Shark Bytes

This show never jumped. It changed because the times changed.I thought Isabel Sanford was a real classy lady. This was suppose to be her show yet she allowed other characters to have the spotlight most of the time. Florence or George got most of the funniest lines and she didn't complain.Imagine Cosby or Roseanne taking a backseat to a costar.

Hard to believe The Jeffersons lasted eleven seasons, and Alice lasted ten.

These have to be the two best examples of the sad state of late '70s / early '80s television. I mean that such mediocre, unfunny drivel should assault our television screens for a decade or more...it's ludicrous.

Did they ever do ANYTHING other than 1)shout and 2)strut on this show?

Awful, awful "entertainment."

To "Guest" of 7/4/08: Thanks for rebutting "Rob". Henry(played by Mel Stewart)was definitely NOT George-and it's true,there were episodes where they appeared together on "All In The Family"!

Isabel Sanford was a horrible actress. Oddly, she was OK as Edith Bunker's neighbor but went from bad to worse in the Jefferson's. Sadly, the Jefferson's was part of the 70s black sitcom agenda designed to expand and solidy their role in racism (similar to Sanford&Son and Good Times.

Rob - You are totally wrong. Henry was 100% George's brother on All in the Family. He was referred as such all the time. In the beginning Henry would go over the Bunkers because George wouldn't go into a "honkey" house. So George was only mentioned in name. Later Sherman Hemsley started appearing. There were even episodes were Henry and George appeared together.

To Red Kid...Henry wasn't George's brother...Henry was George. On All in the Family, that is. THen they changed his name to George for the spinoff. It might have been before that actually, but I'm pretty sure George's character was originally named Henry.

Remember the Episode where George was honored as a small business man of the year.


That episode was dumb. I mean Sherman Hemsley isn't the tallest man in the world; What is he? 5-7? but it was so dumb to have an episode where he was insecure about his height and surrounded by a bunch of midgets under 4 feet tall.

It jumped when Florence became a live-in maid. That was silly. Actually, it was silly that George and Louise didn't just fire her after the first time Florence insulted him.

BTW, to the poster who says that the role of Mother Jefferson could have been recast after the death of Zara Cully---OF COURSE they simply let Mother Jefferson die! After all, the character was a MORTAL, unlike Samantha or Endora.

Louise's transformation was symbolic of how the show evolved through the years. She went from a humanistic, plain dressing, former maid to a glamorous, bejeweled, fur coat wearing lady who lunched. That Louise would never have been friends with Edith Bunker. She really moved on up and forgot where she came from.

I actually think the best chemistry on the show was between Helen and George, especially during the first few seasons. I swear I wouldn't have minded seeing them hookup

Finally, to the person who said that shows from the 70s were horrible, you have got to be kidding! I was a child of the 80s and was fortunate enough to watch a lot of 70s tv in syndication. It was an incredible decade for television: Soap, Barney Miller, The Odd Couple, Dallas, All in the Family, Taxi and many, many others are classics. The 80s also produced terrific tv. These days we're lucky if we get a good show every couple of years, at least on network tv. Unfortunately, they are usually canceled, while crap like Desperate Housewives prospers.

The changing of the Lionels was pretty bad, but the JTS moment was the death of Mother Jefferson. I am surprised that didn't rank higher with voters. Mother Jefferson was hands down the best character on the show. It was disappointing that her death was only mentioned once in passing.

After that, Florence was on F/T. Big mistake. I might be the only person that was completely annoyed by her. She was really funny at the beginning, in small doses, but a bitter old shrew when she moved in with the Jeffersons.

I agree with Meatball's comment. Both Archie and George completely changed the last few seasons of their shows. I actually preferred them in earlier seasons when the characters were more edgy.

Great show but after so many years on the air there aren't many more ideas to come up with and The Jefferson's stayed on the air maybe 3 or 4 years longer then it should have.Classic show nonetheless.

There wasn't anything funny about a stupid black racist insulting whites at every turn. And the imbecillic white character Tom Willis was an insult to all white people. Jumped the shark from day one.

11 years and sherman Hemsley spent all his money and filed bankruptcy.

Dan - the episode where George was stabbed by that female thug was aired recently on Peachtree TV (I think based in Atlanta?)

And please use punctuation - reading your post gave me a head-ache.

The Jeffersons had some good moments, but not enough to warrant the series having an 11-year run. I remember the last few seasons were so pointless and unfunny. I loved Isabel Sanford, but in later years, did she not look and act like a man in drag or what? It was funny how in later years, all the women dressed so chic, even Florence who was suppose to be a maid. Mother Jefferson was great. She was pretty old to be working in a series. The most difficult thing to believe about the show was that Isabel Sanford & Sherman Hemsley were a married couple, considering there was a 20-year age difference between them in real life. She looked like his mother!