The Redd Foxx Show

The short-lived situation comedy sitcom "The Redd Foxx Show" was comedian-actor Redd Foxx's attempt at doing another weekly series. The series premiered nine years after "Sanford and Son" when off the air in 1977. At that time,and even after "Sanford and Son",left the airwaves,Redd Foxx tried his hand at a weekly variety show during the mid to late 1970's,but that didn't work out. He even tried his hand at doing a dramatic role in a family drama. That didn't work out. By 1980,Redd Foxx made a return to television...back to his former employer at NBC to do another spin-off to his hit television series of the 1970's titled "Sanford",but it lasted one season. With "The Redd Foxx Show",he was back in his prime,on a sitcom that came during the post "Sanford and Son",and pre "The Royal Family" sitcom during the early 1990's.

Redd Foxx attempted to make a grand comeback in 1986 in this nice short-lived sitcom about a small time businessman in New York City. Redd Foxx portrayed Al Hughes,a gruff old codger who ran a combination diner and newspaper stand in a predominately black inner-city neighborhood. Hanging around the corner were Toni(Pamela Segall-Adlon),a teenage white street kid he had adopted as his foster daughter. Diana(Rosana DeSoto)was the waitress who worked at Al's Diner. Jim-Jam(who was played by two actors;one of them was played by former "Sanford and Son" alumni Nathaniel Taylor and the other was played by Theodore Wilson)was Al's competition newspaper rival and close family friend. Others that were frequent around the neighborhood were Sgt. Dwight Stryker(Barry Van Dyke)who basically roamed the streets and was a constant lookout for the neighbors. Award winning actress Beverly Todd of "Lean On Me" fame was Al's devoted wife Felicia.

There was a lot of street life in the neighborhood,and during the early episode segments were enlivened by four harmonizing black kids who worked as movers and constituted the "Mulberry Street Du-Wop Moving Company". The show had a good premise,but had some big-time troubles especially in the major cast changes. The changes were made in episode 6 of the series when former "Sanford and Son" alumnus Nathaniel Taylor left the series over a contract dispute. In a desperate attempt to save the show,the change was made when the producers brought in actor Theodore Wilson for the rest of the series run as of February 22,1986. Wilson,for those who made not know this talented actor was known for starring in a lot of black-oriented sitcoms during the 1970's including the short-lived series "Roll Out!",which was a World War II comedy from the producers of "M*A*S*H",but was better known to viewers as Sweet Daddy Williams on "Good Times" as was known for starring opposite Clifton Davis on the short-lived series "That's My Mama". Another major cast change was made in March of 1986 in an desperate attempt to improve the program's sagging ratings,but it didn't help.

Toni and Diana departed while Al was descended upon his sharp-tongued lovable wife Felicia who demanded interest in the business in lieu of the alimony that he never paid her. In the last few episode,the producers brought in Comedian-actor Sinbad as the foster son Bryon. The reasons why "The Redd Foxx Show" sagged in the ratings was that when it premiered in January of 1986,ABC brought the show on during mid-season and was placed on Saturday nights opposite two of the biggest black sitcoms of their day that were dominating powerhouses over at NBC, "The Facts of Life",and "227",aka "The Marla Gibbs Show",which brought it to its death-knell. "The Redd Foxx Show" ran for 13 episodes on ABC from January 18,1986 until the final episode on April 19,1986. Why this show didn't last? The jokes and punchlines were not as funny as his previous sitcom and it shows in some of the episodes. Some were fairly decent while others were downright dumb. The guest star roster includes a who's who ranging from Glynn Turman,David Kaufman,and even former "Sanford and Son" alumnus Whitman Mayo. One episode had the one and only James Brown(Godfather of Soul)making a cameo appearance and the other had Redd Foxx doing a singing part. The 1980's R&B group Kool and The Gang sung the theme song.

From the previous comment:The episode of "The Redd Foxx Show" where guest star Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as a banker who tried successfully to sue him after choking in his restaurant was in episode 6 of the series titled "The Good Samaritian").

Nathaniel Taylor was in episodes 1 thru 6. Theodore Wilson was in episodes 6 thru 13.

The year was 1986. Comedian and actor Redd Foxx had a tremendous success with the Norman Lear series "Sanford and Son" and started getting offers to do other things, when that show wrapped. He tried a variety series which flopped. He returned to that earlier role in a continuation of his hit series, called "Sanford," but that didn't work and he even did some specials where he could do some of his "sanitized for television" stand up routines and some sketch comedy bits.

But this was a true return to a sitcom setting for Mr. Foxx. It was a departure from the Sanford character and from his stand up bits which was a different direction in his career, at that point.

Here, Redd Foxx played Al Hughes, the owner of a midtown diner with a newspaper kiosk attached to it. Helping run the joint was his counter waitress Diana, played by Rosanna DeSoto.

Al had a track record of helping underprivileged boys in the area by becoming an adoptive parent to those juvenile delinquents, and he had a lot of success for turning their lives around. So, when the local social worker insists that this next kid needs to find a home or would wind up in the lock up, Al agreed to meet.

It turns out that the new kid is a graffiti artist with some serious talent, played by Pamela Segall. But, based on the method of dress, the vocal intonations, the age and the look, Al believed that this was a boy, too.

Once Al found out that it wasn't Tony, it was Toni, of course a lot of the challenges (and the bulk of the humor) was based on the gender elements, as Al had never ministered to a girl before. But also, the laughs focused on the generational differences, the attitude and the energy between these two. There were a lot of different kinds of clashes going on at any given moment and they ranged from getting the newsstand set up for the day's customers and keeping the floors of the diner and the kitchen clean, to all the pop culture references dropped in, that someone of Al's advancing age likely never would have gotten.

Al was gruff, but he was a softee too, so he never really held the upper hand, but he did want things to go smoothly, so as long as they did (which they rarely did) he wasn't grousing or griping.

New York played a part because you had the yuppie businessmen off to their glass towers coming through, the rando tourists looking for a bite to eat on their way to various landmarks, college students with their mid-80s downtown style showing up and the threats of crime that Toni wanted to help resolve.

Ultimately, Toni left, without so much as a goodbye, off to subway tunnels unknown, presumably to paint some new murals? Or maybe she decided to use that unique voice of hers to give life to some animated characters? It's very unclear.

In place of Toni, Beverly Todd joined the cast as Al's ex wife, Felicia. She had Al's foster (and full grown) son Byron, played by an up and coming comic that went by the mononym, Sinbad.

The focus of the show changed drastically, the continual issues with Byron and Felicia involving themselves in Al's life may have been true to the situation, but they didn't add much comedy.

Ultimately the show didn't quite find the right chemistry to make it work and the abrupt changes in the cast didn't do it any favors.