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The Jeffersons is an American sitcom television series that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, to July 2, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of 253 episodes.[1]The Jeffersons is one of the longest-running sitcoms in history.
The Jeffersons had one spin-off, titled Checking In. The series was centered on the Jeffersons' housekeeper, Florence, who takes a job as cleaning management at a hotel.[7]Checking In lasted only four episodes, after which Florence returned to The Jeffersons with the story that the hotel had burned down in a fire.[8]The Jeffersons also shared continuity with the sitcom E/R, which featured Lynne Moody, who made a guest appearance in one episode of The Jeffersons.[9] Sherman Hemsley guest-starred as George in two episodes of the series, which lasted for one season.[10] The cancellation of The Jeffersons cleared the way for Marla Gibbs, who played Florence Johnston on the series, to move on to the NBC sitcom 227 in the fall of 1985, a year earlier than scheduled.
The Jeffersons ended in controversy after CBS abruptly canceled the series without allowing for a proper series finale. The cast was not informed until after the July 2, 1985, episode, "Red Robins"; actor Sherman Hemsley, who portrayed George Jefferson, said he learned that the show was canceled by reading it in the newspaper.[11]Isabel Sanford (Louise Jefferson), who heard about the cancellation through her cousin who read it in the tabloids, publicly stated that she found the cancellation with no proper finale to be disrespectful on the network's part.[12] Per an article in the May 8, 1985, Los Angeles Times, the series was cancelled by announcement at the CBS network "upfront" presentation the day before, nearly two months before the airing of the final episode. Actor Franklin Cover, who played Tom Willis, also heard about the cancellation while watching Entertainment Tonight.
The cast reunited in a stage play based on the sitcom.[13] In season 5 episode 17 of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, titled "Will Is from Mars" (1995), the Jeffersons made a guest appearance as a couple in therapy class. In the 1996 series finale of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the Jeffersons made a guest appearance as the buyers of the Banks family house.[1] In an episode of Tyler Perry's House of Payne in 2011, Sherman Hemsley and Marla Gibbs reprised their roles of George Jefferson and Florence Johnston.[14]
In 1985, Hemsley and Sanford made a special joint guest appearance in the Canale 5 comedy show Grand Hotel, starring the Italian actors Paolo Villaggio, the comic duo Franco & Ciccio, and Carmen Russo. They were guests in the fictional hotel and their voices were dubbed by Italian actors Enzo Garinei (George) and Isa di Marzio (Louise), who also dubbed their characters for the full series. As of 2023[update], the members still alive from the main cast include Marla Gibbs, Berlinda Tolbert, Damon Evans, and Jay Hammer.[15]
Series development
Louise Jefferson, played by Isabel Sanford, first appeared in the All in the Family episode "Lionel Moves Into the Neighborhood", which was broadcast on March 2, 1971. The episode, the eighth of the series, centers on Louise, her son Lionel, and her husband George moving next door to Archie and Edith Bunker in the working-class section of Queens.[5] Lionel, played by Mike Evans, first appeared in "Meet the Bunkers", the premiere episode of All in the Family.[5]
Norman Lear created the character of George Jefferson specifically for Hemsley. Lear originally intended for George to appear in the first season of the series, but Hemsley was starring in the Broadway musical Purlie at the time, and Lear decided to postpone introduction of the character until Hemsley was available. Lear created the character of Henry Jefferson, George's younger brother, who was portrayed by Mel Stewart which replaced George with Henry in the series's scripts until Purlie finished its run.[5][16] Henry played as George when Louise felt embarrassed that George did not want to be in Archie Bunker's house due to prejudice. George was introduced in the episode "Henry's Farewell", and Hemsley and Stewart share their only scene together in its final minutes. The episode marked the final appearance of Henry throughout the series.
The idea of the Jeffersons "moving on up" came after three members of the Black Panthers who were fans of Lear's productions visited Lear's CBS office, raising issues with the creator over the portrayal of Black people on television, including his Maude spin-off series Good Times. "Every time you see a Black man on the tube, he is dirt poor, wears shit clothes, can't afford nothing," Lear recalled in his autobiography.[17] Lear consulted with his associate Al Burton on the concept.
