Chico

Finally, the show is on DVD. So far, just a one disc set, but it contains six great episodes, including the pilot and important episodes that really focus on the relationship between Chico and Ed Brown, and the personalities of both men to help explain how two such different people could care so much for each other. This was a terrific show and had Freddie not died, it could have run for a decade, if Freddie wasn't a movie star by then. Let's hope we can see more episodes released in the future. This was a show that Chicanos could be proud of and that still entertained everyone else.

And yes, the "Cousin Pepe" episode is in there!

I grew to love 'Chico and the Man' when they were first showing a marathon of it's episodes on TV Land. I found it to be intriguing, funny, enticing, and intellegent! The show was about the trials and trubulations of an old, embittered, and cynical old man who was an owner of a car garage in Southern California named Ed Brown. And he gets help from his co-workers Chico and Louie. In every episode, Chico always tries to find ways to help Ed Brown break down the walls he built around himself.

Jack Albertson had a lot of talent and charisma for this sit-com and so did co-star Freddie Prinze. And the catchphrase, "Lookin' Good" became a popular one. And after Freddie Prinze committed suicide, it was said in the show that Chico moved on and now owned his own garage and Ed Brown adopted an orphan boy named Raul who became his new 'Chico'. The characters in this show are were all funny in their own way, especially Louie the garbage man!

Chico and the Man is an awesome sit-com and maybe one of the best ones from the seventies. Try to catch it on TV Land if you can! Take my word for it, it's that good! Call your boss! Call your teachers and principal! Call your co-workers! Call your friends! Inform your family! Watch Chico and the Man! I give this show 5 stars! Oh, and whatever happened to Gabriel Melgar?

This is one of the only shows that you will literally laugh out loud watching. I began watching it a while ago when I was on vacation and there was a station devoted to old television shows. Though a lot of them don't hold up, this is most definitely does! The pairing of these two talented actors is incredible, it makes the show such a joy to watch. I only wish that it could have been on television longer and that Prinze was still with us today making us laugh and blessing us with his talent. It is very sad to know the tragic end of Prinze's life after watching the show because he really was a unique and wonderful talent and it is clear that he would have gone on to do much bigger things with his career.

This show needs to be put back on pronto!

Chico and the man was the essence of my TV watching childhood. The mid 1970s were my developmental years, and I like to think that this timeless sitcom was and is a sentimental and forever memorable fixture in my growing years and even now. In the mid seventies, Friday night was a line up for my 'obsessions'. Sitcoms and police shows and the cast on 'Chico and the man' I felt to be an extension of my family. The comedy was quick and strong and the duo of Albertson & Prinze was a special chemistry, so unbelievable and loving, I feel a bond like that one might never be accomplished again. All of these comical plots always centered around some sort of life lesson always 'giftwrapped' in friendship and caring. Freddy & Jack & the others, looking down on myself and all of the 'Chico' lovers, can only nod in absolute agreement(like that little mounted dog, on his back dash, with the spring form neck and head that would bob up & down.

"Chico and the Man" broke major ground in two areas: it created a successful series with an ethnic lead and made an overnight star out of Freddie Prinze, the "Chico" of the title.

Every week, Chico would take strides in making the garage he worked and lived in more successful and bringing his boss, "The Man" (Albertson) out from the walls he had built up against the rest of humanity.

There were plenty of laughs every episode; I mean, with a cast like this, how could you miss? Not only were Prinze and Albertson on hand, but so were Scatman Crothers ("Put out your can, here comes the GARBAGE MAN!"), Della Reese, Ronny Graham, and even Isaac Ruiz as Chico's buddy Mando - all making big with laughs, both ethnic and otherwise.

But this was a show that appealed to every demographic; Back in the mid-'70s, you couldn't avoid a teen magazine that didn't have Prinze's face plastered all over it, and there were constant reminders of the show's success on talk shows, specials and variety shows that the stars would appear on.

It was a sad day when Prinze took his life; it left a great void in entertainment as well as the lives of those he left behind. But at least with this series, we can all see the genius of Prinze and witness the effect he's had in the comedy world since.

Ten stars for "Chico and the Man", a classic in every sense of the word.