"The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer" (1998) TV series

Creators:

Barry Fanaro
Mort Nathan

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

5 October 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Desmond Pfeiffer (the P is pronounced) was a black British gentleman who was run out of England after being accused of cheating at cards...

Plot Keywords:

Abraham Lincoln | Mary Todd Lincoln | Ulysses Simpson Grant | Sitcom | Character Name In Title

Cast

Chi McBride	...	Desmond Pfeiffer (4 episodes, 1998)
Max Baker	...	Nibblet (4 episodes, 1998)
Dann Florek	...	Abraham Lincoln (4 episodes, 1998)
Christine Estabrook	...	Mary Todd Lincoln (4 episodes, 1998)
Kelly Connell	...	Ulysses S. Grant (4 episodes, 1998)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Network Television Productions

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Clerks: Leonardo Leonardo Returns and Dante Has an Important Decision to Make (#1.1)" (2001)

What a loss!

"The Secret Diaries of Desmond Pfieffer" was a television show that, sadly, only lasted for four weeks, during which the show and its premise was constantly derided and mocked by the media and largely ignored by the television viewing public.

True, a sitcom about Abraham Lincoln's sarcastic black butler sounds silly, and it is, but luckily the show carried a sense of self-awareness. Despite one atrocious episode (in which the drunken Ulysses S. Grant faces down his bowling demons) the show 's remaining three were not pitifully stupid, as some folks would have you believe.

The cast was top notch: Chi MacBride (who was Cyrus in Peter Jackson's under-rated "The Frighteners") is simply superb as the title character: A dignified and intelligent overwieght black man, truly a rarity among prime-time role models. Max Baker was the image of perfection as Nibblet, the inbred indentured servant, and Dan Florik was suitable as the Bill Clinton-meets-Gerald Ford Lincoln.

The show isn't perfect, though. Many jokes fall flat, and the woman playing Mrs. Lincoln is quite annoying.

But the show had its moments, as evidenced in the episode in which Desmond, Nibblet, and Lincoln are stranded behind Confederate Lines. Desmond has convinced the Southern soldiers that he is, in fact, a white Confederate spy disguised as a black Northern free slave. One Southerner inquirers, "It must be awfully hard on you to even temporarily go through life as a Negro."

To which Desmond replies "Oh, it hasn't been that bad. I have been able to get a lot more white women!"

It will be missed.