I just got done watching the episode involving the Klu Klux Klan. I'm amazed at the placement of where this episode was in the series. This seems more of one that would be earlier in the series where they were doing controversial topics as appose to the silly lighthearted episodes of the latter half of the series...
shareNo it just showed that even though The Jeffersons moves away from the topic of race by the late 70's this episode being from I believe 1981, showed that racism still very much existed. I actually like that episode it had a strong message, and even though I'm a James Karen fan but disliked his character he was great. The show really did shift a lot by 1978 I would say and for the better. It wasn't just identified as a black sitcom it was a TV show.
My job is to inform, not persuade- Dan Rather
Why would you think that? Try to remember that George and Tom weren't really friends at the beginning. By that time this episode aired they were. I have to say that I was impressed with Tom at the meeting. Usually Tom was a softy, but he spoke his mind this time. I always wondered how everyone felt about doing that episode.
shareI remember that episode had my teenage crush as the racist man's son.. (Ike Eisenmann) who some of you may remember from the "Witch Mountain" movies.
sharerndgurl-971-654277...good call. I forgot Ike was in that episode. I see him on occasion, next time I do I'll ask him about the episode. Very nice guy.
sharethat's cool.. lucky u... :-)
shareHe had that episode on youtube for awhile, then it was taken down. Very good episode. Notice that Helen wasn't in it for some reason.
shareMaybe it just depended on when the script got a green light and they just thought it was a good time to do it. This was during the 1980-1 season, which was a new decade and maybe they wanted to do an episode that showed there are still racist people like the KKK around. I didn't have a problem with it.
shareI think there is another reason for it. The episode also dealt with CPR, which was pretty new at the time (yeah, All in the Family did it a few years before), but I think more and more people were taking classes on it by then who were not nurses. The whole payoff is that Herbert and his son Dwayne do not want to participate because Louise and Florence touched Annie and Herbert insults them by calling them the n word. They are asked to leave so they don't learn the technique. Later, at the Klan meeting, when Herbert has a heart attack Stanley asks Dwayne about the CPR course they took but Dwayne admits they left early and asks if anyone else knows what to do. George does since he took the class himself and decides to save the racist's life, although when he finds out, he doesn't thank George for that, but his son did, as well as rip up the pamphlet and throw it in the trash where it belonged. So they used the Klan here, but also something a little more modern, I think. There were a few episodes later on that were serious, like the Strays and when George's old girlfriend comes to kill George.
shareIt was also explained that Helen was in Connecticut visiting her cousin. And I loved the message of the episode, especially at the end where the teen son denounced his father.
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