There
are some days in which I really miss being a child.
Back
when I was five or six years old, there were only twelve channels on
television to choose from. Yes, I know by then cable television was
around, but my family wasn't able to afford it until the early 1990s.
Prior to that, I know exactly what the channels were that we had to
watch at that time. And what's scarier is that I can tell you what
channel corresponded with each station. And, that I still REMEMBER
them twenty years later!
Back
in 198-whatever, the channels we had to watch were the following.
02
– TVOntario (Toronto)
03
– Global Television (Toronto)
04
– CBC Television (Ottawa)
05
– CBS Television (Detroit)
06
– NBC Television (Detroit)
07
– CBS Television (Watertown)
08
– PBS Television (Watertown)
09
– CBC Television French Language (Montreal)
10
– Cable 10 (Brockville)
11
– CKWS-TV (Kingston)
12
– ABC Television (Detroit)
13
– CTV Television (Ottawa)
(Yes,
you're reading this correctly...we did have two CBS affiliates.)
Actually,
with cable television, the line-up didn't really change that much.
Channel 5 became CFMT-TV, which is now called OMNI1. Channel 6 moved
to Channel 15, and Channel 12 moved to Channel 19.
Why
am I bringing this up though? It's partially related to today's blog
post.
Of
all the channels that we had on basic cable, I'd have to say that I
watched Channel 6 (WDIV-TV) the most. That would be NBC for all of you keeping
score at home. I know that these days, NBC seems to be struggling
with keeping an audience, but back in those days, it really was Must
See TV. Most of the cartoons that I watched as a young boy on
Saturday mornings happened to be on NBC, and back in the 1980s, NBC
had wonderful sitcoms such as The Hogan Family, The Cosby Show, ALF,
The Facts Of Life, and The Golden Girls.
My
favourite time to watch our NBC affiliate though was immediately
after school let out for the day. You see, back in the 1980s before
daytime talk shows and the Today Show expanded into the afternoon,
the daytime block was filled with soap operas as well as affiliate
time. And, after Another World, there would be an hour of
programming dedicated to classic sitcoms from years gone by. From
3-4pm, I'd watch these classic shows and love them. The first show
was “Gimme A Break!”, which aired from 3-3:30.
And
from 3:30-4, this show aired.
Today,
we're going to take a look back on the classic sitcom “The
Jeffersons”. Although I watched the program on an NBC affiliate,
the program originated on CBS. It ran from January 18, 1975 until
June 25, 1985. The fact that the show ran for eleven seasons was a
milestone in itself (especially since the program it spun off from,
“All in the Family” ran two seasons shorter). But an even bigger
milestone? It remains the longest running sitcom featuring a
predominately African-American cast ever, more than 25 years after
airing its final episode. And, just as the theme song says, the
entire premise of the series involves a couple moving on up to a
deluxe apartment in the sky, and the trials and tribulations
surrounding life in a high-rise.
Obviously,
there's a reason why I chose to spotlight “The Jeffersons” in
today's blog entry. Three days ago, on July 24, we lost Sherman
Hemsley. The actor, who portrayed George Jefferson passed away of
natural causes at the age of 74.
Hemsley
enjoyed a long career in the field of entertainment in a career that
spanned a little over four decades. His first acting job was on the
stage. In 1970, he starred at the character Gitlow in the Broadway
play “Purlie”. Shortly after that, he moved from Philadelphia to
New York to study with Lloyd Richards at the Negro Ensemble Company.
He later joined Vinnette Carroll's Urban Arts Company where he acted
in such productions as “Old Judge Mose is Dead”, “Croesus”,
and “The Witch”. Hemsley seemed to really embrace the theatre as
that was all that he exclusively did between 1970 and 1972.
And
then Norman Lear came into Hemsley's life, and offered him a job.
Lear was in the process of casting for his new television series “All
in the Family”, and he believed that Hemsley was perfect for the
role of George Jefferson, the neighbour of Archie and Edith Bunker.
Hemsley was torn. He loved doing theatre and didn't want to give it
up, but at the same time the television role intrigued him. Lear
told him that he would hold the role open for him, and in 1973,
Hemsley joined the cast of “All in the Family”, and two years
later, was spun off into “The Jeffersons”.
Of
course, George Jefferson would always be Sherman Hemsley's most
famous role, but it wasn't the only sitcom role he would take on.
From 1986-1991, he assumed the role of Deacon Frye on the NBC sitcom,
“Amen”, and from 1991-1994, he took on voice acting as he
provided the voice for B.P. Richfield on the television show
“Dinosaurs!”. He also brought out his George Jefferson persona
in various places along with his co-star Isabel Sanford (who played
his wife Louise “Weezie” Jefferson). They starred in an episode
of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, they both appeared on “Lois &
Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”, and they even appeared
together in a Denny's commercial!
Really,
the whole working relationship between Sherman and Isabel was one of
the best in the business. They really did share some amazing
chemistry together. But did you know there was a 21-year age
difference between Isabel and Sherman? Isabel was born in 1917,
Sherman was born in 1938! I honestly had no idea that there was that
wide a gap between Sanford and Hemsley. When I first found out, I
was blown away...partly because in my eyes, George Jefferson looked
older than Weezie!
