Frank's Place Boned the Fish When...

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http://www.bonethefish.com/viewtopics.php?3293

Frank's Place is a CBS comedy-drama series which aired for 22 episodes in 1987 and 1988. The series was created by Hugh Wilson and executive produced by Wilson and starred Tim Reid.

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• Other Thoughts:
  
  I never watched it myself, but my father swears that it was the best show on at the time. Again, those lame studio execs don't give a show a break. I suppose that's a good thing. If there were a lot of good shows on TV, we'd never get off the couch.
  Like Fawlty Towers, this show was killed off too quickly to ever slide slowly into senility...
  I never actually saw this show, but I heard it was good and a lot of people complained when it was cancelled? Does that make CBS racist for canceling it?
  I remember Frank's Place. It was a very inventive comedy. Starring Tim Reid and set in New Orleans, it was a show ahead of its time. Probably the forerunner for Northern Exposure with its quirky plots and characters. Too bad it was cancelled so soon.
  I enjoyed this show. I like Tim Reid and I remember the show as being quirky. I LOVED the fact that it was comedy with no laugh track. I think laugh tracks are one of the 20th Century's biggest annoyances. Some people probably didn't watch it because of racism. Others because they didn't recognize it as a comedy without the sound track. Others probably didn't appreciate the comedy, which was more sophisticated than one usually sees. It was cancelled too soon. But the networks never give any show half a chance.
  It was a struggle to see this show. It seems like it was on a different day or time every week, when it wasn't on hiatus. What a shame. A few of the outstanding moments are when the young man realized that making the money from drugs was wrong and he stuffed it into the church mail slot, and the entire "capital c" episode dealing with racism and shades of color. A remarkable show that was too smart for the networks.
  Never jumped! Smart, sophisticated and funny, this show had a fabulous feel and good writing. No wonder the nabobs that runs networks hated it. Also had a great opening with Louis Armstrong singing "Miss New Orleans"
  Frank's Place never had a chance to jump. It was truly ahead of its time. It is the forerunner of the non-sitcom comedies of today. Had the show been produced today it would be a hit. Too bad. I don't think it could ever be re-done. But it definitely never never jumped
  A great ensemble cast! Music and writing were tops. Way too good to stay on the air. One of the few shows my father (a closet racist) and I could both enjoy. Where is Tim Reid Now??
  Franks Place never jumped, in my humble opinion it was a brilliant show. The writers had a birds eye view of the human condition. They conveyed their message beautifully. Sad to see that show leave the air!
  It has been twelve years since "Frank's Place" went off the air, and I still get depressed when I think about it. It was the only time I ever wrote to a network to complain. I personally feel it was the best television program ever produced. It just didn't fit into any category. To this day, whenever I see one of the actors from "Frank's Place" playing another character in another show, I feel betrayed. It is like they have developed amnesia and don't remember who they really are. This show never jumped.
  This was a great show. It starred one of my favorite TV character actors, Tim Reid (Venus Flytrap on WKRP), and his wife, Daphne Maxwell Reid. I even taped one episode I'm happy to say! I loved the way it gave you a feel for life in New Orleans. (They used subtitles whenever one of the cooks spoke his lines -- his accent was that thick.) The network moved this show around a lot during the end of it's first season, so it was never given a chance to find it's audience. Sigh, if a dumb show like "The Facts Of Life" could air season after season, why oh why couldn't a good show like this be kept on the air????
  Never had time to jump. One of my all-time favorites, touching and funny without being sappy.
  1987 started out as a golden year, with two of the best shows ever: Frank's Place and Slap Maxwell. The public didn't like either, and they were gone the next year. A shame.
  Hard to remember--did it even make it through season one? Great show, and had lots of critical acclaim; however, I guess advertisers did not want to support a show about African Americans and quirky white folk.
  One of the writer/producers of Frank's Place came to talk to my communications class. He explained that it wasn't a racist move on the stations part, and the show wasn't cancelled due to low ratings particularly. It was a terrible season overall, and the biggest problem was that the movie-like style of Frank's place didn't mesh with any other shows around it.
