A Look back at 'THE ROYAL FAMILY' 1991-92

Through the history of television there a few series that had the potential to be classics, but because of unforeseen circumstances, it just wasn't meant to be. THE ROYAL FAMILY may have been one of those series.

THE ROYAL FAMILY had all the making of the next great, classic TV series. It had Eddie Murphy as creator and producer and Redd Foxx has the lead character. Della Reese was pegged to play Foxx's wife. A great trio to start the series off.

CBS felt confident with this series. I remember seeing lots of promotion for it, touting both Eddie Murphy and the return of Redd Foxx to television.

The series chronicled the lives of Atlanta mailman Alexander Alphonso "Al" Royal (Redd Foxx) and wife Victoria (Della Reese), who were anticipating peaceful retirement years, until marital problems brought an extended visit from their daughter Elizabeth and her three children.

The series premiered on September 18, 1991, in the 8:00pm time slot. It  would go head to head with NBC's UNSOLVED MYSTERIES, a top 25 series. The premiere episode ratings were good. Nearly 20 million viewers and ranked 2nd in it time slot.

The numbers started to drop through the first month, down to about 13 million viewers. After the 4th episode aired, the worst thing that could happen to a new series happened. Redd Foxx suffered a massive heart attack, on the set while filming the 8th episode, and died on October 11, 1991.

The timing worked in CBS' favor as it had the MLB Playoffs the next two weeks. This also gave time for the network and producers to come up with a way to rework the series around Foxx's death. When that 8th episode aired, Jakee Harry was cast to play Della Reese's younger sister and was to help her cope with the loss of her husband.

When the 5th episode aired, with Foxx lead episodes, ratings did perk up a bit to 14.5 million viewers, but it was now a 3rd place series. The 6th episode aired on two weeks later, on November 13th, but was not in the 8:30pm slot, behind BROOKLYN BRIDGE. It also dropped to a series low, 11 million viewers, but then rose again to 13.5 million viewers by the end of November. The show then when on hiatus for the producers to give the producers the proper time to rework the series in the new direction.

When the series returned on April 8, 1992, Jakee Harry was now the Oldest child of Foxx and Reese, not the younger sister as episode 8 had established. THE ROYAL FAMILY was back in it original timeslot of 8:00pm on Wednesdays, but the ratings did not return. Just 11.5 million viewers tuned in to the return and the numbers only got worse from there. After the 13th episode, of a 15 episode order, CBS cancelled THE ROYAL FAMILY.

It is hard to say how great or bad THE ROYAL FAMILY could have been had Redd Foxx not died that day. But the ingredients where there for a classic masterpiece.