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Sanford and Son Season 3 Episodes
Season 3 Episode Guide
24 Episodes 1973 - 1974
Episode 1
Lamont as Othello
Fri, Sep 14, 197330 mins
Unbeknownst to Fred, Lamont and Rollo have been taking acting classes and is preparing to play the lead in "Othello". Fred thinks that Lamont has a new girlfriend and doesn't want to reveal her identity. So, while out with Bubba one night, the two return to the house and find Lamont and his teacher Marlene practicing the scene in which Othello strangles Desdamona. Thinking that Lamont is only choking a white woman to death, he and Bubba panic, but after the ruse is revealed, Marlene tries to help Fred understand what Lamont is trying to do. Inviting Fred and Lamont to her parent's house in Beverly Hills, so that they can rehearse, Fred walks in on Marlene's parents who think he is a burglar.
Episode 2
Libra Rising All Over Lamont
Fri, Sep 21, 197330 mins
Stressed out and feeling that there is no direction in his life, Lamont consults an astrologist to help his sort out this confusion. Based on his rising sign she advises him to establish peace and harmony in his day to day life... even with his father. It is at that very moment that Fred thinks that he is dying after eating eight-day old collard greens that have given him indigestion. Aunt Esther and her church sisters rally around him trying to save is mortal soul from damnation because they think he has a short time to live. Lamont discovers some vital information about the time of his birth that he takes back to Miss Audrey and she informs him that he is to be the aggressor in his home. With that, Lamont demands that Fred snap out of his hypochondriac state and get to the business of getting some work done around the house.
Episode 3
Fred, the Reluctant Fingerman
Fri, Sep 28, 197330 mins
Fred, fearing retaliation after witnessing a robbery at Julio's, is unwilling to get involved by describing the burglars to the police.
Episode 4
Presenting the Three Degrees
Fri, Oct 5, 197330 mins
The Three Degrees, the Philadelphia-based singing trio, are the Sanfords' house-guests. The ladies perform "I Didn't Know" for Fred.
Episode 5
This Little TV Went to Market
Fri, Oct 12, 197330 mins
Fred and Lamont's TV set finally goes belly up, prompting Lamont to suggest that it is time to buy a brand new set. Fred thinks that the money could be better spent on a second-hand TV from Guy's Groovy Grab Bag, a panel-truck that sell quickly and never stops in the same place twice. Lamont makes Fred promise not to get involved in any shady deals, but Fred buys one anyway. Fred claims that there is nothing suspicious about the TV until Grady drops by and identifies it as having been recently stolen out of his house, prompting an angry fight between he and Fred. In the meantime, Fred sells the set to Julio. Grady returns with the police and not only is Fred deception uncovered but so too is the information that Grady also bought the set from Guy's Groovy Grab Bag and that the set is evidence in a string of robberies. Therefore it doesn't belong to either he or Fred.
Episode 6
Lamont, Is That You?
Fri, Oct 19, 197330 mins
Fred's pal Bubba sees Lamont and his friend Rollo coming out of what turns out to be a "gay bar", where they had gone by mistake. He reports this to Fred. Adding to this to other "evidence", Fred is worried his son his homosexual... and sets about "curing" him without Lamont knowing it.
Episode 7
Fuentes, Fuentes, Sanford & Chico
Fri, Oct 26, 197330 mins
Fred is so angry over Lamont's decision to start up a side business with Julio that he packs up and moves into a flop house. Lamont is shocked but Julio encourages him to simply apologize so Fred will come home. So, Lamont engineers a plan for Julio and his mother to make dinner in their kitchen so that Fred will think that the Fuentes' have moved into the house so he will come home to stop them. The plan backfires though when Fred comes back home and brings all the guys from the flophouse with him.
Episode 8
Superflyer
Fri, Nov 2, 197330 mins
Fred gets information that his Uncle Leotis back in St. Louis has passed away. After scoffing that he was a deadbeat and a loser, Fred discovers that his uncle has left him $1500, which suddenly makes him mournful of his lost relative. The condition of the inheritance is that he and Lamont have to go to St. Louis to pick up the money. Lamont reasons that the only way to get to St. Louis quickly is to take a plane but pteromerhanophobic Fred refuses to even consider it. Lamont eventually talks him into it, but of course Fred makes a fool of himself for the entire flight. Arriving in St. Louis, Fred and Lamont are stunned when they realize that they've been misinformed about the money, that it wasn't intended as an inheritance but as expenses that are to be used to bury Uncle Leotis. Angry, Fred goes back to denouncing him as a deadbeat and a loser before heading home.
Episode 9
The Engagement
Fri, Nov 9, 197330 mins
Fred and Donna are to be married on Sunday, but Lamont plots to put them asunder before the Lord joins them together by inviting to the wedding his Aunt Esther and the rest of Fred's irascible in-laws.
