Question for W.J. Griffin

[TVFactFan]

What is it about the year of 1975 for this show that is so interesting? I'm so entertained by that year and it seems like after 1975, George Jefferson left the show. The show lost something after the year 1975 and it's a shame because I cherish every episode from that year. The 80's for this show was a waste. But the first year the show was on the air had some very classic moments. I just ask myself, why did the show have to chAnge after 1975?


PS-James from Good Times always was the same why did they change George Jefferson. Very confusing.

[W.J. Griffin]

Originally posted by Sitcom Analyzer
What is it about the year of 1975 for this show that is so interesting? I'm so entertained by that year and it seems like after 1975, George Jefferson left the show. The show lost something after the year 1975 and it's a shame because I cherish every episode from that year. The 80's for this show was a waste. But the first year the show was on the air had some very classic moments. I just ask myself, why did the show have to chAnge after 1975?


PS-James from Good Times always was the same why did they change George Jefferson. Very confusing.

Well, you know how it is with episodic tv...characters change and evolve, so that a character like, say, Archie Bunker, who was such a close-minded bigot in his first appearance on AITF that, by the time of "Archie Bunker's Place" a decade later, he was working with Jewish accountants and actually had a Black female housekeeper living in the house with him.

But you asked about George Jefferson, and why his character took a severe turn after 1975. I can only speculate here (and, Lord knows that's never stopped me before), but, really, I think George's character was ''softened" after the first season, because, let's face it, he was a Grade-A, USDA-approved jackass in these first episodes!

The man made constant nasty remarks about Jenny Willis and her parents, calling them "Mixed-up'' and "Zebras" (and I apologize to all the multiethnic and bi-racial posters out there for using these terms, but I'm illustrating a point.), and the phrases "h***y" and "n****r" (once again, I apologize) were being tossed about with abandon. George's bigotry, while considered funny in some situations, was becoming too uncomfortable for a lot of viewers...(and then there's a more insidious reason, for which I have no real proof, but, as I said earlier, this is just speculation...George, as a successful Black businessman, may have been a little TOO assertive for a small segment of the viewing population, particularly south of the Mason-Dixon line. Keep in mind that the Civil Rights movement was only a few years in the past at that point, and there were still a ton of open, oozing racial wounds...some of which still haven't healed, three years and counting into this new Millenium...)

So, as a result, George Jefferson was toned down...gradually, but by the early 1980s we were left with a man who was a former shell of himself, warts and all.

I hope I was able to answer your question, Solomon. For the rest of you, it's easy to watch this progression, from George's earliest appearances on "All In The Family", thru all 11 seasons of "The Jeffersons" (which is, by the way, the longest-running sitcom featuring Black characters...the much beloved "The Cosby Show" only lasted eight seasons..) and you can see what I mean.

[TVFactFan]

Originally posted by W.J. Griffin
Well, you know how it is with episodic tv...characters change and evolve, so that a character like, say, Archie Bunker, who was a close-minded bigot in his first appearance on AITF that, by the time of "Archie Bunker's Place" a decade later, he was working with Jewish accountants and actually had a Black female housekeeper living in the house with him.

But you asked about George, and why his character took a sever turn after 1975. I can only speculate here (and, Lord knows that's never stopped me before), but, really, I think George's character was ''softened" after the first season, because, let's face it, he was a Grade-A, USDA-approved jackass in these first episodes!

The man made constant nasty remarks about Jenny Willis and her parents, calling them "Mixed-up'' and "Zebras" (and I apologize to all the multiethnic and bi-racial posters out there for using these terms, but I'm illustrating a point.), and the phrases "h***y" and "n****r" (once again, I apologize) were being tossed about with abandon. George's bigotry, while considered funny in some situations, was becoming too uncomfortable for a lot of viewers...(and then there's a more insidious reason, for which I have no real proof, but, as I said earlier, this is just speculation...George, as a successful Black businessman, may have been a little TOO assertive for a small segment of the viewing population, particularly south of the Mason-Dixon line. Keep in mind that the Civil Rights movement was only still a few years in the past at that point, and there were still a ton of open, oozing racial wounds still a-throbbin'...some of which still haven't healed, three years and counting into this new Millenium...)

