What Might've Been: The Richard Pryor Show (1977)

Richard Pryor impressed NBC suits with a primetime special in the spring of 1977. That fall, Pryor landed a berth on the fall schedule. That was the good news. The bad? Tuesdays, opposite ABC's killer combo of Happy Days & Laverne & Shirley. We looked at CBS' entry in the sweepstakes, The Fitzpatricks, earlier this week.

The problem was that Pryor's brand of comedy belonged at a later hour, say, around 10 pm (ET), not 8 pm. The low ratings resulted in a quick hook, as Pryor was gone after a month.

Perhaps Pryor must've known this would not work, as he only taped the four episodes that did air, which, along with the special, were produced by Burt Sugarman (The Midnight Special), who surrounded Pryor with an ensemble cast, some of whom would become big stars themselves. For example, Tim Reid & Robin Williams would rebound with hits the next season. Reid in WKRP in Cincinnati, and Williams with Mork & Mindy. Vic Dunlop, a stand-up comic, would later turn up as a frequent contributor to the 1979 remake of Make Me Laugh, and Sandra Bernhard became a comedy icon herself, including a star turn with Jerry Lewis & Robert DeNiro in "The King of Comedy".

Edit, 3/31/23: Had to change the video again, as Richard's daughter, I believe, is enforcing copyrights. This next clip is from an official Pryor fan channel on YouTube, in which Richard, without realizing it at the time, performs as a skit at the first African-American president, predating Barack Obama's ascension to the White House 31 years later.



No rating. Back then, there were still plenty of Mets games on the cable.......