• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

RIP Sherman Helmsley of the Jefferson's

A great actor who had a great run as George Jefferson.

The Jeffersons started when I was in middle school and continued until I had graduated college...an amazing run for a sitcom!!

RIP George! :'(

But don't worry...he's moved on up to that deluxe apartment in the sky!
 
Very sad most of the cast from The Jefferson have passed on. The only one still alive is Marla Gibbs. She was there for most of the run of the series.
 
Berlinda Tolbert, Damon Evans (2nd Lionel), Jay Hammer (Allan - Tom and Helen's white looking son), join Marla as the last remaining memebers.
 
Danny Wells, who played the bartender Charlie, Ned Wertimer, who played the doorman Ralph, Ebonie Smith, who played Lionel and Jenny's child Jessica (the older version), and Andrew Rubin, the first person to play Allan Willis (he played Allan once), are among the former members of the main cast for "The Jeffersons" still living among us. Erin Holland and Leslie Holland, both of whom played Jessica as a baby, are still living also.
 
It's really too bad that The Jeffersons weren't given the chance to have a final episode, nor did they have any reunion shows over the years! It was a great sitcom back in the day!
 
There was never a proper "Jeffersons" reunion on TV, but many of the cast reunited in the '90s for an off-Broadway production(little more than stage re-enactments of old episodes, using the scripts). The show proved very popular, and eventually did make it to Broadway for a limited run, and a tour of other cities.
Hemsley and Isabel Sanford also reprised their roles in several TV commercials, and in the final episode of 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air'.
 
So there really was an off-Broadway "Jeffersons" production? I thought it was a fictitious show created for a storyline of an episode of "Married... With Children"! :D ("Billy Martin!" "Bubba Smith!")
 
onairb said:
There was never a proper "Jeffersons" reunion on TV, but many of the cast reunited in the '90s for an off-Broadway production(little more than stage re-enactments of old episodes, using the scripts). The show proved very popular, and eventually did make it to Broadway for a limited run, and a tour of other cities.
Hemsley and Isabel Sanford also reprised their roles in several TV commercials, and in the final episode of 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air'.
Click to expand...

Correct, but not exactly the same as having a "series finale". Unfortunately, some of us lived in cities where the Broadway production didn't visit.

The Denny's commercial was GREAT!
 
DToTheJ said:
So there really was an off-Broadway "Jeffersons" production? I thought it was a fictitious show created for a storyline of an episode of "Married... With Children"! :D ("Billy Martin!" "Bubba Smith!")
Click to expand...

Remember too that Ron Leavitt and Michael Moye, who created Married...with Children, also worked as writers and producers in the later years of The Jeffersons (I believe from 1981 on to the end).
 
nomadcowatbk said:
Jeffersons never had a true season finale, neither did Archie Bunker's place
Click to expand...

Neither did Dynasty (different genre and network, I know.) Although the reunion movie that aired in Fall 1991 wasn't bad...it did tie up a few loose ends.
 
Why did it not get to have a "true" series finale. It was on for 11 seasons, you would've think that they would have planned one.
 
bigman2005 said:
Why did it not get to have a "true" series finale. It was on for 11 seasons, you would've think that they would have planned one.
Click to expand...

I think it was the way CBS handled it. IIRR, they waited till the summer, after the season finale aired, before making their decision to go on without the show the next season. If they'd announced a cancellation beforehand (or would have said to them at the start of the 11th season that 'this one will be your last'), there might have been an actual "true" series finale. Also, IIRR, most of the cast heard in various ways (through TV or ragmags or something) rather than CBS actually approaching them directly.
 
I seem to recall that CBS moved The Jeffersons to another night, against a high-performing show on another network, so it would be certain to get slaughtered in the ratings, thus CBS could justify killing it off. I don't remember what network, or what show it was, or even what night it was. I recall that there was a petition to save The Jeffersons, but with it not being the internet age yet, there wasn't much that anyone could do about it. Like the rest of you, I agree that it deserved a better sendoff. Even so, in 1985, it was probably the last All in the Family spinoff still on the air.
 
Today at my church, the Chancel Choir ended service with Movin' On Up. Very energetic.

R.I.P. Sherman
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom