Chico And The Man
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''Chico and the Man'' is an American
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 ...
television series that aired on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
for four seasons from September 13, 1974, to July 21, 1978. It stars
Jack Albertson Harold Albertson (June 16, 1907 – November 25, 1981), known professionally as Jack Albertson, was an American actor, comedian, dancer and singer who also performed in variety. Albertson was a Tony, Oscar, and Emmy winning actor. For his perfo ...
as Ed Brown (the Man), the cantankerous owner of a run-down garage in an
East Los Angeles East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...
barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residenti ...
, and
Freddie Prinze Frederick James Prinze Sr. (born Frederick Karl Pruetzel; June 22, 1954 – January 29, 1977) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Prinze was the star of the NBC-TV sitcom ''Chico and the Man'' from 1974 until his suicide in 1977. Prinze ...
(until Prinze's suicide in the third season) as Chico Rodriguez, an upbeat, optimistic young Mexican who comes in looking for a job. It was the first U.S. television series set in a
Mexican-American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...
neighborhood.


Conception

Comedians
Cheech Marin :''The surname'' Marin ''is of Spanish language origin. In Spanish, it is spelled'' Marín'', with an acute accent on the'' í. Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin (born July 13, 1946) is an American actor, musician, comedian, and activist who gained ...
and
Tommy Chong Thomas B. Kin Chong (born May 24, 1938) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, musician, activist. He is known for his marijuana-themed Cheech & Chong comedy albums and movies with Cheech Marin, as well as playing the character Leo on Fox's ' ...
(better known as the comedic duo
Cheech & Chong Cheech & Chong are a comedy duo consisting of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. The duo found commercial and cultural success in the 1970s and 1980s with their stand-up routines, studio recordings, and feature films, which were based on the hippie a ...
) have stated that series creator
James Komack James Komack (August 3, 1924 – December 24, 1997) was an American television producer, director, screenwriter, and actor. He is best known for producing several hit television series, including ''The Courtship of Eddie's Father'', '' Chico and ...
followed the comedians on tour for three months; Chong wrote in his 2009 book ''Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography'' that Komack based the show on Cheech and Chong skits titled "The Old Man in the Park" and "Pedro and Man" and had acknowledged that fact to Chong after the television series' release. Cheech and Chong have both stated that Komack had originally approached them to star in the show, but they turned down the offer, preferring to stick to films. Komack told the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
that he first tried working with Cheech and Chong on a show about a
Chicano Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...
and a
Nisei is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation, ...
. Komack said he decided to make the show about a young Chicano and a "seventh-generation
WASP A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...
" after he and the comedy team "couldn't get it together". The show was created by
James Komack James Komack (August 3, 1924 – December 24, 1997) was an American television producer, director, screenwriter, and actor. He is best known for producing several hit television series, including ''The Courtship of Eddie's Father'', '' Chico and ...
, who produced other successful TV shows such as ''
The Courtship of Eddie's Father ''The Courtship of Eddie's Father'' is an American sitcom based on the 1963 film of the same name, which was based on a novel by Mark Toby (edited by Dorothy Wilson). The series is about a widower, Tom Corbett (played by Bill Bixby), who is a ...
'' and ''
Welcome Back, Kotter ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' is an American sitcom starring Gabe Kaplan as a high-school teacher in charge of a racially and ethnically diverse remedial education class called the "Sweathogs." Recorded in front of a live studio audience, the series ...
''. NBC suggested someone like Jack Albertson as Ed/"The Man", and Komack approached him. Though not impressed with the pilot script, Albertson agreed on the trust of Komack's reputation. Freddie Prinze was discovered by Komack who received a recommendation from a friend who saw Prinze's appearance on ''
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the ''Tonight Show'' franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its final episode on May 22, ...
'' in December 1973. Komack thought he would be perfect for the role of Chico Rodriguez. Though initially rejected by NBC executives, he stood out against two other finalists in testing.


