Customer Reviews

Sanford and Son: The Fourth Season

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...And other Fred to Aunt Esther insults abound, in this, the hilarious 4th season of the classic Sanford & Son. Season 4 ran from Sept 1974 to April 1975 and consists of the 24 episodes contained on these three dvds. Like, Season 3, this season also contains episodes where Redd Foxx does not appear, but only 4 this time as opposed to the previous season's 6 episodes minus Fred. Although that hampers the series somewhat, the episodes without him usually feature Lamont, Grady, Esther, & others so they're still worthy of some great laughs. Three of the four episodes without Fred make up the first part of disc one of the set, so Fred makes his first appearance in the fourth episode, a real classic, where Lamont invites over his "sensitivity group" who like to touch each other and Fred reluctantly allows it and joins in! Many hilarious moments in Season 4 include: Fred's hangover remedy, Fred finds Sinatra's ring, Grady meets a special lady at JC Penny, a strange plant is growing in Fred's garden, Fred buys a horse that's not what it seems, and many many more!
Here is the content of this hilarious set:

Disc One:
01. Fred's Treasure Garden (Fred doesn't appear)
02. Once a thief (Fred doesn't appear)
03. A little extra security (Fred doesn't appear)
04. There'll be some changes made
05. Going out of business
06. Ol' Brown Eyes is back
07. Matchmaker, Matchmaker
08. Grady & his lady

Disc Two:
09. The surprise party
10. My kingdom for a horse
11. Home sweet home
12. Sanford & Niece
13. Strange bedfellows
14. Julio & Sister & Nephew
15. The merger
16. Tower Power

Disc Three:
17. My brother in law's keeper
18. The masquerade party
19. Golden boy
20. The stand-ins
21. The headache
22. The older woman
23. The stung
24. The family man (Fred & Lamont don't appear)

Trivia:

*The final episode of Season 4, "The Family Man", serves as the pilot episode for the short lived spin off series, "Grady" starring Whitman Mayo and Haywood Nelson (Dwayne from What's Happening!!). The series was canceled after only 12 episodes. It's easy to see why Whitman Mayo was offered the series because his character on Sanford & Son became increasingly popular and in 1975 he was nominated for a Golden Globe for best supporting actor as "Grady".

*Episode 23, "The Stung", features the last appearance for Julio (Gregory Sierra, who joined the cast of Barney Miller). Episode 4, "There'll be some changes made" has the first appearance of Ah Chew (Pat Morita).

*Although Redd Fox appears in all 24 episodes of Season 5, there are a few without Demond Wilson. Season 5 is also where Fred & Lamont turn Julio's old home into a boarding house called "The Sanford Arms" (also the name of the episode). The episode created a spin off series of the same name which didn't include Fred, Lamont, or Grady, but instead Aunt Esther and Bubba. The series only lasted 4 episodes.

*Redd Foxx and the producers were nominated for awards several times through out the run of Sanford & Son, but only in 1973, did Foxx win with a Golden Globe for best television actor in a comedy. An honor he more than earned. Personally, I feel Demond Wilson (Lamont) was underrated and not properly acknowledged for his essential role and amazing chemistry with Redd.

I could not disagree with Mr. Dent's review of Sanford & Son 4th Season more! In fact, the show just keeps getting better! The strong supporting cast including Julio, Officer Hopkins & Smith (Hoppy & Smitty), Ugly Aunt Esther, and Grady are seen much more often and help make the show even more hysterical!

Whitman Mayo (Grady) single-handedly saved the show in 1974 near the end of Season #3, when Redd Foxx left the show temporarily due to contract disputes. In one episode, Lamont tries to learn karate to defend himself over a bully who bloodied his nose after an argument over a woman. In another epsiode, a woman shows up thinking Grady was Fred, and claimed that Fred once asked her to marry her! The episode in which Grady's free-loading cousin shows up is one for the ages, and try not to bust your gut laughing when Grady is confronted by the Social Security Administration after accidently receiving two checks in one month and spending them both! Whitman Mayo's acting was first-rate, and with the help of the great S&S supporting cast, not only kept the show alive, but gave us probably eight of the greatest episodes of the entire series!

