Freddie Prinze, in case you forgot…

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on November 22nd, 2004

From the Newark Star Ledger’s “Ricky Retro, a weekly pop history quiz,” comes this paragraph:

After an appearance on “The Tonight Show” in late 1973, he landed the role of Chico Rodriguez, a young, energetic Chicano who worked at a garage in the Hispanic barrio of East L.A.

If we take “late 1973” to mean anywhere from July 1, 1973 to December 31, 1973, and if we note that the series debuted in September of 1974(!), we can say that no more than 14 months passed between the time Prinze did The Tonight Show and the premiere of his hit show. And when one considers that Prinze was 20 years old when he had a sitcom built around him, it is a little easier to understand why only 28 months passed between the debut of the series and Prinze’s self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Inevitable? Not by any stretch. Tragic? To be sure. Read the rest here.