Chico & the Man the season after Freddie Prinze died (which was also the last). Other than Jack Albertson and Scatman Crothers there wasn't much left of that show by then.
I found an article in a 1981 TV Guide that tells the story of the demise of the show after the above reality was reached. Seems like Charro has the coochie coochie of death!
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An executive for the network went on to explain,
'The network was trying VERY hard to save that show, going so far as to try to make Charro a regular, and were gonna call the show:
Chico, Charro, and The Man
Of course the funniest man ever to be was still alive then, and they wanted to add him, too. They were gonna call the show:
Chico, Charro, Groucho and The Man
Then they wanted Walt Disney Productions to add an animated elephant as a regular character. They were gonna call that show:
Chico, Charro, Groucho, Dumbo and The Man
They also had plans to try to get the Teen Urban Audience and The Jackson Five were going thru a slup. So they pitched show including an 'only slightly weird' brother. They were gonna call that show:
Chico, Charro, Groucho, Dumbo, Tito and The Man
Surprisingly they didn't get the J5 to do the music, but an up and coming group who had success with a song about Barbara Feldon. The band insisted on being included in the show's title. They were gonna call that show:
Chico, Charro, Groucho, Dumbo, Tito, Toto and The Man
When an up and coming Irish band found out about this, they pitched their frontman into the producer's office. They paid ALOT of money to get him a role on the show. This is infact where they learned the 'payola' technique that would a few years later gain then so much wide spread popularity. The payola conditions required the singers name to also be included in the title. They were gonna call that show:
Chico, Charro, Groucho, Dumbo, Tito, Toto, Bono and The Man
The show was getting more crowded, but not more funny, so they tried to add some comedy to the roster. An up and coming comedian, gunning for Carson's Grail and an old classic funny man down on his luck were both added to the show, with both insisting their names also be added to the title of the show to try to help their show biz stock value. [a fight broke out to see how the placement would be, with an alphabetical solution being reached - the loser stuck his chin out, which went on to become his trademark] This show was to be called:
Chico, Charro, Groucho, Dumbo, Tito, Toto, Bono, Bozo, Leno and The Man
The sponsors were tired of waiting so long for their ads to run, due to the bumpers for the commercials now taking 45 seconds to read. Their solution was to demand the names of their products - both ironically similar - to the name of the show. It would now be known as:
Draino and Beano present: Chico, Charro, Groucho, Dumbo, Tito, Toto, Bono, Bozo, Leno and The Man
But the nail in the coffin of the show was when former Beatle John Lennon's wife [instructed by her numerologist] had John buy her way onto the show, with similar payola techniques as U2. Adding her name to the show apparently was too avant garde. The show was called, of course:
Draino and Beano present: Chico, Charro, Groucho, Dumbo, Tito, Toto, Bono, Bozo, Leno, Yoko Ono and The Man
It only lasted a week.'