Redd Foxx finally did return to the show in the 4th season, and was better than ever! His hilarious behavior when Lamont brought a relaxation therapy group to his house for a weekly meeting, to when he built a memorial tower in honor of himself (put together from the junk in his yard) was all you would expect from Fred Sanford and more. When Grady shows up one evening and announces he's engaged, Fred pulls one of the best classics of the show to disrupt Grady's nuptial plans. Fred invites the two of them over for dinner, and when the woman arrives first, Fred deliberately spills a drink into her lap, forcing her to go up and change into Lamont's robe while her dress is soaking in the bathtub. While she's upstairs, Fred quickly changes into his robe just as Grady arrives. Well, you can imagine what Grady thought when he saw Fred and his bride-to-be alone both wearing robes!

Later on, when their neighbor Julio moves away, Fred & Lamont purchase his property and open up a rooming house--the Sanford Arms. Although Julio (Gregory Sierra) is sorely missed, the new tenants at the Sanford Arms (especially Hoppy's Mother) bring new and added pleasure to the show. Also, Fred's younger sister marries and Fred gets a new brother-in-law, except he has one problem--he's WHITE (Yes, Fred has the heart attack to end all heart attacks). Also, when Aunt Esther and Uncle Woody decide to adopt a child, Woody intoxicates himself the morning the adoption agency representative shows up to assess their home environment. Well, guess who ends up pretending to be Aunt Esther's husband--you guessed it, Fred!

This show did not coast to closing down in 1977, but actually would have probably flown strong for three or four more seasons had Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson not quit the show due to contract disputes.

Although Sanford & Son was filmed 30 years ago, and granted it's not for everybody, it was, and still is, one of the best and most popular sit-com classics from the 20th century. Although styles have changed somewhat, many of the jokes, themes, and humor this superb cast gave to us is still very relevant today. Prejudice, financial struggle, human stubborness, resentment between in-laws, and men's desire for lust are challenges we continue to face in our society.

Sanford & Son is one for the Ages!

Although brilliant, The Third season of S&S was marred by the abscence of Redd Foxx who walked out due to contract disputes.The show carried on for six episodes with Fred Sanford in St. Louis for a funeral as Grady (Whitman Mayo) looked after the place and took care of Fred's over 30 son/business partner Lamont (????).
In the beginning of the fourth,Fred was back(although some "Grady" episodes were aired later on),and for the first half of the season the show was back on track with classic episodes, The Surprise Party(Fred's hilarious return home), There'll Be Some Changes Made (Lamont's sensitivity group), The Stand-ins (featuring Scatman Crothers and Billy Eckstine) and The Masquerade Party (Fred's entrance in the gorilla suit is priceless).
But by the latter half of the season, the show started to run out of fuel as the plots became more ludicrous, and the show became a former shell of itself.The fact that Foxx's new contract may have given him a huge ego as he had more creative control of the show (as well as Demond Wilson's own contract disputes and substance abuse problem).Although the show was still funny,the laughs weren't as big as the earlier seasons and would coast in this fashion until the end of the show in 1977.

Sanford and Son is a classic television series that I can always count on for a good laugh and I am glad that the series has made it's way to DVD. If you are just now starting your Sanford and Son DVD collection I suggest that you buy them in this order-Season 2, Season 3, Season 1 and then Season 4. Seasons 2 and 3 are hilarious. Season 4 has good episodes like the Grady led "Fred's Treasure Garden," "Sanford and Niece," "The Headache" and a few other memorable episodes.

It is clear as you get towards the end of the season that the laughs are winding down, most evident in episodes like "The Masquerade Party," when Fred and friends go on a game show to win Lamont a present. The fact that Lamont is pouting like a 10 year old that their are no presents, liquor or decorations after pop promised and Fred going through such extremes to get a grown man a present....it just seems like the writers were running out of things to do. But this is a must have to complete your Sanford collection, if you are a collector. But if you are going strictly for laughs check out seasons 2 and 3 first.

1. The Surprise Party

2. Matchmaker, Matchmaker

3. Ol' Brown Eyes

4. Grady and his Lady

5. There'll be some charges made

6. Going Out of Business

7. Home Sweet Home

8. My Kingdom for a Horse (a.k.a.) First Night out

9. Sanford and Niece

10. Julio and Sister and Nephew

11. Freds Treasure Garden

12. Tower Power

13. A little Extra Security

14. The Merger

15. Once a thief

16. The Stand-In

17. Strange Bedfellows

18. The Masquerade Party

19. Golden Boy

20. My Brother-In-Law's Keeper

21. The Headache

22. The Stung

23. The Older Woman

24. The Over-the-Hill Gag

25. The Family Man

FOR anybody who considers buying this season (4), season 5, season 6 or the complete set, let the buyer beware.

