''Frank's Place'' is an American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

series that aired on CBS for 22 episodes during the 1987-1988 television season. The series was created by Hugh Wilson and executive produced by Wilson and series star and fellow ''

WKRP in Cincinnati ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' is an American sitcom television series about the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson and was based upon his experiences working ...

'' alumnus

Tim Reid Timothy Lee Reid (born December 19, 1944) is an American actor, comedian and film director best known for his roles in prime time American television programs, such as Venus Flytrap on ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' (1978–82), Marcel "Downtown" Brown ...

. ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporat ...

'' ranked it No. 3 on its 2013 list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' ranked it No. 99 on its list of the best sitcoms of the television era.

Plot

Set in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, ''Frank's Place'' chronicles the life of Frank Parrish (Tim Reid), a well-to-do African-American professor at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, an Ivy League university in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

, who inherits a restaurant, Chez Louisiane. In the premiere, Frank travels to New Orleans intending to sell the restaurant. However, waitress Emerita (she waits only on customers with twenty years or more of patronage) of Chez Louisiane—Miss Marie (Frances E. Williams) has a voodoo spin (curse) put on Frank ensuring that he will come back to carry on his family's business. Consequently, when Frank returns to New England, the life he's known there suddenly goes inexplicably haywire. Feeling he has no choice, Frank returns to New Orleans and makes many discoveries about

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

culture in New Orleans, the differences between northern and southern lifestyles, and himself. On its surface, ''Frank's Place'' was a fish-out-of-water story, like ''

The Beverly Hillbillies ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor, backwoods family f ...

'' or ''

Green Acres ''Green Acres'' is an American television sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm. Produced by Filmways as a sister show to '' Petticoat Junction'', the series was first broadc ...

''. However, the series' story lines featured weightier topics such as race and class issues.

Cast and characters

as Frank Parrish *

Daphne Maxwell Reid Daphne Etta Maxwell Reid (née Maxwell; July 13, 1948) is an American actress, comedian, designer and former model. She is best known for her role as the second Vivian Banks on the NBC sitcom ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' from 1993 to 1996. ...

(Tim Reid's real-life wife) as Hanna Griffin *

Tony Burton Anthony Mabron Burton (March 23, 1937 – February 25, 2016) was an American actor and boxer. He was known for his role as Tony "Duke" Evers in the ''Rocky'' films. Early life Burton was born in Flint, Michigan. He had a younger sister named ...

as Big Arthur * Virginia Capers as Mrs. Bertha Griffin-Lamour * Robert Harper as Bubba Weisberger *

Lincoln Kilpatrick Lincoln Kilpatrick (February 12, 1932 – May 18, 2004) was an American film, television, and stage actor. Biography Career Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Kilpatrick attended Lincoln University and earned a degree in drama before he began acting. ...

as Reverend Deal * Charles Lampkin as Tiger Shepin * Francesca P. Roberts as Anna Mae * Don Yesso as Shorty La Roux *

William Thomas Jr. William Thomas Jr. (November 8, 1947 – November 14, 2020) was an American actor. From 1991 to 1992, he played Vanessa Huxtable's fiancé Dabnis Brickey on the NBC sitcom ''The Cosby Show'', during the eighth and final season. Prior to hi ...

as Cool Charles *

Frances E. Williams Frances Elizabeth Williams (September 17, 1905 – January 2, 1995) was an American actress, activist, theatre producer, organizer, and community worker. Williams was the first black woman to run for the California State Assembly in 1948 on the Pr ...

as Miss Marie, oldest living waitress

Production

The idea for the series came from CBS vice president, Gregg Maday. As a young man, Maday frequented a restaurant in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

named Dan Montgomery's. Maday also wanted a series based in New Orleans due to the mid-1980s interest in

Cajun cuisine Cajun cuisine (french: cuisine cadienne , es, cocina acadiense) is a style of cooking developed by the Cajun– Acadians who were deported from Acadia to Louisiana during the 18th century and who incorporated West African, French and Spanish ...

and

zydeco Zydeco ( or , french: Zarico) is a music genre that evolved in southwest Louisiana by French Creole speakers which blends blues, rhythm and blues, and music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles and the Native American people of Louisiana. Al ...

. The two ideas were combined. Wilson and Reid spent time in New Orleans for research. They found a restaurant named Chez Helene, and many of the things they encountered there were included in the series. Big Arthur was based on Chez Helene's owner, Austin Leslie. The series focused more on Creole cuisine and

Creole culture Creole peoples are ethnic groups formed during the European colonial era, from the mass displacement of peoples brought into sustained contact with others from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, who converged onto a colonial terri ...

rather than Cajun. Don Yesso was a real-life New Orleans native whom Wilson met on a flight to the city. Yesso was not an actor, but Wilson cast him because of his genuine

Yat dialect New Orleans English is American English native to the city of New Orleans and its New Orleans metropolitan area, metropolitan area. Native English speakers of the region actually speak a number of varieties, including the variety most recently bro ...

. Unlike most sitcom productions of the era, ''Frank's Place'' was filmed with a single camera and used no

laugh track A laugh track (or laughter track) is a separate soundtrack for a recorded comedy show containing the sound of audience laughter. In some productions, the laughter is a live audience response instead; in the United States, where it is most common ...

Theme song

The series theme song was

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and Singing, vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and se ...

's classic "

Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans? "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans" is a song written by Eddie DeLange and Louis Alter, which was first heard in the movie ''New Orleans'' in 1947, where it was performed by Louis Armstrong and sung by Billie Holiday Billie Holida ...

Episodes

Awards and nominations

Cancellation

''Frank's Place'' was cancelled after one season. Despite its strong beginning, ratings for ''Frank's Place'' declined. Viewers were reportedly puzzled by the show's changing timeslot and by how the show's style eschewed the traditional sitcom format. The show's large ensemble and film-style techniques made production costly. Wilson remarked that: "We just didn’t please the Nielsen monster." Tim Reid was later told by CBS board member

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...

that the show was cancelled because Laurence Tisch, the network's CEO at the time, was upset by the episode "The King of Wall Street." Tisch, who bought CBS via

junk bonds In finance, a high-yield bond (non-investment-grade bond, speculative-grade bond, or junk bond) is a bond that is rated below investment grade by credit rating agencies. These bonds have a higher risk of default or other adverse credit events ...

, viewed the episode as an insult since it depicted a

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...

tycoon condemning junk bonds. As a result, Tisch demanded that the show be cancelled despite the objections of Cronkite and other board members.

Syndication

Reruns aired on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

in 1990.

Home media

In October 2008, CNN.com reported that because of music clearance issues, a DVD release would be unlikely. However, on November 11, 2008, TVShowsOnDVD.com reported that plans are underway for an eventual DVD release, although

has said that, due to the prohibitive costs of the music rights, a new musical score will be recorded that will "recreate the mood of the music." He adds, "it has to be the mood of the show or I'd rather not do it."Frank's Place - The Short Lived Sitcom Starring Tim Reid Could Come to DVD...But with Music Changes, tvshowsondvd.com November 11, 2008 No date has been yet given for a release.

Notes

References

External links

*
''Frank's Place'' entry from The Museum of Broadcast Communications
{{TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy 1987 American television series debuts 1988 American television series endings 1980s American comedy-drama television series 1980s American sitcoms 1980s American black sitcoms CBS original programming English-language television shows Television series by CBS Studios Television shows set in New Orleans Television series set in restaurants Television series created by Hugh Wilson Fiction about curses