The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer (1998) | UPN's Slavery Sitcom

[@serenitylabelle4533]

The American version of "Heil Honey, I'm Home"

[@pastortimmothy]

I remember when this was on. I have never been able to watch Chi McBride since. And the crazy thing is... I STILL CAN'T!

[@Thunderchild-gz4gc]

You missed out he's great on Boston Public, I Robot, the John larroquette show

[@pastortimmothy]

@@Thunderchild-gz4gc possibly. But I’m good. Thanks.

[@BRSmjlifer]

This show tanked Thursdays so badly for UPN that if it weren't for Vince McMahon bailing them out the following year, they would have had to surrender the night back to their affiliates.

[@flashfunk0373]

This is like a MAD TV skit but if it was bad.

[@vibe_sauce]

Classic Pfeiffer.

[@thedick009]

I heard this show won a Humantias. It's an award for shows that don't use words like 'retarded'

[@mikelopez2024]

Clerks!

[@megavideopowermegavideopow8657]

This was a controversial show that was canceled from the outcry of Black People saying”Hell no you will not make a comedy out of our slavery”the show was canceled shortly

[@cityhawk]

MegaVIDEOPOWER MegaVIDEOPOWER Not exactly. I’ve seen a couple of episodes of the show, and the writing was atrocious. They deserved the beating it got. It was shock for the sake of shock, because of a desperate network (UPN). It wasn’t clever, it wasn’t well written, although I thought they had a really good cast. It misfired, and badly. I’ve seen shows more controversial than this and better executed.

[@silentj624]

At that time we didn't have quite the power for it to be only us to get a show canceled. Everyone hated it

[@datboi1975]

Probably one of the worst shows ever created. UPN was throwing anything out there hoping it would stick. Who greenlighted this show is what i want to know!

[@dlxmarks]

The show was created by Mort Nathan and Barry Fanaro who had success with _The Golden Girls_ but had backed increasingly failed projects after. _The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer_ literally ended their TV careers.

[@samuelgates5935]

@@dlxmarks Imagine a comedy about the holocaust! Written by blk people.

[@silencemeviolateme6076]

​@@dlxmarkswhat did they do with golden girls?

[@jnnx]

Greenlit.

[@JuiceMan630]

​@@silencemeviolateme6076 they produced it.

[@StewartLucrative]

I remember a lot of upn's obscure shows, but I don't remember this at all. Unbelievable. This is like "bamboozled".

[@tylersinton3095]

This show is mentioned in Bamboozled. Thats where I learned about it

[@Supremmo]

I remember before BET was owned by Viacom Tavis Smiley did an interview with the producer of the show along with the lead actor Chi McBride. I can tell that they were uncomfortable being interviewed by Tavis as well as the viewer calls. I miss those days!

[@LogoAttitude]

Viacom also owned the rights to the series through Paramount Television, the show's production company, and was half-owner of UPN at the time. After two different re-organizations of the media assets of National Amusements, the show's copyright is now held by Paramount Television successor CBS Studios (which previously had CBS Paramount Television and CBS Television Studios as d/b/a names), a division of ViacomCBS. UPN shut down in 2006, merging some of its programming and affiliate base with some of the programs and affiliates of The WB to form The CW, which had a few series that originated on the network at the start of operations. Over the years, the former UPN/WB series would all end their runs (or in one case, move to another network), and today The CW's primetime programming consists entirely of shows that premiered during the network's lifetime. Most of the former UPN and WB affiliates that joined the CW are still with the network today, with some former affiliates of those networks joining the CW later on (like WUAB in Cleveland).

[@LogoAttitude]

Chi McBride would return to what became CBS Studios in 2013 when he joined the cast of the reboot of Hawaii FIve-0. He is now my lead candidate to portray Benjamin Sisko in a Kelvin Timeline adaptation of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (the only way this Star Trek series, along with former UPN series Voyager and Enterprise, would ever be represented on the big screen).

[@PIXPromosMore]

According to the book "season Finale" (an oral history of both the WB & UPN); some of the callers that made it through that night were UPN Co-workers "In disguise" trying to hype the show--what some people would do for their careers, I guess.

[@kinglord318]

OMG!!! Did anybody noticed it is the same exact set as BENSON?!!! The checkboard floor and kitchen.The producers know exactly what they doing!!!

[@Integrity.is.everything]

*Chi Mcbride should have been beaten within inches of his life on film to be made an example of for any black actor who decides to participate in these projects*

[@cityhawk]

If I assume right, it feels like they were trying to do an American version of Blackadder. I got the concept, but goodness it was poorly executed. Very.

