The Culture Clash Sitcom That Never Was

Among the many things for which the legendary comedy troupe Culture Clash (Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Sigüenza) remained remembered is their 1993 sketch comedy television show that aired on Fox stations. It remains historic as one of the earliest shows to showcase Chicano talent. What isn't as well remembered is that Culture Clash almost had a show before the classic sketch comedy show Culture Clash, only it would have been a sitcom.

It was in 1991 that Cheech Marin saw Culture Clash's stage show A Bowl of Beings at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. He then signed a deal with Culture Clash for them to star in their own sitcom, which would be financed by 20th Television (then the syndication and distribution unit of 20th Century Fox Television). A pilot was ordered by the Fox Television Network. The pilot as based on characters that Culture Clash had created on stage, but was written by other people. 

Fox decided against placing the sitcom on their fall schedule, but went ahead and ordered six more scripts. Like the pilot, these were also written by people other than Culture Clash. These scripts were workshopped at a local theatre before Fox ultimately cancelled the project entirely. As it was, it may have been for the best. At the time, Ric Salinas said that Fox was "definitely smart to kill it." The scripts were apparently consisted of banal material and Latino stereotypes.

Fortunately, Culture Clash would find their way to television. While an initial script for a sketch comedy show was turned down by Fox, it was after executives from Fox Television Stations Productions, which produces shows for Fox owned and operated stations, saw one of Culture Clash's performances in June 1992 that they approached Culture Clash about a sketch comedy show. Fortunately, unlike the sitcom, Culture Clash would have the final say as to the sketch comedy show.

While some might regret that the Culture Clash sitcom never came to be given the paucity of Chicano sitcoms on American television, it must be pointed that if it had gone forward we might not have the classic sketch comedy show. Given the sheer brilliance of the TV show Culture Clash, that would indeed be regrettable. Sadly, the TV show Culture Clash remains unavailable on DVD or on streaming to this day.