Sanford and Son
American sitcom television series (1972–1977) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
American sitcom television series (1972–1977) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sanford and Son is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977. It was based on the British sitcom Steptoe and Son, which initially aired on BBC1 in the United Kingdom from 1962 to 1974.
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| Sanford and Son | |
|---|---|
| |
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Based on | Steptoe and Son by Ray Galton Alan Simpson |
| Developed by |
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| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | Quincy Jones |
| Opening theme | "The Streetbeater" |
| Composer | Quincy Jones |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 136 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production company | Tandem Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | January 14, 1972 – March 25, 1977 |
| Related | |
Known for its racial humor, running gags, and catchphrases, the series was adapted by Norman Lear and considered NBC's response to CBS' All in the Family. Sanford and Son has been hailed as the precursor to many other black American sitcoms. It was a hit through its six-season run, finishing in the Nielsen top ten for five times.
The series follows Fred G. Sanford, known for his bigotry and cantankerousness, and Lamont Sanford, his long-suffering, conscientious, peacemaker son. Both characters are occasionally involved in get-rich-quick schemes to pay off their various debts.
The show also includes characters Aunt Esther, Grady Wilson, Bubba Bexley, and Rollo Lawson.
Sanford and Son stars Redd Foxx as Fred G. Sanford, a widower and junk dealer living at 9114 South Central Avenue in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, and Demond Wilson as his son Lamont Sanford. In the show, Fred moved to South Central Los Angeles from his hometown St. Louis during his youth.
After the show premiered in 1972, newspapers touted Foxx as NBC's answer to Archie Bunker, the bigoted white protagonist of All in the Family. Both shows were adapted by Norman Lear from BBC programmes. Sanford and Son was adapted from Steptoe and Son and All in the Family from Till Death Us Do Part.
An earlier pilot for an American version of Steptoe and Son was produced by Joseph E. Levine in 1965. It starred Lee Tracy and Aldo Ray as Albert and Harold Steptoe. This version was unscreened and did not lead to a series. The pilot was released on DVD in the UK in 2018.
Fred G. Sanford (Redd Foxx), is a sarcastic, streetwise, irascible schemer whose frequent get-rich-quick ideas routinely backfire. His son Lamont longs for independence but loves his father too much to move out and leave him unsupervised. Though each owns an equal share in the business, Lamont often finds himself doing all the work and demanding that his father contribute to the effort, which he rarely does. Fred frequently insults his son, usually calling him a "dummy". Despite their disagreements, the two share a close bond and regularly come to each other's aid.
Fred's wife Elizabeth died before the events of the series, around 1950. In a running gag in the series, during times of distress, Fred looks up (as to heaven) with his hand across his chest, faking a heart attack and saying, "This is the big one, Elizabeth! I'm coming to join ya, honey," but Lamont knows that it is merely a dramatic ploy. Fred raised Lamont alone and misses Elizabeth deeply.
Fred Sanford was named after Foxx's real-life brother Fred Sanford Jr.[1]
Demond Wilson plays Lamont Sanford, Fred's son who has little patience for his father's antics. Lamont sometimes receives his comeuppance for disdaining his father's habits. He is occasionally shown as naïve and foolish, for example, being cheated by a group of card sharps and falling for a scam involving an antique commode. Lamont continuously seeks to rise above his station and experience life outside of the junkyard.
Fred says that his son was named for Lamont Lomax, a pitcher for the Homestead Grays. In one episode, Lamont asks why he has no middle name, and Fred tells him that Lamont is his middle name because Fred and Elizabeth had never decided on a first name. However, in the third episode of the first season, Lamont's full name is revealed to be named Lamont Grady Sanford.
Special guests in the show included B.B. King, George Foreman, The Three Degrees, Della Reese and Lena Horne.
Foxx also invited many of his friends who were fellow performers to appear in cameos or guest appearances, including Scatman Crothers, Cha Cha Hogan, Dap Sugar Willie, Sam Theard and Timmie Rogers.[2][3][4]
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | Rank | Rating | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||||
| 1 | 14 | January 14, 1972 | April 14, 1972 | 6 | 25.2 | |
| 2 | 24 | September 15, 1972 | March 16, 1973 | 2 | 27.6 | |
| 3 | 24 | September 14, 1973 | March 29, 1974 | 3 | 27.5 | |
| 4 | 25 | September 13, 1974 | April 25, 1975 | 2 | 29.6 | |
| 5 | 24 | September 12, 1975 | March 19, 1976 | 7 | 24.4[lower-alpha 1] | |
| 6 | 25 | September 24, 1976 | March 25, 1977 | 27 | 20.3 | |
Sanford and Son was enormously popular during most of its run and was one of the top 10 highest-rated series on American television from its first season (1972) through the 1975–76 season.
Sanford and Son put enough of a dent into the audience of ABC's The Brady Bunch to drive it off the air in 1974. Sanford and Son peaked at No. 2 in the Nielsen ratings during the 1972–73 season and the 1974–75 season, and the series was second only to All in the Family in ratings during those years. By the 1974–75 season, Sanford and Son's lead-in helped the entire NBC Friday night lineup place in the coveted bracket of the Top 15 shows (Chico and the Man, following Sanford and Son at 8:30 p.m., ranked No. 3 for the season, while the police dramas The Rockford Files and Police Woman, which aired later in the evening, ranked at No. 12 and No. 15 respectively).[citation needed]
The show's ratings dipped substantially in its final season, though it was still quite popular at the time of its cancellation.
