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While he's as opinionated and outspoken as his former neighbor Archie Bunker, George, unlike Archie, has elevated himself from rags to riches. As George’s chain of dry cleaning stores, Jefferson's Dry Cleaners, prospers, so do George and his family. They trade in their row house in Queens for an apartment building on New York’s posh Upper East Side. He's obsessed with money, but George can be generous, whether by “paying it forward” to a family living in his childhood tenement or even helping his arch-nemesis, Florence. The vertically challenged George is often an object of both Florence’s and Helen’s barbs, but happens to be a panacea for Bentley’s aching lower back. When it comes to verbal fireworks, level-headed Weezy and pig-headed George have quite a few knock-down drag-outs – and there are more than a few Jeffferson vs. Willis moments in their apartment. His dislike for the Willises eventually subsides in time: He stops calling Tom a honky and even goes into business with him. As a grandfather, he tells Jessica stories, albeit from his unique perspective. As a father, he is proud of Lionel. As a son, he kowtows to his mother, often at Louise’s expense. He is an incurable social-climbing opportunist, and will stoop to any level to get business and get on the good side of wealthy landlord H.J. Whittendale. A navy veteran, his old buddies appear from time to time – and sometimes complicate George’s schemes.
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