Synopsis

A hard-drinking Anglo widower, Ed stubbornly refuses to fit in with the changing East L.A. neighborhood and has alienated most of the people who live around him. He uses
ethnic slurs The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or oth ...
and berates Chico, a Latino, in an effort to get him to leave when Chico comes looking for a job. Yet Chico sees something in Ed, and sneaks back in at night to clean up the garage and move into an old van that Ed has parked inside. As Ed sees all the effort Chico has put in, he begins to warm up to Chico. Over the course of the show, Ed grows to see Chico as family, although Ed denies this on several occasions. The chemistry between Jack Albertson's "Ed" and Freddie Prinze's "Chico" was a major factor in making the show a hit in its first two seasons. It debuted in the top 10 and remained in the top 30 for its second season. As the show progressed, Chico's background was revealed as being Mexican on his father's side and Puerto Rican on his mother's side, and (in a nod to Prinze's faux-Hungarian ancestry) "... my grandmother speaks a little Hungarian!" (though Prinze's paternal ancestry was actually German, in his stage-act he would claim his father was Hungarian, thereby allowing him to comically refer to himself as "Hungarican"). Chico was revealed to have spent part of his childhood in Hungary following the death of his mother, being raised by his Aunt Connie (a character who appeared in two other episodes). Chico attempts to explain his situation to Ed by portraying it as the dilemma of his distant cousin in Hungary, torn between the farmer for whom he now works and whom he has grown to love, and another farmer who has offered him a better job. During this scene and this episode, the love between these disparate characters was made clear for the first time, which Chico's cousin Carlos (played by actor Richard Yniguez) notes when he releases Chico from his promise. By the second season, Ed begins to see that he is a part of a bigger world, although he still complains about it. By this time he has found himself a girlfriend by the name of Flora (played by
Carole Cook Mildred Frances Cook (born January 14, 1924), professionally known as Carole Cook is an American actress. known for appearances on ''The Lucy Show'' and ''Here's Lucy'' Life and career She was born Mildred Frances Cook on January 14, 1924, in ...
). The theme song was written and performed by
José Feliciano José Montserrate Feliciano García (born September 10, 1945) () is a Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song " F ...
.


Freddie Prinze's death

After struggling with depression and drug use, Freddie Prinze shot himself on January 28, 1977. He was taken off life support and died the following day at the age of 22. The last episode to star Prinze, "Ed Talks to God", was taped several hours before Prinze's death.


Post-Prinze episodes

After Prinze's death, the producers considered canceling the show, but opted instead to try replacing the character. To write Chico out of the script, they had the other characters comment that he had gone to visit his father in Mexico. The third season finished out with three Chico-less episodes focusing on the other characters in the show. In the opening episode of the fourth season, a replacement for Chico was introduced. Instead of an adult, the producers brought in 12-year-old Raul, played by Gabriel Melgar. His first appearance came when Ed and Louie go on a fishing trip to
Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and
< ...
and find the Mexican orphan hiding out in their trunk on their return. At the end of this episode, Ed is putting Raul to bed and accidentally calls him Chico. Raul corrects him and Ed remarks, "You're all Chicos to me." Ed eventually adopts Raul, only to have Raul's overprotective Aunt Charo – played by actress/singer
Charo María Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza, professionally known by her stage name Charo, is a Spanish-American actress, singer, comedian, and flamenco guitarist. Charo began playing guitar at the age of nine and trained under the famed A ...
– come from
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
and try to become a part of the "family", as well. A two-part episode ran in the final season in which Raul discovers Chico's belongings in a closet. Ed catches Raul playing Chico's guitar and Ed smashes it on the van in anger. Raul believes Ed does not love him anymore and runs away to Mexico. Ed goes after him and finally explains to Raul that Chico died, but did not say how, putting a measure of closure on the fate of Chico in the series. In January 1978, after one further episode, NBC placed ''Chico and the Man'' on hiatus. The show returned in June, and the unaired episodes were broadcast through the summer of 1978, although one episode remained unaired during the final network run. Toward the end of the show's final season, actress Julie Hill was added to the cast as Monica, Ed's attractive 18-year-old adopted niece. She had come to Los Angeles to break into show business, and lived in Chico's old van while awaiting her big break. ''Chico and the Man'' was cancelled at the end of the fourth season. The show's ratings declined steadily after Prinze's death and never recovered.


Episodes


Supporting cast

The show also had a veteran and talented supporting cast.
Scatman Crothers Benjamin Sherman Crothers (May 23, 1910 – November 22, 1986), known professionally as Scatman Crothers, was an American actor and musician. He is known for playing Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show ''Chico and the Man'', and Dick Hallo ...
portrayed Louie Wilson, Ed's friend and garbageman; Bonnie Boland played Mabel, the mail lady; Isaac Ruiz portrayed Mando, Chico's friend; and
Ronny Graham Ronny Graham (August 26, 1919 – July 4, 1999) was an American actor and theater director, composer, lyricist, and writer. Life and career Graham was born Ronald Montcrief Stringer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second of five children born ...
played Rev. Bemis. Also,
Della Reese Delloreese Patricia Early (July 6, 1931 – November 19, 2017), known professionally as Della Reese, was an American jazz and gospel singer, actress, and ordained minister whose career spanned seven decades. She began her long career as a s ...
played Della Rogers, Ed's neighbor and landlady, and Jeannie Linero appeared in several episodes as one of Chico's more constant girlfriends, nurse Liz Garcia.