  One of the best - the older guys sneak in a recently passed away friend "kidnapped" from the funeral home. They leave him in the freezer overnight and then crazy things happen when the Inspection Guy comes in.
  Never jumped! The episode when the assistant college basketball coach from New York City "gets" the New Orleans recruit to commit ranks among the most glorious half-hours in TV. Remember the coach's moment of triumph when he's backlit as if with a halo and he just keeps repeating his own name: "Chickie ...Chickie ... Chickie!" Superb ensemble cast on top of it all! I mistakenly taped Alf and watched Frank's Place. Should have done the opposite.
  A wonderful show. Anecdote: I finally got cable 10 years ago BECAUSE BET was rerunning Frank's Place. Taped the whole corpus. Several years later, cable box was stolen and have never felt moved to replace it. Frank's Place was the best. Every show was a highlight, from pants-wettingly funny (the consultant who brought in a hillbilly band, the bum in the alley, the reverend's career, etc.) to poignant (Cool Charles's drug episode, the visiting brother) to heartbreaking (the Emmy-winner for Beah Richards as the widow of a man who died after drinking at the Chez) to scathing (the "Capital C Club," which dealt with dark/light-skinned racism brilliantly.) All done with quiet wit and intelligence and such warmth that you wished every episode would just go on and on. Packed with howlers and chuckles and smiles and subtle twists and skewers. A perfect candidate for PBS, I'm thinking, in the vein of the currently popular Britcoms; I think I'll suggest it. As it is, I keep watching the BET listings in case they decide to repeat it.
  If I remember correctly, this show with Tim Reid was aired at about the same time that John Ritter was starring in "Hooperman". Both shows were attempting to do a format that was sort of like a sitcom but no laugh track. (Kind of the precursor to "Sports Night") I rather liked the idea, but, alas, neither show seemed to find an audience. Too bad.
  One of the best shows ever. Not commercial or mundane enough to stay. Should come back on PBS. Only time I get to see it is in the U.K. where it runs from time to time.
  This show certainly never jumped. It was one of the best t.v. shows ever presented! Tim Reid brought us a rarely told story of African American life in New Orleans. We were treated to a story of ordinary people living out there lives but told in a very gentle and humorous way. The networks really killed this show but at least, for a very short time, we could bring this American story into our lives. Thank you Tim Reid!
  Never jumped! Absolutely one of the best shows never to make it! CBS was so ashamed of its treatment of this show, they still seem to give Tim and/or Daphne Reid any bit part in any show they want. This show is a primary exhibit of how a once-great network let itself fall into disrepute by mishandling one of the few gems it had in its stable. If my rant gives you the impression that I am still upset with CBS for canceling Frank's Place after 14 years, well, I am! No laugh track, no canned jokes, no wacky sidekicks, no smart-aleck kids,... so what? When you have originality and authenticity, you don't need those other things. The one voter who mentioned the lack of a laugh track should be forever forbidden from complaining about derivative programming. Jump the shark? Frank's Place never even got close enough to the shark to see it, let along jump it.
  CBS juggled this gem through 4 or 5 different time slots, ensuring that Frank's Place never developed a following. Brilliantly cast, "real," funny, touching and a perfect example of how great television can get killed by network executives who pander to the lowest common denominator.
  This excellent series was doomed from day one. With constant schedule changes, the show was never able to find an audience. I guess CBS was threatened by a show that showed blacks as ordinary people instead of thugs and buffoons.
  All the comments on this page are on target. The show got moved around in the schedule several times, including an undesirable Friday-night slot. It was one of the best-written and best-performed TV shows ever, and without a laugh track it didn't have to go for punch lines every minute. The only other show that I think equals "Frank's Place" for mixing comedy and serious subject matter is "MASH." Plus, mixing black and white and distinctive elements of New Orleans culture, it had story ideas that were unlike any other show before or since. It was one of four comedies with no laugh tracks that came out at the same time -- also "Hooperman," "The Slap Maxwell Story" and "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd," the last two both produced by Jay Tarses. "Molly Dodd" was also outstanding and the other two were pretty good; all were somewhat unorthodox.
