Quote:
Originally Posted by TMC
Ernest Thomas talks about the Cooley High pilot (beginning at the 5:18 mark in the video above) here. He said that when he was guest appearing on The Jeffersons, Isabel Sanford's agent told him that he would be perfect for an upcoming pilot called Cooley High. Nobody has ever seen the actual pilot but there are now photos of it online. To make a long story short, according to Ernest, ABC felt that the pilot, which was shot with a single-camera, wasn't funny enough. But they liked Ernest enough that when the decision was made to retool Cooley High into a multi-camera show, he was the only actor who was kept. |
Roger is a writer just like Preacher in the movie, has a single mother, a nosey little sister and wears the same type of funny glasses.
Ms Thomas is like Preacher's mother in the moive- a hard working maid.
Dee is just like Preacher's nosey, smart mouth sister from the movie.
Dwayne is just like Pooter they youngest of the friends and very naive.
Shirley is a play on Martha- the lady who ran the restaurant in the movie, where all the kids would hang out at...
The show takes some aspects of Cooley High and flips them with a Los Angeles setting.
Video Description: Eric Monte (creator of Cooley High) says What's Happening was based on Cooley High...also says that Norman Lear is a racist.
Cochise, Preacher & Pooter...