Amos 'n Andy

1 9 5 1 - 1 9 5 3 (USA)
78 x 30 minute episodes

Amos 'n Andy had been one of radio's biggest hits, but its creators and stars (Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll) were whites who portrayed blacks, which worked perfectly well on radio, but was simply not going to cut-it on television! And so the casting call went out . . . and one of the finest ensemble comedy casts of any color was assembled.

Alvin Childress played Amos Jones, level-headed cab driver and modest ballast of the cast, and Spenser William Jr played Andy Brown, oafish suitor of countless girlfriends and gullible foil of scams.

The centerpiece of the show, however, was George 'Kingfish' Stevens, played to great comic effect by Tim Moore. As head of the Mystic Knights of the Sea, a bankrupt lodge, he perpetually conned Andy into joining schemes and attempted to evade the wrath of his domineering wife, Sapphire. These were situations of the most confounding order, and exaggerated performances resulted in a memorable classic.

The series lasted for two years and featured the first all-black TV cast. Protests, however, from civil rights groups - and accusations that the show presented caricatured portrayals that offended many blacks - led to the series' cancellation, and, in 1966, to its withdrawal from syndication.