At season 3's conclusion, the Redd Foxx contract dispute would eventually result in the departures of writer/story editor Ilunga Adell and producer Aaron Ruben (notably, Ruben's departure from "The Andy Griffith Show" was equally detrimental to that program), sounding the first alarms that the SAS we loved was doomed to change for the worse. (Did SAS start to slide with the "Fred's trip to St. Louis" episodes? Not quite. The creative team Ruben and Adell oversaw, plus "fill-in" Whitman Mayo's fine comic performance as Grady --which "auditioned" him for the "spin-off" series that NEVER should've been-- helped to keep the show afloat to season 3's end.) Apparently, Foxx didn't wish to make anymore waves via the TONE (established by Adell) of the scripts the writers previously had done (the legacy of this being those heavily-edited shows from seasons 2-3 in the current reruns); inevitably, Foxx prevailed.

Replacing Ruben were comedy writers Saul Turtletaub and Bernie Orenstein; with them, Adell's "African-American" stamp on the show that added dimension to these many characters was gone. In their place, jokes, misplaced satire and gimmickry (guest stars, topical stories, HAWAII, etc.) were emphasized over characterization and plots. Like Foxx, the rest of the cast got caught up in the notion of "more laughs, less story"; the TV viewers followed suit. Only many years after the fact did fans--the many SAS "purists"--realize the difference between, um, "ground chuck" and "ground steak"! Under T&O, Foxx's performance was workmanlike; true, when a good line came along, Foxx's comic timing responded instinctively, but that was the exception to the rule. He was the star, but those who watched paid the price once they realized (several cycles of reruns later) seasons 4-6 were (mostly) big CHEATS.

Is this getting too deep into "just a TV show", years after the fact? Sure. In the case of SAS and the other shows INITIATED by Norman Lear (Why didn't he EVER produce a show start to finish?), they ALL slipped in quality after a few years in (some may argue "All In The Family" fared better). Let's just put seasons 4-6 into the proper perspective with seasons 1-3! Humor AND character meshed well in the first three seasons (give a handicap to the show as it started as a mid-season replacement, so it took a bit longer to establish the characters who sustained longevity); compare the early appearances of Aunt Esther, Rollo and Bubba with those of the later years as further proof of how the creative rot began to mushroom as the 4th season progressed. (Seriously, the R&A-era scripts with Esther were SPECTACULAR. Combined with LaWanda Page's bravura acting, R&A's Esther had an edge--even a hint of MENACE--that was sorely missing in the T&O-era scripts with Esther. NO ONE can convince me the LATTER was better than the FORMER!)

In conclusion, the consumer should catch as MANY reruns as they can of SAS before they decide which seasons to BUY, RENT or AVOID. Yes, it's ONLY "just a TV show", but be mindful of when it truly was VERY GOOD, and that was in seasons 1-3!

Be an informed consumer...you BIG DUMMY!!

All the best, Brother Fang.

I can't believe how quickly they're releasing these box sets! It's great! I'm just adding a bit of trivia to all of the reviews. One of the reviewers mentioned that the episode "Family Man" seemed like a different tv show than Sanford & Son. Well it turns out that it really was (sort of)! Due to the success of the Grady episodes of S & S, there was an attempted spin off tv show called "Grady". Unfortunately it turns out Grady is a great supporting character to Fred & Lamont, and the Grady show was cancelled after 12 episodes. Luckily, Grady returned to Sanford & Son!

Nominated for six Golden Globes and seven Emmys, including Outstanding Series - Comedy, Sanford & Son became one of the first shows in television history to be almost entirely centered around African-American characters. Modeled after the British TV show Steptoe & Son, the series showcased the underappreciated talents of comic genius Redd Foxx (whose skin color and bad language prevented him from becoming a superstar decades earlier). The brainchild of All In The Family creator Norman Lear, Sanford & Son signaled the beginning of a decade of sitcom classics for the prolific 1970's TV writer - Maude (1972), Good Times (1974), and The Jeffersons (1975) being the others. Wrought with memorable one-liners and well-timed humor, Sanford & Son was a Top 10 Nielsen rated show every year in which it aired except for its final season (ranking a respectable #27)...

