Sanford and Son
tells of the misadventures of a grumpy junk dealer and his
frustrated son.
CRITIQUE
Sanford and Son
came back to a fourth season after a contract dispute with Redd
Fox and the producers of the show. The first three
episodes don’t feature Fred Sanford, just like the last six episodes
of last season. The show made up the story that Fred had to fly to St.
Louis for some sort of family matter. But when Fred returns in the fourth episode
the writers don’t introduce his return from the long trip. He just
appears in the episode like any other, and there should've been a
transition of some sort.
Instead of Fred,
the show keeps Grady (Mayo) in the leading role. Grady takes
care of the house while Fred is away, yet he accomplishes to be totally dumb and
unfunny once again, just like last season. It seems he's
trying to be funny and make up for Fred’s funny character
traits. He tries to act like him, talk like him, and make fun of
Lamont in the same manner. In my opinion, it doesn’t work very well.
The fourth season
gets better after Fred returns with his trademark dialogue and
funny sayings. Though he doesn’t seem to get too many "big ones"
anymore, he is more into putting Lamont down with his famous "you
dummy."
The fourth season
breaks last season’s back with a lot more funny episodes, featuring
the two dummy cops. The white cop still cracks me up with his wording
mistakes. Aunt Ester appears in this season more than last, and her
relationship with Fred is even more intense. Even
though their fights are funnier, the reasons for them seem forced.
Fred
obviously doesn’t like Ester, but his constant name calling makes him
seem like an asshole.
Overall, the
fourth season of Sanford and Son was a success. Unlike last
season, this one actually made more sense, and had more funny episodes
and storylines.
THE VIDEO
The video for
Sanford and Son appears in fullscreen format. The quality
is alright considering the fact that they used old 70s video which
was new at the time and didn't look too professional. Sometimes
the video is a little too grainy. It is also out of focus at
times. I also noticed that in two episodes there were three red
lines across the screen, nothing annoying or disruptive, but the
fact that they were there makes the quality of the video worse
than if those lines weren't there. Overall, the video is good
considering the aged material.
THE AUDIO
The audio for
Sanford and Son is quite good considering the fact that
they used mono sound for the show. It's loud and clear, but has
that cheap video sound to it. Also, the sound of the audience
clapping and laughing in the background sometimes becomes quite
annoying. Again, considering the age of this soundtrack, the
audio presentation is decent.
THE EXTRAS
There is no wild parsley to
be found here.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Season Four is
better that last season with more funny episodes and storylines. The
video and audio quality is the same; acceptable for its age. Despite
the lack of extras, this 3-disc DVD set is highly recommended to fans
of the show.
