Sanford and Son…. is the second BBC comedy series to be transplanted from British to American television…. All in the Family was the first…. Sanford and Son will succeed, I hope, although its virtues are not as spectacular as those of its predecessor…. I have seen only the first two programs of Sanford and Son, but already it is clear that there is a common pattern in the transplant experiences of both series.

The key to that pattern is in the program's lead characters. The prototype of Archie Bunker was a thoroughly unsympathetic bigot in the original British series, Till Death Do Us Part, which was designed for a short run. Presumably the allegedly tough-minded British telly viewers could tolerate such a sour character briefly. But for softer-brained American audiences, who must live with their television saints and sinners indefinitely, our Archie had to be made into a "lovable" bigot.

Sanford and Son was based upon the British Steptoe and Son. In his pre-transplant incarnation, the main character was the bitter, irascible, lower-class proprietor of a second-hand shop. In the American version, he has been changed into an essentially sympathetic sixty-five-year-old black named Fred Sanford…. Although the changes made in both Archie and Fred solved some problems, they also resulted in new ones. In the case of All in the Family, some critics and viewers charged that presenting Archie Bunker as a warm and funny bigot served only to celebrate intolerance of racial and ethnic minorities and to make sick hatreds into laughing matters. Social responsibility demanded muting Archie's prejudices; yet the dramatic fate of the series rested on the unreconcilable tension between Archie's frailties and society's desired behavioral norms. In recent episodes, [there have been] … moments of self-awareness as the bigot suffers the arrows of bigotry himself and teeters momentarily on the brink of crucial changes in his belief-system. Given the exigencies of commercial television, this is about the best that can be done in the circumstances. But ultimately this deepening of character makes Archie more interesting, for we are always tantalized by the possibility of his transformation.

In Sanford and Son, draining the bitterness and cynicism out of Fred Sanford and casting the role with an actor [Redd Foxx] who has empathic, comic gifts have also brought a transplant difficulty that requires adjustment. Sanford, as presented in the first two episodes, was simply a rather querulous, grouchy old man, incapable of receiving with any measure of appreciation the care, consideration, and gifts of Lamont …, his adult son and partner in their junkyard business. Both father and son are caught in an understandable symbiotic-love-hate relationship. The father is a cultural isolate, apparently unaware of any world beyond his cluttered premises combining home and shop. The son is ambitious and eager for upward social mobility. He loves his father and is tolerant of his frailties and needs.

Although he is forever threatening to leave, Lamont doesn't go. The problem for the series is that Fred appears to be a one-dimensional character. While we can understand his abrasive insistence on maintaining his own identity, we could probably not endure indefinitely his inability to acknowledge love offered. As in All in the Family, there is a tension that cannot utterly be reconciled—in this case, the tension between Lamont's desire to strike off on his own and his deep affection for his father. Nevertheless, Lamont's patience would become incredible if Fred refused ever to suggest that he had some wells of gratitude, however shallow, within him. Fred himself would ultimately be rejected by the viewers if he persisted in his extremity of perversity.

Sanford and Son is America's first TV comedy series featuring a warm, sympathetic relationship between black males. As such, it is very welcome, but its long-run chances might be enhanced by minor surgery. Endowing father and son with strong social and political attitudes … would offer an even better solution; but, regrettably, American TV is still not ready for full-dimensional black males in its entertainment programs.