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Sanford and Son

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Sanford and Son
File:Sanfordandsontitlecard.jpg
From the Sanford and Son opening credits: the sign above the Sanfords' home and workplace
Created byNorman Lear and Bud Yorkin, based on Steptoe and Son created by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson
StarringRedd Foxx
Demond Wilson
Theme music composerQuincy Jones
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes135
Production
Executive producersNorman Lear
Bud Yorkin
Running timeapprox. 25 minutes (without commercials)
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseJanuary 14, 1972 –
March 25, 1977

Sanford and Son is an American sitcom that premiered on the NBC television network on January 14, 1972 and was broadcast for six seasons. The final original episode aired on March 25, 1977. Reruns were aired on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976 to July 21, 1978.

The show was based on the British sitcom Steptoe and Son.

Summary

Sanford and Son starred Redd Foxx as Fred G. Sanford, a junk dealer in the Watts neighborhood of southern Los Angeles. Demond Wilson starred as his son Lamont, a 31-year-old (when the series began) who still lived at home. Although Fred loved Lamont, he often called him "dummy", and frequently threatened to give him "one across yo' lips".

Redd Foxx, whose real name was John Elroy Sanford (with his father and brother named Frederick), was arguably the genius of the show, playing Sanford as a sarcastic, stubborn, and argumentative antiques and junk dealer, whose frequent money-making schemes routinely backfired and created more troubles. Lamont dearly would have liked to enjoy independence but loved his father too much to leave him to his devices and schemes. Although each owned an equal share in the business and technically Fred was the boss, Lamont often found himself doing all the work and having to order his father to complete tasks and duties.

On the show's premiere in 1972, newspaper ads touted Foxx as NBC's answer to Archie Bunker, the bigoted white protagonist of All in the Family.

Fred G. Sanford was a widower (he had moved to Los Angeles from St. Louis), whose wife Elizabeth had died some two decades before. Fred had raised Lamont alone and missed Elizabeth deeply. According to Fred, his son was named for Lamont Lomax, a (presumably fictional) pitcher from the Homestead Grays. Fred was also known for insulting his sister-in-law Esther, who had disapproved of Fred marrying her sister. He would often contort his face upon Esther's entrance and make disparaging remarks to her, comparing her with King Kong and Godzilla and using colorful metaphors to describe her spectacular ugliness. Despite his stubbornness, Fred would sometimes redeem himself with acts of kindness, even to those (like Esther) who he insists he doesn't like. In the last episode of the series, Fred earned his high school diploma, and was the valedictorian of his graduating class.

Sanford and Son was enormously popular during most of its run, and was one of the top ten highest-rated series on American television from its first season (1971-72) through the 1975-76 season. Sanford and Son put enough of a dent into the middling audience of The Brady Bunch to drive it off the air in 1974. Sanford and Son peaked at #2 in the Nielsen ratings during the 1972-73 season, when the series was second only to All in the Family in terms of ratings.

It was produced by Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin, the "tandem" also responsible for All in the Family. The two shows had a few things in common. They were both based on popular British sitcoms and both were pioneers of edgy, racial humor that reflected the changing politics of the time. Both series also featured outspoken, working-class protagonists with overt prejudices. Sanford and Son helped to redefine the genre of black situation comedy.

