The Answer To Archie Bunker

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.)

Fred Sanford was a widower (he moved to South Central Los Angeles from St. Louis), whose wife Elizabeth had died some two decades before. Fred had 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. At first, Fred's main foil on the show was in his sister-in-law and Lamont's aunt, Ethel (Beah Richards). Ethel's involvement in the Sanford family squabbles lasted only until midway through the second season, whereupon she was replaced with her more tart-tongued sister, Esther (LaWanda Page). Fred and Esther's relationship as in-laws went on to become a major part of the series' legend, as Fred loved to regularly put Esther down with a passion. Esther's disdain for Fred went back to when he and Elizabeth were dating; she had disapproved of Fred marrying her sister. He would often contort his face upon Esther's entrance and make disparaging remarks to her, comparing her with King Kong and Godzilla and using colorful metaphors to describe her. A running gag: whenever Lamont threatened to leave or things were not going Fred's way, he would fake a heart attack and say, "You hear that, Elizabeth? I'm coming to join ya, honey!" No one fell for the transparent ruse. Despite his stubbornness, Fred would sometimes redeem himself with acts of kindness, even to those (like Esther) who he insists he does not like. In the last episode of the series, Fred earned his high school diploma, and was the valedictorian of his graduating class.