Sanford and Son

CTL-E-5449 · Work · other · 1972–1977

PROVISIONAL evidence grade of this record

Sanford and Son, developed by Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin from the BBC's Steptoe and Son, aired on NBC from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977 — six seasons, 136 episodes built on Redd Foxx as Fred Sanford, a Watts junk dealer whose theatrical heart attacks ('This is the big one!') were aimed at his son Lamont, played by Demond Wilson. Its theme was composed by Quincy Jones. The ratings were emphatic: the series finished in the Nielsen top ten in five of its six seasons, peaking at No. 2, and Time placed it on its All-TIME 100 TV Shows list in 2007. Hailed as NBC's answer to All in the Family and as the precursor to the Black sitcoms that followed, it established the form's essential proof a decade before the Huxtables: a Black comic persona, drawn from the Chitlin' Circuit stage, could hold a network's Friday night against anything. For this graph, Sanford is the shelf's foundation stone — the first of the Lear-era records and the one from which Good Times and The Jeffersons descend in television's own family tree.

Notes

Statistics: NBC, 1972–1977; 136 episodes; Nielsen top 10 in five of six seasons (Wikipedia). Filed as Work/other: schema v0.2.6 carries no television subtype, and none was invented inside this merge (schema changes are a separate, reviewed step). · Curator's Judgment: DRAFT — for founder review: Redd Foxx brought the party-record circuit into America's living rooms at No. 2 in the ratings. The record files Sanford where it belongs in the lineage: upstream of everything Lear built next, and of every Black sitcom that inherited its Friday night. · Photo slot: HELD — poster/key art and production stills for this title are copyrighted studio material and were NOT pulled (per CTL-PHOTO-001 and the wave brief: never force non-free key art); no cleared Commons image was verified for this title in this run. Slot honestly HELD pending a cleared visual.

Sources

• Wikipedia, 'Sanford and Son' — supports: developers, the Steptoe and Son adaptation, NBC run (January 14, 1972 – March 25, 1977), 6 seasons / 136 episodes, the Quincy Jones theme, top-ten finishes and No. 2 peak — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanford_and_Son
• Parade, 'NBC Sitcom, Ranked Among Best TV Shows of All Time…' — supports: the Time All-TIME 100 listing (2007) — https://parade.com/tv/sanford-and-son-nbc-sitcom-best-tv-shows-of-all-time-49-years-later

Record CTL-E-5449 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: PROVISIONAL · 2 sources · CTL research: MEDIA-001.
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