Sanford and Son

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.

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.

Sanford & Son is hilarious!

Fred's antics and one liners such as "I'll have Scripple, oh that's what I call Scotch and Ripple mixed!" are hilarious!

His interactions with Aunt Esther are my favorites and (in my opinion) the funniest!

They have (so far) the first foure seasons on DVD and will probably put the other two out eventually.

There are also T Shirts with "This is the Big One!" on them (which I've searched all over the Web for but are all sold out!)

If you're looking for a good laugh watch Sanford & Son! It currentley airs (at a TERRIBLE time slot) on TV Land at 4:00 in the morning...

I definetley recommend this to EVERYONE! It's hilarious!

In October of 1991, the entertainment world was robbed of true comedy quality talent, namely Mr. Redd Foxx. This is his crowning achievement. My 2 personal favorite episodes were the episodes about chicken wings on an airplane and the wrong computer error and ''Mr. Haystacks'' bringing Grady a third social security check. This show will undoubtedly withstand the test of time. Thank you so kindly, Mr. Foxx.

Perhaps the last really good TV Sitcom. Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson were the stars of this 70's comedy but had such great support from actors and actresses to include Whitman Mayo, Lawanda Page, Raymond Allen, Don Bexley, Noam Pitlik, Gregory Sierra, Nathaniel Taylor, Slappy White and Hal Williams that the show was a "Can't miss an episode" on Friday nights.

Even when Redd Foxx was out of several episodes during a contract dispute one season the show never missed a beat as Whitman Mayo's "Grady" became the main character.