The Amos 'n Andy Show was a pioneering sitcom in the early 1950s. Based on some of the characters of the radio show of the same name which began in 1928 and ran for decades, it was the first TV sitcom to utilize the multi-camera production technique and featured very well crafted comedy scripts by Bob Mosher and Joe Connelly. It starred Tim Moore, Spencer Williams, Ernestine Wade, Alvin Childress, Amanda Randolph, Johnny Lee and Nick Stewart. The main focus of the stories usually revolved around the scheming shenanigans of George 'Kingfish" Stevens (Tim Moore) {and sometimes lawyer-wannabe Algonquin Calhoun (Johnny Lee)} that usually victimized his good-natured friend Andy Brown (Spencer Williams). However, George was no match for his morally responsible wife Sapphire (Ernestine Wade) and cab company owner and friend Amos (Alvin Childress) who always turned the tables and foiled his schemes. This theme was very similar to that of The Honeymooners which was also very popular at that time, although I must say when it came to comedy acting the cast of Amos 'n Andy had it all over Gleason and friends. The Honeymooners was very compressed and stiff compared to A 'n A. A lot of the comedy was Gleason shouting and bugging his eyes out. The Amos 'n Andy cast was very broad and fluid and warm. The show was canceled before all the episodes aired but they were later broadcast during the show's syndicated life. Six episodes appear to have been lost. There have been a lot of bootleg sets kicking around for quite a few years now but none of the people that issued them ever took the time to correctly identify and arrange the episodes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_%27n%27_Andy
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