TVFactFan
03-27-2006, 12:36 AM
This Show is a spinoff from Sanford and Son-in fact, In it's premiere episode, Redd Foxx not only had a cameo role, but he even helped the well-known, slow-talking Grady Wilson character(Whitman Mayo) move from his show to this show. Also, NBC has announced that-to further knot the family ties-Grady will continue to appear on Sanford and Son, and other characters from Sanford will appear on Grady. Looking to the future, we envision a series that goes a step beyond the spinoff-the shuttle. One of these days, some network will come up with the idea of just having one show each evening, wityh a cast of thousands; the performers will simply mingle with each other, shuttling from one time slot to another, throughout prime time.
In any case, the show Mr. Foxx shepherded Grady into is in many ways more interesting than Mr. Foxx's Own. It is, for one thing, less one-dimensional. Although Grady Wilson is the all-important ingredient, and everything revolves around him-the plot and 90 percent of the punch lines-the others in his family are extremely good. His daughter, Ellie, is well played by Carol Cole; his long suffering son-in-law, Hal, is subtly and sufferably played by Joe Morton; and there is some nice work by their two kids, Roseanne Katon and Haywood Nelson, the landlord and the neighboring cop.
One episode revolved around Grady's love of Sherlock Holmes, and his reconstruction of the crime of the previous evening-when , with all his poker pals in the house, two rolls of quarters were pilfered from a kitchen drawer. Grady suspects Rollo, the young dude who comes in and says, "Nice Place you got here. Lots of nice things." "Why don't you help yourself to something?" says Grady, pointing to the food . "No thanks." says Rollo, "I think I'll eat first." In the end, the thief turns out to be young Haywood's school chum, Martin, who is unimpressed with Grady's Sherlocking and, presumably, with some of the show's lines-e.g., "Be you ever so humble, there's no place for Holmes." Honestly , that was in there.
The next episode was an example of this show at it's best. It was about Grady going off to get a driver's license-something that's been done on every situation comedy since the invention of the internal-combustion engine. This time, though, it worked. Ellie is convinced that Grady is too old. "who's going to tell him that?" asks Hal. "Why don't you tell him, " Ellie suggests. "he never liked you anyway." The third show was the best of all. When Ellie tells Hal to get Grady out of the house so that she can get up a surprise birthday party for him, they go to a bar for the best drinking scene we've seen this year. Maybe the liquids helped the lines ("Our marriage was made in heaven and I can't wait for my wife to return to the scene of the crime"), but more likely they were pretty good lines before the first shot was poured. All in all, this show isn't going to change a bad season, but it sure makes it easier to swallow.
Cleveland Amore, Tv Guide, 1976, Feb 14-21
In any case, the show Mr. Foxx shepherded Grady into is in many ways more interesting than Mr. Foxx's Own. It is, for one thing, less one-dimensional. Although Grady Wilson is the all-important ingredient, and everything revolves around him-the plot and 90 percent of the punch lines-the others in his family are extremely good. His daughter, Ellie, is well played by Carol Cole; his long suffering son-in-law, Hal, is subtly and sufferably played by Joe Morton; and there is some nice work by their two kids, Roseanne Katon and Haywood Nelson, the landlord and the neighboring cop.
One episode revolved around Grady's love of Sherlock Holmes, and his reconstruction of the crime of the previous evening-when , with all his poker pals in the house, two rolls of quarters were pilfered from a kitchen drawer. Grady suspects Rollo, the young dude who comes in and says, "Nice Place you got here. Lots of nice things." "Why don't you help yourself to something?" says Grady, pointing to the food . "No thanks." says Rollo, "I think I'll eat first." In the end, the thief turns out to be young Haywood's school chum, Martin, who is unimpressed with Grady's Sherlocking and, presumably, with some of the show's lines-e.g., "Be you ever so humble, there's no place for Holmes." Honestly , that was in there.
The next episode was an example of this show at it's best. It was about Grady going off to get a driver's license-something that's been done on every situation comedy since the invention of the internal-combustion engine. This time, though, it worked. Ellie is convinced that Grady is too old. "who's going to tell him that?" asks Hal. "Why don't you tell him, " Ellie suggests. "he never liked you anyway." The third show was the best of all. When Ellie tells Hal to get Grady out of the house so that she can get up a surprise birthday party for him, they go to a bar for the best drinking scene we've seen this year. Maybe the liquids helped the lines ("Our marriage was made in heaven and I can't wait for my wife to return to the scene of the crime"), but more likely they were pretty good lines before the first shot was poured. All in all, this show isn't going to change a bad season, but it sure makes it easier to swallow.
Cleveland Amore, Tv Guide, 1976, Feb 14-21