Other characters

File:Aunt Esther.jpg
Aunt Esther
  • Esther Anderson (LaWanda Page), also known as Aunt Esther, is the Bible-toting sister of Fred's late wife Elizabeth. Esther is a staunchly religious Baptist who finds little use for humor. Fred has an intense dislike for Esther, which she gladly returns. His trademark response to her entrance is to make an exaggerated grimace due to (in his eyes) her profound ugliness. He would then spew forth colorful insults and liken her to animals and fictitious monsters such as King Kong and Godzilla. Her usual reaction to his antics is to cringe her face and yell, "Watch it, Sucka." Sometimes, cracking from the constant barrage of insults, she would swing her purse wildly in Fred's direction whilst angrily calling him a "fish-eyed fool" or "heathen". Her long-suffering but loving alcoholic husband Woodrow (played by Raymond Allen) began appearing infrequently later in the series. Woodrow eventually 'dried out' so he and Esther could adopt a young orphan.
  • Grady Wilson (Whitman Mayo) is Fred's closest friend who appears regularly on the show. Grady's catchphrase is "Good goobly goop" and is uttered by him when something good would happen or he was in a pleasant mood. Grady was Fred's 'sidekick' and would often be involved in get-rich-quick schemes concocted by Fred. When Foxx had a contract dispute with (and walked out on) the show, several episodes were filmed without him. These episodes involved Grady as the central character who was watching over the business and Lamont whilst Fred was 'away' on vacation in St. Louis.
  • Bubba Bexley (Don Bexley) is another of Fred's friends. Bubba is known for his infectious belly-laugh and jovial persona. Bubba is primarily a 'straight man' to set up punchlines for Fred. His constant "Hey Fred!" drove Fred and Lamont crazy.
File:Rollo Larson.jpg
Rollo
  • Rollo Larson (Nathaniel Taylor) is Lamont's best friend. Fred will often make disrespectful remarks towards Rollo, usually stating that he thinks Rollo is a criminal, which Rollo doesn't deny. Rollo appears in the show every so often to come pick up Lamont so they can go out and chase women. Also, they sometimes go to stag films or what Rollo calls "skin flicks".
  • Donna Harris (Lynn Hamilton) is Fred's on again, off again girlfriend who later becomes his fiancée. She is employed as a practical nurse. Donna is an even-tempered lady who takes in stride Fred's shenanigans and occasional trysts. Lamont, being the over-protectful son, detests Donna at first (infamously branding her as "The Barracuda"), but by Season 6 has completely warmed up to her.
  • Melvin White (Slappy White) is an old buddy of Fred's, who has appeared in various episodes and is mentioned often in Sanford and Son, along with Skillet, Leroy, and Rooster. Like Bubba, Melvin often makes a fool of himself and Fred.
  • Julio Fuentes (Gregory Sierra) is the Sanfords' Puerto Rican next-door neighbor who befriends Lamont. When Julio and his family moved in next to the Sanfords, Fred took an immediate disliking to them and remarked, "There goes the neighborhood". Fred often made crude ethnic jokes about Julio and many times openly wished he would return to Puerto Rico. However, Fred stood up for Julio's nephew at his elementary school, which had threatened to drop him to a lower grade due to lack of proficiency in speaking English; Fred tutored him for some time as well.
  • Ah Chew (Pat Morita) is a Japanese-American friend of Lamont who Fred belittled every chance he gets. Fred insults Ah Chew on numerous occasion using clichéd Oriental jokes. Fred actually befriends Ah Chew in a later episode because he wants to use him as a cook when he opens a Japanese restaurant, "Sanford and Rising Son," in the Sanford house. Despite this arrangement, Fred still hurls verbal abuse at Ah Chew.
In the Sergeant Gork episode Pat Morita portrays a flashback Second World War soldier Colonel Hiakowa, where Fred is attempting to explain his claimed heroism to Lamont's fiancee's son, Roger.
  • Smitty and Hoppy: A pair of police officers who occasionally show up at the Sanford's residents. One officer was black, Officer "Smitty" Smith (played by Hal Williams) and one was white Officer "Hoppy" Hopkins (played by Howard Platt). Officer Hopkins replaced Officer "Swanny" Swanhauser (played by Noam Pitlik) later on in the series. Often, Swanny and Hoppy would incorrectly use slang, which Smitty would correct (e.g., "cold" instead of "cool" or "torn off" instead of "ripped off"). Or, conversely, the ever-professional Hoppy (or Swanny) would deliver a speech filled with police jargon and big words, which would confound Fred and/or Lamont. Smitty would then step in and simplify it for them in a more "ghetto" manner. In later episodes, it was Hoppy's mother (May Hopkins) who would incorrectly use slang, which Hoppy would correct.
  • May Hopkins (played by Nancy Kulp): Officer Hoppy's prim and proper mother, May Hopkins, a former store detective, rented a room at the Sanford Arms next door. Landlord Fred would often insult her when she paid a visit.
  • Janet Lawson: In the fifth season, Lamont began dating a divorcee named Janet Lawson with a young son, Roger. The Lawsons appeared infrequently until Lamont and Janet broke up indefinitely in the sixth and final season, due to Janet's ex-husband returning to town.
  • Fred also has friends by the names of Leroy, Skillet, and Otis who would come over on occasion to play poker or billiards. Otis was played by former child actor Matthew "Stymie" Beard.

