Chico and the Man centred on Ed Brown (Jack Albertson), the cantankerous and initially racist owner of a garage in a barrio in East Los Angeles. Chico Rodriguez (Freddie Prinze) was a young Chicano and veteran of the Vietnam War who came to Ed looking for work and ultimately came to work for Ed, staying in an old van parked in the garage. Louie (Scatman Crothers) was Ed's best friend and the local garbageman. Della Reese joined the cast in its second season as Della Rogers, Ed's landlady and neighbour. Isaac Ruiz played Chico's friend Mando.
Chico and the Man was created by James Komack, James Komack As an actor he had a recurring role as dentist Lt. Harvey Spencer Blair III on the sitcom Hennessey. He also wrote episodes of Hennesey, as well as Ensign O'Toole and My Favorite Martian, among other shows. He developed the sitcom The Courtship of Eddie's Father, based on the 1963 movie of the same name, for television and also produced it.
The beginnings of Chico and the Man were complicated. After a trip to Mexico, James Komack had taken an interest in the Mexican heritage of Los Angeles (it had been founded in 1781 in what was then New Spain as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles). It was in the summer of 1973 that James Komack was reading a short story written by Ray Andrade and David Garcia, which was based on Ray Andrade's real-life friendship with Howard Steinler, the owner of Main Street Gym in Los Angeles. Ray Andrade had been homeless at the time and one night snuck inside the gym so he wouldn't have to sleep on the streets., After a confrontation between Ray Andrade and Howard Steinler, Mr. Steinler allowed Ray Andrade to work for him cleaning up the gym. The two of them became close friends. Ray Andrade had the nickname "Chico," which was short for "Francisco." Ray Andrade was well-known as the founder of Justicia, a civil rights organization devoted to improving the images of Latinos in film and on television. Ray Andrade would serve as an associate producer on Chico Man.
James Komack thought Ray Andrade's story would make for a good sitcom through which they could explore inner-city poverty and racism. He considered centring his prospective show around a young Chicano and an older Nisei. He also considered developing a show featuring the comedy team of Cheech & Chong. To a degree Chico and the Man resembles their sketches The Old Man in the Park" and "Pedro and Man."A collaboration between James Komack and Cheech & Chong would not take place, although the parties involved disagree as to why. Cheech & Chong have said they wanted to concentrate on their film career. James Komack said they "couldn't get it together."
James Komack then based the show around a younger Chicano and an older WASP. Rather than a gym, it would be an old filling station that Ed Brown owned. Chico would be a mechanic. Burgess Meredith was approached about playing Ed, but he was unavailable. Veteran character actor Jack Albertson was then cast in the role. The casting of Chico proved much more difficult. Ultimately, the role of Chico came down to a few actors. James Komack wanted New York-born Freddie Prinze, who was Puerto Rican in descent, in the role. A friend had recommended Mr. Prinze to James Komack after seeing the young comedian on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. NBC was considering the actors Lazaro Perez, an actor born in Cuba, and Isaac Ruiz, a Mexican American native of East Los Angeles, Screen tests for Freddie Prinze, Lazaro Perez, and Isaac Ruiz acting opposite Jack Alberston were shot. It was then that Freddie Prinz was cast as Chico. Isaac Ruiz would later be cast as Chico's friend Mando.
The pilot for Chico and the Man was written by Don Nicholl, Mickey Ross, and Bernie West, who would later develop the hit sitcom Three's Company. It was directed by Peter Baldwin, who had appeared in the film Stalag 17 (1953) and guest starred on shows such as Perry Mason and Ben Casey. He had directed episodes of such shows as The Dick Van Dyke Show; Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., The Andy Griffith Show, and The Partridge Family
Chico and the Man proved to be a smash hit upon its debut on September 13 1974. It ranked no. 3 in the ratings for the week. In its second week, Chico and the Man jumped to no. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the week. The show ultimately came in at no. 3 in the ratings for the 1974-1975 season.
While Chico and the Man was successful in the ratings, the show drew protests from Chicano civil rights groups such as the Teatro Nacional de Aztlán protested the casting of Freddie Prinze, who was Puerto Rican and German in descent, as a Chicano. It was pointed out that Mr. Prinze's Spanish sounded like New York Puerto Rican, and even the movements of his body and gestures were not Chicano. In the Lowrider Magazine editorial "What It Is, Que Onda or Lowriders vs. Chico and the Man" in its January 1977 issue, it was commented, "From the get-go, Chicanos knew the program was a phony. Chicanos did not act like that around Chicano barrios. NBC started getting protests from the Chicano community. The Chicano community said that first, this was a wrong picture of how Chicanos live, and second, that wasn't a Chicano playing the role of a Chicano." Even the theme song, by Puerto Rican José Feliciano, was a point of contention for Chicano civil rights activists, as it sounded nothing like Chicano music and had too much of a Caribbean sound.
Beyond the casting of Freddie Prinze and a theme song by José Feliciano, many took umbrage with the fact that "chico" literally means "boy" in Spanish. In other words, the title of the show is pretty much Boy and the Man, putting the Mexican American Chico Rodriguez in a subservient position to the white Ed Brown. There was further anger at the very nature of the humour in the early episodes of Chico and the Man. Ed Brown not only ridiculed Chico's language and habits based on stereotypes about Mexicans and Chicanos but even used racist slurs at times.
It should come as no surprise that much of the anger was directed against the show's producer and creator James Komack, who had grown up in New York City. Cuban-born director and writer Migda Varela in a letter sent to the Complaints and Compliance Department of the FCC, wrote, "Komack probably knew as much about Mexican American culture as I know about the culture of Lithuanian Aborigines." Indeed, there were no Mexican American writers on the staff of Chico and the Man.
