one. Mike Evans had already been playing the Lionel Evans character for 4 years and Zara Cully only played mother Jefferson once on All in the Family. But for some reason their roles were equal in season one. Cully should have never had as much screen time as Mike Evans especially when she was a new character. I see why Mike Evans left the show after season one.

I haven't seen the DVD for year 1. Is she in every episode? She was a character that worked best in small doses, but i guess they used her a lot becase she was the only one who got under Louise's skin and brought out something in Weezie's character. Also it's the mother-in-law stereotype in reverse: usually the wife's mother is a pain in the husband's butt; here it's inverted.
She's like the villain in the show in a sense.

As for Mike Evans he should've been more a part of things it's true. There could have been plots with he and Bentley interacting or he and George or he and Weezie.

Solomon, do you think his acting skills were as good as the actors who played his parents? It's hard to say because he was a young man for one and they were seasoned players. Also, he didn't have much opportunity to really showcase his skills the way they and Marla Gibbs did. When he came back in 1979 he didn't do much except react to the other performers and fade into the background after a while.

I completely disagree! Mother Jefferson was the funniest on the show in my opinion. She had an acid tongue and completely insulted Louise in every way possible without actually coming out and saying how much she hated her. It was so funny!

Originally posted by jamesanthony
I haven't seen the DVD for year 1. Is she in every episode? She was a character that worked best in small doses, but i guess they used her a lot becase she was the only one who got under Louise's skin and brought out something in Weezie's character. Also it's the mother-in-law stereotype in reverse: usually the wife's mother is a pain in the husband's butt; here it's inverted.
She's like the villain in the show in a sense.

As for Mike Evans he should've been more a part of things it's true. There could have been plots with he and Bentley interacting or he and George or he and Weezie.

Solomon, do you think his acting skills were as good as the actors who played his parents? It's hard to say because he was a young man for one and they were seasoned players. Also, he didn't have much opportunity to really showcase his skills the way they and Marla Gibbs did. When he came back in 1979 he didn't do much except react to the other performers and fade into the background after a while.


I honestly like his acting better on All in the Family. But his character was still more entertainng than Mother Jefferson.

Originally posted by savy333
I completely disagree! Mother Jefferson was the funniest on the show in my opinion. She had an acid tongue and completely insulted Louise in every way possible without actually coming out and saying how much she hated her. It was so funny!


Mother Jefferson was a DRUNK which is why her insults about Louise never made me laugh.

Originally posted by TVShow Analyzer
I honestly like his acting better on All in the Family. But his character was still more entertainng than Mother Jefferson.

He did better on All in the Family. Something about his performance got flat once the focus shifted to George.

Originally posted by savy333
I completely disagree! Mother Jefferson was the funniest on the show in my opinion. She had an acid tongue and completely insulted Louise in every way possible without actually coming out and saying how much she hated her. It was so funny! She was the highlight of the Jeffersons; personally I did enjoy her antics with her daughter-in-law; as for Mike Evans, I adored him, I thought he did an excellent job protraying Lionel Jefferson on both The Jeffersons and All in the Family:)

I always thought Mother Jefferson was funny.