When Chico and the Man debuted on NBC in 1974, the James Komack-produced sitcom, which starred veteran actor Jack Albertson and young comedian Freddie Prinze, was an immediate hit, and it was easy to see why audiences loved it. In addition to Albertson and Prinze, the show featured showbiz veteran Scatman Crothers and Della Reese. But when tragedy struck the series, the decision producers made to deal with it rubbed audiences the wrong way.

Freddie Prinze, well, he was something else. A 2024 article on Chico and the Man by Ed Gross in Woman’s World magazine quoted Freddie as describing himself when he was young as a “fat kid” who realized that he would either need to be tough or funny if he was going to survive his Washington Heights neighborhood. Fortunately for all of us, he opted for the latter.