The American sitcom, The Jeffersons, ran for 11 seasons from 1975 to 1985. The show was such a hit that it has the distinction of being the second longest-running American television series with a predominantly African American cast. It’s been over 30 years since the show abruptly went off the air, so check out these 9 fun facts about the show:
Sherman and Louise Jefferson were neighbors of Archie and Edith Bunker on All in the Family and they were so popular on that show that Norman Lear decided that the characters needed their own weekly spin-off series, The Jeffersons. In the All in the Family episode “The Jeffersons Move Up,” Sherman and Louise were written off the show. They moved from a working class section of Queens to a luxury apartment in Manhattan and then the following week The Jeffersonspremiered.
The Jeffersons was the first show to feature a married interracial couple, Tom and Helen Willis. When the couple was featured kissing in an episode, CBS executives wanted it edited out because they feared that it would lead to riots. When the studio vice president got word of the kiss, he was terrified that TV stations would drop the series, but producer Fred Silverman lobbied to keep it. The kiss did enrage some viewers and the actor who played Tom Willis did receive hate mail as a result, but the show kept going and continued pushing the envelope
When CBS abruptly cancelled the series, the cast was not notified until after the July 2, 1985 episode “Red Robins;” however, according to Sherman Hemsley, he found out about the show’s cancellation when he read about it in the newspaper and Isabel Sanford claims that she heard about it through her cousin who read about it in the tabloids. The cast was bitter that they never got a chance to say goodbye and that CBS never gave the show a proper series finale.
Roxie Roker – who played Helen Willis on The Jeffersons – was Lenny Kravitz’s mom. She used to bring him to set with her. Like her character on the show, she was also married to a white man, Sy Kravitz. This came in handy during her casting interview. She was asked if she’d feel comfortable if her character had a white husband and she responded by showing producers a photo of Kravtz
The Jeffersons as a family appeared on the final episode of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” where they bought the house from the Banks family.
The Jeffersons also came back together (Florence and George did) on an episode of “House of Payne” in 2011
BORING INFO FOR SOME BUT FOR LOVERS OF THE SHOW LIKE ME, I FOUND THIS INFO INTERESTING.
Those were the good ole days!
The Jeffersons as a family appeared on the final episode of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” where they bought the house from the Banks family.
The Jeffersons also came back together (Florence and George did) on an episode of “House of Payne” in 2011
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