  I agree with so many of the other people who posted. This was truly one of the best shows in the history of TV. That opening song by Louis Armstrong blew me away. All of the characters were interesting and gave you a view of life outside the standard TV stereotypes. The network showed its true lack of class and courage by yanking the show after one season. If they had stuck with it, it would have gradually built up a following. I still miss it after all these years.
  This show NEVER jumped. It has been 14 years since it was on CBS and I mourn it to this day. The characters were superb. The writing was phenomenal. As a frequent visitor to New Orleans, everything rang true. I found out it was on BET about the time that they quit showing it. I keep waiting for it to come back to some station or be put on DVD. A true original!
  Best moment: After the closing credits of the episode with the corpse's night on the town, the actor who played the dead guy was shown just long enough to grin and wink at the camera.
  I just have to add my vote for "never jumped." Oh, it might have, but if it did, I missed the episode, because (expletive deleted) CBS kept moving it around the schedule, thus ensuring that its audience was never able to find it! But even after all these years, my wife & I still refer to 'going out for a bite' as "let's go down to The Chez." (Rhymes with fez, for you unfortunate, uninitiated personages out there.) One of my 10 favorite all-time shows.
  There was one episode, a variant on "The Trouble with Harry", involving a dead man in the restaurant's freezer. Two endings were broadcast on CBS. In the first, the widow finds her late husband in the back of the church, and in the fade-out says, "You were never on time for nothin'". The reshoot has her turning back to the camera, with a shocked expression, and no witticism. At the time I saw this, I surmised that some Great Plains viewers complained to CBS about "humor in poor taste". (We Urban Midwesterners tend to blame people in Kansas, Oklahoma, etc. for the watering down of entertainment--and the rise of the Fundamentalists.) Hence, the reshoot.
  Never jumped. This was one of the best shows of that lame decade. It was different -- showcasing African-Americans without stereotyping. It was original, funny and smart. Great cast. Terrific writing. Of course, it was never given a chance. Great shows like M*A*S*H and Seinfeld started out at the bottom of the ratings but were given a chance, and they turned out to be some of the best shows on TV. Why couldn't any of the dumb **** executives at CBS give this one a chance? Yet another great show that was never given a chance.
  I'm like the other writer who feels a bittersweet pang on regret whenever I think of Frank's Place. It was the best thing on TV when it was on; redeemed/redefined the entire TV comedy genre. Great premise, first-class writing, gifted cast. Intelligence, humor, grace, originality, good looks...the TV equivalent of a great date...
  I've also been in mourning for the past 14 years for the best show ever aired. I also petitioned my cable company to have BET placed into the line-up because it was the only place where I could see Frank's Place. Unfortunately, by the time they complied, it was no longer being shown on BET. The characters were well written and Tim Reid and Daphne Maxwell-Reid were absolute gems in their parts. It was intelligent and wildly funny, unlike most series with predominantly black casts on today (check out UPN and WB). Wish this show would be available on DVD because a visit to the Chez would be like a trip home.
  frank's place is one of the best written and funniest shows ever conceived. it is no wonder, though, that it didn't last very long. the average viewer isn't interested in intelligent, sensible shows. they are, however, loyal to formulaic shows with predictable jokes and stale story lines. it is a shame that television is catered to morons.
  My two favorite network television shows were Homicide, Life on the Street and Frank's Place. In fairness NBC tried to keep Homicide on the air but alas in the end they canceled because Nash Bridges (a really lame show in my opinion) kicked its ass. Frank's Place was so smart, so funny, so wickedly clever that CBS couldn't stand it. The worst thing is that they never gave it a chance and if they say they did they are m%**^%(Fing liars. Frank's Place never Jumped the Shark and the few episodes that were aired like manna from heaven in T.V. wasteland.
