I was mistaken yesterday, Jack Soo's death actually wasn't the first celebrity death I remember, it has to be Freddy Prinze. Chico and the Man was a staple in my household, it's comedy deeply entranched in the chemistry between Prinze and Albertson.
So when Prinze took his own life in January of 1977, the show sort of limped along and finished the season explaining Chico had gone to Mexico. It couldn't return right? right?
Never underestimate the greed of Hollywood, despite the show no longer having "Chico", "The Man" returned and now he had precocious 12 year old Raul to deal with. To keep things zany, they also added Charo, no seriously they added freaking Charo to the cast. The show was mercifully cancelled as it should be no surprise, the sad loss of Prinze tainted everything and no amount of "Cuchie-Cuchie" could make people watch.
I will give props for the series later dealing with the fact that Chico was in fact dead during it's final episodes but it really was an exercise in poor taste that they even had a fourth season.
3 comments:
This is one I don't remember as a kid. I remember seeing the show occasionally, but wasn't aware he had killed himself.
Growing up in a northeastern U.S. city, this was the first look (however real or unrealistic) into a LA neighborhood. I remember thinking how much more sunny it seemed than my West Philadelphia block.
As for Prinze's death, it makes perfect sense that you'd replace the chemistry of a developed, nuanced comedy relationship with Charo.
Any time Charo made the scene, you were done for. I'm surprised she never showed up on Happy Days.
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