How can I compute a histogram (frequency table) for a single Series?

Maybe .value_counts()?

>>> import pandas
>>> my_series = pandas.Series([1,2,2,3,3,3, "fred", 1.8, 1.8])
>>> my_series
0       1
1       2
2       2
3       3
4       3
5       3
6    fred
7     1.8
8     1.8
>>> counts = my_series.value_counts()
>>> counts
3       3
2       2
1.8     2
fred    1
1       1
>>> len(counts)
5
>>> sum(counts)
9
>>> counts["fred"]
1
>>> dict(counts)
{1.8: 2, 2: 2, 3: 3, 1: 1, 'fred': 1}