The Jeffersons first aired in January of 1975 on CBS as a mid-season replacement. The series was a spinoff of All in the Family in which the Jeffersons were Archie and Edith Bunker's next door neighbors.

In 1975, The Jeffersons moved on up when George found success in a dry cleaning business. This allowed him and his wife, Louise and their son Lionel to "move on up" into a spacious high rise apartment. At the beginning of the series, Lionel was attending college and graduated in February 1976. He married Jenny Willis in December of the same year and they had a daughter in 1979, Jessica Jefferson.

Other members of the cast include, Tom and Helen Willis were upstairs neighbors and also Jenny's parents. Florence Johnston was the Jefferson's sassy maid who was hired as a part-time maid in the first episode but in October 1976 moved in and became a full-time maid. Mother Jefferson was George's fiesty mother who forever put Louise down but deep down loved her. Harry Bentley was the British, next door neighbor. Besides being quite eccentric and forever borrowing things from the Jeffersons, Bentley worked as a translator at the United Nations. In 1981, Bentley was written out as being transferred to Russia, but returned in 1983. Ralph was the building doorman who forever begged for tips from George and the other tennents in the building.

Tom and Helen Willis were controversial characters since they were most likely TV's first interracial couple. Helen was Louise's best friend and they ran a Help Center which opened in 1977. As for Tom and George, it took the entire run of the series to develop their love/hate friendship.


The series was unceremoniously pulled from the air with no warning, so the cast, bitter that they never got to shoot an appropriate finale episode, later reunited for a theatrical stage play. Sherman and Isabel also reprised their roles as George and Louise Jefferson on a couple episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the mid-90's and have most recently reprised their roles on Denny's commercials.

Spinoff of: All in the Family

Spinoffs: Checking In

CBS Broadcast History

January-August 1975----Saturdays----8:30 p.m.
September 1975-October 1976----Saturdays----8:00 p.m.
November 1976-January 1977----Wednesdays----8:00 p.m.
January 1977-August 1977----Mondays----8:00 p.m.
September 1977-March 1978----Saturdays----9:00 p.m.
April-May 1978----Saturdays----8:00 p.m.
June-September 1978----Mondays----8:00 p.m.
September 1978-January 1979----Wednesdays----8:00 p.m.
January-March 1979----Wednesdays----9:30 p.m.
March-June 1979----Wednesdays----8:00 p.m.
June 1979-September 1982----Sundays----9:30 p.m.
September 1982-December 1984----Sundays----9:00 p.m.
January-March 1985----Tuesdays----8:00 p.m.
June-July 1985----Tuesdays----8:00 p.m.


Nielsen Ratings:
(Top 30 or Better)

#4 in the 1974-1975 Season
#21 in the 1975-1976 Season
#24 in the 1976-1977 Season
#8 in the 1979-1980 Season
#6 in the 1980-1981 Season
#3 in the 1981-1982 Season
#12 in the 1982-1983 Season
#19 in the 1983-1984 Season
#56 in the 1984-1985 Season

Never hit the top 30

First Telecast: January 18, 1975
Last Telecast: July 23, 1985

Episodes: 253 Color Episodes

Theme Song: "Movin' On Up"

Written by: Jeff Barry and Ja'net DuBois
Sung by: Ja'net DuBois

Well we're movin on up,to the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up, to the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.

Fish don't fry in the kitchen;
Beans don't burn on the grill.
Took a whole lotta tryin', just to get up that hill.
Now we're up in the big leagues, gettin' our turn at bat.
As long as we live, it's you and me baby,
and there ain't nothin' wrong with that.

Well we're movin on up, to the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up, to the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.