Chico, Don't Be Discouraged

Last week I mentioned in Child of Television: The 2006 TV Land Awards that, "For me the highlight this year was José Feliciano performing the theme to Chico and the Man." Since then I have heard from fans of Chico and the Man expressing their love for the show. But I am amazed that now there is a whole generation of people who have never heard of the series. If I asked this same generation, "Who is Freddie Prinze?" the answer I'd get is, "Freddie Prinze Jr's father?" Although that's the correct answer, I tend to get the answer in the form of a question.

I remember in the fall of 1974 when NBC premiered a new show following Sanford and Son. The show was called Chico and the Man. It starred Jack Albertson and was "Introducing" Freddie Prinze. The show was set in a broken down garage in the barrio of East Los Angeles. The garage was owned by The Man, a cranky old bigot named Ed Brown (Albertson). Ed liked yelling at his customers and neighbors who were mostly Mexican. Enter Chico Rodriguez (Prinze), a young Chicano and Vietnam vet who comes to Ed's garage looking for a job. In the first few minutes Freddie Prinze steals the show. I was blown away by his performance and thrilled to see a fellow Puerto Rican on TV. (Freddie Prinze was actually of Puerto Rican and Hungarian decent. He referred to himself as "Hungarican." I am of Puerto Rican and Swedish decent, making me a "Swedearican.")

Over the first three seasons, the relationship between Ed and Chico went from adversarial to partners to father and son. Here is my historical television perspective. If Norman Lear opened the door to a new type of television comedy with All in the Family, Chico and the Man was one of the first shows that was not produced by Norman Lear to go through that door (the show was created and produced by James Komack). The show did face some controversy since few Mexican-Americans were actually involved in the production. Freddie Prinze and Jose Feliciano were Puerto Rican. The name "Chico" was considered a derogatory nickname to Chicanos. Chico's catch phrase "That's not my job," (used in Freddie Prinze's stand up act) was seen as perpetuating the lazy Hispanic stereotype. The catch phrase was later changed to "Looking Good."

Article Author: Tony Figueroa

TONY FIGUEROA is a standup comedian, writer, actor and storyteller based in Los Angeles. A "day job" teaching comedy traffic school led to Tony cohosting and coproducing several radio shows. Tony’s CHILD OF TELEVISION Blog is an example of life imitating art. …

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