[@Degan1000]

Why is this called a "Slavery Sitcom"? There are no slave characters in this. Slavery is not depicted for laughs. It pokes fun at LIncoln and the people around him. What is the point of identifying this as a slavery show of any kind?

[@A1collect]

I can see why they canceled this

[@nordvegfigg7746]

Abraham Lincoln: "So, what's a nice girl like you doin' in a place like this?" Hooker: "I'm a whore" Abe: "That explains the flat hair in the back". Can't imagine how a show as classy as this one only lasted four episodes... /sarc

[@IceManLikeGervin]

Now this show was pure garbage. Nothing slightly funny or entertaining about it at all. Remedial residual visual.

[@TheJrockfreak]

I hate to say, im laughing at it

[@greenrangerva]

Desus sent me here

[@TreyDoe]

Same i thought he made this shit up 🤣🤣🤣

[@greenrangerva]

@@TreyDoe yurrr ah ah ah. look at us, who woulda imagined 😂😂😂

[@Goldaction0]

What happen? 😂

[@Mozes316]

This is truly... something else... I think the biggest issue here, is that they went sooooo low brow for such a subject and such a era in time. Some thought provoking laughs may have made all the difference, while showing respect to all the horrid happenings of the ol' American life.

[@edwardwhite199]

This is like making a comedy of Auschwitz. "Things are going to get hot in here, mein fruenden.". This is not clever or funny. It's an insult and it deserves to be trashed.

[@edwardwhite199]

Meine fruende

[@silencemeviolateme6076]

Hahaha

[@fredroberts8275]

Black adder somehow covered WW1.

[@imagodeishow334]

Why does this remind me of Spike Lee's Bamboozled?

[@luvellecummingsiii9438]

I remember this show. It ruffled a lot of feathers

[@reginaldwalker6027]

I remember it too..This and Homeboys From Outer Space were some STR8 BULLS***!!..👎🏿👎🏿

[@yeahisaidit5633]

The absolute worst television show EVER! I was fresh out high school and it came after the second worst television show homeboys in outer space!

[@yeahisaidit5633]

Fuck upn and whoever green lit this show!

[@stephanrichmond5400]

This comment is like Kings of comedy funny compared to this TV show

[@nickcurran3105]

How would a black man have been an English noble in the mid-19th Century?

[@MozzieMutant]

This reminds me of a british show that was about hitler that lasted 1 episode 😅

[@cityhawk]

Moses Ssebandeke It looks more like a cheaply done Blackadder.

[@rickwilliams4573]

Moses Ssebandeke Yes 😂 you are thinking of "Heil Honey, I'm Home!" Lol

[@TheMikester307]

@@cityhawk You can't get more cheaply done than Blackadder!

[@cityhawk]

TheMikester307 At least Blackadder was clever and well-written. Desmond Pfeiffer is just going for shock value without an ounce of wit. This show is cheap to the core. It deserved to get panned the way it did.

[@wavealip8059]

Jesus this is cringe inducing. How did get green lite even in 1998?

[@anthonybarbati9969]

Leo Lesser is in the show . This show aint bad. I am laughing....

[@gerald542]

Dot Dot dash dash dot dot dot dot dash "Hay I'm eating here" Funny hilarious 😂😂😂😂

[@caj1119]

Exactly who thought this was a good idea? The UPN network really had to stoop low to come up with this one. Just when you thought their programming could never get any worse.

[@Vidgirl8]

I remember the few episodes I saw of this. It's what put Chi Mcbride on the map for me, not to mention Dan Florek who became captain Cragen on Law and Order SVU. This show was wicked funny, smart funny. Sad that it got pulled. Please tell me you have more episodes!

[@elguero281]

Only a few episodes actually aired. They never aired the pilot which was where the negative press was coming from

[@CaptainTae]

He had already played Kragen on Law and Order Prime. But I was surprised to see it was him.

[@sarcasticallyrearranged]

I only came to check this out because I had never seen Dann Florek in anything other than the Law & Order universe. I can see why it was canceled!

[@chanelhutch]

What??? You sound crazy and weird! This was neither smart or funny.

[@Unknown-bq9id]

Dann Florek, after this series flopped, must have been happy when Dick Wolf called him and told him that they were bringing him back as Cragen (who he played in the original Law and Order) on Law and Order: SVU...

[@sarcasticallyrearranged]

I can't believe that he was desperate enough to do this sitcom! I actually thought that he was a little bit like Cragen.

[@TheMikester307]

I just saw this for the first time tonight! Am I the only one who is reminded of "Blackadder the Third?" Right down to the checkerboard pattern on the floor?

[@TheeWorldsGreatest]

That's the exact thing I thought watching this. The premise is controversial, but if the comedy was better it could have worked.

