Sanford and Son
| Sanford and Son | |
|---|---|
| File:Sanfordandsontitlecard.jpg From the Sanford and Son opening credits: the sign above the Sanfords' home and workplace | |
| Created by | Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin, based on Steptoe and Son created by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson |
| Starring | Redd Foxx Demond Wilson |
| Opening theme | Quincy Jones |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 135 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Norman Lear Bud Yorkin |
| Running time | approx. 0:30 (per episode) |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | January 14, 1972 – September 2, 1977 |
Sanford and Son is an American television sitcom, the U.S. remake of the British sitcom Steptoe and Son. Sanford and Son first aired on the NBC television network on January 14, 1972 and was broadcast for six seasons until the final original episode aired on March 25, 1977 (repeat episodes were broadcast until September 2, 1977).
Reruns were aired on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976 to July 21, 1978.
Background
Sanford and Son starred Redd Foxx as a Watts, Los Angeles, California, junk dealer Fred G. Sanford. Demond Wilson also starred as his son Lamont, a 25-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 "five across the lips".
Redd Foxx, whose real name was John Sanford (with a brother named Fred), 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 like to live an independent life, but loves his father too much to see him left to his own devices and schemes. Upon the show's premiere in 1972, newspaper ads touted Foxx as NBC's answer to Archie Bunker.
Fred G. Sanford was a widower; his wife Elizabeth had died some two decades before. Fred had raised Lamont alone and missed Elizabeth deeply.
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 team 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. Sanford and Son helped to redefine the genre of black situation comedy.
Other characters
Showing up in many episodes was Lamont's Aunt Esther (LaWanda Page). One of her trademarks was that she was a devout Baptist, and exhibited behaviors Fred saw as "Bible-thumping". Fred criticized Esther frequently for many reasons, ranging from her incessant talk about the Bible to constant comparisons to Godzilla and King Kong because of how ugly Fred thought she was. His trademark response to her presence was to squint as to avoid looking at her. Her reaction, invariably was to tell Fred to "Watch it, sucka." Sometimes, she would go berserk and try to hit him with her purse or call him "fish-eyed fool" and "heathen". Her long-suffering but loving husband Woodrow began appearing infrequently later in the series.
Fred's friends Bubba Bexley (Don Bexley) and Grady Wilson (Whitman Mayo) showed up regularly, as did Lamont's shady friend Rollo Larson (Nathaniel Taylor). During the show, Fred had an on-again, off-again girlfriend, practical nurse Donna Harris (Lynn Hamilton). Julio Fuentes (Gregory Sierra), Lamont's Puerto Rican friend and the Sanford's neighbor, also showed up from time to time, about whom Fred made frequent ethnic jokes. Later taking Julio's place was Ah Chew (Pat Morita), a Japanese-American who Fred considered a "foreigner" despite being a Native-born citizen. Fred's rambunctious friends, Leroy and Skillet also appeared infrequently.
From time to time, two police officers, one black (Officer "Smitty" Smith (Hal Williams)) and one white (Officer "Swanny" Swanhauser (Noam Pitlik), later replaced by Officer "Hoppy" Hopkins (Howard Platt)) would come by the Sanford house. Often, Swanny/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 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. Officer Hoppy's prim and proper mother, May Hopkins (portrayed by Nancy Kulp), a former store detective, rented a room at the Sanford Arms next door. Landlord Fred would often insult her when she paid a visit.
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 in the sixth and final season.
Later years of the series and 1980 revival
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. Foxx later returned. In an extreme case of irony, 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 five across your lips?"
- "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!"
- "What empire!?! This empire!"
- "And don't forget about my arth-a-ritis" (shows gnarled hand).
- "Old man!?! who you callin' 'old man'?"
- "I'm gonna get my bud-nipper and start nippin' some bud!"
- Aunt Esther: "Who you calling ugly, sucker?"
- Fred Sanford: "I'm calling you ugly, 'cause I could stick your face in some dough and make some gorilla cookies!"
