Me and the Boys

1 9 9 4 – 1 9 9 5 (USA)
19 x 30 minute episodes

Following the death of his wife, hard-working middle-class father of three, Steve Tower (Steve Harvey) suddenly finds his life more complicated than he could have ever thought.

How can he continue to operate the Dallas video store he owns in order to provide for the family while caring for his three sons – 16-year-old Artis (Chaz Lamar Shepherd); 13-year-old William (Wayne Collins) and 10-year-old Andrew (Benjamin LeVert) – without his wife?

The solution appears in the form of his mother-in-law Mary (Madge Sinclair), who moves in with Steve to help him raise the three mischievous boys.

On paper, the ABC sitcom looked like a sure-fire thing. The ratings were good in its first season, it did well with the 18-to-49-year-old viewer demographic favoured by advertisers, and it was a breath of fresh air in offering a positive view of a black family.

But ABC cancelled the show in May 1995, claiming that it was too “kid-driven” at a time when the network was playing catch-up in offering “adult-driven” early prime-time series.

Steve Tower
Steve Harvey
Mary 
Madge Sinclair
Artis Tower
Chaz Lamar Shepherd
William Tower
Wayne Collins
Andrew Tower
Benjamin LeVert