Notable guest stars

Other notable guest stars included: *
Cesar Romero Cesar Julio Romero Jr. (February 15, 1907 – January 1, 1994) was an American actor and activist. He was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years. His wide range of screen roles included Latin lovers, historical figures in c ...
as Chico's absentee father *
Tony Orlando Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leag ...
as Chico's
look-alike A look-alike, double, or doppelgänger is a person who bears a strong physical resemblance to another person, excluding cases like twins and other instances of family resemblance. Some look-alikes have been notable individuals in their own right, ...
, the ex-fiancé of a hostile woman he wants to date *
José Feliciano José Montserrate Feliciano García (born September 10, 1945) () is a Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song " F ...
, who wrote and performed the theme song, as Chico's womanizing famous-singer cousin Pepe Fernando *
Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...
as himself *
Herbie Faye Herbie Faye (February 2, 1899 – June 28, 1980) was an American actor and vaudeville comedian who appeared in both of Phil Silvers' CBS television series, ''The Phil Silvers Show'' (1955–1959) and ''The New Phil Silvers Show'' (1963–1964 ...
appeared as Bernie in the 1975 episode "Louie's Retirement". *
Shelley Winters Shelley Winters (born Shirley Schrift; August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006) was an American actress whose career spanned seven decades. She appeared in numerous films. She won Academy Awards for ''The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959) and ''A Patch o ...
(reuniting with Albertson, with whom she'd costarred in '' The Poseidon Adventure'') as the owner of the local bakery, Shirley Schrift (her real name) * Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr., three guest-starring roles, including Hector Ramirez in "The Third Letter" (1977) *
Jim Backus James Gilmore Backus (February 25, 1913 – July 3, 1989) was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom '' Gilligan's Island,'' the father of James Dean's character in ''Rebel Without a Cause ...
as Ed's friend who uses him as a
beard A beard is the hair that grows on the jaw, chin, upper lip, lower lip, cheeks, and neck of humans and some non-human animals. In humans, usually pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards. Throughout the course of history, societal at ...
, pretending to be playing cards with him when cheating on his wife (
Audra Lindley Audra Marie Lindley (September 24, 1918 – October 16, 1997) was an American actress, most famous for her role as landlady Helen Roper on the sitcom ''Three's Company'' and its spin-off ''The Ropers''. Life and career Audra Lindley was born ...
) * Silent-film actress
Carmel Myers Carmel Myers (April 9, 1899 – November 9, 1980) was an American actress who achieved her greatest successes in silent film. Early life Myers was born in San Francisco, the daughter of Isidore Myers, a Russian-Jewish rabbi who was born in ...
as a former star who has fallen on hard times, brings in her car for repairs and stays in the garage while looking for work *
George Takei George Takei (; ja, ジョージ・タケイ; born Hosato Takei (武井 穂郷), April 20, 1937) is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the fictional starship USS ''Enterprise'' in the televi ...
as Ed's supposed long-lost son from his time in Japan during World War II *
Cesare Danova Cesare Danova (March 1, 1926 – March 19, 1992) was an Italian television and screen actor. Best known for his roles in ''The Captain's Daughter'' (1947), ''Viva Las Vegas'' (1964), '' Chamber of Horrors'' (1966), ''Mean Streets'' (1973), and v ...
as Aunt Connie's Spanish aristocrat boyfriend, the Count de Catalan, in the second episode in which she appeared * Comedian
Joey Bishop Joseph Abraham Gottlieb (February 3, 1918 – October 17, 2007), known professionally as Joey Bishop, was an American entertainer who appeared on television as early as 1948 and eventually starred in his own weekly comedy series playing a talk ...
as an inept robber *
Bernie Kopell Bernard Morton Kopell (born June 21, 1933) is an American character actor known for his roles as Siegfried in ''Get Smart'' from 1966 to 1969 and as Dr. Adam Bricker ("Doc") on ''The Love Boat'' from 1977 to 1986. Early beginnings Kopell was bo ...
as a plastic surgeon *
Rose Marie Rose Marie (born Rose Marie Mazzetta; August 15, 1923 – December 28, 2017) was an American actress, singer, comedian, and vaudeville performer with a career ultimately spanning nine decades, which included film, radio, records, theater, night ...
as a
CB radio Citizens band radio (also known as CB radio), used in many countries, is a land mobile radio system, a system allowing short-distance person-to-many persons bidirectional voice communication among individuals, using two way radios operating on ...
enthusiast with whom a lonely Ed connects on New Year's Eve *
Penny Marshall Carole Penny MarshallBorn Carole Penny Marshall in 1943, as per ''My Mother Was Nuts, a Memoir'', p. 10; . Copyright 2012 (October 15, 1943 – December 17, 2018) was an American actress, director and producer. She is known for her role as ...
, as a waitress * Football star
Rosey Grier Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier (born July 14, 1932) is an American actor, singer, Protestant minister, and former professional football player. He was a notable college football player for Pennsylvania State University who earned a retrospective plac ...
as himself, Della's date for a charity benefit dance *
Larry Hovis Larry Hovis (February 20, 1936 – September 9, 2003) was an American singer and actor best known for the 1960s television sitcom '' Hogan's Heroes''. Early life and career Hovis was born in Wapato, Washington, and moved to Houston, Texas, as a ...
as a customer in the second episode of the first season *
Jim Jordan James Daniel Jordan (born February 17, 1964) is an American politician currently serving in his ninth term in the U.S. House of Representatives as the representative for since 2007. A member of the Republican Party, he is a two-ti ...
(of radio's ''
Fibber McGee and Molly ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' (1935–1959) was a longtime highly popular husband-and-wife team radio comedy program. The situation comedy was a staple of the NBC Red Network from 1936 on, after originating on NBC Blue in 1935. One of the most p ...
'') as a mechanic who used to be a big businessman until he was victimized by his own company's retirement-age mandate. This was one of a string of media appearances (and the only one he ever made in a TV series) the 80-year-old Jordan made in a brief late-1970s comeback.