In 2007, Time magazine included the show on its list of the "100 Best TV Shows of All Time".[5]
Sanford and Son was a ratings hit through its six-season run on NBC. Despite airing in the so-called Friday night death slot, it managed to peak at No. 2 in the ratings (behind All in the Family, and ranked less than one ratings point behind All in the Family during the 1974–75 season).
| Season | Time slot (ET) | Rank | Rating | Households |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971–72 | Friday at 8:00-8:30 PM | No. 6 | 25.2 | 15,649,200 |
| 1972–73 | No. 2 | 27.6 | 17,884,800 | |
| 1973–74 | No. 3 | 27.5 | 18,205,000 | |
| 1974–75 | No. 2 | 29.6 | 20,276,000 | |
| 1975–76 | No. 7 | 24.4 (Tied with Rhoda) | 16,982,400 | |
| 1976–77 | Friday at 8:00-8:30 PM (Episodes 1, 3–11, 13–25) Friday at 8:30-9:00 PM (Episode 2)[6] Tuesday at 8:00-8:30 PM (Episode 12)[7] | No. 27 | 20.3 | 14,453,600 |
The series was produced by Norman Lear's and Bud Yorkin's Tandem Productions, which was also responsible for All in the Family. The two shows 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. However, Sanford and Son differed from All in the Family and other Norman Lear shows of the era in that it lacked the element of drama. Sanford and Son helped to redefine the genre of black situation comedy.
Because of Lear's commitments to his other concurrent series, and the distance between NBC Studios in Burbank where Sanford and Son were taped and the Hollywood locations of other Tandem shows, such as All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, and One Day at a Time, which were recorded at CBS Television City or Metromedia Square, he did not have as much day-to-day involvement with Sanford and Son as with the other Tandem series, leaving the show-running to Yorkin.
While taping episodes for the 1973–74 season, Redd Foxx walked off the show in a salary dispute, though he cited health issues. His character was written out of the series for the remaining six episodes of the season, and it was explained that Fred Sanford was away in St. Louis attending his cousin's funeral, with friend Grady (Whitman Mayo) in charge of the home. Foxx, who had been earning $19,000 per episode, equivalent to $130,408 in 2023, sought a 25% ownership stake in the series. Tandem Productions fought back with a $10 million lawsuit. The dispute was resolved in June 1974, with Foxx receiving $25,000, equivalent to $171,589 in 2023, per episode, to equal Carroll O'Connor's All in the Family pay, plus 25% of the producers' net profits.
Although Foxx was still absent for production of the first three shows of Season 4, NBC aired his return as the season premiere and delayed showing the previously taped episodes. In 1977, rival network ABC lured Foxx away with a large sum to host his variety show, The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour, ending Sanford and Son, which had been gradually declining in the ratings. The media reported that the dispute between Foxx and NBC was over the lack of a dressing-room window.
An exterior shot of the NBC Burbank lot was featured in the Season 5 episode "Steinberg and Son". The storefront, seen only in the opening credits, stood at 10659 West Magnolia Boulevard in North Hollywood, nearly 16 miles from the Sanfords' fictitious 9114 South Central Avenue address in Watts. This same storefront, minus the "Sanford and Son" sign, can also be seen in Emergency! in a 1973 episode titled "Alley Cat".
The pickup truck depicted in the series is a 1951 Ford F1. It was purchased at auction after the series ended and was later leased back to NBC for the spin-off shows Sanford Arms and Sanford. It has changed hands a few times over the years, eventually purchased by a real-life junk dealer, Donald Dimmitt of Dimmitt's Auto Salvage, in Argos, Indiana. In 2014, the truck was purchased from Dimmitt's by Tim Franko and Jeff Canter, owners of BlueLine Classics, a classic car dealership in North Royalton, Ohio, who restored the truck to its true condition as seen on the TV series and currently display it in the dealership's showroom.[citation needed] It has since been on display in locations within Cleveland.
Titled "The Streetbeater", the theme music was composed by Quincy Jones through A&M Records and released on record in 1973.[8] Although the song did not reach Billboard status, it has maintained mainstream popularity and is featured on Jones's greatest-hits album.[9] The song has been featured on series such as Scrubs and The Simpsons.[10]
After the series was canceled in 1977, a short-lived continuation featuring the supporting characters titled Sanford Arms aired. Whitman Mayo starred in a short-lived spin-off series, Grady, during the 1975–1976 season.
In 1980–1981, Foxx attempted to revive the show with another short-lived series titled Sanford, but Demond Wilson refused to reprise his role as Lamont Sanford for the new series.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released all six seasons of Sanford and Son on Region 1 DVD between August 2002 and June 2005, with a Complete Series box set following in 2008.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| First Season | 14 | August 6, 2002 |
| Second Season | 24 | February 4, 2003 |
| Third Season | 24 | October 7, 2003 |
| Fourth Season | 25 | March 30, 2004 |
| Fifth Season | 24 | September 14, 2004 |
| Sixth and Final Season | 25 | June 7, 2005 |
| Complete Series | 136 | October 28, 2008 |
