''Frank's Place'' is an American
comedy-drama
Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...
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 AM radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson. It was based upon his experiences obs ...
'' alumnus
Tim Reid.
''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media
In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
'' 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.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' ranked it No. 99 on its list of the best sitcoms of the television era.
Plot
Set in
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
, ''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 university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
, an Ivy League university in
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...
, who inherits a restaurant, Chez Louisiane. In the premiere, Frank travels to New Orleans intending to sell the restaurant. However, waitress 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 that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
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 ...
'' or ''
Green Acres''. However, the series' story lines featured weightier topics such as race and class issues.
Cast and characters
*
Tim Reid as Frank Parrish
*
Daphne Maxwell Reid (Tim Reid's real-life wife) as Hanna Griffin
*
Tony Burton as Big Arthur
*
Virginia Capers as Mrs. Bertha Griffin-Lamour
*
Robert Harper as Bubba Weisberger
*
Lincoln Kilpatrick as Reverend Deal
*
Charles Lampkin as Tiger Shepin
*
Francesca P. Roberts as Anna Mae
* Don Yesso as Shorty La Roux
*
William Thomas Jr. as Cool Charles
*
Frances E. Williams as Miss Marie, oldest living waitress
*
Wayne Woodson as Happy Dinner Guest
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 a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
named Dan Montgomery's. Maday also wanted a series based in New Orleans due to the mid-1980s interest in
Cajun cuisine
Cajun cuisine ( , ) is a subset of Louisiana Creole cuisine, Louisiana cooking developed by the Cajuns, itself a Louisianan development incorporating elements of Indigenous cuisine of the Americas, Native American, West African, French cuisine, ...
and
zydeco. 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
Creole cuisine (; ; ) is a cuisine style born in colonial times, from the fusion between African, European and pre-Columbian traditions. ''Creole'' is a term that refers to those of European origin who were born in the New World and have adap ...
and
Creole culture
Creole peoples may refer to various ethnic groups around the world. The term's meaning exhibits regional variations, often sparking debate.
Creole peoples represent a diverse array of ethnicities, each possessing a distinct cultural identity tha ...
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.
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 an audio recording consisting of laughter (and other audience reactions) usually used as a separate soundtrack for comedy productions. The laugh track may contain live audience reactions or artificial laught ...
.
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 vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
's classic "
Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?".
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'' from 1962 to 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trust ...
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, viewed the episode as an insult since it depicted a
Wall Street
Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...
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 in 1990.
Home media
In October 2008, CNN.com reported that because of
music licensing
Music licensing is the licensed use of copyrighted music. Music licensing is intended to ensure that the owners of copyrights on musical works are compensated for certain uses of their work. A purchaser has limited rights to use the work without a ...
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
Tim Reid 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 black sitcoms
American English-language television shows
1980s American single-camera sitcoms
Television series by CBS Studios
Television shows set in New Orleans
Television series set in restaurants
Television series created by Hugh Wilson (director)
Fiction about curses
CBS sitcoms
CBS comedy-dramas