Roc began life as a traditional television sitcom, chronicling the ups and downs of Baltimore garbage collector Roc Emerson (Charles S. Dutton), a tightwad who constantly brought home “perks” (i.e. items thrown away by residents on his route); his wife Eleanor (Ella Joyce), a registered nurse; his father Andrew (Carl Gordon), a retired Pullman porter; and his womanizing younger brother Joey (Rocky Carroll), a ne’er-do-well musician who had recently returned to the neighborhood.

After a successful live episode (guest-starring Dutton’s then-wife Debbi Morgan) was broadcast in February 1992, the producers and the Fox network agreed to air each episode of the second season as a live performance. Roc is the only prime time scripted American series since the late 1950s to broadcast each episode of an entire season live.

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