Sanford and Son - Season 03

Sanford and Son is an American sitcom, based on the BBC's Steptoe and Son, that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977.
Known for its edgy racial humor, running gags and catch phrases, the series was adapted by Norman Lear and considered NBC's answer to Archie Bunker. Sanford and Son has long been hailed as the precursor to many other African American sitcoms. It was a ratings hit throughout its six season run.
While the role of Fred G. Sanford was know for his bigotry and being cantankerous, the role of Lamont Sanford was usually a peacemaker and more conscientious. At times, both would involve themselves in schemes. Other colorful/unconventional characters were Aunt Esther, Grady Wilson, Bubba Bexley and Rollo Lawson.
In 2007, Time magazine included the show on their list of the "100 Best TV Shows of All Time".

Summary
Fred and Lamont Sanford
Sanford and Son stars Redd Foxx as Fred G. Sanford, a 65-year-old widower (although Foxx was younger in real life) and junk dealer living at 9114 S. Central Ave. in the Watts neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles, California; alongside Demond Wilson as his 30-year-old son, Lamont Sanford. In his youth, Fred moved to South Central Los Angeles from his hometown of St. Louis.
On the show's premiere in 1972, newspaper ads touted Foxx as NBC's answer to Archie Bunker, the bigoted white protagonist of All in the Family. (Both shows were adapted by Norman Lear from BBC shows; Sanford And Son was adapted from Steptoe and Son and All in the Family was the American version of Till Death Us Do Part.)

Fred Sanford
Foxx portrayed Sanford as a sarcastic, irascible schemer whose frequent get-rich-quick ideas routinely backfire. His son Lamont longs for independence, but he loves his father too much to move out on his own and leave the trouble-prone Fred unsupervised. Though each owns an equal share in the business and though, technically, Fred is the boss, Lamont often finds himself doing all the work and having to order his father to complete tasks and duties. Fred often insults his son, usually calling him a "big dummy." Lamont also insults his father, referring to him as an "old fool." However, the two share a close bond and regularly come to each other's aid. One episode in the second season featured a plot in which Fred and Lamont had such a heated argument over the business that Lamont quit and went to work for one of Sanford and Son's chief rivals. Meanwhile, Fred filled Lamont's position with a lay-about who spent Fred's money on a useless item. When Lamont quits his job and Fred fires his new man, the two decide to reform their partnership despite the fact that both are too proud to admit that they couldn't make it without each other.
Fred is a widower whose wife Elizabeth, according to some information from Fred, died around 1947. He would look up (as to heaven) with his hand across his chest in times of distress, faking a heart attack by saying "This is The Big One, Elizabeth! (I'm coming to join you...)"[2] Fred raised Lamont alone and missed Elizabeth deeply. According to Fred, his son was named for Lamont Lomax, a (presumably fictional) pitcher from the Homestead Grays. In one episode, Lamont asks why he didn't have a middle name. Fred tells him Lamont is his middle name: he and Elizabeth never came up with a first name. However, it was also known in the 3rd episode in the first season, Lamont was named "Lamont Grady Sanford".
At first, Fred's main foil on the show is his sister-in-law and Lamont's aunt, Ethel (Beah Richards). Ethel's involvement in the Sanford family squabbles lasts only until midway through the second season, whereupon she is replaced with her more tart-tongued sister, Esther (LaWanda Page). Fred and Esther's relationship as in-laws goes on to become a major part of the plot. The two frequently trade insults, usually instigated by Fred (he often contorts his face upon Esther's entrance and uses disparaging and colorful metaphors to describe her), whereas Esther generally retorts "WATCH it, sucka", attacks Fred with her purse, and refers to Fred as "you old heathen". Esther's disdain for Fred goes back to when he and Elizabeth were dating; she disapproved of Fred marrying her sister.
A running gag on the show is that whenever Lamont threatens to move out or things are not going Fred's way, he will fake a heart attack and say something like, "You hear that, Elizabeth? I'm coming to join ya, honey!" No one, however, falls for the transparent ruse. (Foxx himself died of a heart attack in 1991 during the filming of The Royal Family.) Despite his stubbornness and irascible nature, Fred sometimes redeems himself with acts of kindness, even to those (like Esther) whom he insists he does not like. In the last episode of the series, Fred earns his high school diploma, and is the valedictorian of his graduating class.
Earlier in the show's run, it adheres more closely to the format laid out by its British predecessor, Steptoe and Son with 16 episodes (12 in season one and 4 in season two) being remakes from its predecessor, with Fred and Lamont often at loggerheads over various issues. Fred and Lamont are also depicted as being equally manipulative. Fred's manipulative acts consist mainly of his constant threats of "the big one" and avoiding manual labor due to his "arthur-itis"; Lamont's include his attempts to drive a wedge between Fred and his girlfriend, Donna Harris (Lynn Hamilton), whom he sees as usurping his mother's place.

