Sanford and Son

A Shift in the Landscape

The civil rights movement that jolted the nation in the 1950s and 1960s resulted in very different, and much more diverse, prime-time television fare. No longer would the small screen be solely dominated by all-white casts, as seen in such programs as Leave It to Beaver, The Donna Reed Show, and My Three Sons. Just as Sidney Poitier had changed the face of cinema during the 1960s, it was time for multiculturalism to emerge in American television programming. While patriarch George Jefferson of The Jeffersons would strut and vaunt his nouveau riche lifestyle, the grittier side of life for many African American families had yet to be portrayed properly in situation comedy format. (Good Times would accomplish this, but not for another two years after the debut of Sanford and Son.) Finally, in 1972, with a bold idea and a legend in the starring role, NBC producer Norman Lear (of All in the Family fame) brought Sanford and Son into Americans’ homes.

“Family” Redefined

Although Lear made the show possible, few would disagree that the star and selling point of Sanford and Son was the incomparable and irrepressible Redd Foxx. Foxx, already a successful comedian in the predominantly African American comedy clubs along the so-called Chitlin’ Circuit, brought unmatched charisma and comedic timing to Sanford and Son's protagonist, Fred G. Sanford (the character was known for his hilarious habit of insisting on including the “G.” each and every time his name was brought up). At 65 years of age, the character was a widower and junk dealer living with his son, Lamont (played by Demond Wilson) in a poor section of Los Angeles. Painting a realistic picture of ghetto life, the show featured a father-and-son family that bickered and bantered but undeniably cared about each other. The extended family included such memorable characters as Aunt Esther, Grady, Bubba, and Rollo, to name a few. While these were not all blood relatives, they nonetheless redefined the meaning of the term family in a way that had not been seen on American television before.

A New Level of Diversity

Just as groundbreaking as Sanford and Son's realistic depiction of struggling African American life was its cast's unprecedented ethnic diversity. One example of this was Noriyuki “Pat” Morita (later of Happy Days and Karate Kid fame), who played Lamont's Japanese American friend; another was Gregory Sierra, who played Fred's Puerto Rican next-door neighbor. Although the irascible Fred was sometimes short-tempered with these characters, the show must be credited for its unflinching portrayal of intercultural relations, which had their ups and downs on Sanford and Son just as they did in real life.

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