Storefront in opening theme

[Rich3]

Did anyone else notice how different the indoor set looks compared to one in the opening?

You see Lamont pulling in to the side, which would imply that the front door is actually on the side.

So what is the store front window?

[cloggedmind]

It is confusing and doesn't match up to the show's studio set at all. We all know it's just a nice, atmospheric location shot to set the mood, but let's explore some of the disparity and what we did and didn't get to see in the show.

One would presume that the driveway from the credits is what we see when the truck pulls up in the studio set, but that would mean that the "front" door would be on the open wall where we, the audience, watch the show.

That doesn't work, either b/c we know from "TV or Not TV" that there is a fully covered wall there. So, logically, where the giant custom-painted chalkboard sign should have been, it couldn't. Fred also referred to the sign outside and gestured toward their "front" door often, but in wider shots we never saw a sign anywhere except when the house became the office for The Sanford Arms in the spinoff.

Also, when anyone looks off to camera right or directly out to camera towards the street in the studio, they're supposedly facing across the street, looking at Goldstein's junkyard. And you could supposedly see all the way down to the next block. Again, doesn't fit with the opening credits.

As a kid I always presumed that the front door was the kitchen, but it just got too cluttered to use and there was nowhere to park so everyone made their way to the back.

But that doesn't work, either, b/c we can see in several shots that the kitchen is more like a small back yard area with garbage cans and a little piece of a fence and, occasionally, broken junk like old pallets and such

"The Copper Caper" suggests an area under the house like a cellar, as well. That could have been exploited as a plot device for some shows and would have been interesting to see.

If you really want your mind blown, try to envision the floor plan upstairs from what we've seen in Sanford & Son and Sanford, and fit in all the rooms Fred mentioned when trying to unload the house during the earthquakes. We know there was at least on spare room and a sun room, the bathroom is first left off the stairs and there is a linen closet mentioned at one point. We've actually seen Fred's room a couple of times in the original series, and Lamont's room in the follow-up, Sanford, when it got redecorated for Cal. That room is, presumably, directly across the hall from Fred room and the bathroom.

We also never saw the inside of Cliff's room when the house was remodeled in later years for Sanford.

Worthy of note: Unless extensive additions were made to Julio's house for The Sanford Arms, his junkyard and house must have been huge to accommodate all the rooms for a boarding house! Though what we could see during the property dispute made both lots look claustrophobically small.

[Dude111]

I love the opening song.... I would love getting it in pure analogue! (Record,cassette or 8 track)

[Rich3]

Originally Posted by cloggedmind

It is confusing and doesn't match up to the show's studio set at all. We all know it's just a nice, atmospheric location shot to set the mood, but let's explore some of the disparity and what we did and didn't get to see in the show.

One would presume that the driveway from the credits is what we see when the truck pulls up in the studio set, but that would mean that the "front" door would be on the open wall where we, the audience, watch the show.

That doesn't work, either b/c we know from "TV or Not TV" that there is a fully covered wall there. So, logically, where the giant custom-painted chalkboard sign should have been, it couldn't. Fred also referred to the sign outside and gestured toward their "front" door often, but in wider shots we never saw a sign anywhere except when the house became the office for The Sanford Arms in the spinoff.

Also, when anyone looks off to camera right or directly out to camera towards the street in the studio, they're supposedly facing across the street, looking at Goldstein's junkyard. And you could supposedly see all the way down to the next block. Again, doesn't fit with the opening credits.

As a kid I always presumed that the front door was the kitchen, but it just got too cluttered to use and there was nowhere to park so everyone made their way to the back.

But that doesn't work, either, b/c we can see in several shots that the kitchen is more like a small back yard area with garbage cans and a little piece of a fence and, occasionally, broken junk like old pallets and such

"The Copper Caper" suggests an area under the house like a cellar, as well. That could have been exploited as a plot device for some shows and would have been interesting to see.

If you really want your mind blown, try to envision the floor plan upstairs from what we've seen in Sanford & Son and Sanford, and fit in all the rooms Fred mentioned when trying to unload the house during the earthquakes. We know there was at least on spare room and a sun room, the bathroom is first left off the stairs and there is a linen closet mentioned at one point. We've actually seen Fred's room a couple of times in the original series, and Lamont's room in the follow-up, Sanford, when it got redecorated for Cal. That room is, presumably, directly across the hall from Fred room and the bathroom.

We also never saw the inside of Cliff's room when the house was remodeled in later years for Sanford.

Worthy of note: Unless extensive additions were made to Julio's house for The Sanford Arms, his junkyard and house must have been huge to accommodate all the rooms for a boarding house! Though what we could see during the property dispute made both lots look claustrophobically small.

Great observations!

[cloggedmind]

A nice view of the other side of the storefront from the series, Emergency!



I've forgotten the actual episode, but later we get to see what the back of the building looks like facing that empty lot, there.

[TheLittleFaerie]

I always thought that was the actual front of the Sanford home we see in the opening, and what we see in the show is the SIDE door and yard, I'm thinking guests and family uses the side door while customers use the actual front door.

Also during the show, Lamont always pulled in from the front, so I think it's gotta be the side yard we see in the show

[showfan]

Great point, everyone! Is there a single sitcom where the outside of the house actually fits the inside? I can't think of one. I wonder why that was never considered an important thing?

[cloggedmind]

Originally Posted by showfan

Great point, everyone! Is there a single sitcom where the outside of the house actually fits the inside? I can't think of one. I wonder why that was never considered an important thing?

In a crude, not-quite-to-scale way, The Honeymooners' Chauncey Street outdoor set kinda matched up with the interior layout in the (I think it was?) Classic 39 episode where we see them outside facing up to the 2nd floor window.

Unrelated, but I feel like I've lived Good Times as one of my former apartments had the same basic layout as the Evans' minus the access door they never used in the kitchen.

Come to think of it, The Jeffersons had a similar door in their apartment and so did the Willis'.

And, worthy of note: Only one episode of The Jeffersons showed the wall that we, the audience watch most of the show from, and that was a single shot facing inward from the terrace when Florence took a date out there. Blink and you'll miss it. Wish I could remember offhand what episode it was..