The Jeffersons
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| The Jeffersons | |
|---|---|
 The Jeffersons title card </small> | |
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Running time | approx. 0:30 (per episode) |
| Creator(s) | Norman Lear |
| Starring | Sherman Hemsley Isabel Sanford Marla Gibbs Roxie Roker Franklin Cover Zara Cully Mike Evans Damon Evans Berlinda Tolbert Paul Benedict |
| Opening theme | Moving On Up |
| Country of origin | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | January 18, 1975–July 23, 1985 |
| No. of episodes | 253 |
| IMDb profile | |
- For the South Park episode of the same name, see The Jeffersons (South Park).
The Jeffersons was an American sitcom broadcast on the CBS network from January 18, 1975 until July 23, 1985, lasting 11 seasons. It was a spin-off from All in the Family, a program on which the character Lionel Jefferson first appeared in 1971 in the premiere episode (followed soon by mother Louise), and on which George Jefferson first appeared in 1973. Like All in the Family, The Jeffersons was created and produced by Norman Lear. The show focused on a nouveau riche African American husband and wife. The Jeffersons was in the top ten in the Nielsen Ratings during its first season on the air and, later in its run, for three seasons in a row: 1979–80, 1980–81, and 1981–82. During the 1981–82 season, it was the #3 show on network television, behind only Dallas and 60 Minutes in popularity.
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[edit] Synopsis
The main characters were George Jefferson, played by Sherman Hemsley, and Louise "Weezie" Jefferson, played by Isabel Sanford (21 years senior to Sherman Hemsley). George Jefferson was the owner of a chain of seven dry cleaning stores; he and his wife lived in a luxury high-rise apartment building on Manhattan's Upper East Side, to which they had moved from a working-class section of Queens (where they had been Archie Bunker's next-door neighbors on All in the Family). Their son, Lionel, a college student studying to be an electrical engineer, was first played by Mike Evans who left the show by the second season to work on the TV show Good Times with co-creator Eric Monte. Lionel was then played by Damon Evans from 1975-78, then Mike Evans returned in 1979 and stayed until the end of the series (although after 1981, his character was downgraded from starring to recurring, and his final appearance was in the February 5, 1985 episode of the show).
Another star of The Jeffersons was Roxie Roker (mother of singer Lenny Kravitz), who played Helen Willis, opposite Franklin Cover (Tom Willis). The couple had a daughter, Jenny, (Berlinda Tolbert), who married Lionel in 1976. She later became pregnant, and had a daughter, Jessica (Ebonie Smith). The fact that Helen Willis was an African-American woman married to Tom, a white man, was a source of great irritation to George Jefferson. Like George, Louise, and Lionel Jefferson, the Willises were also originally introduced on All in the Family. The Willises first appeared in a 1974 episode (Season 4, Spisode 20) entitled "Lionel's Engagement". In this episode, however, Tom Willis was portrayed by Charles Aidman, Helen Willis was portrayed by Kim Hamilton (21 years Mr. Aidman's junior), and Jenny Willis was portrayed by Lynne Moody (only four years Ms. Hamilton's junior). By the time The Jeffersons pilot aired in January, 1975, all three characters had been recast with the actors best associated with the roles.
The Jeffersons also featured Zara Cully as George's ever catty mother Olivia Jefferson (referred to as simply "Mother Jefferson"); Marla Gibbs as the Jeffersons' wise-cracking maid, Florence Johnston (who would later have her own spin-off show Checking In); Paul Benedict as the bumbling English neighbor, Harry Bentley (who worked as a Russian-language interpreter at the United Nations and who would occasionally suffer back spasms that could only be cured by George walking on his back); and Ned Wertimer as Ralph, the smarmy building doorman.
The keys to the popularity of The Jeffersons were its having African-American actors in lead roles, its portrayal of a successful African-American family, and its confrontational humor, although at the time, some complaints were made about the stereotypes that the show allegedly purveyed. Roker and Cover portrayed network television's first regularly-appearing interracial couple in which one partner was African-American.
The Jeffersons underwent numerous subtle changes as the 1970s moved into the 1980s. George Jefferson toned down his explosive temper and his bigoted diatribes. In fact, George developed a closer friendship with Tom as well as Florence in the later years of the show. Unlike many other series which run for such a long time, The Jeffersons did not have a special series finale episode, as CBS did not announce the show's cancellation until after production for the 1984-85 season had been concluded.
The buoyant theme song from The Jeffersons, "Movin' on Up" (composed by Jeff Barry and Ja'net DuBois of Good Times fame and sung by DuBois), found new life in the 1990s and 2000s in a number of television commercials and other references: for example, in Will Smith's song "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" (Now they give it to me nice and easy/Since I moved up like George and Weezie); and in "Whoa Now", a 2002 chart single by Baltimore rapper B Rich, which was built on a sample of "Movin' On Up". Hemsley and Sanford reprised the characters George and Louise Jefferson in the late 1990s in the final episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, where they purchase the family's Bel Air home.
The high-rise apartment building shown in the opening credits of The Jeffersons is located at East 85th Street and Third Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Currently, the show is distributed by Sony Pictures Television. It is rated TV-PG.[1]
[edit] Broadcast History
PRIMETIME
- January-August 1975: Saturdays — 8:30 p.m.
- September 1975-October 1976: Saturdays — 8:00 p.m.
- November 1976-January 1977: Wednesdays — 8:00 p.m.
- January 1977-August 1977: Mondays — 8:00 p.m.
