sitting around here watching bootleg DVDs of the classic Amos 'n' Andy program, which lasted from 1951 to 1953 and pulled from syndication by CBS in 1966, thanks to boneheaded protests from the NAACP.
It was a great comedy, right up there with the best of the 1950s, and it never should have been consigned to the vaults.
Oh, people like Bill Cosby rant and rave about the show's alleged racism, but frankly the show would have been just as funny had the characters been white rather than black.
It's been often compared with The Honeymooners, and I believe the comparison is apt. It seems that show borrowed a great deal from Amos 'n' Andy.
The problem was there were no other shows at the time depicting African Americans in different roles, and therefore this comedy was singled out.
What a shame.
I've written about this show before. I had bootleg VHS tapes of it, but only about half of the shows. This version has 71 of the 78 episodes. I don't know if the remainder were lost.
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