George, Louise, and Lionel continued to appear on All in the Family until 1975, when the spin-off The Jeffersons, also created by Lear, premiered.[7] The characters of Lionel's multiracial fiancée, Jenny, and her family, all of whom first appeared in the 1974 All in the Family episode "Lionel's Engagement", were also written into the new series.[18] However, the roles were all recast, with Berlinda Tolbert taking over the role of Jenny, veteran actor Franklin Cover playing her father, Tom Willis, whose first name was changed from Louis, as it was in their first All in the Family appearance, and Roxie Roker as her mother, Helen. Roker was asked during a casting interview if she would be comfortable with her character having a white husband. In response she showed a picture of her husband, Sy Kravitz, who was white.
During the January 11, 1975 episode of All in the Family, titled "The Jeffersons Move Up", Edith Bunker gave a tearful good-bye to her neighbor Louise Jefferson as her husband George, their son Lionel, and she moved from a working-class section of Queens, New York, into the luxurious Colby East, a fictitious high-rise apartment complex on East 63rd Street in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan.[19]The Jeffersons premiered the following week, on January 18, 1975.[7]
George's career as a dry-cleaner began in the first season of All in the Family in the third episode "Oh, My Aching Back" (though the character himself did not appear on-camera). After his car was rear-ended by a bus, he filed a civil action and won $5000, enough to open his first store in Queens.[16] At the beginning of The Jeffersons, he was operating five stores throughout New York City, with another two opening during the following seasons.
Louise made friends with Tom and Helen Willis, an interracial couple with two adult children of their own[7] (whom George derided as "zebras"):[1][20] son Allan (played by Andrew Rubin in the first-season finale, and by Jay Hammer throughout season 5), a white-passing college drop-out; and daughter Jenny, an aspiring fashion designer. Jenny and Lionel became a couple, married on December 24, 1976, and later became the parents of a daughter, Jessica (played by Ebonie Smith).[7][21] Lionel and Jenny experienced marital issues as evidenced in a two-part season 8 episode "The Separation", and divorced in the final season two-parter "Sayonara".[7]
Marla Gibbs portrayed the role of Florence Johnston, the Jeffersons' back-talking, tough, wisecracking, and devoutly religious housekeeper. Florence often teased George, mostly about his short stature and receding hairline.[22] One episode featured George requesting Florence to insult him, in order to get to a prospective business partner who was fond of her wisecracks.
Paul Benedict arrived as Harry Bentley, an amiable, kind, loyal yet eccentric British next-door neighbor,[7] who worked as an interpreter at the United Nations.[23] A frequent sight-gag of the show was George slamming the door in Bentley's face mid-conversation, usually during one of Bentley's stories which George invariably perceived as boring.[23] Bentley also had a bad back, and frequently needed George to walk on it.[24][25] He also became known for addressing the Jeffersons as "Mr. J" and "Mrs. J".[25]
Zara Cully played George's mother, Olivia "Mother" Jefferson, who constantly disparaged her daughter-in-law.[3][20][21] Cully, who had first appeared in the 1974 All in the Family episode "Lionel's Engagement", reprised her role.[26] She appeared regularly in the first two seasons, but made sporadic appearances over the next two years, much thinner due to a severe case of pneumonia. Cully was written out in season 4 due to her death in 1978, from lung cancer. No episode was centered on Mother Jefferson's death, but it was occasionally mentioned in future episodes that she had died.
Ned Wertimer played their tip-hungry doorman, Ralph Hart, throughout the series.[27] He was known for constantly stalling at the Jeffersons' door with his hand out waiting for a tip. Most of the cast usually didn't respond, but George almost always gave in. He also used it in a blackmail manner, usually requiring George to pay more in order to keep his mouth shut about something such as a stock tip. Ralph was also known for making up stories of him struggling to fulfill the Jeffersons' request to get more tips.
Danny Wells played Charlie, the owner and a bartender of a nearby bar to the Jeffersons apartment building. The cast commonly visited the bar for a drink or to attend a party. Charlie was also revealed to be an alcoholic in the season 11 episode "A Secret in the Back Room", in which Charlie is in denial, but the Jeffersons eventually get him to admit to his problem and advise him to get some help. His alcohol problem isn't referenced anymore throughout the series, but it is assumable Charlie overcame it.
Cast changes
Berlinda Tolbert and Damon Evans as Jenny and Lionel (1976)
Mike Evans ("Lionel") left the show after the first season; his replacement was Damon Evans (no relation),[3] who took over the role until halfway through the fourth season.[7] Damon Evans's last episode was "Lionel Gets the Business".
