"Libra Rising All Over Lamont" marked the debut of Whitman Mayo as Fred's good buddy Grady Wilson, named after co-star Demond Wilson, whose first name was actually Grady. Lamont seeks advice from astrologer Audrey (Vivian Bonnell, later seen in "Will the Real Fred Sanford Please Do Something?"), who learns that her client is a double Libra and must avoid conflict and pursue peace and harmony, even with a father like Fred: "Lord, give me strength!" The ailing Fred sends for Doctor Stewart (Harvey Jason) for a proper diagnosis, gastritis from eating eight day old collared greens for breakfast! Lamont wears a smile on his face that frightens his father: "why are you smilin' at me like Bela Lugosi?" Fred insists that Lamont have 'sympathy pains' on his behalf: "there you go again, look like Dracula!" Grady drops in to visit his 'half dead' friend, now fully convinced that the doctor lied about his serious illness, the same symptoms that Grady's cousin had: "what did he take for it?" "his last breath!" (the first thing he hears on his radio is Curtis Mayfield's "Freddie's Dead"). When Lamont catches his father with a bible, it's not long before Aunt Esther shows up brandishing her own. Grady's first completed episode was actually "This Little TV Went to Market," which waited three more weeks for broadcast, never able to remember Lamont's name in his earliest entries.
2 Reviews
Definitely One of the Funniest Episodes
richard.fuller131 December 2009
Warning: Spoilers
The short of it, Fred is faking being ill so he doesn't have to work.
A fortune teller has told Lamont he must find peace with his father, so Lamont does nothing to upset Fred.
Only later does Lamont learn that the time of birth on the day he was born greatly affects the previous prediction and that he is cleared of having to compensate his father's wishes.
So Lamont goes home to confront his father and set him straight.
In the meantime, . . . ! Esther and her Sunday morning worship service have shown up at the Sanford, Bibles in hand, to pray for Fred.
In undeniably one of the funniest and truly most brilliantly staged scenes on any TV show from the seventies and perhaps beyond, heathen Fred is terrorized as five women kneel at his bedside and begin praying for him and singing gospel hymns.
Aside from LaWanda Page (Esther), only one of the women looks like an actual actress (think I saw her on the Jeffersons once, but that may be about all she did, maybe Good Times too), but the other women vanished from sight.
Esther actually seems to refer to the small woman as Pastor when she enters, and the woman in glasses truly seems like her heart just isn't in the mockery.
However Page lived her life (going to church on Sundays and foul-mouthed comedy routines the rest of the week?) the assumption at one time was these were actual women she brought from her church.
They, like Page, seem incredibly authentic.
Without a doubt, the funniest aspect has to be Fred, usually ready to tangle with Esther, now realizes he is outnumbered when the entire Lady's Auxiliary comes at him.
Priceless.
A fortune teller has told Lamont he must find peace with his father, so Lamont does nothing to upset Fred.
Only later does Lamont learn that the time of birth on the day he was born greatly affects the previous prediction and that he is cleared of having to compensate his father's wishes.
So Lamont goes home to confront his father and set him straight.
In the meantime, . . . ! Esther and her Sunday morning worship service have shown up at the Sanford, Bibles in hand, to pray for Fred.
In undeniably one of the funniest and truly most brilliantly staged scenes on any TV show from the seventies and perhaps beyond, heathen Fred is terrorized as five women kneel at his bedside and begin praying for him and singing gospel hymns.
Aside from LaWanda Page (Esther), only one of the women looks like an actual actress (think I saw her on the Jeffersons once, but that may be about all she did, maybe Good Times too), but the other women vanished from sight.
Esther actually seems to refer to the small woman as Pastor when she enters, and the woman in glasses truly seems like her heart just isn't in the mockery.
However Page lived her life (going to church on Sundays and foul-mouthed comedy routines the rest of the week?) the assumption at one time was these were actual women she brought from her church.
They, like Page, seem incredibly authentic.
Without a doubt, the funniest aspect has to be Fred, usually ready to tangle with Esther, now realizes he is outnumbered when the entire Lady's Auxiliary comes at him.
Priceless.
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