Sanford (1980-81) Boned the Fish When...

[TMC]

http://www.bonethefish.com/viewtopics.php?1546

Sanford was a short-lived American situation comedy, which was the revival of the 1972-1977 sitcom Sanford and Son.

https://web.archive.org/web/20070225...ptheshark.com/

• Other Thoughts:
  
  How could they bring back Sanford and Son with a big fat white guy instead of Lamont? It should have been called Sanford and Fat White Guy.
  It never jumped. at least cal had a personality, lamont was really a DUMMY! i wish i could watch it again, it dont come on anywhere, great show, even better than sanford and son.
  I don't know if you can consider Sanford a spinoff since it aired 3 years after Sanford and Son went off the air, but to me it was a spinoff and spinoffs hardly ever work. Just the simple fact that they produced a show called Sanford was a jump the shark moment. Not that this show was that horrible or anything, but it just wasn't the same with Cal on it, I'm not surprised it only lasted a year or two. I actually remember watching this show as a kid when it was on primetime, but the thing that I find very funny and ironic is that BET would always air re-runs of this show in the late 80s/early 90's instead of Sanford and Son. I just found that funny. They played the show with the fat white guy instead of the show with Lamont. Maybe they couldn't obtain the rights to the original classic.
  I too watched this show when it debuted on prime time. At the time, I thought it was awesome to see Fred on TV again. Even having Rollo around was cool, but the large Texan was too much to bear even for a kid. Redd Foxx was probably wishing the original show never ended and the same was probably true for Demond Wilson (Lamont) whose other two shows "Baby I'm Back" and the "New Odd Couple" were abysmal.
  "Sanford" was to "Sanford and Son" what all those revival series were to "The Brady Bunch": a really bad idea minus all the saccharine and p.c. Let a good thing stand alone already!
  When Lamont left the show and Cal came on. Though Cal was loveable it just changed the dynamics of the show.
  Sanford never jumped the shark. It was a excellent continuation to a classic sitcom. Fred Sanford was still the same as he was in the original show. He still faked heart attacks and the fat jokes he said to Cal were hysterical. Even though they were only seen twice, it was great to see Aunt Esther and Grady again. It was also great to see Rollo and Officers Smitty and Hoppy in a few episodes. Cal was very different from Lamont, but his chemistry with Fred was excellent. I enjoyed it when Fred insulted Evelyn's brother Winston and her maid Clara. It proved that he was still the same Fred Sanford we enjoyed for six seasons from 1972 to 1977. This was the best continuation I have ever seen. Should of lasted longer.
  Fred's first episode after his strike, he gets a huge response from the audience (deservedly so, it was his first ep. back in a while). However, it set up the opportunity to have the audience applaud the appearance of any cast member, no matter how big (Lamont, Esther, etc.) or how small (Hoppy and Smitty). This is a JTS point for any show, b/c it shows the characters have become shadows of themselves (see Happy Days, Married...with Children, and Family Matters). It causes the writers to get lazy and think they can put the characters in ANY situation (no matter how ridiculous) b/c the audience loves the characters regardless. This was around the 74-75 season, one of the last truly good S&S seasons. There were still some good ones afterward, but the first four seasons were gold. Favorite line...BUBBA to Lamont: Hey, you got a new coat? LAMONT: Yeah, it's a pea coat. BUBBA: Yeah...did you know that when you bought it. The comic timing and Lamont's dirty look was priceless.