And,
if you thought that piece of trivia was shocking, I have more
information and trivia about the show itself. Consider it your
behind the scenes scoop of “The Jeffersons”.
1
– If you take a look at the photograph that happens to be sitting
next to the telephone in the Jefferson's apartment, it changes every
episode.
2
– If you've ever wondered where the building that is featured in
the opening credits of the intro is found, it is located at 185 E.
85th Street in Manhattan.
3
– The name of the apartment building that the Jeffersons live in is
Colby East, and the Jeffersons live on the 12th floor.
4
– Zara Cully played the role of Mother Jefferson until the 1977-78
season. When she passed away on February 28, 1978, the character of
Mother Jefferson was killed off as well.
5
– Ja'net Dubois sang the theme song “Movin' On Up”. If that
name sounds familiar, it may be because at the time she sang the
theme song for “The Jeffersons”, she herself was one of the cast
members of another sitcom, “Good Times”.
6
– Mike Evans played the role of Lionel Jefferson, the son of George
and Weezie. In real life, he was only eleven years younger than
Sherman Hemsley!
7
– Mike Evans played the role of Lionel Jefferson off and on during
the series eleven year run. He left the program to work as a writer
and producer for “Good Times”. Upon the show's finale in 1979,
he returned to “The Jeffersons”. Sadly, Mike Evans passed away
in 2006 from throat cancer at the age of 57.
8
– In the eleven seasons that “The Jeffersons” were on the air,
they occupied a grand total of fifteen different time slots!
9
– “The Jeffersons” ended up spending quite a bit of time in the
Top 10 list of the Neilsen ratings. It was in the Top 10 during its
first season, and stayed in the Top 10 between 1979 and 1982.
10
– When the news was announced that George and Weezie would get a
spinoff from “All in the Family”, Isabel Sanford was opposed.
She was very happy on the set of “All in the Family” and didn't
want to leave. But when informed that the possibility of her being
recast was open if she refused, Sanford agreed to join “The
Jeffersons”.
11
– The show was known for some rather controversial moments. In the
earliest seasons, the characters often said the “N” word. There
were episodes on such subjects as racism, suicide, and gun control.
And the characters of Tom and Helen Willis (Franklin Cover and Roxie
Roker) were television's first black/white interracial couple.
12
– Speaking of Tom and Helen Willis, would you believe that there
were CBS executives who lobbied to edit out an onscreen kiss between
the two? Fred Silverman managed to leave the kiss intact in the
show, but boy, have times changed since the late 1970s!
13
– There were 253 episodes filmed of “The Jeffersons”. Sherman
Hemsley was the only actor to appear in all 253 episodes.
14
– The character of Florence (Marla Gibbs) was originally intended
to be a recurring character, but based on fan reaction, the character
became so popular, Gibbs was offered a contract role soon after.
15
– Marla Gibbs was herself given a spinoff series from “The
Jeffersons”, entitled “Checking In”. She left the series in a
similar fashion to that of Charlotte Rae (who left Diff'rent Strokes
to join the cast of “The Facts of Life”) in that if the show
failed, she could come back to the series. Unlike Charlotte Rae's
situation, “Checking In” checked out, and Gibbs returned to “The
Jeffersons” shortly afterwards.
16
– Roxie Roker had a striking similarity to the character she
played. Turns out Roxie's real-life husband was Caucasian, and when
she was asked if she would have a problem with it, all she had to do
was show producers a picture of her husband. That answered their
questions right then and there!
17
– The role of Lionel Jefferson was played by two different actors.
When Mike Evans left the series after the first season, an actor
named Damon Evans (no relation) was brought in for seasons 2-4.
18
– The show boasted some serious guest star power. Appearing in
small episodic roles in the series were Gary Coleman, Sammy Davis Jr,
Louis Gossett Jr, Reggie Jackson, Gladys Knight, Sheryl Lee Ralph,
Jaleel White, and Billy Dee Williams.
19
– With Hemsley's death in July 2012, the only surviving cast
members of the series are Marla Gibbs, Damon Evans, Berlinda Tolbert
(Jenny Willis-Jefferson), and Jay Hammer (Alan Willis). Isobel
Sanford passed away in July 2004, Mike Evans in December 2006, Zara
Cully in February 1978, Franklin Cover in February 2006, Roxie Roker
in December 1995, and Paul Benedict in December 2008.
20
– The show never did receive a proper series finale. In fact, when
the show was finally cancelled in June 1985, the cast was not
informed until after the episode “Red Robin” aired (which ended
up being the last episode). Sherman Hemsley recalled that he didn't
know the show had not been picked up for the 1985/86 season until he
read it in the newspaper! That's pretty bad on CBS' part, wouldn't
you say?
However,
despite the way the show ended, it did provide lots of laughs to
people of all backgrounds and skin colours, and it made Sherman
Hemsley a bright star in the world of entertainment.
A
star that will forever shine on after his death.
Sherman
Hemsley
1938-2012
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