TV WI: What if Sanford and Son stuck with the original actors?

Sanford and Son, as some of you may know, was based on the British comedy Steptoe and Son. They wanted it to be about ethnicity from the beginning. Barnard Hughes was going to play the Irish father, and Paul Sorvino was going to play his son who favored his mother's Italian ways.

However, producers Bud Yorkin and Aaron Reuben suggested that they go black instead. They brought in Redd Foxx to play the father, and the rest is history. However, what if they would have stayed with Sorvino and Hughes?
 
IMO this would immediately butterfly away Barack Obama and gangster rap and could lead to a WW3 scenario circa 1986, since it's well known that Bill Cosby said his 2 ambitions in life were either to become a successful TV comedian/stand up with his own show, or to cause an Apocolyptic war with the Soviet Union.

Without Sanford and Son paving the way for African American entertainers on TV, he most likely would have focused on his other aim...... hence the fall of society, with you and me living in Bartertown and taking nightly trips to the Thunderdome. Why do people post such limited WIs?
 
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