises in association with Paramount. Furthermore, Murphy was listed as co-executive producer. The pilot was greenlit as part of a first-look deal with Paramount, Eddie Murphy, and CBS. Had the pilot been successful, then CBS would've proceeded with an initial 13-episode run. In 2020, Bonsu Thompson of

Level Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights *Spirit level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *Canal pound or level *Regr ...

wrote about the would be show in his article "An Oral History of the ''Coming To America Show'' You Never Knew About". Thompson wrote that the pilot floundered because it was written by a Jewish writer, Ken Hecht, “who had made a name penning Black sitcoms like '' Diff'rent Strokes'' and ''

Webster Webster may refer to: People *Webster (surname), including a list of people with the surname *Webster (given name), including a list of people with the given name Places Canada *Webster, Alberta *Webster's Falls, Hamilton, Ontario United State ...

'' and reportedly took a rigid, I-know-best approach to comedy". Thompson also stated the pilot “didn't take advantage of Tommy Davidson's gifts." But, what Hecht was able to do with family sitcoms like ''Diff'rent Strokes'' and ''Webster'' "did not rule in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

--and a suspect fascination with

Africans African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

eating insects didn't help," he continued. According to Tommy Davidson, Ken Hecht came from the golden age of comedy, where he knew about the setup, joke, joke, and another joke but didn't have a feel for Eddie Murphy's style of comedy nor a feel for

Black pride Black Pride in the United States is a movement which encourages black people to celebrate African-American culture and embrace their African heritage. In the United States, it was a direct response to white racism especially during the Civi ...

. Davidson added that Murphy never visited the set to see the show being filmed. Ultimately, Paramount and CBS, knowing that they had a turkey on their hands, aired it on the Fourth of July, less than a year after it was shot.

Critical response

Joan Hanauer wrote in UPI on July 3, 1989 that the pilot was perfectly awful. She added that if your idea of humor is seeing a fat man's pants split in back when he bends over, then you will find ''Coming to America'' screamingly funny. In 2015, Molly Fitzpatrick of '' Splinter'' said that Tommy Davidson's Tariq lacks

's Akeem's irresistible Pollyannaish charm from the film, and the pilot mostly functions as a disjointed vehicle for Davidson's

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

and Michael Jackson impressions.

References

External links

*
Coming To America (1989) – Launching The Pilot – Podcast ...
{{CBS Summer Playhouse Television pilots not picked up as a series CBS television specials 1989 television specials 1980s American sitcoms 1980s American black sitcoms Live action television shows based on films Television shows set in New York City Coming to America (film series) Television series by CBS Studios Queens, New York, in fiction Television series set in restaurants English-language television shows Monarchy in fiction