The urban legend was that Redd Foxx left Sanford & Son because there weren't any windows in his dressing room. Truth was, it seems Foxx was made an offer he couldn't or wouldn't turn down by ABC.
However, The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour was a bust, done after less than half a season, cancelled in January 1978, but, it seems, not for lack of trying. Head writers-producers Allan Blye & Bob "Super Dave" Einstein had a spotty track record, and Blye had ended his business partnership with Chris Bearde when the latter collaborated with Chuck Barris on The Gong Show. Speaking of Gong, frequent guest The Unknown Comic (Murray Langston) appears in the following video, along with Bill Saluga (as Raymond J. Johnson, Jr., pitchman for Natural Light), Slappy White, who'd appeared frequently on Sanford, and Billy Barty (ex-Sigmund & The Sea Monsters, Krofft Supershow), who was appearing frequently on Donny & Marie around this time.
So why did it fail? No clue. The fact that it was airing at a later hour than Sanford might've turned some viewers away.
No rating.
4 comments:
I knew the lack of a dressing room window was a sticking point in Foxx's negotiations during 1974, but heard that was resolved before he returned to S&S after the nine episode holdout that year.
In general, variety shows were just fading by 1977-78, with the few successful examples left generally airing at 8 PM ET/7 PM CT. As you mentioned, ABC put FOXX on late at night; Dean Martin's old time slot, to be exact. Thursday was one night that CBS was still winning against the ABC juggernaut, with the entire lineup in the top 25.
Timing was poor; Foxx might have had a chance a year later, when MORK AND MINDY gave ABC Thursday night leadership, or a couple of years earlier when variety shows were still more popular. After 1977-78, even DONNY AND MARIE only had a half-season to go. Third-place NBC was still willing to try, and they did have moderate success with the Mandrell sisters a couple of seasons later.
There was only one other variety show airing at 10 during the week during the '77-78 season, and that was Carol Burnett's show, which she ended on her own volition in March '78. Donny & Marie moved to Sundays, where the series was renamed the Osmond Family Show, and, like Bill Cosby, Sonny Bono, & the Brady Bunch before them, the Osmonds couldn't get past Disney or 60 Minutes, and the series ended.
Strange - all those people in the clip, and you didn't notice Hal Smith (Otis from Mayberry) at the start?
As to why Redd's variety show didn't catch on -
- CBS had this show called Barnaby Jones, which had several seasons head start (aided by being led into by The Waltons and Hawaii Five-O (for several years there, CBS's Thursday night was, you might say, Must-See TV …).
I'd also guess that ABC was a bit worried that Redd might use his late hour (which he had requested) to go blue with his material (and Redd was not known to play well with bosses).
* … and couldn't you find a clip with Iron Jaws Wilson?*
I'll have to look at that video again and look for Hal.
Barnaby Jones was, IIRC, in season four or five, after having been spun off from Cannon. Speaking of Quinn Martin, Redd inherited the slot vacated by the Streets of San Francisco. After Redd gets cancelled, they plugged Baretta in the slot, as it was more of a match for Barnaby Jones, but Baretta was in its final season.
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