Sanford & Son, set in the Watts district of Los Angeles, follows the life of Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx), a 65-year-old African-American junk dealer who shares his business with his 34-year-old son Lamont (Demond Wilson). With Fred's wife Elizabeth having passed away twenty years earlier, he often evokes Lamont's sympathy by clutching his heart and proclaiming, "Oh, I'm coming to join you Elizabeth!" But Fred always survives those near fatal heart attacks, continuing to disperse sarcastic putdowns (often directed at his sister-in-law Esther) and racist stereotypical remarks aimed against whites and Hispanics (especially Lamont's friend Julio). Using guilt to manipulate his ambitious son into staying and helping run the salvage shop instead of pursuing other endeavors, Fred Sanford spends most of his days lounging around the house (his junk store and home are one and the same) and hanging out with his friends - Grady, Melvin, and Bubba... Well-written and hilarious, Sanford & Son is comedian Redd Foxx at his absolute best...

The Sanford & Son (Season 4) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the season premiere "The Surprise Party" in which Fred returns home following an extended stay in St. Louis (i.e. contract negotiations with the network). Everyone plans a surprise party for Fred, but the celebration goes awry when Fred and Esther pick up where they left off (with their constant fighting). Meanwhile, when Fred eavesdrops on Lamont and Grady, the situation only gets worse... Other notable episodes from Season 4 include "Going Out of Business" in which an accounting error leads to Fred and Lamont owing the government more money than they have, and "The Stand-In" in which Fred and Lamont are forced to stand-in for Fred's musician friend Bowlegs when a member of his band gets injured...

Below is a list of episodes included on the Sanford & Son (Season 4) DVD:

Episode 63 (The Surprise Party)
Episode 64 (Matchmaker, Matchmaker)
Episode 65 (Ol' Brown Eyes)
Episode 66 (Grady and His Lady)
Episode 67 (There'll Be Some Changes Made)
Episode 68 (Going Out of Business)
Episode 69 (Home Sweet Home)
Episode 70 (My Kingdom for a Horse)
Episode 71 (Sanford and Niece)
Episode 72 (Julio and Sister and Nephew)
Episode 73 (Fred's Treasure Garden)
Episode 74 (Tower Power)
Episode 75 (A Little Extra Security)
Episode 76 (The Merger)
Episode 77 (Once a Thief)
Episode 78 (The Stand-In)
Episode 79 (Strange Bedfellows)
Episode 80 (The Masquerade Party)
Episode 81 (Golden Boy)
Episode 82 (My Brother-In-Law's Keeper)
Episode 83 (The Headache)
Episode 84 (The Stung)
Episode 85 (The Older Woman)
Episode 86 (The Over-the-Hill Gag)
Episode 87 (The Family Man)

The DVD Report

In my opinion Sanford & Son is one of the best TV Shows ever, from Season 1 until the last Season I give it FIVE STARS+.

The first two discs of this set have some great episodes. The third disc has maybe one or two good ones at the most, but I can't really name a single one. The Grady episodes are by far the best. "Fred's Treasure Garden" and "Once A Thief" (both Grady episodes) are true classics. The third disc has some ludicrous episodes such as Fred going on a game show in one. In another episode Fred buys a big dumb professional fighter. We get to see this fighter working out and skipping rope throughout the show. How exciting. In "The Headache," also on disc three, Lamont goes to a psychiatrist, who tells him that he "hates his father." In the "Older Woman," Lamont falls in love with and plans to marry a woman ten years older. However, his plans fall flat when the woman refuses and says that the differences in their ages would cause problems. "The Stung," which is probably the best episode on disc three, involves Fred inviting his professional gambler friend to join in on one of Lamont's group's weekly games. Pretending to be a novice player, the expert quickly takes everyone's money. Fred later tells them of his clever scheme and promises that Al will return all the cash. Al, however, has disappeared and doesn't return with the money until later. In the meantime "Arms," a huge guy who was one of the losing players, constantly threatens violence if he doesn't get his money. He even tears Fred's door off the hinges.
In "The Family Man" everyone just complains about a tasteless painting that Grady bought and hung over the fireplace. The whole feel of this episode is like you are watching some other TV show because the settings are mostly at Grady's daughter's Westwood house.