On January 11, 1975, Edith Bunker said a tearful goodbye to
her neighbor and friend Louise Jefferson on All in the Family. Louise’s
husband, George, had struck gold with his seven dry cleaning stores, and the
Jeffersons were “movin’ on up to the East Side, to a deluxe apartment in the
sky!”
A week later, when the first “official” episode of The
Jeffersons aired, the opening credits showed a nervous Louise and a
reassuring George on their car ride to the Colby East luxury apartment building.
For the next eleven seasons, the Jeffersons adjusted to their nouveau riche
world in apartment 12D, living among a kaleidoscope of characters including a
sycophantic doorman named Ralph, a bizarre British neighbor named Bentley, and
Tom and Helen Willis, television’s first married couple in which one character
was black and one was white. (The first interracial couple was Lucy and Ricky
Ricardo.)
Like All in the Family, The Jeffersons had a
bigoted, opinionated loud-mouth at its center: George Jefferson. And like its
mother show, The Jeffersons was unafraid of tackling issues such as race,
crime, addiction, and poverty. Because the Jeffersons’ son, Lionel, was dating
the Willises’ daughter, Jenny, George had a field day throwing racial epithets
at the “zebra” Willises. As time went on, Sherman Hemsley wanted to the writers
to tone down George’s slurs -- especially as George and Tom grew closer.
On the flip side, the show had many lighter episodes, some
fantasy episodes and quite a few multi-parters. A lot of comic mileage came out
of George’s social climbing and attempts to get on the good side of the wealthy
folk in the building, and to go to any length to get more business. There were
always jokes about George’s short stature -- and his very tall ego. Louise’s
relationship with her mother-in-law, Mother Jefferson, often made for quick
verbal sparring, as did George and Florence’s battles.
Roxie Roker and Franklin Cover had excellent chemistry as
the Willises. Isabel Sanford and Sherman Hemsley, while 20 years apart, created
a portrait of a full marriage with spats and philosophical disagreements, but
filled with love and passion.
With a cast culled from theatre actors, many of the early
episodes felt like one-act plays with smart and sharp characters. The
Jeffersons was an extremely well-made show whose style and structure informed
many famous series that came later; its influence is felt in the farce of Frasier,
the family dynamic of Everybody Loves Raymond, and the wit of Will
& Grace. Many of The Jeffersons writers would go on to create
and write for shows such as Cheers, Married with Children, and Three’s
Company.
CBS aired The Jeffersons in about fifteen different
time slots, but for the most of its run, it anchored Sunday nights. In its last
season, CBS pulled the plug without giving the show an official finale -- and
did not tell the actors. Still, the final episode is emblematic of the show:
George gets into a bind in order to further his business (in this case, he
becomes his granddaughter’s troop’s “nest mother” to win a businessman’s
award).
For its groundbreaking depiction of a successful, nuclear black
family, an expert cast, and one of the most memorable theme songs in history, The
Jeffersons is a master work in the Norman Lear canon and a landmark in the Classic
TV landscape.
Next Three Airings:
What Are Friends For? : TV-G
Friday, May 09 at 2:30 AM (ET/PT)
George, Who : TV-G
Friday, May 09 at 10:00 AM (ET/PT)
Harry’s House Guest : TV-G
Friday, May 09 at 10:30 AM (ET/PT)
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