The one where the dog jumped out of the window chasing the ball that George threw...ON CAMERA. That was horrible!! To make it worse, when I first saw that episode I was 24 (this was only a couple of years ago) , and it just made my skin crawl. If they had to kill the dog, couldn't they have cut to George going to another room, then come back in and find the dog missing? I felt so sorry watching that poor dog, even though I know it wasn't real. What do you think?

The one where the dog jumped out of the window chasing the ball that George threw...ON CAMERA. That was horrible!! To make it worse, when I first saw that episode I was 24 (this was only a couple of years ago) , and it just made my skin crawl. If they had to kill the dog, couldn't they have cut to George going to another room, then come back in and find the dog missing? I felt so sorry watching that poor dog, even though I know it wasn't real. What do you think?



Only Jeffersons episode that was in the traumatizing category was the one when George was stabbed in the alley. Defintely not the ep with the Dog jumping over the Balcony

:eek: I am an animal lover so I'm glad I didn't see that episode-although I saw almost every other one-glad to have missed it!

:eek: I am an animal lover so I'm glad I didn't see that episode-although I saw almost every other one-glad to have missed it!


Well it was no where near traumatic because it was done in a comical way

I saw this episode for the first time 3 years ago and to me its one of the better shows from seasons 8-11. I laughed out loud several times which is generally not true of those later shows.
No way would the networks (or at least CBS) do an episode like this now-PETA wouldn't stand for it- but in 1981 this was fine.
What I thought about when I saw this thread is that almost anything in a humor show can be offensive and that more people watched that dog jump off the balcony in 1981 than probably are watching American Idol or whatever the top rated show is today. We have more broadcasting/viewing choices but less of a common culture in a way. In 1981 people knew who George Jefferson was even if they didn't watch that series. I don't know (nor do I care to know) who's on American Idol or what's going on on Grey's Anatomy whatever the other top rated tv shows are.

The one where the dog jumped out of the window chasing the ball that George threw...ON CAMERA. That was horrible!! To make it worse, when I first saw that episode I was 24 (this was only a couple of years ago) , and it just made my skin crawl. If they had to kill the dog, couldn't they have cut to George going to another room, then come back in and find the dog missing? I felt so sorry watching that poor dog, even though I know it wasn't real. What do you think?
I think nothing. THAT SCENE WAS HILARIOUS!!!!!! :rofl:

I thought it was funny too. :lol:

And for what it's worth, I have some friends who own dogs who tell me there's no way a dog would do that in real life. Just jump like that without knowing where they were jumping. I have never owned dogs, so I didn't question them on it; I just figured they knew what they were talking about.

WOW!

I was just gonna ask about this episode! What was the title and original airdate for it? Yea, I remember that one. "Poopsie" was the name of the dog. A mean Doberman that the Jefferson's dog-sat. Didn't he belong to the Wittendale's?

There are some funny moments, George thinks the dog is some little poodle or something and they come up with this huge Doberman who snarls at him at every opportunity. I remember the line, "Poopsie, you wanna watch TV?" and the dog gives out two vicious barks and George says, "No, we don't have cable!" :lol:

I am an animal lover, and hate any kind of animal cruelty. But I was not affected at all when the dog jumped out the window playing fetch with George. (Probably because the dog was so mean, and I always have had a fear of Dobermans.)

But I could still see how some might be upset by this scene. I agree that they could never do a scene like that today.

Jack

That episode was both disturbing and disgusting. I posted about it over five years ago.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=14140&highlight=dog

I'm sure the "balcony" wasn't really a balcony, it was probably really ground- level and the dog was fine.

I'm sure the "balcony" wasn't really a balcony, it was probably really ground- level and the dog was fine.


...And here I thought the dog really died! ohno:

I'm glad I'm not alone that this was one disturbing episode. Every other episode of the Jeffersons I saw was fine, but this one...*shudders*

I'm sorry Janice, if I'd seen your post I would've added onto that one instead of starting a new thread. It did look like slow motion and it caught me off guard, too. I would've skipped this episode had I known what was going to happen...:(

The whole Michael Vick thing brought this episode to my mind again. This is by far my least favorite Jeffersons episode. :mad:

I agree Cat
I dont remember ever seeing this ep.....psychological denial perhaps? But, I know it would have upset me too, theres nothing funny about something like that! And, if you were 24 and got traumatized, imagine what must have happened to any small children watching :eek:

Only Jeffersons episode that was in the traumatizing category was the one when George was stabbed in the alley. Defintely not the ep with the Dog jumping over the Balcony
I haven't seen either of those episodes, but George being stabbed in an alley would be more tramatizing.

