During Season 6 of Sanford and Son, the show attempted to film an episode addressing gentrification in Watts—a raw, powerful storyline that had Fred Sanford confronting a white developer trying to buy up Black homes for cheap.
The plot was tight. The message was clear. And Redd Foxx gave one of the strongest monologues of his career.
But when NBC reviewed the final cut, they shelved it immediately.
“It was too political,” one executive said privately. “They were afraid of backlash.”
Foxx was livid. He had pushed for the episode to reflect the reality he grew up in. “This isn’t fiction,” he told the studio. “This is what people live.”
The episode—titled The Price of a View—was fully filmed but never aired. No reruns. No syndication. No digital release. It was erased from the lineup.
Some say it was too ahead of its time. Others believe it was a threat to the network’s carefully managed image.
To this day, that footage remains buried in NBC’s archives. And fans still wonder what Fred Sanford would’ve said if he’d had the final word.