Later years of the series and 1980 revival

File:Reddfoxxonsanfordandson.jpg
Redd Foxx as Fred Sanford.
File:Demondwilson.jpg
Demond Wilson as Lamont Sanford.

In the midst of taping episodes for the 1973-74 season, Redd Foxx walked off the show in a salary dispute due to a feud with NBC in which he demanded a salary that the network claimed it could not afford. His character was written out of the series for the rest of the season. The continuity of the show explained that Fred Sanford was away in St. Louis attending his cousin's funeral and leaving his friend Grady (Whitman Mayo) in charge of the business. NBC sued Foxx and as part of the settlement, Foxx later returned. In an extreme case of coincidence, less than ten episodes before Fred "left for St. Louis" to observe the death of his cousin, his uncle Leotus Sanford died... and he had to go to St. Louis.

After the series was canceled in 1977 (due to ABC giving Foxx a big raise to do a variety show and NBC refusing to give Wilson a raise), a short-lived continuation featuring supporting characters entitled The Sanford Arms aired. Whitman Mayo starred in a spinoff series, Grady, during the 1975-76 season.

In 1980-81, Redd Foxx attempted to revive his old hit with the short-lived Sanford (so named because Demond Wilson declined to reprise the role of Lamont for the new series).

Fred Sanford's quotes and routines

  • "You big dummy!"
  • "How would you like one across your lip?"
  • "This is the big one!"
  • "You hear that, Elizabeth? I'm coming to join you, honey!"
  • "Are you CRAZY?"
  • "Beauty may be skin deep, but ugly goes clear to the bone."
  • "Sanford and Son is not a name, sir. Sanford and son is a tradition, it's a way of life, it's a dynasty, it's an empire. You look around here! The greatest pile of junk in the world!
  • "Fred G. Sanford and the G. stands for {whatever word Fred felt fit the situation}"
  • "This is Fred Sanford. That's S-A-N-F-O-R-D Period.
  • (waving his fist in the air) "...I've got 5 good reasons right here!"
  • (waving his fist in the air) "...How would you like one of these where you sneeze?"
  • "What empire!?! This empire!"
  • "And don't forget about my Arthur-itis" (Arthritis) (shows gnarled hand).
  • "Old man!?! who you callin' 'old man'?"
  • "You know son, It's been a lot of years. It's been a lot of years".
  • "I'm gonna get my bud-nipper (a baseball bat) and start nippin' some bud!"
  • "Buenos tacos." (to Julio's nephew)
Aunt Esther: "Who you calling ugly, sucka?"
Fred Sanford: "I'm calling you ugly, 'cause I could stick your face in some dough and make some gorilla cookies!"
Aunt Esther: "Who you calling ugly, sucka?"
Fred Sanford: "You. I could put some tracing paper over your head, and draw me a moose face!"
Aunt Esther: "My body was blessed by Mother Nature!"
Fred Sanford: "And it was cursed by Father Time!"
Aunt Esther: "Fred Sanford! You a messy fool!"
Fred Sanford: "Esther! You a cessy pool!"
Aunt Esther: "Fred Sanford, the wrath of God will strike you down!"
Fred Sanford: "...And this Louisville Slugger will knock you out!"
Aunt Esther: "Fred Sanford, you are the lowest of the low, the meanest of the mean, and the baddest of the bad."
Fred Sanford: "And you are the ugliest of the ugly."
Fred Sanford: "Back to your cave, bat!"
Aunt Esther: "Watch it, sucka!"
Aunt Esther: "Fred Sanford, I want you to know that my name was in the Bible".
Fred Sanford: "Yeah, Samson slew the Philistines with your jaw-bone."
Lamont: "Pop, why don't you act your age instead of your shoe size."
Fred: "Son, if you don't stop talkin' to me like that, you'll feel my shoe size."
Julio: "Mr. Sanford! Buenos Dias, huh?"
Fred Sanford: "...And beans and disease to you, too!"
(action Fred performed)
Lamont: Would you STOP it!!

