Tim Reid is an accomplished television actor and producer whose critically acclaimed work has, unfortunately, often failed to meet with sustained audience acceptance. As an African American, Reid has tried to choose roles and projects that help effect a positive image for the black community. Through both his acting and writing, he has provided important insights regarding black-white relationships and bigotry.

Being a part of show business was one of Reid’s childhood dreams. Not content with simply being an actor, he hoped to play a vital role behind the scenes, as well. Like many young actors, he began his career as a stand-up comedian, working with Tom Dreesen as part of the comedy duet “Tim and Tom.” It was during this experience that Reid began exploring the dynamics of black-white relationships. In 1978, after performing in various episodic series, he received the role of Venus Flytrap in Hugh Wilson’s WKRP in Cincinnati. From the beginning, Reid made it clear to Wilson that he was not interested in playing just another “jive-talking” black character. Wilson agreed, eventually giving Reid control over his character’s development, which culminated in a story that revealed a much deeper character than the Flytrap persona first presented.

It was during WKRP that Reid gained experience as a writer, contributing several scripts to the series. One episode, “A Family Affair,” dealt with the underlying tones of bigotry that plague even the best of friends. He also worked closely with Wilson on the script “Venus and the Man,” in which Venus helped a young black gang member decide to return to high school. Teacher’s organizations applauded the effort, and scenes from the show were reproduced, in comic book form, in Scholastic magazine.

After WKRP, Reid landed a recurring role in the detective drama Simon and Simon, for which he also wrote a number of scripts. In 1987, he again joined forces with Wilson to coproduce Frank’s Place, which starred Reid as a Boston professor who took over his deceased father’s bar in a predominately black section of New Orleans. While critics raved about the rich writing (Wilson won an Emmy for the Frank’s Place script “The Bridge”), acting, and photography, the series was canceled after its first season. Reid contends that this cancellation was due to the constant schedule changes that afflicted the series (a problem he and Wilson experienced previously with WKRP), as well as CBS’s overall dismal ratings at the time.

In 1989, Reid became executive producer of Snoops, a drama in which he starred with his wife, Daphne Maxwell Reid, as a sophisticated husband-and-wife detective team in the tradition of the Thin Man series. Just as with Moonlighting and Remington Steele, Snoops placed character development over mystery. Once again, despite quality scripts and performances, the show failed to find an audience. Reid’s best-known television role of the 1990s was the father on Sister, Sister (ABC then WB; 1994–99).

In 1997, Reid established New Millennium Studios in Petersburg, Virginia. The studio features a sound-stage and postproduction facilities and has allowed him to produce his own work as well as contract with other producers in search of a location for television and film projects. Reid has personally used the studio as creator and producer of the 1998 series Linc’s, shown on the Showtime cable channel, and as producer of feature and made-for-television films.