Discover the most popular TV show the year you were born

1975: Sanford and Son

Sanford and Son was a sitcom that ran on NBC from 1972 until 1977. The series was about Fred G. Sanford and his son Lamont Sanford, who live in Los Angeles, California. Fred was a sarcastic, wise-cracking, bigoted widower and junk dealer, who often tried his hand at get-rich-quick schemes that (obviously) always backfired. His son Lamont is often the one doing all the work at their business, but he loves his father too much to move out and leave him to fail.

Sanford and Son was extremely popular during the majority of its run on NBC. The show was regularly in the top ten for ratings from its first season until the fifth in 1976. The show’s second and fourth seasons both hit a peak of #2 on the Nielsen ratings charts. Even in the dreaded Friday night time slot, the show still managed to thrive and consistently rank high in the ratings, which shows that series was good enough that people would stay in to watch it.

The show had a few spin-offs and revivals, but they were never as popular. After the show’s cancellation in 1977, the show continued as Sanford Arms, which only lasted one season. A spin-off series titled Grady starring Whitman Mayo moved forward, but only lasted the one season in 1975. There was even an attempt to revive the show in 1980 by Fox, but plans fell through when original cast members turned down the chance to reprise their roles.