Mike Evans and Tolbert returned in the 1979–1980 season, with Tolbert's character, Jenny, pregnant with a daughter named Jessica. However, Mike Evans appeared for only one more season, along with Tolbert.[7]The Jeffersons' sixth season peaked at No. 8 in the summer of 1980. The characters of Lionel and Jenny were written out by stating that they had marital problems, the result of which became a two-part episode storyline as the series' eighth-season premiere. The series' eighth season was the first African-American sitcom in years (since Sanford and Son) to peak in the top 5 (the series' eighth season debuted at No. 3).
Evans and Tolbert appeared in the two-part episode together; Evans made his final appearance in two episodes during the series' eleventh and final season. Tolbert became a regular guest star throughout the rest of the series. In the spring of 1981, Paul Benedict left the show for a season and a half, returning in the final two seasons of the series.[7] However, the ratings sank below the top 30, and The Jeffersons aired its last episode, "Red Robins", on July 2, 1985.[28]
The song's creation comes from DuBois asking Norman Lear if she could do something other than her short appearances as a supporting player on Good Times, such as something in music. Lear responded to that by suggesting that she create a theme song about an upcoming series about a dry cleaner. DuBois initially struggled in composing until her mother suggested that she base the lyrics on her dream of giving her mother a comfortable retirement. With that inspiration, DuBois created the song and upon hearing it, Lear was stunned that it matched The Jeffersons' premise perfectly even though he did not describe it to DuBois in detail. With the song in hand, Lear created a full arrangement for it as the theme song.[34]
Broadcast history and Nielsen ratings
The Jeffersons changed time slots at least 15 different times during its 11-year run, unusual for a popular long running series.[35] The most common time slot was on Sunday night.[4]
In its first season (1974–75), the show ranked at number four, surpassed by its parent series All in the Family (which landed at number one for the fifth year in a row).[36] The show's ratings for the following two seasons placed it in the Top 30, but during the 1977–78 and 1978–79 seasons (the show's fourth and fifth seasons), it fell out of the top 30, ranking 52nd in Season 4 and 49th in Season 5.[21]
It returned to the Top 10 in 1979–80, and at the end of the 1981–82 season, The Jeffersons finished third overall, only surpassed by fellow CBS series Dallas and 60 Minutes. As a result, the series remained among the Top 20 for the next two seasons.[21]
Daytime Reruns
The series was rebroadcast on CBS from February 4, 1980 to September 25, 1981.
On August 27, 2013, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the rights to various television series from the Sony Pictures library including The Jeffersons.[38] They subsequently re-released the first two seasons on DVD on May 20, 2014.[39]
On August 8, 2014, it was announced that Shout! Factory had acquired the rights to the series from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment; they subsequently released the complete series on DVD in a 33-disc collection on December 9, 2014.[40][41]
On April 28, 2015, Shout! released season 7 on DVD in Region 1.[42] Season 8 was released on August 11, 2015.[43]
The Jeffersons received 14 Emmy Award nominations during its time on the air. Marla Gibbs was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series each year from 1981 to 1985. Sherman Hemsley was nominated for Best Actor in 1984. Larry M. Harris won the Emmy for Outstanding Video Tape Editing for a Series in 1983.[44]
Isabel Sanford was nominated for 7 consecutive Best Actress Emmys, from 1979-85.[44] Her win in 1981 made her the first African-American actress to win an Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy Series,[1][21][45] and the second to win any Emmy Award; Gail Fisher, who played Peggy on the TV show Mannix, preceded her in 1970. Sanford was also the recipient of five of the eight Golden Globe Awards nominations the program received.[46]
Criticism
Gregory Kane, journalist for The Baltimore Sun, called the series "demeaning" in 1999, criticizing Hemsley's "pimp roll walk", bigotry, loud mouth and low intelligence. "I hereby declare The Jeffersons stereotypical fare that depicts blacks in a buffoonish manner."[47]
All in the Family is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS for nine seasons from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979, with a total of 205 episodes. It was later produced as Archie Bunker's Place, a continuation series, which picked up where All in the Family ended and ran for four seasons through April 4, 1983.
Sanford and Son is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977. It was based on the British sitcom Steptoe and Son, which initially aired on BBC1 in the United Kingdom from 1962 to 1974.
Maude is an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 12, 1972, until April 22, 1978. The show was the first spin-off of All in the Family, on which Bea Arthur had made two appearances as Maude Findlay, Edith Bunker's favorite cousin. Like All in the Family, Maude was a sitcom with topical storylines created by producers Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin.
Good Times is an American television sitcom that aired for six seasons on CBS, from February 8, 1974, to August 1, 1979. Created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by executive producer Norman Lear, it was television's first African American two-parent family sitcom. It is a spin-off of Maude, itself a spin-off of All in the Family.
