A Very Special Episode...

[Khan]

Not at first, though. I realize Esther Rolle didn't want her show to put forth the stereotypical image of an AA mother raising her children on her own. However, some of my all-time favorite episodes from that particular series occurred during the 1976-77 season, including:

* "J.J. and the Older Woman," featuring Rosalind Cash (ex-Mary Mae, GH) as Thelma's teacher, who begins a brief, May/December relationship with J.J.

* "Michael the Warlord," when Michael was forced into joining a rough neighborhood gang.

* "J.J.'s New Career," a two-parter about J.J., tired of his family being stuck in the ghetto, turns to numbers-running in order to make his fortune, upsetting Florida (and forcing her to kick him out of the house) in the process.

* "Rich is Better Than Poor...Maybe?," when the Evanses are held hostage by Thelma's tutee (sp?) and her dim-witted sister after they win the lottery (and this, btw, is perhaps my all-time favorite episode).

* "Florida's Night Out," when Florida, well, spends a night out on the town.

* "The Hustle," which is a rather corny, cliched sitcom episode (about the kids selling underwear out of their own apartment in order to raise money for a weekend getaway for Florida) but is redeemed by some funny moments between the kids, Willona and the customers.

* "Thelma's African Romance," a.k.a. the Infamous Ibe Episode.

* "Love Has a Spot on Its Lung," the two-parter about Carl's lung cancer that (unfortunately) ended with Florida's decision to marry him and leave town.

[Khan]

What got me was how he said in the final episode ("The End of the Rainbow") he never gave up despite the doctor's prognosis. If you never gave up, Keith, then what the hell was that drunken, mad-at-the-world rant about in "The Evans' Dilemma"?

Another bad episode (IMO) from the final season: "Stomach Mumps," when Willona suddenly gets all paranoid about Penny being exposed to sex. Never mind that Penny has spent her whole damn life in the ghetto and probably knows more about it than anyone else on that show.

[Khan]

Oh, that episode was just country dumb. No piece of dick could be so good that you're willing to excuse a criminal record like his.

[Mr. Vixen]

Y'all can stay pressed with that Raven Symone hate.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Sorry, I am not one of Raven's weaves....

[alphanguy74]

Please register in order to view this content

[All My Shadows]

Yall can stay pressed with the latter-day Jeffersons hate, too. I thought it was flawless from beginning to end. Definitely two different shows with two different tones, but both "versions" were enjoyable.

On the subject of socioeconomic status, culture, etc in black sitcoms, though. Give me Sanford and Son and Good Times over The Cosby Show and A Different World any day. The "ghetto sitcoms" resonate so much with what I grew up in and the type of people that are in my extended family and neighborhood, and if that makes me lesser, then so be it. I can enjoy TCS and ADW, but I don't "feel" them the same way I feel SAS and GT. I feel early Roseanne more than I feel TCS.

[SFK]

I feel you on that. What I love about SAS is that I can "hear" older members of my family in a lot of the dialogue. Just the way Fred and his contemporaries phrase certain things ("Somebody said his liver cut out" "If I was his liver, I would cut out too"... just the use of "cut out" in those two tenses tell me that a black person wrote that dialogue and that's the kind of thing I'm talking about when I get slammed in discussions for "stereotyping" and "thinking ALL black people have to sound a certain way" and whatnot. I just mean little authentic nuances like this.)

I don't think SAS ever did and VSEs. There's that extremely touching scene Redd Foxx has in the episode where he's speaking to Elizabeth about marrying Donna and he cries and sings to her. Or the "issue-oriented" episode about the latino boy who gets put in a lower grade because his English isn't so good.

[All My Shadows]

Right, the dialogue makes that show in such an enormous way. It's timeless, too, because it don't take me but a minute to go down the street to my uncle's house and basically be inside an episode of Sanford and Son. Complete with three old men watching "the stories" and drinking cheap liquor.

I honestly can't think of one VSE they did, either. Redd was good at drama when he needed to be, but I wonder if the rest of the cast would have been able to sell some tragic story of Esther getting a pap smear or Lamont abusing Fred.

I feel like some shows shouldn't have done VSEs. Laverne and Shirley's two sad episodes are a little cringe-worthy when you consider they're surrounded by episodes of over-the-top escapist comedy.

[ChitHappens]

James Evans was the heart and Soul of Good Times (not Florida).

The addition of Penny was awful! Her Mae West interpretations made me cringe! Hated her and she was only tolerable when Chip Fields appeared as her mother! One of my favorite post James eppies was when her mother returned to set Wilona up to get Penny back. Wow! I loved that eppy! Outside of that, Janet Jackson was one of the worst ideas for the show. Not even Janet Dubois made her likable!

Another don't - Keith! My god! There are not alot of words to describe that abomination!

As for SAS?! HELL YEAH! Such a great show! I fear if it were on today, there would be one PSA after the other. NO THANK YOU!!!

[Eric83]

I love Sanford and Son too. I can't even name one episode I don't like. T

One of my faves is the episode called "Lamont as Othello"... lol it was hilarious and the one when they hired a white maid.

[All My Shadows]

I'm a pro at taking threads off-topic, so sorry, but I just gotta say. "Libra Rising All Over Lamont" is one of the greatest half-hours of television ever written, produced, and performed. Top notch in every single way.

[SFK]

Mildred natwich is SO good in that episode, she turns that ep into a 30 min. teleplay. And oh my God, when Fred and Rolo see Lamont stranglin "that white woman", LMAO!

[ChitHappens]

Remember the SAS eppy where the bum pretended to be injured on the Sanford property and they had to let him stay on the couch? He would not get off the couch. Lamont came home and saw them drinking and appeared to be having a good time. He was pissed and pulled Fred into the kitchen, and Fred told Lamont after feeding the guy beer all afternoon, "he's gonna have to get up some time". I laughed til I cried. Another scene from the eppy that had me in tears - Fred was going to eat a donut at the kitchen table, and the bum came up to the table, puts his hand on top of the donut and says, "you gonna eat that". LMAO!

It was pretty hard not to love this show. Trying to carry on without RF didn't work out so well, IMHO.

[All My Shadows]

My FAVORITE moment of that episode:

"And get some SMELL in this house!"