Lamont Sanford
Lamont is depicted at times as the greedier of the two. In one episode, for example, he refuses to sell two coffins for less than what he thinks they were worth, despite the fact that this clearly upsets his superstitious father. Lamont sometimes receives his comeuppance for being disdainful of his father's habits and ways. (One example of this is the time Lamont is upbraided by a Nigerian woman he hopes to impress by "adopting" African culture; she considers his attitude towards Fred to be disrespectful.) There are moments when Lamont is shown to be naive and foolish, such as the episode where he invites his new "friends" over to play poker. His street-savvy father sees right away that they are out to cheat Lamont after they gain his confidence by letting him win a few smaller-stakes games. Fred then turns the tables on the scammers by pretending to be ignorant of poker himself, agreeing to play a few hands and then taking all of their money by means of a marked deck of cards and special glasses that allow him to see what he is dealing. A similar predicament befalls Lamont in the second season when he gets involved in an unethical deal by buying a possibly valuable Regency commode from a woman for a rock-bottom price, then selling it back to her husband at double the price. He then takes an offer from a third party for quadruple that price while Fred tries over and over again to warn him that he is doing something immoral. Lamont becomes so put out that he threatens to lock Fred in his bedroom. Finally, due to some investigation on Fred's part, it is revealed that Lamont has been scammed, the pot is a fake and the two men have made off with several hundred dollars of Lamont's money.
One constant with Lamont (particularly in the second season) is that he is always trying to find new ways to move up in the world, and away from the junk business, but is often thwarted by Fred's interference. In the first episode, he buys a possibly valuable piece of porcelain from an elderly woman in Beverly Hills with the intention of selling at auction. However, Fred messes things up at the auction and Lamont ends up buying the piece back from himself. In the second season, Lamont buys a revolutionary war rifle from an auction with the intent to sell it for thousands. While investigating it, Fred accidentally fires the gun through the front window and he and Lamont spend all night wondering if he's accidentally killed the neighbor across the street. In a panic, Lamont melts the gun down with a blowtorch before realizing that the neighbor went out on a rare trip out of town. In one episode, he attempts to become an actor, Lamont and Rollo answer an ad for wannabe black film actors for an independent film company only to realize that it is really a pornographic film factory. In another episode, he answers an ad to travel around the world working on a tramp steamer, which would mean putting Fred in a nursing home, but Fred tricks him into not going. During the third season, Lamont attempts to open a side business with Julio selling used automobile parts. Fred is so put out by the idea that he moves out and into a flop house. Lamont eventually gets Fred to come home, but it is never said whether or not he changed his mind about the new business venture.
The most significant change in Lamont's character throughout the series was his attitude toward his work, his father and his future. In the very first episode, he is portrayed as hostile and angry toward Fred and the life he is forced to live. This would last through the middle of the first season, especially in an episode when he takes Fred out for his birthday and is angry and frustrated every time Fred says or does anything. At the end of the night, he becomes so angry that he abandons Fred at the restaurant, leaving his father to walk home in the rain. His attitude towards Fred would soften by mid-season as episodes tended to focus more on the two working together to solve a problem, as when several bill collectors converged on the house threatening to repossess their belongings. He would change throughout the series and become a man dedicated to his work and to his father, but also who would try new things and new ideas to better himself, such as when he attempts to embrace his African heritage or later when he tries to run for State Assemblyman.