Sanford and Son

This is definitely one of the greatest sitcoms in history. Redd Foxx was perfect in his portrayal of the crotchety old Fred Sanford and Demond Wilson was perfect as his son Lamont. My parents and I would turn on this show every week just to see Fred put down Lamont by constantly calling him "Dummy". However, you pretty much could tell that even though he called Lamont a dummy that he basically loved his son and was very much afraid of losing him. Also the supporting cast of Don Bexley as Bubba, Whitman Mayo as Grady and, of course, LaWanda Page as Fred's bible thumping sister-in-law Esther all made this show the great alternative to the bubblegum shows that were on A.B.C. on Friday nights.

It's already known that `Sanford and Son' was the Americanized version of `Steptoe and Son' of England, created by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. `Steptoe' was extremely funny and groundbreaking in England. When the show was brought over to the USA, it's initial transformation to `Sanford and Son' was excellent…in it's early years.

The original premise of `Steptoe' was the direct relationship between the father and son, as the son strives for a better life from the junk business, while his cantankerous father holds him back, due to fear of being alone in his twilight years. Many comedic situations resulted as a result of this conflict.

TVLand currently shows reruns of `Sanford and Son'. If you pay attention to the opening credits, and the writer(s) of the current episode is given, it is sometimes followed by… Based on `The Piano' by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. `The Piano' was an original `Steptoe and Son' episode. This meant that the upcoming `Sanford and Son' episode was merely a retooling of the respective `Steptoe' script for American audiences, now entitled `The Piano Movers'. There were 136 episodes of `Sanford and Son'. If you include all episodes, movies, and TV specials, there were 59 offerings of `Steptoe and Son'. Based on my research, of the 136 `Sanford' episodes, 16 episodes were direct adaptations of the `Steptoe' series. Those `Steptoe' copies were the funniest episodes of the `Sanford and Son' era, due to the exceptional scripts by Galton and Simpson. If you have the DVD, you are able to watch the uncut, unedited versions, which is not the case when watching the TVLand episodes. Other `Steptoe' episodes could not be duplicated because they were either far too oriented in British culture to be adapted for America, or they were considered too crude & vulgar to attempt to tone down for America, although I wish they tried.

Another strong point was the opening theme song by Quincy Jones, as well as the closing theme.

However, due to the extreme popularity of the show, Redd Foxx developed and ego, wanted more money than the producers, and disrupted production of the show to the point where Whitman Mayo (Grady) had to fill in on a temporary basis. This was one of the downsides to the show. Eventually, he came back, and the show labored on. Redd Foxx had marital problems during this time. Being distraught over that, he left the show in 1977, even though the show had more life left.

NBC tried to keep the flame lit by producing `Sanford Arms', which revolved around the Sanford Arm tenants which lived there when Fred and Lamont bought the Sanford Arms when their show was on-the-air. There was also `Sanford.', which did not have Lamont. The less said about these two shows, the better.

All in all, the `Sanford and Son' episodes adapted from the Galton and Simpson scripts from `Steptoe and Son' will always be the better episodes.

I guess that "Sanford and Son" must have been the first show that portrayed black ghetto life. No matter, it's hilarious. Dad Fred essentially spends every episode lounging around his house, calling his son Lamont "dummy" and threatening to bust people's lips. Lamont remains eternally embarrassed about Fred's antics, especially whenever Fred comments on how ugly he considers the sister-in-law, Aunt Esther, to be. And it's always great when the two cops (one white and the other black) come to the house, and the white cop acts like a dork, forcing the black cop to have to identify it.

Anyway, it was part of the new wave of really funny shows in the early 1970's that portrayed stuff that TV shows previously were uncomfortable portraying ("All in the Family" of course led the way). It would have been neat if Fred Sanford and Archie Bunker could have ever met. That would have made for some crazy dialogue. Four stars.

Sanford and Son (1972) was a classic American television sitcom that was based upon the B.B.C. tele-comedy show Steptoe and Son. Whilst Steptoe and Son dealt with the "Rag and bone" business, Sanford and Son dealt with the "junk" business. A perfect vehicle for stand up comic and performer Redd Foxx. Many people felt that he couldn't make the transition from party records and blue humor to the restrained format of television. He proved them wrong. During the first couple of seasons some of the episodes (including the pilot) were Americanized versions of Steptoe and Son.

The show became a huge hit for N.B.C. and the series lasted for six seasons.

the "classic" episodes of this show were written by Paul Mooney and Gary Shandling. The best seasons happen to be the second and fifth, many classic episodes debuted during that time. Aunt Esther was Fred's nemesis, Rollo was Lamont's best friend and another thorn in Fred's side. Fred also has his buddies Bubba and Grady. Fred was involved with Donna to whom he was engaged to throughout the series. Redd Foxx always had problems with the producers of the show and he used his leverage as the star to get his stand-up comic friends on T.V. Performers such as Pat Morita, "Slappy" White, Scatman Crothers and the comic team of Leroy and Skillet all received spots or recurring roles on the show.

Thanks to D.V.D. and syndication, Sanford and Son will live on forever and future generations will enjoy the humor of Redd Foxx and company. Sanford and Son spawned two spin-offs and a sequel series.

A highly recommended show.

Very funny TV comedy series about the situations a Los Angeles junk dealer,Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) and his son/business partner Lamont(Demond Wilson) find themselves in.

In my opinion, the impeccable timing of hilarious lines delivered by Mr. Foxx made this show a classic. I think the humor was probably cutting edge for its time also, often referencing the racial and sociopolitical climate (a la All in the Family). Though ageless with respect to humor, some of the lines are not politically correct anymore as evidenced by TV Land (that currently shows reruns as of this writing) cutting out any reference to the "N" word said by Fred Sanford as I remember being in more than a couple of episodes when they first aired on NBC.

A whole host of other characters added to the shows hysterical but stereotypical flavor such as the religiously fanatical Aunt Esther, the dimwitted Grady and neighbor Julio. No ethnic group or race was spared a ribbing on this show.

Two of my all time favorite episodes are 1. The Sanfords being promised $10,000 if Lamont marries Fred's cousin's overweight stepdaughter and 2. Fred and Lamont's plane ride to St. Louis to attend the reading of a will of a relative that recently passed.

Priceless.