SYNOPSIS

Fred Sanford was a 65-year-old Los Angeles junk dealer whose 34-year-old son, Lamont, was his partner. At his advanced age, Fred was very happy with his business and the minimal income it produced. Lamont, however, wanted something better. He wanted out of the junk business and was looking for something more challenging and lucrative.

Fred, whose wife, Elizabeth, had died many years before, would do anything to keep his son from leaving him and the business. Every time Lamont told him he wanted to leave, Fred would clutch his chest and fake a heart attack moaning "I'm coming, Elizabeth, I'm coming... This is the big one!" Lamont wasn't fooled by his father's antics, but he did love him and, despite what he wanted from his future, stayed with him until the end.

Fred had a steady girlfriend in Nurse Donna Harris, whom he was always promising to marry. He was constantly at odds with Aunt Esther, who ran the Sanford Arms, a run-down rooming house that was located next to the junkyard. Early in 1976, Lamont entered a serious relationship with Janet, a divorcee with a young son, and they became engaged at the end of the 1976-77 season.

However, the marriage never took place because the series left the airways in the fall of 1977. Redd Foxx had committed himself to do a variety show for ABC and co-star Demond Wilson left the series in a dispute over his role as the sole star of the show after Redd Foxxs' departure. With the two stars gone, NBC premiered The Sanford Arms in the fall of 1977, which featured most of the supporting cast from the original show.

Sanford And Son was producer Norman Lears' second major hit - his first was All In The Family. And like it predessor, Sanford And Son was based on a successful British TV comedy called Steptoe And Son. Sanford And Son was an instant hit and ranked among the top ten shows throughout its run. For a three month period during the summer of 1976, a second episode was seen each week on Wednesday nights. These second episodes were reruns from previous seasons and titled The Best of Sanford And Son. Reruns were also aired weekdays on NBC from June 1976 to July 1978.