PRYOR’S PLACE
(CBS, September 15-December 8, 1984)
Sid & Marty Krofft Productions
MAIN CAST:
Richard Pryor – Richard
Pryor, various
Akili Prince –
Little Richie Pryor
Cliffy Magee – Wally
Danny Nucci – Freddy
Tony Cox – Allen
Keland Love –
Meatrack
Leanne Richelle –
Patty
Michael Sheehan –
Puppeteer
Richard Pryor was a
stand-up comedian who didn’t shy away from highlighting social injustices in
his routines with a liberal amount of profanity.
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Pryor sharing an anecdote. |
Beginning in New York
in 1963, Pryor’s act was more reminiscent of Bill
Cosby’s middlebrow routine using safe material (at the behest of his early
advisors). Although he found success and began appearing on television with
this style, in 1967 he had a self-described “epiphany” after feeling creatively
stifled and began incorporating profanity into his act. In 1969 he moved to
California where he continued releasing comedy albums and began writing for
televisions shows such as Sanford and Son, The Flip Wilson Show and Lily Tomlin’s 1973 special for
which he won an Emmy Award. While
engaging in a successful movie career, he also tried to break into mainstream
television with an appearance on Saturday Night Live.
In 1977, Pryor
received his own show, The Richard Pryor
Show, on NBC. However, it was cancelled
after only four episodes due to the audience’s inability to handle his
controversial subject matter and Pyror’s unwillingness to tame things down for
network censors. However, in 1983, Sid
and Marty Krofft had gotten the idea that Pryor could find additional
success on Saturday morning television, much like Cosby had with Fat Albert, and approached CBS. CBS agreed
to it if they could land Pryor, as well as get the rerun rights to the
Krofftt’s previous hit The Land of the
Lost. At the time, Pryor was focusing on more family-oriented projects as
part of an effort to clean himself up after having set himself on fire in 1980
while freebasing cocaine. That shift in his focus, and his love of children
(not to mention a very persuasive Marty Krofft) led Pryor to agree to do the
show.
![]() |
Living bread and anthropomorphic rats populate Pryor's Place. |
Pryor’s Place was an urban version of Sesame
Street. It starred real
people interacting with puppets (a pair of rats and living baked goods to name
a few) to teach life lessons to children. However, the topics were far edgier
as they included shoplifting, divorce and child abuse, amongst others. The set
was modeled after the neighborhood where Pryor grew up, accenting the anecdotes
Pryor would share with the audience (which were sanitized for network
television, more than biographical) that set the theme for the episode to
follow. Pryor, along with playing himself, starred as a variety of characters
including a Rastafarian and a wino character he previously employed on stage.
Akili Prince played Pryor’s younger self, whom the televised adventures would
usually focus around. The show featured sketches and musical numbers written by
long-time Pryor collaborator Paul
Mooney with Lorne Frohman
and Mark Evanier. Pryor’s direct
involvement behind the scenes was limited due to other ongoing projects
dominating his focus, but he was dedicated to doing something positive for
children and put his all into his time on set.
![]() |
CBS' 1984 Saturday morning ad with Pryor front and center. |
CBS was banking
heavily on the success of Pryor’s Place. So
much so, that they prominently displayed Pryor on their ads for their 1984
line-up and made it the central focus of a preview show the night of Friday,
September 14th. Saturday’s the
Place was written and co-produced by Evanier, hosted by Joyce DeWitt and featured Howie Mandel (who
starred in Muppet Babies at the time) and Ted Knight. The special showed
clips from Place, along with other
new CBS offerings such as Muppet Babies,
Dungeons and Dragons, The Get Along Gang and Saturday Supercade. It
officially debuted on Saturday, September 15th with a theme song by Ray Parker, Jr., who also appeared in the
intro and an episode. Parker had enjoyed success earlier in the year with his
smash hit “Ghostbusters”.
The series employed a
wide list of who’s who in celebrity guest stars. However, rather than just
being a ratings stunt, they were strategically casted in order to emphasize the
message of their particular episode. Amongst them were Robin Williams, Lily Tomlin, Pat Morita, Rip Taylor, Sammy Davis, Jr., Scatman Crothers, Ron Cey, Kareem Abdul-Jabbaar, Henry Winkler, John Ritter, Shirley Hemphill, and California
chief justice Rose Elizabeth
Bird.
![]() |
Little Richie with Pryor as a Rastafarian. |
The series was
nominated for a Huamnitas Prize for
“Children’s Live-Action Category: Home Free” and several Daytime Emmy awards. It
only won the Emmy for “Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction/Set
Decoration/Scenic Design” and “Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design.”
Unfortunately, while it earned the respect of awards committees, it failed to
reach a significant audience. Part of that was due to its being broadcast in
the 11:30 timeslot, which in some markets was reserved for local programming
and resulted in its being pushed back. The low-key humor was also pointed out
as being a possible cause, failing to grab audiences who may have been
expecting something different from Pryor.
![]() |
The kids of Pryor's Place. |
The result was
the series ended up being cancelled after its single season of 13 episodes. CBS
continued to air it in reruns throughout the first half of 1985, but
disappeared from the airwaves altogether once it left their schedule. The next
time anyone would see any part of the show would be on VHS in 1998 when Rhino Entertainment released four
double-episode tapes. Pryor’s Place does
live on in one form, however: Pryor’s hometown of Peoria, Illinois renamed one of their streets
Richard Pryor Place in honor of the comedian.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“High Noon at 5:30 P.M.” (9/15/84) – Richie faces off with the
neighborhood bully.
“To Catch a Little Thief” (9/22/84) – Richie steals a basketball to
get in good with a street gang.
“Love Means Never…” (9/29/84) – Richie’s painful first grade first
romance.
“Voyage to the Planet of the Dumb” (10/6/84) – Richie and his friends
learn why skipping school is dumb.
“Close Encounters of…” (10/13/84) – Richie tries to get a fuzzy alien
home.
“Sax Education” (10/20/84) – Richie loses a saxophone.
“Readers of the Lost Art” (10/27/84) – Richie and Wally think reading
is uncool.
“Divorce Children’s Style” (11/3/84) – Divorce sometimes happens, but
what does it do to the kids involved?
“The Kimosabe Blues” (11/10/84) – Richie and Wally’s argument
threatens their friendship.
“The Showoff” (11/17/84) – Richie is terrified to perform in front of
his first audience.
“Cousin Rita” (11/24/84) – Little Richie’s friend has a crush on his
older cousin.
“Home Free” (12/1/84) – Amanda reveals a traumatic incident from her
past to Richie.
“Too Old Too Soon, Too Smart Too Late” (12/8/84) – Richie learns the
importance of respecting elders.
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