- September 1977-March 1978: Saturdays — 9:00 p.m.
- April-May 1978: Saturdays — 8:00 p.m.
- June-September 1978: Mondays — 8:00 p.m.
- September 1978-January 1979: Wednesdays — 8:00 p.m.
- January-March 1979: Wednesdays — 9:30 p.m.
- March-June 1979: Wednesdays — 8:00 p.m.
- June 1979-September 1982: Sundays — 9:30 p.m.
- September 1982-December 1984: Sundays — 9:00 p.m.
- January-March 1985: Tuesdays — 8:00 p.m.
- June-July 1985: Tuesdays — 8:00 p.m.
DAYTIME February 1980-September 1981, Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m. Source: TV.com
[edit] Set Design
- The balcony windows and doors are fitted with a special non-reflective material used in television to simulate real glass without the glare of studio lights. Most Norman Lear shows can be seen using this special effect.
- There is a hard-to-see, decorative entry fence that establishes the foyer.
- The picture on the Jeffersons' desk by the telephone changes in every episode. It alternates between shots of Louise, George, Lionel, and Mother Jefferson.
[edit] Trivia
(Some entries from IMDb)
- When the spin-off was first proposed to Sanford and Hemsley, Sanford was reluctant to leave All in the Family for a spin-off that she felt probably would not be successful. As a result, the producers told her they would replace her if she did not do it.
- Possibly relating to the aforementioned controversy, Isabel Sanford enjoyed top billing in the show's opening credits throughout its run, with her own title card: "Starring Isabel Sanford".
- The characters of George and Louise Jefferson returned to television in 1996 to appear on an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Ironically, Hemsley had already appeared on three episodes of the series back in 1992 as the judge running against Will Smith's uncle. George and Louise Jefferson would return on the Fresh Prince series finale in 1996 and even buy the family's house. Their final appearance together (before Sanford's death on July 9, 2004) was on March 7, 2004 for the Second Annual TV Land Awards (broadcast on March 17).
- Though it is rarely mentioned on the show, the name of the building the Jeffersons live in is "Colby East".
- Louise had an older sister named Maxine, who ran away from home several years earlier after she got pregnant. She eventually moved to France where she worked as a singer. On All In the Family, {Episode #98}, George Jefferson mentions that he has a brother-in-law; in a plot hole, this brother is never mentioned on The Jeffersons}. Likewise, in All in the Family, George has a brother named Henry Jefferson (played by Mel Stewart) who never once appeared on The Jeffersons. Henry was referred to when Gary Coleman (Diff'rent Strokes) appeared on the episode "Uncle George and Aunt Louise" from Season 4 and was cast as Henry's son, Raymond.
- When Zara Cully passed away during the 1977-1978 season, it was decided to write Mother Jefferson off the series by having her die as well. She only made three appearances during the season and was seen in flashbacks in the three-part episode "George and Louise In A Bind". Cully only made two appearances during the 1976-1977 season.
- The character George Jefferson was ranked #44 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" (June 20, 2004 issue).
- CBS never gave The Jeffersons a proper series finale. The cast, bitter that they never got a chance to say goodbye, reunited years later for a stage play based on the sitcom. Sherman Hemsley said he found out the show was canceled by reading it in the paper.
- When the show first started George constantly referred to Tom as a "honky". After a few seasons Sherman Hemsley asked the writers to stop having George call him that, as he felt that the characters were friends and he felt George would not use a racist term on a friend. When the writers refused to stop, Hemsley simply mumbled the word every time he said it, forcing re-shoots. Eventually, the writers stopped using the word; however, George continued to pick on Tom's weight, and Florence continued to make short jokes at George's expense.
- When Mike Evans left the show for a second time, his absence was explained by having Lionel and Jenny separate and eventually divorce.
- In 1982, episode 184 marks the first episode to be produced by Embassy Television.
- During Oprah Winfrey's "Legends Ball", Mariah Carey sang the The Jeffersons theme song much to the delight of all the guests.
- While most of Norman Lear's other properties — All in the Family, Maude, Good Times — remained sharply political in tone throughout their runs, The Jeffersons evolved into more of a traditional sitcom, relying more on the characters' interactions with one another rather than explicitly political dialogue or storylines.
- In an early episode, Louise remarks that George's father had talked to her about the Jefferson family African roots; in a later episode George's father died when George was about nine years old.
- In the same early episode Louise remarks that she was the daughter of a janitor; in a later episode George meets Louise's father who was a train conductor who had deserted his family.
- In the sixth-season episode "The First Store", it is revealed that Jefferson Cleaners' first store opened in 1968 on the same day that Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. (The episode first aired on April 6, 1980, two days after the 12th anniversary of Dr. King's death.) However, the 1968 date contradicted a 1971 episode of All in the Family, in which Lionel revealed that his parents had just gone into the cleaning business, opening up a store with a disability settlement George had received from an injury he sustained while working as a janitor. {Likewise an 1978 episode of The Jeffersons has George Jefferson dreaming of the future {1996} in which 25 anniversary of "Jefferson Cleaners" {Store founded 1971} and the 22nd annivesary of the Jefffersons moving uptown {1974) is mentioned}
[edit] Sources
- Newcomb, Horace (Ed.). (1997). Encyclopedia of Television. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers: Chicago. ISBN 1-884964-26-5.
[edit] Studio Tapings
- Season 1: CBS Television City (1975)
- Seasons 2-7: Metromedia Square (1975-1982)
- Seasons 8-11: Universal City Studios (1982-1985)
