Sanford and Gong

"Sanford and Gong" centers on the recent phenomenon called THE GONG SHOW, hosted by NEWLYWED GAME/DATING GAME producer/creator Chuck Barris, six months on the air at the time of this broadcast. Barris offers Lamont four tickets for he and his father to attend a taping of THE GONG SHOW, which doesn't go well with Fred commenting from the audience. Now determined to become a contestant, he enlists white brother-in-law Rodney Victor (Allen Drake, his third and final appearance) to join Sanford and Son in a musical trio, Fred singing, Lamont on drums (Demond Wilson has a ball!). Barris approves the act to appear, but with his own act as 'Raymond C. Gordon' due to be on the same show Rodney feigns an injury so that Bubba becomes his tap dancing replacement. For those unfamiliar with this oddball show, there was a 1980 feature, "The Gong Show Movie," that highlighted sketches too risqué for television.

At least no one should. I sure don't. And I am never disappointed.

This is a better than average episode in which Fred, Lamont and Bubba attend a taping of the Gong show. Not surprisingly, their attendance is anything but normal and Fred creates mayhem just finding their seats, violating most rules of decorum to successful comedic effect. And,as the Law of Sitcoms states, their visit inspires them to put together an act and get it on to the show.

After attending, Fred figures he could use the $516.32 prize money, reportedly the Screen Actors Guild's minimum pay for a day's work at the time. Unsure of their chances, Fred wonders if his brother-in-law Rodney's help as a stand up comedian will make the act strong enough. While Rodney readily agrees, he has his own agenda.

On the Gong show sound stage, Fred once again acts up and rounds out the episode with laughs including confiscating the padded sticks so the judges can't ring the gong. Don Bexley (Bubba) shows off his soft-shoe skills.

Chuck Barris DOES make an appearance is in the episode albeit just a straight part and about 4-5 lines. The judges have virtually no lines which is probably why they didn't have more recognizable names doing the judging.