By Isabel Sanford
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Review & Description
Return to that de-luxe apartment in the sky and revisit all your favorite moments from the hilarious second season of THE JEFFERSONS one of the most beloved groundbreaking sitcoms in TV history. Serving up social satire and smashing stereotypes America s funniest family is at it again: jive-talkin dry-cleaning king George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) no-nonsense wife Louise Weezy (Isabel Sanford) sassy maid Florence (Marla Gibbs) and acid-tongued matriarch Mother Jefferson (Zara Culley) not to mention wacky next-door neighbors inter-racial couple Helen and Tom Willis (Roxie Roker and Franklin Cover). Developed by legendary producer Norman Lear (and the most successful spin-off from TV s All in the Family ) THE JEFFERSONS remains one of TV s most popular and longest-running (1975-1985) comedy series ever changing the color of prime-time TV forever.Remastered and made available on DVD for the first time this collector s three-disc set features all 24 episodes from the series seminal second-season run. As the laughs keep coming this is one high-rise address you ll want to move on up over and over again!System Requirements:Starring: Sherman Hemsley Isabel Sanford Marla Gibbs Paul Benedict Running Time: 208 Min. Copyright Sony Pictures Home Entertainment 2005Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 043396010147 Manufacturer No: 01014Long before Bill Cosby started wearing his friendly sweaters, urban middle-class African Americans burst onto television in the form of Louise (better known as "Weezy") and George Jefferson, portrayed by Isabel Sanford and Sherman Hemsley. Spun off from All in the Family, The Jeffersons ran from 1975 to 1985, and it's easy to see what made the show so popular--Sanford and Hemsley were a knockout comic duo, surrounded by a skilled supporting cast that included the interracial couple Helen and Tom Willis (Roxie Roker and Franklin Cover), British expatriate Harry Bentley (Paul Benedict), as well as George's cantankerous mother Olivia (Zara Cully) and their snappy, cynical maid Florence (Marla Gibbs).
Set in a high-rise apartment building in the heart of New York City, the show spun around George, a classic character portrait of vanity, arrogance, and petty prejudice. Balanced by the more level-headed but just as strong-willed Weezy, George's self-serving abrasiveness struck comic gold, particularly in the second season, when the show's style had been set but was still fresh. Episodes tackled subjects trivial (George and Tom wear the same tacky dinner jacket to a party) and trenchant (a country club invites George to join, but only so that a newspaper reporter will think the club is open to minorities). The black and white mix of the cast allowed for a sharply satirical take on race relations, which managed to have a genuine sense of hope while never glossing over the complexity of racial tension--and was consistently funny. In fact, it's striking how well the show's humor holds up; The Jeffersons turned a series of half-hour farces into a sly examination of marriage, race, class, and the battle of the sexes; it's sad that so few contemporary sitcoms have this kind of intelligence, courage, and sheer talent. --Bret Fetzer Read more
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