Ray Andrade, whose life had partially inspired Chico and the Man and whose life had partially inspired it, expressed his own concerns. Ray Andrade admitted in a newspaper article published in November 1974 that his fellow Chicanos had some reason to complain. He stated, "I don't object to Freddie because he's not a real Chicano. He's Puerto Rican, you know. But I don't mind that. In fact, I helped select him for the part. I object to Freddie because he's lazy. He won't take the time to go down into the community and find out what the people are really like. Also, he's very, very New York with characteristics not indicative of the true Chicano." Ray Andrade would receive his share of attacks for his involvement with the show from civil rights groups.
NBC would make changes to the show in response to the complaints. The racial humour of the early episodes was done away with, with shows already in the can, but not yet aired, being pulled and then touched up. Chico and Ed's relationship between less of an adversarial one and more of a father-son relationship. Isaac Ruiz, who was very nearly cast as Chico, joined the show as Mando, Chico's Chicano friend. Even the fact that Chico did not act or sound like a Chicano was addressed. In one episode Mando observes that Chico's Spanish does not sound like anyone else's in the barrio. Chico replied that his mother was Puerto Rican, his grandmother was Hungarian, and he had lived in New York City for five years. For the show's second season, Chicanos were hired as stagehands, technicians, production assistants, property managers, and so on.
While the controversy would subside, even if it never completely went away, Chico and the Man continued to be a success. Its ratings dropped in its second season, although it seems likely that this was due to NBC moving the show from its Friday night spot following Sanford and Son to a Wednesday night time slot following Little House on the Prairie at mid-season. It would return to Friday night for its third season, but a tragedy would occur that would spell the end of the show.
It was on the night of January 28 1977 that Freddie Prinze shot himself following a phone conversation with his estranged wife during a visit from his business manager. He was rushed to UCLA Medical Centre for emergency surgery and then placed on life support. His family requested he be removed from life support and Freddie Prinze died at 1:00 PM on January 29 1977.
In the wake of Freddie Prinze's suicide, Chico would be missing from the last three episodes of the third season of Chico and the Man. It was explained that Chico had gone to Mexico to visit his father. There was some debate as to whether to end the show, but ultimately The producers decided to go ahead with the show by introducing a new character. It was then in the first episode that Ed and Louie returned from a fishing trip in Tijuana only to find 12-year-old Raul (Gabriel Melgar) had stowed away in their trunk. It was when Raul was going to bed that Ed accidentally called him "Chico" and then explained, "You're all Chico to me."It was later in the season that it was explained that Chico had died.
Despite the introduction of new characters, such as Raul's Aunt Charo (played by singer Charo) and Monica (Julie Hill), Ed's niece, the show never recovered following Freddie Prinze's death. It was cancelled with its fourth season.
Chico and the Man did not prove to be a success in syndication, most likely because Freddie Prinze's death made the show unpalatable for many. The show would later air on the cable channels TV Land and AmericanLife TV Network, as well as the broadcast network Ion and the superstation WGN. Six episodes of Chico and the Man would be released on DVD as part of Warner Bros. series of compilations called "Television Favourites." As of yet, there has been no official DVD release. Currently, the entire series is available on the streaming service Tubi and for rent on Fandango at Home and Prime Video.
The legacy of Chico and the Man remains complicated. The fact remains that the show was written by people who were not Chicano and its star Freddie Prinze was not Chicano either. The show is then hardly representative of Chicano culture or life in the barrio in the Seventies. It is then understandable why so many in the Mexican American community were unhappy with the show upon its debut. Of course, casting the Puerto Rican Freddie Prinze as the Chicano Chico was not unusual at the time. In the 1950 movie The Lawless the white Gail Russell played a Chicana. In the 1952 movie The Ring Puerto Rico born Rita Moreno played a Mexican American girl. On the Western TV series The High Chaparral, series leads Henry Darrow was Puerto Rican and Linda Cristal was Argentinian. Sadly, at the time it was not unusual that Mexicans or Mexican Americans were often played by people with no Mexican descent whatsoever.
While Chico and the Man remains controversial to some degree, even at the time it was pioneering. Latinos had been somewhat visible on American television in the Fifties with Desi Arnaz on I Love Lucy, Tony Martinez on The Real McCoys, and Robert Cabal on Rawhide. By the Sixties, they had largely disappeared. It would not be until The High Chapparal, with its Mexican characters, that Latinos would play a large role on a show. It was followed by The Man and the City in 1971, with Mexico-born Anthony Quinn playing the Latino mayor of a Southwestern city. Chico and the Man was the first sitcom with a Latino lead in years.
Of course, not only did Chico and the Man feature a Latino lead, but Chico was Mexican American. It was the first time that a lead character on an American television show was a Chicano. Indeed, it had not been since The Real McCoys had been cancelled in 1963 that a sitcom featured any Mexican characters as regulars. In this way, Chico and the Man paved the way for other shows featuring Mexican Americans, including the short-lived Viva Valdez in 1976, a.k.a. Pablo in 1984, and George Lopez in 2002, among others. While Chicanos are still underrepresented on American television, they are not quite as invisible as they were before 1974 with the debut of Chico and Man.
(Credit where credit is due department: For much of this post I drew upon Luis Alvarez's excellent book Chicanx Utopias: Pop Culture and the Politics of the Possible. I also drew upon newspaper articles from 1974 to 1976)
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