Amos 'n' Andy
The Chinchilla Business
TV Flash files “The Chinchilla Business” as a desk essential hour — Amos 'n' Andy (1951–1953) on CBS, season 4, episode 1, aired 1955-01-19, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E01: listed hour 66 of 78 in the Amos 'n' Andy guide, first listed hour of season 4. It aired 1955-01-19 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Light Blue Car” (S03E13). Next is “The Uranium Mine” (S04E02).
Essential hour: “The Chinchilla Business”. The Chinchilla Business: late-run titled hustle, the form still running as NAACP heat moved toward the rerun shelf.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Chinchilla Business sit in the Amos 'n' Andy guide?
S04E01 is listed hour 66 of 78 — first listed hour of season 4, season 4 episode 1.
When did Amos 'n' Andy S04E01 air?
The Chinchilla Business aired 1955-01-19 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with the understanding that you are watching a hit and a protest document at once. Sample the sitcom form, then read it against the NAACP campaign and the later rerun shelving.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Amos 'n' Andy is the sitcom that forces the conversation: a mass hit and a civil-rights flashpoint over stereotypes, later shelved in reruns after NAACP protest. Watch it in 2026 as history, not comfort — a document of who early television allowed to be funny, and who paid the bill for the laugh.
The laugh is already the crime scene. Amos 'n' Andy, CBS 1951–1953, seventy-eight episodes, adapted from Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll's radio series: Alvin Childress as Amos Jones, Spencer Williams as Andrew 'Andy' Hogg Brown, Tim Moore as George 'Kingfish' Stevens, Ernestine Wade as Sapphire Stevens. A mass hit and a civil-rights flashpoint over stereotypes. Hugely popular, deeply fraught. The NAACP campaign and CBS's later shelving of reruns — withdrawn from syndication in 1966 amid civil-rights era…
Filed against
- Alvin Childress as Amos Jones
Alvin Childress played Amos Jones on Amos ’n’ Andy — the sitcom that forces the conversation: a mass 1950s hit and a civil-rights flashpoint over stereotypes, later shelved after NAACP protest. Watch it as history, not comfort. TV Flash…
- Spencer Williams as Andrew 'Andy' Hogg Brown
Spencer Williams played Andrew 'Andy' Hogg Brown on Amos 'n' Andy — a 1950s sitcom that was a mass hit and a civil-rights flashpoint, later shelved after protest. Watch it as history, not comfort. TV Flash files him as a document of who…
- Tim Moore as George 'Kingfish' Stevens
Tim Moore schemed Amos 'n' Andy as George 'Kingfish' Stevens — a 1950s sitcom that was a mass hit and a civil-rights flashpoint, later shelved after protest. Watch it as history, not comfort. TV Flash files him as a document of who early…
- Ernestine Wade as Sapphire Stevens
Ernestine Wade played Sapphire Stevens on Amos 'n' Andy — a mass hit and a civil-rights flashpoint, later shelved in reruns after protest. Watch it in 2026 as history, not comfort: a document of who early television allowed to be funny,…