I agree Cat
I dont remember ever seeing this ep.....psychological denial perhaps? But, I know it would have upset me too, theres nothing funny about something like that! And, if you were 24 and got traumatized, imagine what must have happened to any small children watching :eek:
Just sickening - I actually wanted to cry! :eek:

That episode was both disturbing and disgusting. I posted about it over five years ago.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=14140&highlight=dog

Yes that was a very disturbing ep and in pretty bad taste to try to get a provocative store line-esp. for a show that's supposed to be a "comedy". And of course the one where George was stabbed by the gang member was very distressing as well.

Seems I made the right decision when i stopped watching this show after 3 or 4 years

When George got stabbed, I never looked at an alley the same way again. When the dog jumped, I laughed because usually on shows, the dog/victim would somehow survive. Its like the stuff you imagine happening to a dog you don't like. Not like you want the dog to get killed, but if it does in a funny way, you can't "fake sympathize". I burst out laughing.:lol:
:happyface :happyface

The whole Michael Vick thing brought this episode to my mind again. This is by far my least favorite Jeffersons episode. :mad:

I don't see the connection between a guy who arranges dog fights, and a tv show where a guy unintentionally throws a ball over a penthouse balcony for a dog to chase.

Personally I remember the scene as being pretty innocuous (this from a Peta-supporting dog-rescuing vegan.) The dog, though an innocent, was a nasty critter, and while it wouldn't be funny in real life to see even the most bloodthirsty mutt jump off a building, in a sitcom it is. Besides, the dog's death wasn't presented as the laff riot that animal deaths usually were on other 70s sitcoms--probably because it WAS a dog, and dogs are sacrosanct in our society, at least on the screen.

I'm editing this because I just noticed that you list "Turkeys Away" as one of your favorite WKRP in Cincinnati episodes, and darned if that wasn't one of the very sitcoms I had in mind when I mentioned animal deaths mined for jokes on other sitcoms. You didn't find that episode bothersome? Or you just like it in spite of the nonstop jokes about the turkeys dying? This is the one where the turkeys are thrown out of a helicopter, right?

^ The difference between the WKRP episode and the Jeffersons episode is you never SAW the turkeys. They killed the dog off ON CAMERA. If they'd had to kill the dog, couldn't they have done it offscreen??

But they did kill the dog offscreen. The last we see, he is jumping happily over the balcony. If they'd shown his corpse lying on the pavement, I would agree that it was disturbing--but they didn't.

Different strokes, I guess. As much as I like WKRP in Cincinnati, the jokes about the dead turkeys in the Thanksgiving episode always rubbed me the wrong way, though everyone else thinks they're hilarious. The dog jumping scene in The Jeffersons, I always found twistedly funny.

But they did kill the dog offscreen. The last we see, he is jumping happily over the balcony. If they'd shown his corpse lying on the pavement, I would agree that it was disturbing--but they didn't.

Different strokes, I guess. As much as I like WKRP in Cincinnati, the jokes about the dead turkeys in the Thanksgiving episode always rubbed me the wrong way, though everyone else thinks they're hilarious. The dog jumping scene in The Jeffersons, I always found twistedly funny.
Well, that's the great thing about this board - sharing thoughts and observations about shows, even if we don't always see eye to eye. Thank you for your insights. Welcome to SO, by the way!! :wave:

Thanks!

For Christmas, I bought my sister and brother-in-law the Season 2 boxset of Coach. We watched some of the episodes last night, and I was stunned to see one that was similar to this episode of the Jeffersons. Spoilers follow:

It also involved someone bouncing a ball that went out an open (5th story) window and the dog jumped out after it. In this case, though, the dog had on a sweater and the sweater got caught on a weathervane. They were able to rescue the dog, and everything was OK after that. Too bad the Jeffersons couldn't have done something similar.

I agree with what somebody said on here that they probably made it look like a balcony but it was probably ground-level. I don't think they would have actually killed an animal like that.

I agree with what somebody said on here that they probably made it look like a balcony but it was probably ground-level. I don't think they would have actually killed an animal like that.
Probably - otherwise they should've thanked their lucky stars that PETA wasn't around then!! :eek: :lol:

But I loved it when Florence pointed to Poopsie and said, "Don't be no fool!".