- Aunt Esther: "Fred Sanford, the wrath of God will strike you down!"
- Fred Sanford: "...And this Louisville Slugger will knock you out!"
- Fred Sanford: "Back to your cave, bat!"
- Aunt Esther: "Watchit sucka!"
- 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!!
- Doctor: "Mr. Sanford, perhaps I could know more about your son's illness, if I got to know you better. Why don't you lie down on the couch?"
- Fred Sanford: "Uh, I don't think I want to know you that well."
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. (In one episode, one pair worked specifically with a marked deck of cards that Fred used to win back money that Lamont lost to a trio of card sharps.) This gag stopped after one episode, in which Fred and Lamont were robbed. The robber took all of Fred's glasses, thus creating a continuity error, by which he could survive on only one or two pairs of glasses in later episodes, but needed a drawerful in earlier ones. An even larger continuity error cropped up when, at some point during the fourth season, Fred got his drawerful 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. (That is notable as being possibly the one time Esther ever got scared by Fred.)
"I'm comin', Elizabeth"
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 he 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.
Sanford and Son on DVD
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released all six seasons of Sanford and Son on Region 1 DVD between August 2002 and June 2005. There are currently no plans to release the spin-off series Sanford Arms or Sanford, although this may occur in the future.
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. The episode "Fred Sanford, Legal Eagle," written by Paul Mooney, largely considered one of the funniest episodes of the series by longtime fans, was edited before being aired on the cable 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 cop who wrote Lamont the ticket. "Hey, look here," Fred asks the cop, "why don't you arrest any white people?" When the cop 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!" This entire scene was cut from the episode, evidently because the network feared viewers would be offended.
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?"
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 in his forties when the series began.
- Fred's favorite drink was cheap Ripple wine. He would often combine it with other drinks. Example: Cream + Ripple = Cripple, or Muscatel + Ripple = Muscatipple, or ginger ale + ripple = "champipple" (although the mixer wasn't really champagne). He called sangria "flapple" because he claimed it tasted like flat ripple. Grady introduced another "ripple-ism" in the fourth season opener: mint julep + Ripple = "mint jipple".
- 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 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- One of Fred's nicknames on the show is "Ready Freddy," which could be a play on words between "Redd" and "Fred." His friends' nicknames include "Shady Grady" and "Lucky Leroy".
- Famous guests of the show include: Della Reese, B.B. King, Lena Horne and George Foreman.
- One episode had Fred go on The Gong Show, a famous 1970s game show.
- Whitman Mayo's character "Grady Wilson" is actually named after actor Demond Wilson (Lamont Sanford). Demond Wilson's full name is "Grady Demond Wilson." In one episode Lamont is revealed to have no first name--his middle name is actually "Lamont"—and Fred suggests "Menudo" (his favorite dish) as a potential name. However, in an episode from the first season, "Here Comes The Bride, There Goes The Bride", Lamont's full name is given as "Lamont Grady Sanford".
- There were actually two Gradys. The first was a tall, bald fellow who appeared as a one shot in ep. 207, "The Dowry". He was Fred's cousin and dearest childhood friend. The second, the shorter, greyer, and more stooped Grady best known to viewers, first appeared the following season ("This Little TV Went to Market", ep. 303).
- Despite Grady's appearance as a gray and feeble man, ostensibly well into his sixties, actor Whitman Mayo was only 42 when he first played him.
- 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.
- This was the only Norman Lear-produced sitcom that didn't air on CBS.
- 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.
- At ECW One Night Stand PPV, wrestler John Bradshaw Layfield uses the "Elizabeth! This is the big one!" heart attack routine as a response to Paul Heyman's insulting shoot promo.
- 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".
- The beer that Fred and Lamont Sanford drink has a logo similar to Budweiser.
- The truck driven in the series is still functional (as of July 2006) and used by its owner, a real-life junk dealer, in Marshall County, Indiana.[1]
- 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.