166 replies to this topic

[Jer2002]

How did this show end? I missed a lot of it towards the end cause it was moved to Sunday nights and back then, my family went to church at that time.

[Not4Me]

Weezie was great in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?. She's actually done much work in some very famous films.

Just gotta say though, whoever did the women's hair and makeup on the show during the later years should have been fired (perhaps [s]he was responsible for Tempest Bledsoe's misshaped afro in The Cosby Show). I can't tell you how many times I had to turn away each time I saw Marla and Isabel caked in clown makeup.

[QAF Rocks]

I loved this show!

I was too young for its original run, but it was apparently on all the time in syndication in the 80s. I seem to pair it with Three's Company in my mind, so I think they were on one right after the other.

Does anyone remember the episode where George goes to visit his old friend Eddie? An attractive woman answers the door, and she reveals that she is Eddie, only her name is now Edie. George is flabbergasted, but apparently comes around at the end. I think that was the first time I'd ever heard of transsexuals, but no one else seems to remember it. I didn't dream it, did I?

[Josette]

I didn't dream it, did I?

No, that is an actual episode.

Three's Company was an ABC show and The Jeffersons was on CBS and they aired on different nights.

[QAF Rocks]

Thanks! I'm glad to know it's a real episode!

I know Three's Company and The Jeffersons were on different networks originally, but I'm pretty sure KTVU Channel 2 here in Northern California used to show re-runs back-to-back. I was too young to see either series when they first aired, so I caught them in the mid to late 80s.

[hughster]

Can anyone explain to me what the Fish don't fry in the kitchen/Beans don't burn on the grill lines mean? I've always wondered about that.

I'd always assumed that the lines referred to the "common" foods they would have eaten in their former digs, as opposed to the classier foods, prepared in calmer and clearner surroundings, they'd consume in their dee-luxe apartment in the sky-yi-yi.

There is one George/Weezy exchange I always quote when I give a tour of my apartment:

George: This is our living room, where we does our living.
And this is our dining room, where we does our dining.
And this is our kitchen....

Weezy: Where we does our kitchening!

Does anyone else remember the episode where they first hired a maid, and Florence was the candidate they rejected? Yet somehow she showed up as their maid.

edited because homophones are confusing!

Edited by hughster, Jan 13, 2004 @ 4:02 PM.

[michelec]

Did you all see that the Jeffersons came in at something like #25 in TVland's viewers poll of best TV theme songs? I thought that was just shameful.

I went to a Maple Leafs game a couple of weeks ago, and as part of a promotion a couple of fans sitting in the nosebleed section were given rinkside seats. What was the music playing when they made their way down to the seats? You guessed it. It may be #25 on TV Land, but it's #1 in a lot of people's hearts.

I loved this show, even though it pretty much went downhill when Marla Gibbs left (by the time she came back it was too little, too late). Mama Jefferson rocked and I loved seeing her and Weezie going at it...it's a shame Zara Cully died so early in the show's run. In the battle of the Lionels I preferred Damon Evans, he just seemed more suited to the role and I could see Jenny falling for him whereas Michael Evans...not so much. I think I read a while back that when Damon left the show he became a famous opera singer in England.

[Kaboom]

It may be #25 on TV Land, but it's #1 in a lot of people's hearts.

Word.

I loved Mother Jefferson! Zara Cully was great in the role. And I had no idea that Damon became a famous opera singer. Wow!

[TexasGal30]

I thought Zara Cully was a cute little ol' lady and I thought it was cool that she looked liked she could actually be George's mom, but I too would cringe when she appeared... she was so mean to Louise!

[Pepsi Princess]

How did this show end?

If I'm not mistaken they didn't even get a series finale, apparently CBS just canceled them at the last minute

When I watched a behind-the-scenes special on E! or some such station, a couple of the cast members (Sherman Hemsely and Marla Gibbs, I think) said that they found out that the show was cancelled by reading it in the paper. According to the stars, the network didn't have the decency to even tell them they were cancelled. How disrespectful!

I HATED Mother Jefferson. She was such a witch!

[mbridgii]

I loved that old lady (Zara Cully). I liked it a lot more when Louise would talk back to Mother Jefferson, instead of just taking it.

[Goofy Lookin' Nerd]

R.I.P. Weezie, you'll be missed!

Edited by Goofy Lookin' Nerd, Jul 12, 2004 @ 1:08 PM.

[TexasGal30]

Weezie, you were amazing! You'll be missed.

[Not4Me]

How sad, I'll miss Weezie. :-(

[2MuchTV]

Aw, Isabel Sanford was the best and such a huge part of why this show was so great. I was so happy for her when she got her star on the Walk of Fame a few months ago. Thankfully she'll live forever in the reruns.

[canneuro]

I feel so old. Another great sitcom actress from my childhood is dead. Goodbye Weezie.

[iMissEthan]

RIP Weezie, say hello to Helen for us.

[txmom2boys]

So sad. She and Sherman had still been doing alot of commercials and such, hadn't they? I know Marla has been in the latest Swiffer commercial.

Oh how I loved The Jeffersons. I grew up with them. I loved how George walked! That's one of the only shows that I actually laugh at the opening credits. Besides getting down to the theme song, watching Weezie getting startled when George knocks on her hair dryer. And her smacking George with the pillow so he flipped over backward off the bed. To an 8 year old (me, at the time) that is the stuff that comedy is made out of.

What is it with the women passing? First Mama Jefferson, then Roxie Roker, now Ms. Sanford. RIP Weezie. We loved you!

[mbridgii]

She was 86? That means that she was almost 60 when "The Jeffersons" first started. Wow.

[Albanyguy]

Goodbye, Weezie. We all hope and pray you're moo-hoo-hoovin' on up.

[Mibbitmaker]

She's moved on up, that's for sure.

Even besides The Jeffersons, she was on nearly at the beginning on All in the Family. The character was first seen on the episode where they moved in Archie's neighborhood and he tried to get them out. We didn't even get to see George until episode 67 in October, 1973 (Thanks to the "Classic Sitcoms" book).

Although I watched The Jeffersons through it's run, I've been more in tune with the AITF reruns in more recent years.

I'd like to think she's having a nice reunion with Carroll O'Connor.

[Classic]

We didn't even get to see George until episode 67 in October, 1973 (Thanks to the "Classic Sitcoms" book).

Wasn't it some other guy who played George back then, a dark skin guy?

I was floored to hear she was so much older that Sherman.

I didn't know she was that old. How much older than him was she?

[Meedis]

Awww...I'm really sorry to hear about Isabel Sanford's passing. She truly was one of the great ones. R.I.P. Weezie!

[bj1968]

Isabel was born in 1917 and Sherman was born in 1938, so she was 21 years older than him.

[Not4Me]

Another interesting fact is that Isabel Sanford was the first African-American woman to win an Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.

Wasn't it some other guy who played George back then, a dark skin guy?

Actually, that was George's brother who made visits to the Bunkers. Initially he pretended to be George when he met Archie because the real George said that he would never step foot inside a "honky" home.

[Meedis]

Isabel was born in 1917 and Sherman was born in 1938, so she was 21 years older than him.

Wow...I did see that on IMDB. She definitely looked good for her age then. I would've sworn she and George were around the same age.