Lear failed at everything he tried to do. He wanted All In The Family to show the evils of bigotry and people embraced it. Sanford and Son ended up being basically a remake of Amos and Andy with characters taking over the show.
Sanford and Son was based on Steptoe and Son. An English comedy show about a junk collector..Coincidentally ,the actor who played Steptoe( whose character was an inveterate slob on the show) plays Paul’s grandfather in the Beatles movie HARD DAYS NIGHT. In the movie John refers to Paul’s grandfather as a “clean man”...only English TV viewers would understand that line.