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?