[@hairytreeharleytree8635]

The writers of I now pronounce you chuck and Larry were responsible for this Disaster!

[@kurtcobainpizza5606]

Funny how hip hop music filled with racist stereotypes is totes but this Blackadder ripoff was considered offensive.

[@TotalFreakingAwesomeness]

What the heck did I just watched?!

[@tom1644x]

I get it, the telegraph is a stand-in for the late 90s sexy chatrooms.

[@franbacon82]

Yes, not the best situation comedy, but there have been worse. Have you ever seen Dusty's Trail?

[@charlespotter4770]

I can't believe this was the most unwatchable piece of SH*# I'd ever seen! Gave it about 5 minutes and that was 4:59 more than I should have.

[@reginaldforthright805]

You missed out on a great show Charles

[@ItsJustMe0585]

I think I faintly remember seeing the first little skit of this as a kid, but I must have even thought it offensive it stupid back then, if I can't remember more.

[@ocho611]

'enjoy' what do you mean by that?! 'your sausage' what do you mean by that?!

[@jojones2500]

This show was insensitive , chattel slavery is not funny .

[@MountTheodore72]

If the Wayans Bros did it, may have stood a chance.

[@reginaldforthright805]

Sure it is. Good grief.

[@silencemeviolateme6076]

So a funny thing happened on the way to the forum needs canceled?

[@jonlevenson5903]

I always wondered how this was actually greenlit. Some comedies about some pretty bad stuff have been made and were successful. Hogan's Heroes was about a Nazi prison camp. That ran for a few seasons and still lives on in syndication. This just fell flat on it's face.

[@nicksullivan4994]

Mary Todd Lincoln is Hotter on Kids WB’s Histeria!

[@MntrTodd]

This is great! Much funnier than SEINFELD.

[@stingray4real]

This is the US adaptation of the UK sitcom Blackadder the Third.

[@KozuKage4007]

I’m not gonna lie double toasted brought me here

[@ogawasanjuro]

I remember watching this back then and thinking that this was inspired by Britian's Black Adder.

[@babyfacelocsta9510]

I remember this

[@sgillman16]

This is hilarious 😂. People need to grow up. How do they even survive in the world? Literally nobody alive today was around during slavery, so claiming to be "offended" is funnier than the actual show.

[@aishag3476]

*looks at profile picture* hm.

[@Unknown-ik3ne]

You white be quiet

[@effu2]

damn, i dont remember this one.

[@shavonnestacia2865]

I think it was pulled off the air after a couple of episodes.....I cant believe it was even on tv in the 90's....They should've known better

[@57palmtree]

What does one say when someone lets one go in a crowded elevator? That's my reaction to this.

[@patattacprod1]

Damn this is bad. some reason i don't remember this show back then. It make sense why I don't .

[@cwp4eva]

I can’t believe that is Capt Kragen

[@TheJrockfreak]

lol im Black so i probably shouldnt find any of this funny but im laughing at it, its my kind of humor

[@greedg.i.l.m6593]

U sound dumb as fuck what's FUNNY

[@reginaldforthright805]

@@greedg.i.l.m6593 sorry the humor is beyond you, dummy

[@michelleschulz4903]

Why shouldn't they find it funny? Just because their black? You're the one sounding dumb! Benson was funny, he was a butler and ran a mansion. The governor there was such an airhead, if it were Benson, ooohhh. I'm telling you, lots of people would be in a world of hurt, so to speak... 😂 This show we're talking about had its highs and lows. I'm new to the site and can't wait to see else this station has to offer. 😊.

[@FreshRose-z3s]

RIP UPN 😑

[@sgrabin55]

One of the funniest sitcoms ever! The “woke” idiots would have a field day with this nowadays

[@the44118]

sure, whatever you say "Steve Grabinkski"

[@minouchejean8265]

Awwww man i fprgot all about this one thxs

[@VigEuth]

Ok Evolutionary Cul-de-sac is one to hold on to.

[@christopherdaniel6142]

lol....this show funny

[@stephanrichmond5400]

Abe kinda short ain't he

[@gomerhanger2285]

lmao!

[@buckyoung77]

Wtf 🤦‍♂️

[@nooodles939]

Ha Ha! Good stuff eh? Talk about side splitting comedy. If they would have tossed in a few fart scenes and this show would have made it to 11 seasons

[@doranstewartstewart6521]

Desus brought me here and I hate him for it

[@78binks]

What an offensive show! I did used to laugh at how they said his last name tho lol

[@fennkell]

Sell out

[@autumnasters]

Omg this dumbass show is real?!

[@DEAD4LIVE]

Thanks. I didnt know this shit was made and aired on tv.