I have never seen this show. What is it about?:confused: :happyface

Thank you, tcbubblegrl, for your inquiry. In a nutshell, the premise of the show was about a Caucasian garage owner, Ed Brown, in his 60's, who was grouchy and drank to forget his troubles. The garage was located in the barrio of East LA in the mid seventies. In the pilot, a young Chicano, in his early twenties, Chico Rodriguez, comes in and tries to befriend the old man and asks to become a partner in his business, trying to help the old man out. The show, which lasted 4 seasons, revolved around the relationship between this old man (played by the late Jack Albertson) and the Chicano (played by the late Freddie Prinze Sr.) for the first three seasons until the untimely death of Freddie Prinze due to an accidental shooting of himself under the infulence of methaqualone. After that, the show replaced Freddie's character with a 12 year old Mexican runaway (played by Gabriel Melgar) who is adopted by Jack Albertson's character. Many feel the show was never the same after Freddie's death, because the show seemed to be more about the relationship between the Chico and Ed. Scatman Carothers and Della Reese were also regulars on the show. The show was conceived and produced by James Kolmack and was on from 1974 to 1978. There are many of Freddie's fans on this board who still admire the young comic who was taken from us way too soon... What ever his critics say about him, all agree he helped pave the way for Latino actors and comedians. He also produced a son, who is making a great name for himself and is very talented in his own right, Freddie Prinze Jr. I'm sure dad would be very proud of his son. He was only 22 when he died and the son only 10 months old. Thank you for asking and I hope you have an opportunity to see the show someday. Unfortunately, TVLand has taken it off the air for now....but CATM fans are forever hopeful! ;)

thanx Luckmama58!:happyface

Glad I could be of help! ;)

Hey, maybe we got another Chico chick ----- Join us tcbubblegrl!

i would become a fan, if i could only see it. i wish tvland or nick at nite would show it.

You would fall in love :heart: Freddie was a one of a kind original.Thats why he still has so many fans.Hope you get to see some episodes he was so funny and so talented :wave:

I wish TV Land would listen to us and bring back the show! :mad:

It's nice to see more and more freddie fans and those interested in Freddie Prinze show up at the boards. You find this board very educational and emotional. I have made so many friends here. Welcome aboard!

Originally posted by hue_mee
It's nice to see more and more freddie fans and those interested in Freddie Prinze show up at the boards. You find this board very educational and emotional. I have made so many friends here. Welcome aboard! The pictures ain't bad either! :happyface

Despite what many of the TV critics have said, CATM was very funny and entertaining! It wasn't meant to be Shakespere, for crying out loud! Anyway, Freddie and Jack were a great comedy team, especially during the first 2 seasons. Scatman Crothers was a riot, too! He would brighten up the place when he would come in singing at the top of his lungs! I always though Della was kinda mean when she first came on the show...
I just wish some TV station somewhere would pick up the show again! It makes me mad that some shows are re-ran to death til we get sick of them, and CATM barely gets shown! :mad:

You're so right Karen. With the number of posts on this site alone, they should see that the people want to see this show! :mad: :bash: :livid: :angryfire :smash:

NO DOUBT! they rerun things till we know the script and in my opinion they run the stupid shows over and over and the good ones they take off or they show it when most people sleep or they hardly air it at all. :mad:

I think it was dirty how they took the show off & it wasn't even on a year. Sigh... This month is the first anniversary of CATM re-runs being back on thanks to TVLAND for the first time since it was taken off tv in the 70's...

I am a young Latino actor and I just recently heard of Freddie Prinze because I was hired to play him in a show. I am very dissapointed that they dont show the reruns like they do those other shows - perhaps I would have seen him sooner. What makes me really angry is that they have every other sitcom known to man on VHS AND DVD except CATM! Hopefully by doing this project about Freddie I will be able to turn on some more people to him and get that video made!!!
I'm gonna write a letter to Freddie Jr telling him about this crime. Lets hope he gets it.


Originally posted by Karen64
Despite what many of the TV critics have said, CATM was very funny and entertaining! It wasn't meant to be Shakespere, for crying out loud! Anyway, Freddie and Jack were a great comedy team, especially during the first 2 seasons. Scatman Crothers was a riot, too! He would brighten up the place when he would come in singing at the top of his lungs! I always though Della was kinda mean when she first came on the show...
I just wish some TV station somewhere would pick up the show again! It makes me mad that some shows are re-ran to death til we get sick of them, and CATM barely gets shown! :mad:

Laz77, I'm so glad to hear that you will be playing Freddie Prinze! Finally, some well-deserved recognition of a truly talented man!!!

I think because his situation surrounding his death was SO tragic, most people tended to want to forget about him and the show...(but NOT the dedicated fans on this board!). When I would talk to acquaintences about the show, they would say things like, "oh, yeah, I remember that show--He shot himself, didn't he?" (..instead of remembering that CATM was a funny show, or Freddie's standup talent)

Now, since the show has been run again, people are starting to remember his talent and want more!!

Maybe one of the reasons that CATM was dug up out of mothballs was because of Freddie Prinze Jr.'s popularity ..whatever the reason, I'm glad the show had another go-round, no matter how brief, and I'm glad that Freddie is getting the recognition he deserved!

I have some CATM epsisodes on video tape and 2 VCRs but not sure how to hook them both up in order to copy...If you still have trouble getting ahold of copies of the show, maybe one of the board members can coach me thru the process and I'd be glad to send you some copies!