Sanford

Sanford (1980) was an attempt to relive the glory of Sanford and Son. Three years after the first show went off the air, Redd Foxx was back as Fred G. Sanford, proprietor of the Sanford "Empire" (the Sanford Arms and the Junk Store). Lamont wasn't in the series (he was written out of the storyline). Cal, a former colleague of Lamont moves in with Fred and becomes part owner of the business.

Sadly the show was buried by N.B.C. and it never had a chance to find an audience. Several characters from the old series found their way back (Aunt Esther, Grady and Rollo). Redd even found a new love interest, Eve a rich widow. The show lasted for two seasons before it faded into obscurity.

Recommended.

Redd Foxx was the star of Sanford and Son. Here he reprises his role as Fred Sanford without his son, Lamont. He has a new partner played by Dennis Burkley. His character is white, overweight sidekick but he's quite funny at times. The other characters include a wealthy widow, Evelyn Lewis, played by Marguerite Ray who does a great job. Lawanda Page comes back to torment her brother-in-law as Aunt Esther. The show was your typical sitcom from the early 1980s. Sadly, sitcoms are no longer in abundance nor are they packaged to be funny anymore. Redd Foxx was enormously funny and outrageous at times without being offensive to the audience regardless of your skin color. I was pleasantly surprised to see this show which must have been under my radar back when it first aired on television. BET has brought it back to new audiences who will rediscover Redd Foxx's wit and comedic genius.

I grew up seeing this first so maybe nostalgia clouds me here but I liked this show a lot. I really though the episodes (at least the ones where the Cal character was featured) were really funny. I liked the banter between Cal and Fred and remember Cal reading "the little engine That Could" quite humorously.OK it isn't as funny as the original and yes the guest stars seem unrealistic, but for folks who have seen the original 100 times and never caught this version its really worth seeing. One thing I never understood though is why the Norman Lear shows watered down the characters as they ages. I like the original Archie, George, and Fred. Sure they weren't nice but that was the point. OK Lear didn't have anything to do with this spin off but it seems that all of the daring he puts into his lead roles loose their fizz. Still worth catching Dennis in my favorite role of his.

This spinoff of sorts was a weak attempt to continue to the success of Sanford and Son. Lamont Sanford's character had taken a job elsewhere and his friend Cal took the place of Fred's partner in the business. Fred also had a new girlfriend, a rich Beverly Hills matron (it was never explained what happened to his fiancee, Donna, from the previous show). His new girlfriend had a mother who disapproved of Fred being a junkman from South Central LA. Aunt Esther was also still on hand to exchange insults, but the magic that had made the earlier show a classic was just not there.

This was just another example of trying to revisit history with disastrous results. Sanford and Son was truly a classic, but N.B.C., which was desperate for ratings at the time thought it would be a good idea to bring back America's favorite junk man. However, missing were Lamont, Grady and Donna. Esther, Rollo and Bubba were there as well as a new girlfriend named Eve as well as Eve's upper crust family. Also new to the cast was Cal, a friend of Lamont's who worked with him in Alaska, which was where Lamont had supposedly moved to work on the pipeline. But still, it was not the same and it truly was a shame to see how far the mighty had fallen. The thing that really killed the show was that it simply lacked the dynamic relationship between Lamont and Fred and the chemistry between Fred and the rest of the cast was just not the same. Too bad N.B.C. had to destroy a once great character.