AMEN: YES SIR, THAT'S YOUR BABY (TV)
Summary
One in this comedy series about a dishonest church deacon and his relatives and friends.
One of the parishioners, Lynette, has a new baby to be christened, and Cassietta and Amelia are particularly taken with him. Deacon Frye is to be godfather of the child, whom he helped to deliver, and is quite excited at the prospect. Deacon Frye is particularly interested in whether the baby’s father, Jerome, will marry Lynette, although Lynette deflects his questions. Jerome arrives, and despite Deacon Frye’s cajoling he seems to show genuine affection for his newborn son, christened “Gilbert Frances Miller.” At a reception at Deacon Frye’s house he keeps trying to convince Jerome to ask Lynette to marry him. Amelia and Cassietta become upset when they realize that they’re becoming too old to have children of their own. Reverend Gregory suggests the prospect of adoption. They are open to the idea, and elect Deacon Frye to help them through the legal processing.
Deacon Frye manages to get the adoption finalized very quickly, and Amelia and Cassietta anxiously await their new child’s arrival. However, they are shocked and furious to find that their new son, Ricky, is already a teenager. Deacon Frye was able to get the adoption process done by “taking what was available.” Reverend Gregory prevents them from beating up Deacon Frye, explaining that Ricky has spent his life in a foster home and needs their support just as much as any baby would. They decide to accept Ricky as he is and try to care for him. After a week, Amelia, Cassietta, and Ricky find that they are enjoying their time together and have grown affectionate towards each other. They stop off at the church to donate Ricky’s “baby” toys to needy children. Ricky speaks to Deacon Frye alone, but they are soon joined by Jerome looking for toys for Gilbert. Deacon Frye uses this meeting as an opportunity to convince Jerome to marry Lynette so as to avoid abandoning his son, as Ricky’s father ran out on his mother before he was born. Ricky reacts strongly when he learns that Jerome and Lynette are not married, arguing that it is his responsibility to do so and make a full commitment to raising his son.
Ricky reveals to Deacon Frye that while in foster care he applied to join the marines, and has just received a letter accepting him into their service. He still wishes to join but doesn’t want to hurt Cassietta and Amelia’s feelings. Deacon Frye gives him advice on how to break the news to them. They hold a going-away party for Ricky and bid him farewell; he promises to visit them whenever he can. Jerome speaks to Lynette in private; motivated by Ricky’s assertions, he asks Lynette to marry him, and she accepts. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: February 14, 1987 9:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:23:11
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:63021
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; African-American Collection - Comedy
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1986-1991
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Ed. Weinberger … Executive Producer, Created by
- David Lloyd … Executive Producer
- Jack Seifert … Supervising Producer
- Peter Noah … Producer
- Reuben Cannon … Co-Producer
- Ken Johnston … Co-Producer
- Lee Shallat … Director
- Bob Ellison … Writer
- Andrae Crouch … Theme Music by
- Sherman Hemsley … Cast, Deacon Ernest Frye
- Clifton Davis … Cast, Reverend Reuben Gregory
- Anna Maria Horsford … Cast, Thelma Frye
- Barbara Montgomery … Cast, Cassietta Hetebrink
- Roz Ryan … Cast, Amelia Hetebrink
- Jester Hairston … Cast, Rolly Forbes
- Nadia DeLeye … Cast, Lynette
- Todd Hallowell … Cast, Ricky
- Miguel A. Nunez Jr. … Cast, Jerome