Episodes #1: Chico & The Man

 

NOTE: I'd like to start a recurring series of posts about certain television episodes. The best, the most memorable, those that have stayed with me over the years. Since this is the first post in this series, it seems appropriate to start with a pilot episode.

Chico and the Man has the distinction of being the first American television series set exclusively in a Mexican-American neighborhood. Ed Brown is the curmudgeonly owner of a run-down garage in the East L.A. neighborhood in which he has lived his entire life. He doesn't like the changes taking place. Particularly bothersome to Ed is the evolving culture surrounding him. His neighbors are no longer only white like him. East L.A. is now predominantly Mexican-American. He hates it. He fears it. This is a quality Ed shares with the iconic character of Archie Bunker, another white male who lets his fear and bigotry overrun him. Yet, somehow, we sense the sadness underneath and, perhaps even a softness.

Enter Chico Rodriguez, an charismatic and idealistic young Mexican-American who wants not only a job in Ed's garage but wants to be partners. Ed unleashes a flurry of racial slurs and putdowns in an effort to send Chico running off. It doesn't work. Chico sees something in Ed. He even tells Ed that he grew up admiring him. Because of Ed, Chico has always wanted to run his own auto repair business and he believes he can help Ed reach the Mexican-American customer base in their area. By the end of this pilot episode, Chico has convinced a begrudging Ed to bring him into the business and the pair form an unlikely friendship.

I came across Chico and the Man on Tubi because Tubi has everything. Late one night back in March, I decided to watch the pilot episode. 70s sitcoms, especially those developed by Norman Lear, leaned into racial and political tension. The economic situation of the times played a significant role in many of the storylines. What struck me about Chico and the Man was how overt Ed's racism was. Played wonderfully by Jack Albertson, Ed's comments to Chico in the pilot were dehumanizing to say the least. The show wants us to see this as a manifestation of his fear of change. The life he knew is gone. Bitterness, fueled by excessive alcohol consumption, dictates Ed's behavior. He is rather misanthropic in his treatment of his fellow man. Ed Brown doesn't just hate Mexicans. He seems to hate everyone. Albertson's performance, much like Carroll O'Connor's Archie Bunker, finds moments of genuine humanity beneath all the layers of bluster and ignorance. Still, Ed's first instinct is to be mean and harsh.

Chico, conversely, bounds with joy and optimism and the awesomeness in possibility. Chico sees Ed's garage - and by extension, Ed himself - as a diamond in the rough. The garage can be better than it ever was. It just needs some cleaning up. Someone to invest in it and care for it. Someone to love it. Is Chico offended by Ed's behavior in the pilot? No doubt. But Chico is playing a long game here. Chasing the American dream and Ed Brown is the key to it. More importantly, Chico sees Ed as someone a lonely old man who has lived life far too long without a friend. It's a lovely piece of idealism and inclusion that I remember as commonplace in these types of 70s sitcoms. 

Freddie Prinze was a rising superstar in the mid-70s when Chico hit. He struggled with depression and alcoholism before ultimately taking his own life in January 1977, while the show was still on the air. His turn as Chico is a force of nature. His energy and comic talent are the driving force of the pilot episode and watching him and Jack Albertson form a bond as Chico and Ed was captivating. Like most pilots, the first episode of Chico and the Man is riddled with imperfections as well as opportunities. What struck me most, aside from its two lead performances, was its message of inclusion. Chico and the Man is about how the success of community ultimately rests in its willingness to believe in each of its individual citizens. Chico needs Ed in order to achieve his dream. That is true. But Ed needs Chico to feel like a person again.