So, as a result, George Jefferson was toned down...gradually, but by the early 1980s we were left with a man who was a former shell of himself, warts and all.

I hope I was able to answer your question, Solomon. For the rest of you, it's easy to watch this progression, from George's earliest appearances on "All In The Family", thru all 11 seasons of "The Jeffersons" (which is, by the way, the longest-running sitcom featuring Black characters...the much beloved "The Cosby Show" only lasted eight seasons..) and you can see what I mean.

And it was also certain things that the cast did as a whole that never happened again. These are the things that neer happened again after 1975.


1. George dancing
2. Playing the dozens
3. No more Dinner Parties
4. No more Temper Tandrums by George
5. LIONEL-LOL
6.No more visits from Old Harlem friends


Harlem wasn't mentioned too much after 1975.

[TVFactFan]

Originally posted by Sitcom Analyzer
What is it about the year of 1975 for this show that is so interesting? I'm so entertained by that year and it seems like after 1975, George Jefferson left the show. The show lost something after the year 1975 and it's a shame because I cherish every episode from that year. The 80's for this show was a waste. But the first year the show was on the air had some very classic moments. I just ask myself, why did the show have to chAnge after 1975?


PS-James from Good Times always was the same why did they change George Jefferson. Very confusing.

I guess i'm Also shocked that a African American character who was a racist, was accepted by ALL RACES. The Jeffersons finished their first season ranked as the 4th best TV program in the country. That confuses me a lot.

[W.J. Griffin]

Originally posted by Sitcom Analyzer
I guess i'm Also shocked that a African American character who was a racist, was accepted by ALL RACES. The Jeffersons finished their first season ranked as the 4th best TV program in the country. That confuses me a lot.

They also accepted Archie Bunker and Fred Sanford, neither of whom is the poster child for tolerance. (of course, this is not to say that American audiences LOVED their fictional bigots...indeed, quite a few of these types of characters were off-putting to the general population...witness Don Rickels's "C.P.O. Sharkey", for example.)

Remember, it wasn't these character's bigotry that made them popular; rather, it was the mirror-image of the average viewer that people accepted...a sense of telling the truth about things that were absent from other shows of the time...or even today (I mean, really...as much as I love "King Of The Hill", I sometimes get the feeling that the creators of this show are glossing over some "details'' about modern southern life, IMO.)

[TVFactFan]

Originally posted by W.J. Griffin
They also accepted Archie Bunker and Fred Sanford, neither of whom is the poster child for tolerance. (of course, this is not to say that American audiences LOVED their fictional bigots...indeed, quite a few of these types of characters were off-putting to the general population...witness Don Rickels's "C.P.O. Sharkey", for example.)

Remember, it wasn't these character's bigotry that made them popular; rather, it was the mirror-image of the average viewer that people accepted...a sense of telling the truth about things that were absent from other shows of the time...or even today (I mean, really...as much as I love "King Of The Hill", I sometimes get the feeling that the creators of this show are glossing over some "details'' about modern southern life, IMO.)

But Archie was A white racist. That was the difference. You did mentioned that George made viewers uncomfortable after a while so maybe some white viewers were not laughing too much when George expressed his prejudice in every other episode. But i thought George became famous by being the black version of Archie Bunker.

[W.J. Griffin]

Originally posted by Sitcom Analyzer
But Archie was A white racist. That was the difference. You did mentioned that George made viewers uncomfortable after a while so maybe some white viewers were not laughing too much when George expressed his prejudice in every other episode. But i thought George became famous by being the black version of Archie Bunker.

Yes, you are right about that...but then, you are familiar with the phrase "be careful what you ask for...you just might get it"?

Well, they got it...and, I'd wager, they didn't like it. Thus, George Jefferson's gradual transformation from loudmouthed bigot to merely a loudmouth. (mind you, Archie Bunker himself was similarly toned down, as well.)

Then again, Sherman Hemsley probably injected some of the softening of George Jefferson himself...after all, he DID have to live with the character for at least eleven seasons. He probably got sick of George's prejudices, too...