Series Description

The Chico And The Man TV show was a 30 minute comedy series that aired on NBC for 86 episodes from 1974-1978. It was about an old Anglo man and a young Chicano male who owned a garage as partners in East Los Angeles, California.

Chico And The Man Cast

Freddie Prinze .... Chico Rodriguez
Jack Albertson .... Ed Brown
Scatman Crothers .... Louie Wilson
Della Reese .... Della Rogers
Gabriel Melgar .... Raul Garcia
Isaac Ruiz .... Mando
Charo .... Aunt Charo
Raul Carcia .... Chico (4th Season Only)

Theme Song

Title: "Chico And The Man"

By: "Jose Feliciano"

Chico, don't be discouraged,
The Man he ain't so hard to understand.
Chico, if you try now,
I know that you can lend a helping hand.

Because there's good in everyone
And a new day has begun
You can see the morning sun if you try.

And I know, things will be better
Oh yes they will for Chico and the Man
Yes they will for Chico and the Man.

Chico and the Man Trivia

In the first season, Freddie Prinze (as Chico) often said, "That's not my job" and it even became a catchphrase. He had used the same phrase earlier in his stand up comedy act. Some viewers contacted Freddie and stated that the phrase reinforced peoples' prejudice about Hispanics being lazy. Freddie must have listened because he changed to "Looking Good!" as his new catchphrase and it caught on with the public too!

In 1976, Jack Albertson won an Emmy for his role on Chico and the Man in the category, "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series". His competition for the award was Hal Linden ("Barney Miller"), Henry Winkler ("Happy Days"), and Alan Alda ("M*A*S*H*")!

Prior to the last 3 Episodes of the 3rd season of Chico and the Man were filmed, Freddie Prince committed suicide. His disappearance on the show was explained by saying that he had gone to Mexico to visit his family. Believe it or not, the show did return for a fourth season. A young boy (Raul Garcia) was added to the cast to interact with "The Man" and they even called him "Chico". The continuing absence of Freddie Prinze was explained by saying that he stayed in Mexico to go into business with his father.