Trivia / The Jeffersons

• The Character Died With Her: Zara Cully died during the fourth season, and Mother Jefferson was written out as having died also.
• Fake Brit: Paul Benedict, who played the English Harry Bentley, was American.
• Fake Mixed Race: Tom & Helen Willis are an interracial couple with two children. However, while their kids — daughter Jenny and son Allan — are biracial, their actors, Belinda Tolbert — who is 100% Black, and Andrew Rubin and Jay Hammer — who are 100% white, are not.
• I Am Not Spock:
  • Isabel Sanford rarely was seen outside of cameos and commercials pairing her with her on-screen husband after the show was cancelled. (Example: Sanford and Hemsley appeared as a joint Villain of the Week on an episode of Lois & Clark.)
  • Somewhat averted with Marla Gibbs and Sherman Hemsley, who went on to star in their own sitcoms afterwards; even they, however, continued to reprise their respective roles and pairings in commercials and cameos for years afterwards. Gibbs even came back for a live recreation of the pilot in 2019, shortly before her 88th birthday.
• Old Shame: Damon Evans came to regret taking the role of Lionel. He states that he would regularly miss rehearsals and didn't enjoy working on a sitcom.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Lionel was played by Mike Evans in season 1, Damon Evans (no relation) in seasons 2-4, and back to Mike Evans for seasons 6-8 (and a two-part season 11 guest appearance).
  • Tom, Helen, and Jenny Willis were all played by different actors in the All in the Family episode that introduced them ("Lionel's Engagement").
  • Allan Willis was played by Andrew Rubin as a one shot in season 1. He reappeared semi-regularly later in season 5, played by Jay Hammer.
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: Mike Evans left the show after the first season, only to return in time for the sixth. Since he co-created Good Times, which ended its run prior to the sixth season, the prevailing story is that he left to work on Good Times. Jimmie Walker stated that this was false, and that Mike Evans was actually released from his contract because he'd threatened to quit if he wasn't given more money and/or screentime. The fact that Mike Evans returned to the Jeffersons after Good Times ended, was just a coincidence.
• Quietly Cancelled: CBS did this without a proper finale after 11 seasons. The cast wasn't informed until after the last episode already aired, and Sherman Hemsley didn't know until he read about it in the newspaper.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: As detailed on The Other Wiki, the genesis of the show came about when three members of the Black Panthers who genuinely loved Lear's sitcoms came to visit him in his office and asked why every Black person on TV—including the ones on Lear's own Good Times—was portrayed as poor and constantly struggling to make ends meet. Lear took the meeting to heart and decided to create a show featuring a middle-class Black family.
• Reality Subtext: Roxie Roker's husband was white. When the producers asked if she was willing to play half of a mixed race couple, she pulled out a picture of her family and was hired on the spot (her son is Lenny Kravitz). Franklin Cover himself was also a part of an interracial marriage, married to a black woman Mary Bradford Stone.

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