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RIP Sherman Helmsley of the Jefferson's

Antenna TV aired six All in the Family episodes last night that featured Sherman Hemsley including 'The Jeffersons' pilot.

He was a great actor. RIP.
 
Sad news.

I don't watch it but the My Network affiliate where I live pairs "Sanford and Son" with "The Jeffersons" late at night.

The Washington Post obituary that ran in the Charlotte Observer claimed he was a pastor in "Amen". He was a deacon. That's different.
 
firepoint525 said:
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 night it was...

Wasn't it airing on the "certain death" Saturday night lineup? Then again, back then, Saturday nights had some viewing power. "Amen" aired on Saturday nights for years.
 
btw... Am I the first in this thread to notice the incorrect last name in the thread title three pages in? :eek:
 
^I believe the misspelling of the last name was a typographical error. So folks read beyond spelling errors and fully understand the subjects before realizing the errors.
 
TV Land should have done a better marathon of The Jeffersons than they did this last Saturday as they missed some pretty good episodes to air like the episode where George gets locked in the bathroom with Tom and Helen, the episode where Lionel and Jenny are married and the episode where George opens his first store when Martin Luther King was killed. Also they should have added some All In The Family episodes in the mix as well.
 
TV Land should have done a better marathon of The Jeffersons than they did this last Saturday as they missed some pretty good episodes to air like the episode where George gets locked in the bathroom with Tom and Helen, the episode where Lionel and Jenny are married and the episode where George opens his first store when Martin Luther King was killed. Also they should have added some All In The Family episodes in the mix as well.

I agree. I didn't even bother watching any of the short "Jeffersons" marathon. I saw the list of episodes that TV Land was scheduled to show and I wasn't impressed.
 
DToTheJ said:
firepoint525 said:
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 night it was...

Wasn't it airing on the "certain death" Saturday night lineup? Then again, back then, Saturday nights had some viewing power. "Amen" aired on Saturday nights for years.

When 'The Jeffersons' premeired in early 1975, Saturday nights weren't a 'death' time slot. The show's original lead-in, at 8/7, was 'All in the Family', in the midst of its fourth straight season at the top of the Nielsens. 'The Jeffersons' took over the 8:30/7:30 slot from the now-forgotten 'Paul Sand in "Friends and Lovers" '(cancelled at midseason, ranked 25th after hemmorhaging viewers).
George and Weezie finished 4th in the ratings for that half-season. That led CBS to movie the Bunkers to Mondays, and have the Jeffersons 'move on up' to 8 o'clock, with a new Barnard Hughes sitcom, 'Doc', at 8:30, as the lead-in for Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart. 'The Jeffersons' dropped to # 21 in its second season, two spots behind 'MTM', while 'Doc' didn't crack the top 30 at all.

CBS left those shows in place at the start of '76-77, but then changed the lineup in Novermber, moving 'The Jeffersons' to Wednesdays..and that was almost the 'death slot', opposite ABC's 'The Bionic Woman'(and, later in the season, 'Eight is Enough', which edged out 'The Jeffersons' head-to-head,and convinced ABC that it didn't need two 'bionic' shows.)

After a few years of numerous midseson schedule changes, bouncing back and forth among Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays(where, ironically, neither it nor its direct competition, 'Starsky and Hutch' did anything in the ratings at 9...while at 10, everybody tuned in for 'The Love Boat'), CBS retooled the show somewhat, and moved it to Sundays, where ratings rebounded.
Hemsley successfully convinced the producers and network to 'soften' George's image just a bit, eliminating most of the racist jokes(no more 'zebra' and, gradually' , no more 'honky' or 'n-word'..except a few cases when George directed it at other black characters!) Mike Evans returned as Lionel, he and Jenny were on more often(for a while), and the Willis' son. Alan, was written out.
The show ultimately was exiled to a 'death slot' on Tuesday nights in early '85, oppsoite 'The A-Team'(and 'Who's The Boss').
 
Yes, Saturday nights were not "death nights" back in the day. Even well into the 90's, Saturdays were still a valid programming night. Now, we just get reruns or 48 Hours Mysteries.
 
DToTheJ said:
btw... Am I the first in this thread to notice the incorrect last name in the thread title three pages in? :eek:

I noticed. I used to correct other posters' spelling, but it just comes off as petty and snotty, so I stopped. Besides, we all know who we're talking about.
 
Lkeller said:
DToTheJ said:
btw... Am I the first in this thread to notice the incorrect last name in the thread title three pages in? :eek:
I noticed. I used to correct other posters' spelling, but it just comes off as petty and snotty, so I stopped. Besides, we all know who we're talking about.
We all knew that he was NOT related to Leona Helmsley, and aside from that, his name appears to have been spelled correctly in the link accompanying this thread.
 
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