It was 50 years ago this month that the sitcom “Sanford and Son” debuted on NBC
LOS ANGELES — When Daymond Wilson heard that Red Foxx was going to star in a TV sitcom, the actor dismissed it as a joke.
Foxx was a killer stand-up comic, with a trademark vulgarity that Wilson considered a nonstarter for the sneaky broadcast networks that were television in 1972. It was the eve of cable, and the rise of streaming was decades away.
In a recent Associated Press interview, Wilson described the notion of attacking Foxx on TV, "it would be like bringing a dog to a cat party."
But the comedian cleaned up his stint for the small screen, and "Sanford & Son," co-starring with Wilson as Foxx's distressed adult son, debuted 50 years ago this month on NBC. An instant ratings smash, it opened the door for other black family shows to move to an almost all-white TV neighborhood.
Norman Lear, who twirled network waters a year earlier with the top-notch CBS sitcom "All in the Family," said Serendipity led to "Sanford & Son." Lear and Bud Yorkin, his producer partner, were in Las Vegas when they caught a lounge act featuring Foxx.
"We met with him and got back on L.A. Sky High" about making the Fox-focused sitcom, Lear said in an email exchange. "Miraculously, several days later a British agent, Beryl (Verteau) came to us with the idea of making an American version of a big hit called 'Stepto and Son' in Great Britain."
"It was a quick wedding," Lear said, and one he says Foxx didn't resist.
"Not that he wasn't difficult to deal with, but he was funny as hell and it made everything possible," Lear said. Foxx, who died in 1991 at the age of 68, skipped part of a season amid a contract dispute with producers.
"Sanford & Son", which aired from 1972–77, revolved around widower Fred Sanford, an irritable junk dealer in L.A.'s Watts area who acts and abuses his long-suffering son, Lamont . Among them: "You big dummy!" Which became a show catchphrase.
All episodes are on Amazon Prime Video, which has licensed the series for streaming from Sony Pictures Television.
Wilson, a Vietnam veteran who has appeared on stage in New York in films and on TV, was approached about the series after a "All in the Family" guest appearance. Wilson also learned that the producers had another possibility in mind to play Lamont.
"'We were considering Richard Pryor,'" Wilson recalled being said. "I said, 'Come on, you can't put a comedian with a comedian. You have to have a straight man.' Dick Martin was the nut, Dan Rowan was the straight man" on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In", he said.
Wilson recalled connecting with TV veteran Aaron Reuben, who had worked as a producer on "Sanford & Son" in Las Vegas to meet Foxx and watch his act: "I thought he was the funniest person. Was, the most irresistibly funny man I'd ever met in my life," Wilson said.
"Sanford & Son" introduced viewers to other talented actors and comics who were generally sidelined by Hollywood because of their race, including Lavanda Page's cast as Aunt Esther; Whitman Mayo as Grady Wilson; Don Bexley as Bubba, and Lynn Hamilton as Foxx's good-natured girlfriend, Donna.
Slappy White, who worked with Foxx on the comedy circuit, occasionally appeared in the series, as did Pat Morita of future "The Karate Kid" film fame, whose character's name, Ah Chew, And his ethnicity was the punchline for Fred.
While "Sanford & Son" regularly gave such racial barbs, it rarely dealt with racism or other third-rail issues—the politics and abortion among them—that make "All in the Family" and its spin-off "Maude". were central to.
Was this done intentionally?
"Yeah. We didn't compare ('All in the Family' and 'Sanford & Son'), but the characters said it like they saw it in their neighborhood," Lear said in an email.
The show spawned other sitcoms about working-class black families, including "Good Times", starring Lear and Esther Rowley and John Amos, and the less successful "What's Happening!!" Are included. Yorkin, who died in 2015. (Lear's "The Jefferson" was rare in featuring an affluent black couple.)
While black audiences eventually got to see a version of themselves on screen, it was mostly confined to struggling neighborhoods and was created by white producers, writers, and directors almost alike at the behest of white officials.
This is in stark contrast to 21st-century comedies created and driven by Black writers, producers, and actors, including ABC's "Black-ish," HBO's "Insecure" and FX's "Atlanta," and their broad and nuanced views of Black lives. . ,
Eric Deagans, National Public Radio's TV critic, sees a "double-edged quality" for older generation sitcoms. They showcased a cast beloved by Black audiences, and, starting with "Sanford & Son", proved that a series about a family of color could be a massive success.
DeGans said the comedy was also honest about portraying some of the real-life Black challenges. But they eventually succumbed to racial stereotypes and settled for laughs.
The show also made the poor areas "liveable and fun, as opposed to the issues they actually face," DeGans said.