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bmcelhaney
Reviews
The Amos 'n Andy Show (1951)
one of the 5 funniest sitcoms ever
I grew up in the 50's and was in 1st and 2nd grade when this series was on. It was so funny and I'd rush home from school every afternoon to see it. It wasn't on in the evenings.
I had black friends then that I played with. And they'd watch it with me and we'd root for Andy to kick Kingfish's butt. We all thought Amos was admirable.
Then it went off.
Amazon though does have the series on DVD and I ordered it a few years ago and laughed just as much. It's in black and white and might appear to today's sitcom tastes to lack refinement or polish. But it's still entertaining and never once has it given me a prejudiced opinion of blacks anymore than All in the Family gave me the same negative about whites.
Out of curiosity, at lunch one day I asked a black co-worker who was about 20 years younger than me if he'd ever seen it and did he have a problem with me, his friend, watching it and finding it funny? He had not seen it and asked to borrow my DVDS and then he'd give me his opinion.
The next day he ate with me again and asked if he could keep the DVDS for a while longer. He said he and his wife watched four of the shows the night before and roared. He wondered if I would mind him loaning them to some of his other black friends. I did not object.
In the two years following, while we worked, he and I often repeated lines back to each other that we found especially funny. And anytime either of us would make a goof up, the standard reply was "Holy mackerel Andy".
The NAACP was being ridiculous in panning the series. It was great and I believe it would be a number 1 rated show today if anyone like Norman Lear would bring it back.