I feel that Sanford and Son just could not pass All in the Family because Archie and Mike played off each other much better than Fred and Lamont. Lamont was unfunny. A Different person playing the Son might have just helped S&S pass AITF and take the number one spot.

Here is the TV season when Sanford and Son was so close to getting number one


1974-75
1.All in the Family-30.2
2.SAnford and Son-29.6

Isn't this the same question you just asked in the Three's Company/Laverne and Shirley thread?

Originally posted by *~PinkLady59~*
Isn't this the same question you just asked in the Three's Company/Laverne and Shirley thread?

Same question different shows-WHAT"S YOUR POINT????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

What's your point for all the question marks?

I don't think AITF and S&S were really alike. Archie and Mike didn't have the same kind of relationship that Fred and Lamont had. It's easier to hate your son-in-law than you're own son....

Originally posted by SOLOMON
Same question different shows-WHAT"S YOUR POINT????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

My point is that you need a new question and less question marks.

Originally posted by *~PinkLady59~*


My point is that you need a new question and less question marks.


Where is your question? I don't see you posting nothing Ms. Missy

Maybe it's the serious factor? I'm racking my brain here and I count numerous serious plotlines on All in the Family, I can't think of too many on Sanford and Son. Actually, I can't think of any serious storylines. We know Elizabeth was dead. How did she die? We know Fred liked jokes about people, such as gay people , but on All in the Family we saw storylines about the people. For example, I think Beverly LaSalle (?)was a good character and had good storylines and we actually saw Bev interacting with the cast. Look at Bev's last storyline. How did Bev die? Pretty serious stuff. AITF could tackle the serious and tackle the funny, I just recall Sanford and Son being funny.

Another factor was humor. We all know the cast of Sanford and Son had certain joke factors and Archie had joke factors. Archie and the gang knew how to mix up the jokes. Yeah, he kept the 'Dingbat', 'Meathead' jokes, but he mixed it around. With Sanford and Son, it was 'Dummy', 'Fish Eye(d) Fool', etc. They mixed the jokes around a little, but not as much as All in the Family did.

Hope my post made some sense.

Oh, I just thought of something else. Look at each main cast member from each show. I count the biggies on Sanford being Redd and Demond and the biggies on All in the Family being Carroll, Jean, Rob, and Sally. Got each actor in your head? Let's move forward to the later years. I've noticed several people mentioning the Fred character not being the same after Redd had the contract disputes (sp?). Some say he got mean spirited, etc. Check out the S & S board for more details. I gotta admit, I didn't really notice that. I was more focused on Demond. I really noticed a change in Demond.

Okay, let's switch to All in the Family. Carroll had contract disputes, but in my eyes, Carroll's attitude towards Archie didn't change. I didn't see Carroll up there looking like, damn, I wished I were anywhere else but on this set. *Ho hum* Bored now. So bored now. He didn't act that way. Rob and Sally leaving put a dent in the show. I won't explain all of that here. Yet, after R & S left, Jean and Carroll still held the show up.

Originally posted by Jenny
Oh, I just thought of something else. Look at each main cast member from each show. I count the biggies on Sanford being Redd and Demond and the biggies on All in the Family being Carroll, Jean, Rob, and Sally. Got each actor in your head? Let's move forward to the later years. I've noticed several people mentioning the Fred character not being the same after Redd had the contract disputes (sp?). Some say he got mean spirited, etc. Check out the S & S board for more details. I gotta admit, I didn't really notice that. I was more focused on Demond. I really noticed a change in Demond.

Okay, let's switch to All in the Family. Carroll had contract disputes, but in my eyes, Carroll's attitude towards Archie didn't change. I didn't see Carroll up there looking like, damn, I wished I were anywhere else but on this set. *Ho hum* Bored now. So bored now. He didn't act that way. Rob and Sally leaving put a dent in the show. I won't explain all of that here. Yet, after R & S left, Jean and Carroll still held the show up.



I think he Fred never left near the end of the 73-74 season, you might have seen S&S in the number one spot with some interesting episodes involving FRed G. Sanford. Since Grady took over the final 5 episodes of that 73-74 season, i think they stopped S&S from competing. Instead of Fred vs. Archie, it was Grady vs. Archie.-and that may have been the deciding factor.

Jenny, as usual, you expressed my sentiments exactly. One thing that I did not like about "All in the Family" was the frequency at which they featured episodes without Archie or Edith or the both of them. I must say that I am always disappointed when it is strictly a Mike/Gloria episode. Like Jenny, I think my least favorite episode is the one with Billy Crystal.

Originally posted by Jenny
Maybe it's the serious factor? I'm racking my brain here and I count numerous serious plotlines on All in the Family, I can't think of too many on Sanford and Son. Actually, I can't think of any serious storylines. We know Elizabeth was dead. How did she die? We know Fred liked jokes about people, such as gay people , but on All in the Family we saw storylines about the people. For example, I think Beverly LaSalle (?)was a good character and had good storylines and we actually saw Bev interacting with the cast. Look at Bev's last storyline. How did Bev die? Pretty serious stuff. AITF could tackle the serious and tackle the funny, I just recall Sanford and Son being funny.

Another factor was humor. We all know the cast of Sanford and Son had certain joke factors and Archie had joke factors. Archie and the gang knew how to mix up the jokes. Yeah, he kept the 'Dingbat', 'Meathead' jokes, but he mixed it around. With Sanford and Son, it was 'Dummy', 'Fish Eye(d) Fool', etc. They mixed the jokes around a little, but not as much as All in the Family did.

Hope my post made some sense.

It's FAN BASE. I think your humor point is not accurate. You have to remember that the cast of sanford and son where known comedians. Redd Foxx...Skillet and Leroy...Lawanda page..whitman mayo.. therefore they would hold the edge in the humor department. It had to be that the people who watched all in the family where your middle class families which outnumber any other class of people at that time. now we have upper and lower..the middle is gone. So if they where to run today you might see a different result.

If you mean ratings wise. Well, I think it is because Sanford and Son was a show about African Americans. And there has only been one show in the history of Television where a show about African Americans have made it to number one. And that was the Cosby Show.

Originally posted by Will and Grace Fanatic
If you mean ratings wise. Well, I think it is because Sanford and Son was a show about African Americans. And there has only been one show in the history of Television where a show about African Americans have made it to number one. And that was the Cosby Show.

I understand that but S&S still was very close to number one. I think Fred's Contractual disputes stopped Sanford and Son from becoming number one in the 74-75 season.

Originally posted by SOLOMON
I understand that but S&S still was very close to number one. I think Fred's Contractual disputes stopped Sanford and Son from becoming number one in the 74-75 season. All things considered, it's amazing that S&S did come as close as it did to AITF. I like Sanford a lot but it does come up short in a few categories as mentioned by some of you. I don't think of it as a Black oriented show, but thats just me. I'm sure that had an impact on it's ratings. I've watched some of the shows lately when Grady is the main character instead of Fred. The show is not nearly as a good without Redd Foxx playing the main character. If the emphasis from Fred to Grady was because of Red Foxxe's contract dispute then I'd say that was the reason for the show's inability to make it past All in The Family's top ratings mark.