Another often-used theme in the show was a drawer full of various reading glasses, where Fred would open the drawer and try on various glasses until he found a pair that would work. They weren't very effective, as Fred would still have to hold the material a ways away from his face. This gag stopped after an episode in which Fred and Lamont were robbed. The robber took all of Fred's glasses, so he survived on only one or two pairs of glasses in later episodes. At some point during the fourth season, Fred got his drawer full of glasses back.

Fred would also threaten various opponents with fisticuffs, yet he was apparently too busy 'windmilling' his fists in the air to ever actually land a punch. Grady was the only person to ever directly begin to fight Fred, and his fighting style consisted of punching one fist in front of him, and one fist behind him. Fred rarely threatened anyone with anything other than his fists. If the situation was particularly bad, he might get his Louisville Slugger baseball bat, and in one occasion when Esther became particularly annoying, he took up his gun (this is notable as being possibly the one time Esther ever got scared by Fred).

"This is the big one!"

When Fred Sanford was not getting his way, he would often clutch his chest and fake a heart attack by saying words to the effect of "Oh, this is the big one! You hear that, Elizabeth? I'm comin' to join ya, honey!" as a sympathy ploy. Fred often would resort to this tactic when Lamont announced plans to leave for a better profession. Lamont had long since been wise to this tactic, but always wound up staying or giving into his father's wishes.

When Foxx was rehearsing a scene on his 1991 series, The Royal Family, Foxx began complaining of chest pains. His co-stars (including Della Reese) at first believed that he was reprising this old "heart attack" routine when, in fact, he was truly having a heart attack, from which he died on October 11, 1991.

DVD Releases

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released all six seasons of Sanford and Son on Region 1 DVD between August 2002 and June 2005.

Cover Art DVD Name Ep # Release Date
File:Sanford and Son S1.jpg The First Season 14 August 6 2002
File:Sanford and Son S2.jpg The Second Season 24 February 4 2003
File:Sanford and Son S3.jpg The Third Season 24 October 7 2003
File:Sanford and Son S4.jpg The Fourth Season 24 March 30 2004
File:Sanford and Son S5.jpg The Fifth Season 24 September 14 2004
File:Sanford and Son S6.jpg The Sixth Season 24 June 7 2005

Controversy

Sanford and Son was a daring show for its time. Some of the original material is now considered too controversial to air on network television and is routinely edited in syndication, specifically, derogatory racial references:

