JEFFERSONS: THE COMPLETE 4TH SEASON - DVD review

As the black Yang to Archie Bunker's Yin, the openly bigoted and hyperactive George Jefferson was even more of a double-edged caricature than his counterpart. Norman Lear introduced "The Jeffersons" as an "All in the Family" spin-off in 1975, thinking that the feisty Jefferson, with his distinctive rooster-strutting, arm-swinging walk, and his frequent come-uppances would hold a Bunkeresque appeal for audiences. He's a wheeler-dealer with a broken axel for a spine, and the show was driven by his personality foibles much more than "All in the Family," which was driven by social issues.

After going toe-to-toe with Archie as his neighbor in Queens, the Jeffersons went "movin' on up to a de-luxe apartment in the sky" when George's dry-cleaning business turned into a little empire of sorts. And Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) ran his household like a little emperor—even, this season, paying someone to create a bust of himself. Already the shortest member of the household, George found no shortage of people willing to cut him down to size. "Weezie" (Isabel Sanford), held her own against George's tirades, and so, for that matter, did Florence (Marla Gibbs), the family's maid who started as a live-in the third season and began to be even mouthier this fourth season. Audiences loved the banter between the maid and her cocky employer, and Florence got more air-time as a result. George: "Florence, I want to see you right now!" Florence: "Okay. Look in the kitchen."

The jokes also come as a result of the contrast between George and Weezie and their "Oreo" neighbors, black Helen Willis (Roxie Roker) and her white husband, Tom (Franklin Cover)—now related because Lionel Jefferson (Damon Evans) married the Willis's daughter, Jenny (Berlinda Tolbert). "Sesame Street" alum Paul Benedict gets more play as the Jeffersons' British neighbor across the hallway, Mr. Bentley, and Ralph, the doorman (Ned Wertimer) makes an occasional appearance, as does Mother Jefferson (Zara Cully). For all of the racial themes that occasionally emerge, this season also has moments that will probably irritate racially sensitive viewers. George's employee Leroy comes across as a Stepin Fetchit throwback, and Jefferson himself comes across more often as the fool than a shrewd businessman, loving husband, or complex thinker.

It's first year "The Jeffersons" finished #4 in the Nielsen's, but the show slipped to #21 its second season, then #24, then out of the Top-30 for a few years until the 1979-80 season when it cracked the Top-10 again. The highest the show finished was #3 in 1981-82—the year it was the highest-rated sitcom behind #1 "Dallas" and #2 "60 Minutes. The fourth season is better than the third in terms of the writing and the plots, but there's still too much reliance on the same old tired plots and caricatures.
Here's how the episodes shake out:

1-2) "The Grand Opening," Parts 1 &2—George's advertisement to his own success backfires when two small-time criminals decide to kidnap his wife.

3) "Once a Friend"—Shock time, when George hooks up with an old Navy buddy, only to discover the he is now a she.

4) "George's Help"—When a jacket turns up missing, George instantly suspects the street kid whom Louise had helped land a job at Jefferson Cleaners.

5) "George's Legacy"—In an episode with some funny lines, George's ego takes a beating when he has a bust made of himself, ala Julius Caesar.

6) "Good News, Bad News"—When a job opens up at the Help Center where Louise has been volunteering, it's her ego that takes a bruising when the position goes to Helen instead.

7) "The Visitors"—Florence's parents visit for the weekend and provide more than a few fireworks in this funny episode.

8) "The Camp-Out"—To escape his mother, George decides to try his hand at camping, leaving Louise behind to deal with the fallout.

9) "The Last Leaf"—When Louise loses her wedding corsage and thinks their marriage is cursed, George tries everything to convince her otherwise.

10) "Louise's New Interest"—Louise gets passionate about American Indian archaeology as a volunteer at the museum, but her archaeologist boss gets passionate in a more romantic way. One of the less over-the-top episodes.

11) "The Costume Party"—In a classic George Jefferson plot of ambition (and deceit), the cleaner arranges for a deliberate spill in order to land the account of a chain of costume stores. The theme is interracial marriage.

12) "Florence Gets Lucky"—In a funny episode where the zingers keep coming, George asks Florence to keep up with the back-sass because a businessman he's trying to buy property from thinks it's hilarious.

13) "George Needs Help"—Louise puts the screws on George to spend less time at the cleaners, so he hires a general manager.

14) "The Jefferson Curve"—When Marcus at the store tells a girl he likes he's George's son, word gets back to the Jeffersons, who worry that their son, Lionel, might be having an affair.

15) "984 W. 124th St., Apt. 5-C"—This time it's George who's under suspicion for having an affair, but Louise is surprised to find out why he's been secretly spending time at this address in Harlem.

16) "George and Whitty"—Another Jefferson scheme goes awry when a dropped ant farm ruins George's attempts to negotiate a lease.

17) "Lionel Gets the Business"—If George thought the manager he hired was bad, wait until his son finally caves into pressure and joins the family business. Lionel's radical changes really rankle George.

18) "The Blackout"—Racial profiling gets a workout in this episode where George and Marcus are arrested while trying to defend the store against looters.

19) "Florence's Union"—George gets caught between a rock and a hard-Florence when he allows her to let her maid's union use the apartment, much to the annoyance of Mr. Whittendale.

20) "George and Jimmy"—George's ego lands him in trouble again. In this funny episode, he tries to invite Pres. Carter to his home, but comes across sounding like someone the Secret Service had better investigate.

21) "Thomas H. Willis & Co."—Helen gets caught in an awkward position after a fight with George, when she learns that the feisty Jefferson co-signed on Tom's business loan.

22) "Uncle George and Aunt Louise"—A semi-delinquent nephew comes to stay with the Jeffersons and wreaks the usual havoc.

23-25) "George and Louise in a Bind, Parts 1-3"—The nephew stay gets prolonged, and so does the time that George and Louise spend together after burglar's tie them up and hold them hostage.

26) "Jenny's Thesis"—Worried about Jenny because of the research she's doing on street gangs, George and Tom secretly tail her in Harlem to try to protect her.

Video: The colors have that slightly faded look that '70s film stock is susceptible to, but the quality is really pretty good. Though it was produced by the same person, "The Jeffersons" has a sharper picture quality than "All in the Family," though there's still some graininess.

Audio: The soundtrack is Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, with the center-speaker sound duplicated for left and right main speakers. The quality is decent—nothing extraordinary, nothing offensive.

Extras: There are no extras. Jive turkeys.

Bottom Line: More than "All in the Family," "The Jeffersons" is played deliberately over-the-top much of the time, with lines that make you conscious of them being lines spoken by actors rather than lines that make you believe the illusion of characters interacting, and performances that can seem as overly dramatic as a high-school or community theater play. The best episodes are actually the ones where the snappy lines completely take over, as when Florence gets a free pass to insult her boss all she wants, or episodes where the writers allow the characters to be more real and less caricatured. Season four has some entertaining moments, but when you begin and end the season with a multi-episode hostage crisis, it shows a lack of imagination—and that's the way this season plays out, for the most part.