  It's been a long time since Frank's Place was on the air and my husband and I are STILL pissed off about the cancellation! This was the best TV show we've ever seen. Great writing and acting. Real characters, unlike most shows featuring mostly African-American actors. If I were African-American, I would be totally insulted by most of the TV shows aimed at them. Frank's Place was about people, not race or stereotype. We totally loved this show and would buy it on DVD in a heartbeat if it ever comes out. I truly can't understand the network's screwing this show up by moving it around so often. It never had a chance. Favorite episode: where Frank has to cater the engagement party for Daphne Maxwell-Reid's character and her high-voiced fiance. "Walk like a man; talk like a girl!" We still fall on the floor laughing when we watch our home-recorded video of that episode. We taped as many eps as we could but didn't get them all. PlEASE, bring this one out on DVD!!
  This show NEVER jumped the shark. When I heard CBS was canceling the series, I contacted Dorothy Swanson at QVT and launched a local letter-writing campaign to keep the show on the air. Subtle, witty, thoughtful, honest, well-written, superbly acted, wonderful, wonderful, tv. I realized the show was much too good for tv and wouldn't last, so I taped as much of it as I could. Every now and again an episode will show up on Nick at Nite, especially during Black History Month, so I keep my eye on the tv listings during February.
  Yup. Damned shame the way CBS handled this show. At our house we chased it around the schedule all season; saw all the episodes except maybe one or two. We still remember remember the Chez fondly. Kinda like the place we went on our best vacation ever.
  One of the best shows ever. Tim Reid and the rest of the cast were great. The writing was literate and funny, and some of the episodes - the boxing match between the two chefs, the restaurant consultant, the college recruiter - I still remember. So, of course, CBS had to cancel it after half a year.
  Never Jumped. Another one of those shows that got better as it went along. An African-American show that was smarter than anything on television at the time. It respected it's audience and didn't pander. No bland, cardboard-cutout characters on this show. Each character was well-defined, smart and funny. The writing was top-notch. CBS, of course, dropped the ball and cancelled. Idiots. Yet another lost classic T.V. show.
  NEVER JUMPED. Admittedly, I'm a bit biased, living in New Orleans, but this was a great show. Even the opening (closing?) credits -- with Frank silently constantly complaining about the heat -- were hilarious.
  Someone wrote that Frank's Place was the fore runner of Northern Exposure. I loved Frank's Place. When the Frank's was taken off the air, and I began to watch Northern Exposure I immediately noticed the similarities and I had a major conniption fit. I sat down and wrote my first and only complaint letter to CBS. I lambasted them for ditching Frank's Place and then whitewashing it into Northern Exposure. Ha, ha, ha, ha! Cracks me up to think that I thought I could make a difference. Anyway, I never heard back from CBS and Northern Exposure went on to become my all time favorite television show. BUT I Frank's Place was my first love and I see that show as absolutely the fore-runner, Grandpa of Northern Exposure. I knew lots of people at my job loved Frank's Place and why CBS ditched it so quickly is beyond me. Of course, the network also tried their damndest to murder Northern Exposure. Used to have to hunt and search for NE nearly every week as the network shuffled it around like some ugly red-haired step child. Anyway, Franks Place was a bit of heaven. And it took a fancy bit of tap dancing and re-writing to convert that lovely New Orleans restaurant to a cold bar in Cicely AK.
  Frank's Place was one of those shows I hate because it's so good that I know I'm gonna fall in love with it and then it'll be yanked off the air for being too good for its own good. This was such a great show. In the same category as Northern Exposure, Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, EZ Streets, etc. (How did Northern Exposure stay on so long?). Wonderful show that never jumped.
  I knew I shouldn't have click on this category. I've just read the comments above and got pissed off all over again. The Louis Armstrong song at the beginning....the traveling corpse episode....I'M STILL IN MOURNING OVER THIS SHOW!!! I still crack up when I remember Daphne Reid adjusting a corpse in the coffin, causing the "corpse flatulence". There has to be a special place in heaven for the creators of this show---and a special place in hell for the CBS clowns that killed it.
  A show done with so much love and skill. Quite a rarity. It was done so long ago and each episode is still fresh. Bring it back!!
  Rarely do I laugh out loud watching TV by myself. I remember laughing till I cried at Frank's Place. Remember when they were trying to hide the body?