  • The episode "Fred Sanford, Legal Eagle," written by comedian Paul Mooney, largely considered one of the funniest episodes of the series by longtime fans, was edited before being aired on the cable TV network TV Land. In the unedited version, Fred represents Lamont in traffic court as his legal counsel. At the climax of the episode, Fred confronts the white traffic policeman who wrote Lamont the ticket. "Hey, look here," Fred asks the policeman, "why don't you arrest any white people?" When the policeman answers, "Well I do," Fred gestures to the court observers, who are all black, and asks, "Well where are they? Look at all the niggas in here!" Upon uttering this statement, the live studio audience went crazy with laughter and applause. Redd Foxx had to pause for the crowd to settle down before delivering the coup de grace: "There's enough niggas in here to make a Tarzan movie!" In the TV Land version of this episode, Fred's questioning of the policeman abruptly ends after "Well where are they?", evidently because the network feared viewers would be offended. This creates a kind of continuity problem, as viewers are left wondering why the (black) judge is so angry at Fred for having created so much commotion in the courtroom.
  • When Fred returned from St. Louis, his family and friends held a party for him, and at Rollo's request for "cheers", Fred responded, "Yippy yippy, yay yay, look who got out of jail today!" When Rollo asked for cheers again, Fred said, "Bim bam boom, somebody get this nigga outta my room!"
  • In the episode "Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe", the show dealt with an old friend called Grip returning to meet Fred and claiming he was Lamont's true father. When he first presented the news to Esther (who had previously enjoyed his company), she jumped up and yelled, "What did you say, nigga?" The laugh following this was long and loud. In syndication, the line is altered to "What did you say, sucka?"
  • In "Here Comes The Bride, There Goes The Bride", Fred also utters that the bride's family looks like a "bunch of jive niggas" (also edited/removed by TV Land).

All such scenes were restored in the DVD releases.

In Season 6, in the episode "Fred Meets Redd" (in which Fred Sanford meets Redd Foxx amidst a Redd Foxx Lookalike Contest held at NBC Studios), Fred reads in the newspaper that one element of the grand prize was a free ticket to see Foxx's (fictional) movie, Windows Are a Pane of the Glass. However, if you look/listen closely, you will notice that Redd Foxx later overdubbed what he actually said during the taping: "Windows Are a Pain of the Ass," which clearly made Demond Wilson and Whitman Mayo laugh. The "windows" movie is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Foxx's demand to have windows for his office, a factor that had led to his temporary enstrangement at the end of Season 3.

References in media

  • On the TV Show King of the Hill, exterminator Dale Gribble's favorite television program is Sanford and Son, and "The Streetbeater" is frequently heard. In The Texas Skilsaw Massacre, there is a Fred Sanford poster (Pretending to have a heart attack and saying "I'm comin', Elizabeth) on his wall (Hiding the end of Dale's tunnel to Hank's kitchen.)
  • In a Nike basketball commercial featuring LeBron James as "The Lebron's," Wise LeBron comments on Athlete LeBron's dunk saying, "Ain't been nothin' good like that since Sanford and Son."
  • In World of Warcraft, two orcs who run a salvage shop in Orgrimmar are based on Fred Sanford and his son Lamont, and are named Dran Droffers and Malton Droffers. Dran Droffers talks and acts like Fred Sanford, who runs a junk dealership similar to Fred's. Finally, "Dran Droffers" is an anagram of "Fred Sanford" and his son "Malton" of "Lamont".
  • In the Sierra On-Line game Quest for Glory III: Wages of War there are two junk dealers in the bazaar based upon Fred and Lamont. The character based upon Fred has a red fez and goes by the name An Forda, and refers to Lamont's character as his dummy son.
  • The television show Scrubs makes many references to Sanford and Son. Both JD and Turk admit to Sanford and Son being one of their favorite shows and the theme song can often be heard in the background of their apartment.
  • Nelly's song "Heart of a Champion" features a lyric saying "Do you hear that Elizabeth, here comes the big one!" when speaking about making money.
  • MADtv did a parody of Sanford and Son where Fred Sanford (Jordan Peele) goes searching for items left behind by victims of Hurricane Katrina.
  • Saturday Night Live did a parody of Sanford and Son on the season 31 episode hosted by Tom Hanks where Fred Sanford and his son, Lamont, are Colin and Michael Powell (Colin was played by Kenan Thompson while Michael was played by Finesse Mitchell).
  • The theme song of Sanford and Son became a topic in the pilot episode of Malcolm & Eddie. Tow truck driver Eddie Sherman (Eddie Griffin) ponders what Sanford's theme song would've sounded like if it had lyrics to it. A very memorable verse begins:
Fred Sanford
Fred Sanford had a son and a truck
And a son named Lamont...

