Sanford (TV series)

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Sanford
Format	Sitcom
Starring	Redd Foxx Dennis Burkley Nathaniel Taylor LaWanda Page
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26
Production
Running time	30 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	March 15, 1980 – July 10, 1981
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Sanford was a short-lived American situation comedy, which was the revival of the 1972-1977 sitcom Sanford and Son.

1 Background
2 The first season
3 The second season
4 Cast
5 Reruns
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Background

In 1977, after six seasons of Sanford and Son, Redd Foxx decided to leave the NBC show to star in a variety show for ABC. His new show, The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour, was cancelled after four months. Perhaps regretting this decision, Foxx returned to NBC two years later in an effort to revive the character of Fred Sanford. By the 1979-1980 season, NBC had fallen to third place in the Nielsen ratings (out of only three networks at the time) and had no programs ranked in the top 10. Because of this, the network was also eager to revive its most successful show of the 1970s.

[edit] The first season

Sanford premiered in March 1980 as a midseason replacement. Demond Wilson refused to reprise his role as Fred's son, Lamont. His absence was explained by having Lamont away working on the Alaska Pipeline. Fred's new business partner in the junkyard was Cal, an obese White Southerner with a generally positive attitude. Cal had worked with Lamont on the pipeline and Lamont sent him to visit his father. Cal moves into Lamont's old room. Rollo Larson, a recurring character on the previous series, was now working for Fred as a delivery man.

Fred meets a customer who is an upper class widow named Evelyn. The two begin dating much to the dismay of Evelyn's snobbish brother Winston, and sharp-tongued maid Clara who see Fred as low-class. Her daughter Cissy was more accepting of Fred. Later in the season, Aunt Esther's college student son Cliff (in the original series his name was Daniel) moves in with Fred and Cal. Officers Smitty and Hoppy (Hal Williams and Howard Platt), recurring characters from the original series, appeared in two episodes. Sammy Davis Jr. appeared as himself in two episodes: first in an uncredited cameo appearance (for which he also directed the episode) and then in the season finale in which Fred persuades Davis to perform for Evelyn's charity.

The show was highly promoted by NBC and the premiere episode garnered good ratings, but the ratings fell tremendously as the season progressed. The show did not rank in the top 30 of the Nielsen ratings for the 1979-1980 season, whereas Sanford and Son consistently ranked in the top 10 except in its final season (By that time, the original series had dropped to #27). Sanford was then put on hiatus to be retooled.

[edit] The second season

The show returned in January 1981 again as a mid-season replacement. The show was moved from Saturdays to Fridays. The original series of the 1970's dominated on Friday night for several seasons. Aunt Esther (LaWanda Page), appeared in the two-part season premiere (along with another episode later in the season). It was explained that her husband Woodrow has died and she was moving in to prevent Fred from being a bad influence on Cliff. While Derricks-Carroll was now featured in the opening credits, he only appeared in a few episodes of the season. This season now focused more on the relationship between Fred and Cal. Evelyn was now reduced to a recurring character and eventually disappeared by the end of the season. The characters of Rollo, Winston, Cissy and Clara were dropped with no explanation. Grady (Whitman Mayo) another popular recurring character from the original series, appeared in two episodes as a special guest star. Officers Smitty and Hoppy also reappeared several times.

The retooled Sanford performed very poorly in the ratings and was quickly canceled. NBC pulled the series after four episodes and aired the remaining episodes in the summer.

[edit] Cast

Redd Foxx - Fred Sanford
Dennis Burkley - Cal Pettie
Nathaniel Taylor - Rollo Larson (Season 1)
LaWanda Page - Esther Anderson (12 episodes stretching through both seasons)
Margueritte Ray - Evelyn Lewis (Season 1, recurring in Season 2)
Cathy Cooper - Clara (Season 1)
Suzanne Stone - Cissy Lewis (Season 1)
Clinton Derricks-Carroll - Clifford Anderson (recurring in Season 1, listed in opening credits in Season 2)
Percy Rodrigues - Winston (Season 1)

[edit] Reruns

Sanford has not been included in the syndication package with Sanford and Son. But reruns aired on BET throughout the 1990s. The series has yet to be released on DVD. The show returned to BET in March 2008. To celebrate the return, an all day marathon of all 26 episodes occurred on March 8, 2008 to celebrate Daylight Savings Time as 'San-forward' [1]