Chico and the Man

This show was well on its way to becoming one of the all time classics when the tragic death of Freddie Prinze occurred. You had the two classic themes in the show. One was the theme of age versus youth and the other was the clash of cultures between Chico and Ed. This latter them is reminiscent of the show which aired on the same night and network as this one, "Sanford and Son". You could pretty much see Ed in the Fred Sanford role and Chico in the Lamont role and it basically was the same, the older father figure constantly clashing with his young charge over how to run the business. It was these qualities that helped make this show the semi-classic that it was. Also, the supporting cast of Scatman Crothers as Louie, Della Reese as Della and Ronny Graham as Reverend Bemis really made it a fun show. Unfortunately, when the tragedy happened and they brought in Gabriel Melgar to play Raul (a.k.a. the new "Chico") that's when the show went downhill. They should have canceled the show at that point and spared us the pain of watching it decline. If that had happened it probably would still be remembered as a good sitcom.

That being of 67 year old Jack Albertson as the cranky old garage owner Ed Brown and 20 year old fresh face Freddie Prinze playing a young Latino mechanic - Chico - in search of a job. Prior shows had united characters on screen coming from different points of view - Archie and "Meathead" on All In the Family, and Sanford and Son in, well, Sanford and Son. But these were two unrelated characters coming from entirely two different places in life. Chico is the poor Mexican American kid with everything in life ahead of him. His boss, Ed, is worn down by life, missing his late wife, missing the way the neighborhood used to be it is - East LA is now heavily Latino, and drinking heavily to deal with all of this, believing everything is behind him. And yet these two very different people become friends as well as coleagues. I am having to rely on a 41 year old memory here, but I THINK when Ed admits to a young ward that Chico is dead he actually weeps.

My rating of 8/10 is for how fresh it was in 1974, utilizing great talents Scatman Crothers and Della Reese as supporting characters. But you know, one character really sticks out in my memory. That would be the mail lady Mabel played by Barbara Boland. The reason for this is that every time she delivers the mail she has some tawdry tale about her love life, and yet she looked pretty homely to be getting all of that male attention! She was only on six episodes, and this site says she has had no filmed roles since, and yet she is still alive at 75 as I am writing this. I wonder what she's been doing all of these years.

The show had one of the great TV theme songs, written and performed by Jose Feliciano, at a time when several TV shows had great theme songs - it was rather a golden era for them. It was a real soul tickler.

So why is this TV show so obscure? It has only had one DVD release and that was with six disjointed episodes by Warner Brothers. Apparently it did not sell well, and I guess that meant no complete series release. I'd think at least it would warrant a "burn on demand" Warner Archive release. The ancient "Medical Center" is even in the Warner Archive!

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!

In 1974, NBC capitalized on the success of its Friday night sitcom Sanford and Son with the debut of Chico and the Man. Veteran actor Jack Albertson portrayed Ed Brown, the grouchy garage owner who drank heavily and constantly insulted people. Then along came Chico, played by then newcomer Freddie Prinze and he came in to try to turn around The Man's failing business and move into a van in the parking lot.

The show became a huge success due to the chemistry between Albertson and Prinze and featured a classic exchange that went like this:

Chico: I want my day in the sun. Ed: Then go to the beach.

Unfortunately, Prinze couldn't handle his new found fame and at 22, he shot himself. I felt the show should have ended right there because the rising star was a definitive key to the show's success. Instead, producer James Komack and NBC let the show continue and replaced Prinze with you Gabriel Melgar as Raul. He wasn't as good as Prinze but the show survived on the shoulder of Albertson and the supporting cast, including Scatman Crothers as Louis the Garbage man. His memorable line was "I'm the man who empties your can!" There was also Della Reese as Ed's landlady.

I remember episodes with guest stars such as Sammy Davis Jr. and Jose Feliciano, who wrote and sang the show's theme song.

I really enjoyed Chico and the Man. It was a very funny show but it took a sudden shark jump after Prinze took his life.