Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries - Frank's Place: Tim Reid

Frank's Place aired from September 1987 until October 1988 on CBS.

One of the most critically aclaimed shows of the 1987-1988 season, Frank's Place offered a rare look at contemporary black culture in an urban black community; unfortunately the series never found an audience ( or perhaps vise versa), and was canceled after one season.

The brainchild of Hugh ( WKRP In Cincinnati) Wilson, it starred Tim Reid ( also of WKRP), as Frank Parrish, who owned a small creole restaurant in New Orleans. Frank was not really cut out to run such a place. In fact he had never been to New Orleans until he found out he had inherited Chez Louisiane from a father he had not seen since he was 2 years old. Raised in New England and most recently, a professor of Renaissance history in Boston, Frank had quite an adjustment to make-to New Orleans, to the restaurant business, and to a staff that at times resented him as an outsider and at other times tried to help him adjust to his new surroundings. The restaurant's staff included Big Arthor ( Tony Burton), the head chef; Shorty( Don Yesso), the assistant chef; Tiger ( Charles Lampkin), the bartender; Anna-May( Francesca P. Roberts), the head waitress; Miss Marie ( Frances E. Williams), the frail elderly " waitress emeritus"; and Cool Charles ( William Thomas, Jr), the versatile handyman. The regulars at Chez Louisiane were Bubba Weisberger( Robert Harper), a friendly lawyer; Reverend Deal( Lincoln Kilpatrick), who appeared to be more con-man than minister; Mrs. Griffin-Lamour( Virginia Capers) dominating owner of the neighborhood funeral parlor; and her beautiful daughter Hannah ( played by star Tim Reid's real-life wife Daphne Maxwell Reid), a mortician and embalmer whose profession almost, but not quite, prevented Frank from becoming romantically involved with her.

Frank's Place had more in common with the dramadies of the late 1980's ( shows like Hooperman, The Slap Maxwell Story and The Days And Nights Of Molly Dodd) than with traditional sitcoms; It was filmed with a single camera with no studeo audience and no laugh track. It also delt with some serious issues including drug use and suicide. Oddly it was originally scheduled for Mondays at 8 pm; a poor slot considering it's look and lack of appeal to younger viewers. During it's first year it was moved 4 more times; a frustrating pattern that effectively prevented it from building a regular audience.

In addition Tim Reid won a 1988 NCAA Image Award for his portayal of Frank Parrish. As it's theme music, the series employed Louis Armstrong's ," Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans."

A Review From The New York Times

by John J. O'Connor
Published: September 15, 1987

In ''Frank's Place,'' Frank (Tim Reid) is a college professor in Boston who inherits a New Orleans restaurant called Chez Louisiane. The place belonged to his father, who had left his wife and son when Frank was only 2 years old. Frank arrives in New Orleans clearly determined to sell the place but is quickly stymied by the staff, who want to buy the restaurant themselves, and the local kingpin thug, who makes an even higher offer as he tries to expand his empire. Despite the absence of a soundtrack - a laudable trend these days - ''Frank's Place,'' which was created, written and directed by Hugh Wilson, is firmly ensconced in familiar sitcom territory. The restaurant bulges with colorful characters, from the lawyer called Bubba (Robert Harper) to the silkily scheming preacher named Reverend Deal (Lincoln Kilpatrick). The reverend informs Frank that he is ''into real estate and everything else that's got an entrepreneurial bent.'' Also on hand: Miss Marie, (Frances E. Williams), the elderly ''waitress emeritus'' who will only serve customers she has known for more than 20 years, and Hanna Griffin (Daphne Maxwell Reid), the local mortician and embalmer, and the beautiful love interest for Frank.

''Frank's Place'' does take its people seriously, capturing the special warmth of New Orleans without tumbling into patronizing caricatures. The show also takes its food seriously, spurning the label ''cajun'' and noting with pride that this is ''creole'' territory. As a concept, ''Frank's Place'' is the sort of effort that could easily become likable over the long haul.

An Article From USA TODAY

CBS makes a place for 'Frank'
Published: October 26, 1987

Earthy, Unpredictable and unstintingly honest, Frank's Place has turned out to be CBS' little darling.

The network is expected to announce Tuesday that Frank's Place will be given a full-season guarantee, even though its ratings have been middling since it premiered last month. ( It airs tonight at 8 EST/PST).

" I contend that the show is doing some of the finest half-hours ever done on Television," says Kim LeMasters, CBS vice-president of programming. " I am going to help it out by not abandoning it."

Set inside a spicy New Orleans Creole restaurant, the series revolves around the most eclectic finely drawn cast of characters on television-among them, a White Southern Jewish Lawyer barfly named Bubba, a gorgeous black funeral home embalmer, a "waitress emeritus" who serves only the best customers, and Frank, a " buppie" New Englander who inherits this stew pot and discovers week after week new aspects of his black culture.

Some episodes are funny. Some are sad and sweet, others wildly visionary. Each is evocative of the South while eschewing wilted magnolia stereotypes. Featuring a nearly all-black cast while avoiding even a hint of racial typing, Frank's Place explores the layers beneath the skin.

Creator Hugh Wilson-a gap-toothed Southernor who speaks softly and carries a mighty pen-created this art from life. His own. " I wanted to do something with the South. I've lived that a lot," he says.

And he drew from all the possibilities in teeming New Orleans. ( Frank's restaurant is modeled on the Big Easy's Chez Helene).

" There are some black actors who came in to read ( for parts) and thought Hugh was black," says Tim Reid, star of Frank's Place. " They thought no white man could write this."

After he wrote the pilot, Wilson, the executive producer hired black writers ( including playwright Samm-Art Williams) to carry the episodes. " I'm not saying a show has to have black writers to write black, but it certainly helps," Reid says. Certainly, the imput enhances the authentic flavor.

And the show's creator went for more than authenticity. He took risks.

Wilson hired a physical fitness instructor he met in the smoking section of an airplane while en route from LA to New Orleans. Don Yesso-who plays Shorty the cook-was just minding his business when Wilson sat down next to him, bummed a cigarette, got talking about sports and then offered him a job in his tv show. Wilson was captivated by Yesso's authentic drawl.

Yesso, needless to say, is grateful: " If the good lord upstairs allowed me to have idols on this earth, Hugh Wilson would be it."

The Yesso story fits perfectly into the serendipitous smoky magic of Frank's Place.

For more on Frank's Place go to http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/forums/franks_place.html

For a biography of Tim Reid go to http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/R/htmlR/reidtim/reidtim.htm

For a biography on Daphne Maxwell Reid go to http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=882&category=EntertainmentMakers

For 2 more reviews of Frank's Place go to http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/franksplace/franksplace.htm and http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/franksplace.htm