JeffRuss1972
03-26-2006, 05:00 PM
The following info I got from The Great TV Sitcom Book on S&S, and thought you might find it interesting-
***A negative review of the show appeared on Jan. 17, 1973 in the New York Times by a black critic. He wrote that "Fred Sanford and his little boy Lamont, conceived by white minds and based upon a white value system, are not strong black men capable of acheiving---or even understanding---liberation. They are merely two more American child-men. We---all of us---need to be surrounded by positive---and true---images of blackness based upon black realities, not white aberrations." Well! Letters poured into the TIMES, pro-program, including one from then twenty-three year old Memphis-born Ilunga Adell, a writer on the series who said he had "never even spoken with a white person until I was eighteen years old." Redd Foxx was also livid: "I don't agree that our show is 'white to the core'. The sucess is what matters, not the color. The fact that we're doing a show that appeals to everybody, not just blacks, or whites, or Mexicans, but everybody. It's entertainment. I personally thought it would be meaningful to have a black show that appeals to everyone. It's a fun show, about love and most of all entertainment. There are incidents that happen with us that happen in every family, black or white. I don't think a show has to BE all-black. Why, that's setting us back, not moving forward."
***SANFORD AND SON was making some breakthroughs, despite the controversy: at inner-city New York schools, students were watching SANFORD AND SON during their classes and following the show's scripts at the same time. The result: kids seemed to be showing "high motivation" (according to the school report) to learn how to read, and were interested in taking writing and typing courses so they could learn to write SANFORD AND SON scripts themselves.
***A negative review of the show appeared on Jan. 17, 1973 in the New York Times by a black critic. He wrote that "Fred Sanford and his little boy Lamont, conceived by white minds and based upon a white value system, are not strong black men capable of acheiving---or even understanding---liberation. They are merely two more American child-men. We---all of us---need to be surrounded by positive---and true---images of blackness based upon black realities, not white aberrations." Well! Letters poured into the TIMES, pro-program, including one from then twenty-three year old Memphis-born Ilunga Adell, a writer on the series who said he had "never even spoken with a white person until I was eighteen years old." Redd Foxx was also livid: "I don't agree that our show is 'white to the core'. The sucess is what matters, not the color. The fact that we're doing a show that appeals to everybody, not just blacks, or whites, or Mexicans, but everybody. It's entertainment. I personally thought it would be meaningful to have a black show that appeals to everyone. It's a fun show, about love and most of all entertainment. There are incidents that happen with us that happen in every family, black or white. I don't think a show has to BE all-black. Why, that's setting us back, not moving forward."
***SANFORD AND SON was making some breakthroughs, despite the controversy: at inner-city New York schools, students were watching SANFORD AND SON during their classes and following the show's scripts at the same time. The result: kids seemed to be showing "high motivation" (according to the school report) to learn how to read, and were interested in taking writing and typing courses so they could learn to write SANFORD AND SON scripts themselves.