movieguru

Was watching a rerun of Sandford and Son the other day, and there's always one thing I was curious about. Do they ever show the interior of the store? In the theme sequence you can see the store and the windows displaying merchandise, but you can't see the two story home that should be connected to it. Did they ever show Fred or Lamont actually working in the store for that matter? Most of the scenes are in the house and it never seemed like anyone was every running the store or really even mentioning that they had to watch the store during store hours. It really didn't seem like they even mentined the retail store at all that I can recall.

Count Dooku

That's just one of those things that happens on TV. For example, the house identified as the Bunkers in the opening credits of ALL IN THE FAMILY is completely different from the home that they are depicted living in.

But the answer to your question is no. The 3 basic sets for the show were the living room, the kitchen (stage left) and the outdoor junk area (stage right).

Count Dooku

Aunt Esther drops the N-bomb on primetime network TV around 2:30. And Fred makes an anal sex joke around 7:30

Sorry, can't get the video to embed

movieguru

But did they technically have an indoor store (that just wasn't shown) within the continuity of the show, or was their entire business just the junkyard in the back alleyway? It would seem odd that if they were a junk dealer that some of their merchandise could not be kept outdoors in the elements, so they would need an indoor location to store and display thet merchandise to customers.

Count Dooku

This is along the lines of the "What happened to Chuck?" questions that people have about Happy Days. Chuck stopped existing, and thus never existed. That's the answer.

What you are thinking about is not a part of the show's reality. The opening credits are just a piece of film. The show isn't about the business. Storylines did not revolve around people buying, and them selling stuff, so they never had to explain how their business worked. The business just existed.

But sometimes it is unavoidable to think about such things. Watching The Haunting of Hill House, I kept wondering how they paid the property taxes on that place for decades while it just sat there.

cultshock

Yeah, it's just one of those sitcom things you have to accept. The show was never about Fred's business or customers, so that aspect was never shown. Man, I really need to watch this show again, it's been years!

Fist of Doom Jr

Maybe junk dealing was just a small part of their business...

Shannon Nutt

Well, as many of you know, Sanford and Son was based on the British show, Steptoe and Son, which - I believe- showed those characters in the junk store. So it was probably something they thought they'd get to eventually, but the series went its own way, so they never bothered building a new set.

Count Dooku

Originally, the premise was that Fred would run the "junk shop" and then get involved in the lives of his customers.
However, Redd Foxx objected.
"So some guy comes in to buy an old lamp, and suddenly I'm helping him with his marriage problems!?"

Fist of Doom Jr

Nice Seinfeld reference.

movieguru

On the opposite of disappearing characters on sitcoms, I can recall The Cosby Show added an extra child around the middle of the first season. I can remember Claire asking Cliff "Why did we have four children?" Then Cliff says "Because we didn't want five." However, later in the season they do actually have five children, as the oldest Sandra made an appearance a number of episodes later.

Eric F

I always assumed the junkyard extended into their house.

movieguru

When I watched it as a kid, I always though his house was the store as he had so much junk scattered all over the living room. I imagined that people were coming into the living room of his house to look at the stuff he had for sale.

movieguru

It just seemed odd that they went through the effort with the theme to imply htat he had a store on the show, when in reality he didn't. The show was even named after the store as implied by the sign on the store and on the truck. It would be like having a Star Trek show that was named after a ship and having the ship zip by in the opening theme, but just showing characters on different planets or at Star Fleet headquarters and never the showing or even mentining the ship in any of the episodes.

windom

Was any of this answered in the "Sanford" sequel/spinoff series?

cultshock

Now that I think about it, I thought the same thing when I was a kid.

Count Dooku

All in the Family never showed any of the cast, just footage of Queens NY
Maude showed footage of leaving Manhattan and traveling to Westchester, and only showed Bea Arthur in the final shot.
Chico and the Man showed footage of East LA and none of the cast.
Welcome Back Kotter showed footage of Brooklyn and what was supposed to be the high school, but none of the cast.

So that was kind of the style of the time.

Why was Sanford different? Because it was set in Watts, and they weren't going to show a travelogue of Watts in 1972.

So actually the credits are pretty good and better than the standard. It establishes the setting and premise of the show. It introduces the cast as their characters. Tells you a little something about them (Fred hangs out, Lamont goes out).


I know you are fixated on them making the effort to create credits that don't really reflect the reality of the show, but I am going to turn this around on you.

What should the credits have been?

And remember, credits at this time DID NOT feature footage from the show! So the first thing you have to rule out is a "hilarious" montage of Fred's "antics."

Eric F

Those sitcoms (especially the Norman Lear ones) were all set pieces that usually were shot in one place- the home. All in the Family added another location after Archie bought his local watering hole.

windom

This may go down in DVDTalk history of sitcom opening credits questions with "Why didn't Uncle Phil pick up Will at the airport?"

movieguru

That one is easy. Phil qwas a lawyer or a judge. He was too busy to go and pick up Wil at the airport. My wife didn't always pick me up at the airport. Some of the time it was because she was too busy watching Doctor Phil.

movieguru

The problem was the theme didn't accuretly set the premise of the show. It implied there was a Sandford and Son retail store that sold junk/antiques.

The Cow

Gotta add this to the thread.

Count Dooku

I understand what you identify as the problem. I am asking you for a solution. What should the credits have shown, in your opinion?

movieguru

They could have elimintated the store front pieces and just show Fred sitting in the junk yard instead of outside of a retail store. The building they used for those scenes is actually a real building, so they had to go through some effort to change the facade to film it. It seems like a lot of trouble to go through if it really didn't apply to the show at all. It's just more confusing than anything else. It would be like if they filmed the Full House theme but filled footage of the Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State Building etc., and showed them playing soccer in Central Park. Or doing the Jefferson's theme while showing the Golden Gate Bridge and San Fransico building architecture.

Mike86

This is one of the Norman Lear shows I never watched a lot of.