Chico and the Man was an American sitcom which ran on NBC from September 13, 1974 to July 21, 1978, starring Jack Albertson as Ed Brown (The Man), the cantankerous owner of a run down garage in an East Los Angeles barrio, and introducing Freddie Prinze as Chico Rodriguez, an upbeat, optimistic Chicano street kid who comes in looking for a job. It was the first series set in a Mexican-American neighborhood.

Ed doesn't want Chico's help; in fact, he distrusts all Chicanos. A hard-drinking widower, he refuses to fit in with the changing neighborhood and has alienated most of the people who live around him. Ed uses ethnic slurs and berates Chico in an effort to get him to leave. But Chico sees potential in the old man and sneaks back in at night to clean up the garage and move into an old van that Ed has parked inside. When Ed sees all the effort Chico has put in, he slowly warms up to Chico and thus starts the relationship. Ed grows to see Chico as a son, although he will deny this fact on many occasions. The chemistry between Jack Albertson's "Ed" and Freddie Prinze's "Chico" was one of the leading factors in making the show a hit in its first two seasons. It started in the top ten and never left there over those seasons.

The show was created by James Komack who produced other shows like The Courtship of Eddie's Father. Freddie Prinze was discovered by Komack after he appeared on The Tonight Show in December 1973. Komack thought he would be perfect for the part of Chico Rodriguez. This caused a stir in the Mexican-American community, who thought the part should have been played by a Chicano (Prinze was half Puerto Rican). Therefore, as the show progressed, Chico's background was altered to being Mexican on his father's side and Puerto Rican on his mother's side (with a nod to Freddie's Hungarian ancestry in the same line which stated these facts, as Chico remarks in his Hispanic accent, "...and my grandmother speaks a little Hungarian!"). The Mexican-American community also complained that the show used too many ethnic slurs, but this was the age of Norman Lear and All in the Family.

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@tonedeff are we gonna see Chico and the man this year?
kericksen (kyle ericksen) Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:01:51 -0000
@tonedeff are we gonna see Chico and the man this year?
Now if I could just see some Chico and the Man my life would come full circle.
mikepmcs (Michael McSweeney) Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:35:32 -0000
Now if I could just see some Chico and the Man my life would come full circle.
It is mee the gurl Courtney I am just sit at home chillin with my baby girl Brianna and my man Chico and my little sis. Tress!!!!!
Chicobaba (Courtney Korves) Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:34:17 -0000
It is mee the gurl Courtney I am just sit at home chillin with my baby girl Brianna and my man Chico and my little sis. Tress!!!!!
listening to "Jose Feliciano - Chico and the Man" ♫ http://blip.fm/~fs4r4
SciFiGeorge (George Alexander) Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:53:12 -0000
listening to "Jose Feliciano - Chico and the Man" ♫ http://blip.fm/~fs4r4
@spicymaggie isn't that a great site"if god have wanted us to breathe fresh air he wouldntd have made Los Angeles!" -Chico and the man
CHRISVOSS (CHRIS VOSS) Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:25:47 -0000
@spicymaggie isn't that a great site"if god have wanted us to breathe fresh air he wouldntd have made Los Angeles!" -Chico and the man
Chico and the Man http://tinyurl.com/yzj6txr
packerwire (packerwire) Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:42:25 -0000
Chico and the Man http://tinyurl.com/yzj6txr

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