Isabel Sanford on her guest appearance on The Parkers: ''That was a funny show!''
A man-stealing grandma is a crazy plot that sounds straight out of a '90s sitcom episode — no, really, it is. What's even better is that a beloved actress from a classic '70s show plays the grandma who has heart eyes for her granddaughter's "man."
We put that in quotation marks because if you watch The Parkers, Professor Stanley Oglevee is only Nikki's man in her delusional mind. In the real world of Santa Monica, where the show is set, he wants nothing to do with the psycho (his words, not ours). Nikki has a crush on the Professor, but he does not reciprocate her feelings.
So what unfolds when Nikki's grandma visits and sets her sights on the Professor? A hilarious series of events. In the episode "Hands off, Grandma," Isabel Sanford's Evelyn "Nana" Smith makes a memorable guest star appearance. She drops by to visit Nikki and Kim after her husband's passing...and perhaps to scout for a new, younger love interest.
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Her affection shifts to Professor Oglevee after she realizes he's not the future grandson-in-law Nikki had led her to believe (although, technically, he does become her grandson-in-law by the end of the series). The Professor spends time with Nana Smith, but she misinterprets his kindness.
While Nikki instantly catches on to the flirting, everyone else thinks she's tripping. "Nana doesn't want the Professor," Kim says in one scene. In another scene, Sanford's character "teases" Nikki, saying the Professor will be her new "Pop-pop." While in his apartment, Nikki accuses Nana Smith of trying to "steal her man," and Nana Smith fakes chest pains to get the Professor to throw Nikki out, which he does.
Eventually, Nana Smith's true intentions come to light, and the Professor gets scared. It's a must-watch episode that all Parkers fans love, and apparently Isabel Sanford loves it too.
"That was a funny show!" she told the Archive of American Television in an interview. We all know her as Louise "Wheezy" Jefferson on The Jeffersons, a role completely different from The Parkers appearance that came over a decade later.
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