  Great show! I arranged my life around watching it. If I had to choose one episode of one TV show as my number one favorite, it would be Frank's Place: "Bum". Tim Reid was so believable in his frantic attempts to keep the Bum under control, and the bum was just magnificent, seeming reasonable at times, agreeing to a deal with Frank and then continuing to drive him nuts. Every time I hear a Harry Belafonte record since then I remember Tim's face reacting to the Bum's distant (but loud) singing of "The Banana Boat Song". At the time that episode reran my VCR wasn't working, and I actually borrowed a friend's VCR just to get that on tape. I still have it, and, like all great comedy, it's timeless. I laugh as much now as the first time I saw it. CBS' treatment of this creation was typical of corporate America - shoddy to say the least. It's almost criminal to have broken up the creative team behind Frank's Place.
  It is depressing reading all of the comments about Frank's Place because I can't see the show anywhere. This is one of my all-time favorite shows. One of my favorite episodes was the one with the executive who learns he has suffered a business loss while at the Chez and decides he wants to work with his hands. We see how long that lasts as the show proceeds. BTW, I was in New Orleans for the first time in March. I went to a few places and asked for beignets but they kept giving me donuts.
  Glad to find all the other comments here from fellow FP fans. This show has never been given the spotlight it so richly deserves, then or now. Why isn't this show out on DVD? Who owns it, and why haven't they released it? Why is it on cable so rarely and so hard to find? It was criminal of CBS to have treated this show so shabbily, but it's also criminal of whoever owns this show not to make it more available now! Release to DVD please so that those of us who know that this was simply the best sitcom ever never have to be without it again!
  Never jumped! This was zany Canadian humour at its best. I can clearly remember a bunch of sketches to this day, from Mr. Canoehead to Dan trying to stop smoking (screaming "STOP ME FROM SMOKING!!!" while stuffing his mouth with cigarettes) to the musical numbers at the end (Brown Cow, I Sell Computers, Heavy Metal Shop) and the classic opening sequence when they hit.. THE HILL!!! Laughs a plenty, and who can forget a "boot to the head!" By the way, I believe it was "Murray" that the person chose as his tribe name, lol.
  This excellent show wasn't given a chance to find its audience. When it went off the air, I wrote to CBS to complain, but of course it didn't help. We have to go to cable to find shows of this quality now.
  The flood in New Orleans reminded me of Frank's Place, one of the best shows I ever saw on television, well-acted, incredibly well written and yet it was cancelled in a flash by CBS. Fortunately, CBS learned from this mistake in later years and gave mind-**** like Yes,Dear, Big Brother and INXS-Rock Star the chance to go on and on. Boy, New Orleans is a bittersweet town.
  Witty, literate, quirky, compelling characters, offbeat stories, great setting. Execs killed it much too quickly.
  The best 30 minute comedy ever on TV. The shoe about Frank having to evict the 'bird lady' from her apartment and his involvement with voodoo was priceless. Many of TV's best moments were on this show. I would pay cash for any of these episodes in any format. CBS showed their true business acumen when they cancelled this show.
  This show never jumped. More over was not even headed in that direction. Outstanding bit of television. Its main problem was that it was far too ahead of its time in terms of style and content. This also could be said about its audience. I think, know,that if this show would be produced today, it would find a very suitable home on HBO. I too was frustrated trying to find show when it aired and until today, did not know it had been on B.E.T.. At least there is hope that SOMEBODY has it on Ebay..Those of you interested in film and T.v.(no matter what denomination you are) owe it to yourself if you ever get the chance to check this show out. the acting, writing, Direction and photography were excellent. Like watching little movies every week in 22 min.. What baffles me though is is this,Why hasn't Mr. Reid and production company tried to produce more shows over the years?Hell, they could have produced 3 hours of programming for the WB! He is still very much active as an actor but haven't seen anything he's produced since he did"Once upon a time.. When we were colored..." Like Ivan Dixon(Hogans Hero's) I hope he hasn't given up or soured on film and or television show making..Bring Back Franks Place