Episode 10
The Blind Mellow Jelly Collection
Fri, Nov 16, 197330 mins
Lamont becomes annoyed that Fred is constantly playing old blues records featuring a band named Blind Mellow Jelly. Then, he finds out the records are rare and could be worth several hundred dollars.
Episode 11
A House Is Not a Pool Room
Fri, Nov 23, 197330 mins
Fred's birthday present from Lamont, a pool table, started with good intentions; to keep Fred occupied when he goes out. However, soon his poolroom buddies start coming over every day and treating the place like a pool hall. Leroy is hogging the phone and even accepting collect calls from Detroit, Bubba himself hogging the bathroom with a magazine (forcing Lamont to shave in the kitchen), and Fred is neglecting both his chores and even Donna. Lamont now knows he has to find a way to make Fred himself want to get rid of the pool table, so he engineers a way; by allowing Fred's friends to eat them both out of house and home. Fred is forced to sell the pool table in the middle of the night to Otis Littlejohn, and had intended to keep the money for himself, but Lamont "finds" the money and keeps it for himself. However, Fred does manage to get the money from him, but when Donna comes over, Lamont lets the cat out of the bag about the money on him, forcing Fred to take Donna out.
Episode 12
Grady, the Star Boarder
Fri, Nov 30, 197330 mins
Fred seizes a financial opportunity when Grady gripes about his neighbors' fighting: invite Grady to come live in serenity for $60 a month with him and Lamont.
Episode 13
Wine, Women and Aunt Esther
Fri, Dec 14, 197330 mins
Depressed about death and growing old, Fred and his drinking buddies determine to think young and go for the gusto by throwing a wild party, inviting topless waitress Fast Fanny and four of her fast friends to spice it up.
Episode 14
Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe
Fri, Jan 4, 197430 mins
Fred's feathers get ruffled when an old friend from St. Louis comes to town claiming to be Lamont's actual father.
Episode 15
Fred Sanford, Legal Eagle
Fri, Jan 11, 197430 mins
When Lamont gets a traffic ticket, Fred convinces him to fight it in court, where the poor man's Perry Mason steps up to defend his son against the system.
Episode 16
This Land Is Whose Land?
Fri, Jan 18, 197430 mins
Fred, petty and prejudiced against his Puerto Rican neighbor, hires a surveyor to mark the legal property line to ensure Julio keeps his stuff off the Sanford side.
Episode 17
Fred's Cheating Heart
Fri, Feb 1, 197430 mins
After learning about the dangers and high risk of heart disease, Lamont plots to get his heart attack-prone father to the hospital for a cardio check-up.
Episode 18
The Party Crasher
Fri, Feb 8, 197430 mins
Lamont and Rollo don't want to invite fuddy-duddy Fred to their party with a pair of live-wire women from Detroit.
Episode 19
Lamont Goes Karate
Fri, Feb 15, 197430 mins
Lamont learns karate to defend himself against bully Jo Jo Jackson.
Episode 20
Will the Real Fred Sanford Please Do Something?
Fri, Feb 22, 197430 mins
A woman Fred wooed over one too many boilermakers comes looking to take him up on his marriage proposal. Betty is bent on getting satisfaction and skeptical of Grady's insisting he's not Fred
Episode 21
Tyranny, Thy Name Is Grady
Fri, Mar 1, 197430 mins
With Fred away in St. Louis, Grady is put in charge of the house. He quickly makes his presence known by keeping Aunt Esther out and preventing Lamont from bringing girls home.
Episode 22
Aunt Esther and Uncle Woodrow Pfftt...
Fri, Mar 8, 197430 mins
"I'm not a cream puff!" declares Uncle Woody after Grady gives him an empowering man-to-man talk and sends him home to reclaim his castle. But Aunt Esther doesn't appreciate Grady's making a man of her mouse and shows that hell hath no fury like the wife of a worm turned.
Episode 23
The Way to Lamont's Heart
Fri, Mar 15, 197430 mins
Lamont's looking for a little lovin', but new girlfriend Judy is looking to settle down. When Lamont tells Judy he can't get married because his godfather Grady would disapprove, Judy sets to winning Grady's approval with a smile and a smoked pork butt, which sets Grady jumping to conclusions.
Episode 24
Hello Cousin Emma... Goodbye Cousin Emma
Fri, Mar 29, 197430 mins
Grady's cousin Emma comes in from Chicago for a visit, promising to make things easier for Grady and Lamont by doing all the cooking and cleaning. Lamont correctly suspects that she's a freeloader when she makes a variety of excuses to get out of work while Grady defends her. After a while, even Grady begins to see through her empty promises, so he and Lamont devise a scheme to get her out of the house by pretending to have an extremely contagious skin disease.