I think it was around 74 or 75 but does anyone know what period of Sanford and Son was Fred absent and when did he return?

I think Redd Foxx was gone from the series for the last part of the 1973-74 season, when Whitman Mayo's Grady essentially filled in as Lamont's surrogate "Pop" for a while...and admirably so, too, that he eventually got his own show. I don't remember how long Redd was gone (his absence was explained as he went back to St. Louis), but by the start of the 1974-75 season he was back, in what is, to me, one of the series's funniest episodes.

Originally posted by W.J. Griffin
I think Redd Foxx was gone from the series for the last part of the 1973-74 season, when Whitman Mayo's Grady essentially filled in as Lamont's surrogate "Pop" for a while...and admirably so, too, that he eventually got his own show. I don't remember how long Redd was gone (his absence was explained as he went back to St. Louis), but by the start of the 1974-75 season he was back, in what is, to me, one of the series's funniest episodes.

Are you saying that the first episode of 74-75 TV season was one of the funniest episodes? If so what was that episode about?

The episode in question "The Surprise Party" begins with the return of Fred Sanford from St. Louis...and boy, is HE in a salty mood, as he routinely insults Lamont, Grady, Rollo and especially Esther, before being reassured by Lamont that the place wasn't the same without him.

Grady, on the other hand, is insulted by Lamont's remarks to his father, so, while Lamont fibs to Grady about the "Great" job he did in his father's absence, Fred overhears them and misinterprets the whole thing...so he goes out and gets plastered, comes staggering home, and insults the daylights out of everyone once again before the whole mess is straightened out.

Actually, the episode is a lot funnier than I described it, but if you've seen it, I think you'll agree...plus it contains a hilarious exchange between Rollo and Fred that I've already posted elsewhere on this site, and a classic Fred and Esther moment that'll have you in tears...of laughter!

Originally posted by W.J. Griffin
The episode in question "The Surprise Party" begins with the return of Fred Sanford from St. Louis...and boy, is HE in a salty mood, as he routinely insults Lamont, Grady, Rollo and especially Esther, before being reassured by Lamont that the place wasn't the same without him.

Grady, on the other hand, is insulted by Lamont's remarks to his father, so, while Lamont fibs to Grady about the "Great" job he did in his father's absence, Fred overhears them and misinterprets the whole thing...so he goes out and gets plastered, comes staggering home, and insults the daylights out of everyone once again before the whole mess is straightened out.

Actually, the episode is a lot funnier than I described it, but if you've seen it, I think you'll agree...plus it contains a hilarious exchange between Rollo and Fred that I've already posted elsewhere on this site, and a classic Fred and Esther moment that'll have you in tears...of laughter!


That sounds like a funny episode, hope to see it before the end of the year since Sanford and Son is being showed on UPN 57 in philadelhia. If i don't catch it on there, TV LAND will eing showing it again in 2003