227 is an American sitcom television series that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 6, 1990. The series, created by C.J. Banks and Bill Boulware, stars Marla Gibbs as Mary Jenkins, a sharp-tongued, city resident gossip and housewife. Other main characters include her husband Lester, their daughter Brenda, landlady Rose Holloway, and neighbors Sandra Clark and Pearl Shay.
Sherman Alexander Hemsley was an American actor. He was known for his roles as George Jefferson on the CBS television series All in the Family and The Jeffersons (1975–1985), Deacon Ernest Frye on the NBC series Amen (1986–1991), and B. P. Richfield on the ABC series Dinosaurs. Hemsley also played Judge Carl Robertson on the NBC series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. For his work on The Jeffersons, Hemsley was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award. Hemsley also won an NAACP Image Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy Series or Special in 1982.
Isabel Sanford was an American stage, film, and television actress and comedian best known for her role as Louise "Weezy" Mills Jefferson on the CBS sitcoms All in the Family (1971–1975) and The Jeffersons (1975–1985). In 1981, she became the second African-American actress to win a Primetime Emmy Award after Gail Fisher and the first African-American actress to win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
One Day at a Time is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from December 16, 1975, to May 28, 1984. It stars Bonnie Franklin as a divorced mother raising two teenage daughters, played by Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli, set in Indianapolis.
Marla Gibbs is an American actress, singer, comedian, writer, and television producer whose career spans seven decades. Gibbs is known for her role as George Jefferson's maid, Florence Johnston, on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons (1975–1985), for which she received five nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Tandem Productions, Inc. was a film and television production company that was founded in 1958 by television director Bud Yorkin and television writer/producer Norman Lear.
George Jefferson is a fictional character played by Sherman Hemsley on the American television sitcoms All in the Family and its spin-off The Jeffersons (1975–1985), in which he serves as the program's protagonist. He appeared in all 253 episodes of The Jeffersons.
Theodore Rosevelt "Teddy" Wilson was an American stage, film, and television actor. He is best known for his recurring roles as Earl the Postman on the ABC sitcom That's My Mama, and Sweet Daddy Williams on the CBS sitcom Good Times and Phil Wheeler on the NBC sitcom Sanford Arms (1977). Throughout his television and film career, Wilson was credited interchangeably with either Theodore (36) or Teddy (50) as his given name.
Jack Westelman, professionally known as Danny Wells, was a Canadian actor. He was best known for his role as Charlie, the bartender on The Jeffersons, as well as his role as Luigi in the live-action/animated series The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!.
Lionel Jefferson is a supporting character from the hit sitcoms All in the Family and The Jeffersons. He is the son of George and Louise Jefferson. He was originally portrayed by D'Urville Martin for two unaired pilots, before the role was recast with Mike Evans. He was later played by Damon Evans, though Mike Evans eventually returned to the role before the end of the series. Jovan Adepo portrayed the character for the television special Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's All in the Family and The Jeffersons.
Louise Jefferson is a character, portrayed by Emmy Award-winning actress Isabel Sanford, who appeared first in a supporting role on the television series All in the Family and was one of the main characters in its spinoff series, The Jeffersons. The role lasted from 1971 to 1985, from her debut on All in the Family through the final episode of The Jeffersons. She was often referred to as "Weezy" by her on-screen husband, George Jefferson, and sometimes as "Mrs. J." by her neighbor Archie Bunker and later by her neighbor Harry Bentley. She was first introduced on All in the Family as a neighbor of Archie and Edith Bunker. Sanford appeared in 252 out of the 253 episodes of The Jeffersons.
Berlinda Tolbert is an American film and television actress. Tolbert is best known for her role as Jenny Willis Jefferson, the daughter of Tom and Helen Willis on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons, which originally aired from 1975 until 1985.
Hot l Baltimore is a 1975 American sitcom created by Norman Lear, adapted from the 1973 off-Broadway play The Hot l Baltimore by Lanford Wilson.
"The First Store" is an episode from the sitcom The Jeffersons, and was first broadcast on April 6, 1980 on CBS. Written by Jay Moriarty & Mike Milligan and directed by Bob Lally, it is the penultimate episode of the sixth season, and the 134th episode of the series.
Live in Front of a Studio Audience is a series of live television specials that was first broadcast by ABC on May 22, 2019. Conceptualized and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the specials feature all-star casting for live recreations of sitcom episodes of various television shows created by companies run by the renowned producer, Norman Lear, that originally aired in the 1970s and 1980s.
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