The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer is an American sitcom that aired on UPN from October 5–28, 1998. Before it was even debuted, the series set off a storm of controversy because of a perceived light-hearted take on the issue of American slavery.
Story
A black English nobleman named Desmond Pfeiffer, chased out of the United Kingdom due to gambling debts, becomes President Abraham Lincoln's valet. In the show, he serves as the intelligent and erudite backbone of a Civil War-era White House populated by louts and drunkards.
Before the series' premiere, several African Americanactivist groups, including the Los Angeles Chapter of the NAACP, protested against the premise of the series. On September 24, 1998, a protest against the series was held outside Paramount Studios. Five days later, UPN released a statement regarding the controversy and stated that the network planned on delaying the controversial pilot episode and would instead air an alternate episode in its place.
Ratings
The first episode of the series aired on October 5, 1998, ranking 116th out of 125 television programs for that week. Desmond Pfeiffer was removed from UPN's schedule on October 24 and, after airing one episode two days after being removed from UPN's lineup, was canceled, thus hastening the demise of UPN president Dean Valentine.
Reception
It was ranked #5 on Entertainment Weekly's Top 50 TV Bombs.
The series was alluded to multiple times in the unaired pilot episode of , "Leonardo Leonardo Returns and Dante Has an Important Decision to Make", which featured Dante and Randal drawing inspiration from a non-existent episode of The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, which Randal describes as "classic Pfeiffer". In the also unaired third episode, "Leonardo Is Caught in the Grip of an Outbreak of Randal's Imagination and Patrick Swayze Either Does or Doesn't Work in the New Pet Store", Dante and Randal are seen at the drive-thru for Desmond Pfeiffer's Civil War Burgers, a fictional fast-food restaurant.
