On this day in 1972, The television show Sanford and Son debuted. Sanford and Son just happens to be my all time favorite show.
I wasn’t alive when Sanford and Son debuted in 1972. My first run in with Fred, Lamont and Aunt Esther occurred in reruns… probably 1981-82.
I didn’t fully understand all the situations Fred and Lamont were in. I didn’t understand the cultural references to the Watts riots, the racial issues or veiled references to what President Nixon was or wasn’t doing. That 6 year old kid liked Sanford and Son for a single solitary reason:
The way Fred Sanford walked.
He walked as though he was wearing 18 sets of underwear… like he couldn’t put his legs together no matter how hard he tried. As a kid, you also think of him walking as if there was a biological function in his drawers. That right there would make any kid laugh.
Not to brag, but as a kid I could do the BEST imitation of the Fred G. Sanford walk. It was damn near perfect.
As I got older, Sanford and Son would drift in and out of syndication. If it happened to be on I’d probably watch it. If not, no biggie. These were the days even before you could get a season of a TV show on VHS cassette! Today, an entire series run can be downloaded to your phone. Mind you, that has its advantages too… but back when you had to catch something on or you’d miss it…well, that made it all the more special. That, and… that was the only thing we knew.
In the late 80’s, Ted Turner’s SUPERSTATION TBS began airing Sanford and Son at the wonderful time of 7:35 pm. I knew that I had to have my homework done by 7:34 that night. It was a nightly ritual throughout 8th grade for me. I knew those guys would be there for me every weeknight. I had my own VCR by then, so I would tape them throughout the week and watch them on the weekends. I had 12 video cassettes all meticulously numbered with Sanford and Son episodes. I even edited all the commercials out of the show so they played right through. I say edit, but all it was was me pressing pause while the commercials aired and then pause again when the show came back.
8th grade was the worst year for me in terms of being bullied. It was a struggle for me every day to go into that gauntlet of school lockers and forehead slaps…but I knew that at 7:35pm Lamont and Fred would make it all better.
I kept and watched those tapes all the way up until 2002 when the first season was released on DVD. Needless to say, they were pretty worn out by then. The dvds are harder to wear out, but when I’m not watching Apollo 13, I’m probably watching something happening at 9114 South Central Avenue.