In addition, Eddie comes up with another verse, which includes the phrase "Shady Grady" a popular nickname of Grady Wilson.

  • In the movie Shrek 2, Donkey goes through the "This is the big one!" routine while being affected by the magic potion.
  • Masta Killa's song "Old Man" has O.D.B. saying in the background "you big dummy!"
  • Ghostface Killah mentions the series in two of his songs. In "Ghostface" ("Under my wing like Sanford and Son") and "Shakey Dog" ("These fuckin' maricons on the couch watchin' Sanford and Son")
  • In the movie Daredevil, Foggy Nelson says that their office looks like the set from Sanford and Son, and that he's waiting for Lamont to walk through the door.
  • In the 1997 film Metro, when lead actor Eddie Murphy (portraying a police officer) is presented with his work vehicle--an older model red pickup truck that resembles the 1951 Ford F-1 used in the series--he makes the joke "Oh, come on, now. Who am I, Redd Foxx?"
  • In an episode of "Franny's Feet" a PBS kids television show, Franny meets two magpies named Sanford and Grady who collect various odds and ends; their names are a referance to Fred Sanford and Grady Wilson and their hobby is a reference to the junk shop.

Trivia

  • Fred Sanford's hair and beard are fake. In Season 5 episode "The Director," Fred "shaves" his hair and beard off. In Season 6 episode "TV Addict," Fred's hair is oddly very white, the only such instance that he wears this color.
  • Though Fred Sanford celebrated his 65th birthday in the second episode, in real life Redd Foxx was still 49 when the series began.
  • Fred's favorite song was If I Didn't Care by The Ink Spots. Redd Foxx also paid the royalties for use of the song, and others by them, because he loved the group so much and because NBC wouldn't pay for it themselves, claiming the cost was too high. Fred sang the song (to growing audience enthusiasm) through the show's run, especially whenever he got in front of a television camera.
  • Fred's favorite television series was NBC's soap opera Days of our Lives, which was mentioned in many episodes. In one episode, Fred explained to an acquaintance that he watched the drama about little Mike Horton's paternity play out over several years.
  • The theme of Sanford and Son, called "The Streetbeater," is written and performed by Quincy Jones, famous jazz musician and song writer. A long version is found on Quincy's Greatest Hits.
  • Whitman Mayo's character "Grady Wilson" is actually named after actor Demond Wilson (Lamont Sanford). Demond Wilson's full name is "Grady Demond Wilson".
  • The character Fred Sanford was named after Redd Foxx's brother; Sanford is Foxx's real last name.
  • Redd Foxx played a dual role as himself and as Fred Sanford in Season 6 episode "Redd Meets Fred." There was a casting call for actors who looked like Foxx for a film project, and Fred decided to audition. Fred wins the competition. Although one of the prizes is a week-long stay with Foxx, the episode never mentions if Fred will hang out with Foxx for a week.
  • The closing credits of Sanford and Son ran for 30 seconds AFTER the final credit to the producers. This was shown only during the initial run of the series and not shown during syndication due to commercial time. It continues showing them loading up the truck and fades after 30 seconds.
  • Redd Foxx and LaWanda Page had been friends since childhood, and she was his first and last choice to play Fred's sister-in-law Esther.
  • The truck driven in the series is still functional (as of July 2006) and used by its owner, Donald Dimmitt of Dimmitts Auto Salvage, a real-life junk dealer in Marshall County, Indiana.[1]
  • Episode 19 in Season 3 was never taped as that was when Fred left the show temporarily over contract disputes. The producers scrapped that episode entirely, and rewrote the rest of the episodes to revolve around Grady.
  • According to the episode "Earthquake II" (episode 91, 1975), Fred Sanford's house/junkyard was located at 9114 South Central Ave in Watts (Los Angeles).

References

  1. ^ http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060726/News01/607260319
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