Broadcast history and Nielsen ratings


Syndication

The series fell short of the 100 episodes most syndicators desired for a full rollout, and Prinze's death caused a sudden shift in the series that further made the show undesirable for reruns. The series was only shown in
syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...
in a few markets and only for a relatively short period. NBC broadcast repeats of ''Chico and the Man'' briefly on weekday mornings from May 9 to December 2, 1977.
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
’s
TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cla ...
network also aired reruns during 2001 as did
ION Television Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented enter ...
in 2007.
AmericanLife TV Network YTA TV (an initialism for its former full name, Youtoo America; commonly referred to as just YTA) is an American television network which originally launched in February 1985 as a cable channel. Unusual for a network of its type, it has had mult ...
also aired this series previously, as well as WGN-TV in Chicago which aired first at 5 p.m., then later on moved it to 5 a.m. In Canada, the show previously appeared on Sun TV (
CKXT-TV CKXT-DT was a terrestrial television, broadcast television station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that broadcast to much of southern and eastern Ontario. It was owned by Quebecor Media Inc., Quebecor Media through its Groupe TVA unit. Although ...
) in Toronto. In Italy, the show aired on Rete 4 in 1984. From 2005 to 2009, episodes of the show were available on AOL's now-defunct video website called
In2TV In2TV was a website offering ad-supported streaming video of classic TV shows in the USA only. It was operated by AOL Time Warner as an outlet for the company's archival television programming. History In2TV was announced in November 2005 as ...
.


Home media

On September 27, 2005, six episodes of ''Chico and the Man'' were released on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
as part of Warner Bros.' ''Television Favorites'' compilation series and the episodes are as follows: * "Pilot" (September 13, 1974): Chico tries to persuade Ed to give him a job in the garage. * "If I Were a Rich Man" (January 31, 1975): Chico has fallen head over heels in love and Ed is trying to turn him right side up. * "Chico and the Van" (October 17, 1974): A city official claims Chico's van is illegal, so he moves in with Ed. * "Chico's Cousin Pepe" (February 11, 1976): Chico's blind, woman-chasing, singing cousin Pepe visits. * "Chico's Padre" (February 4, 1977): Chico's long-lost rich father, Gilberto, returns to give him a better life. * "Ed Talks to God" (March 4, 1977): Chico tries to change Ed's mind about not attending his own birthday party by having Ed's old friend impersonate God.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chico And The Man 1974 American television series debuts 1978 American television series endings 1970s American sitcoms English-language television shows Latino sitcoms Mexican-American culture NBC original programming Television duos Television series about widowhood Television series by The Wolper Organization Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television shows set in Los Angeles