Alas, childhood memories can be fickle things. I probably haven't seen The Jeffersons since reruns in the 1980s, but I remember it as being quite hysterical. Maybe it was, in its first few seasons. But after watching The Jeffersons: The Complete Sixth Season, I have to downgrade this particular season of the hit comedy from "hysterical" to just "mildly amusing." There's nothing inherently wrong with the show. The situations are still the same, the set-ups are still the same, and the actors are still the same (with the welcome return this season of the original Lionel Jefferson, actor Mike Evans). All the elements that made the show so funny in its premiere, are still there. Perhaps that's why it's only just amusing, five seasons later.

Series creator and producer Norman Lear, who was minting money in the early seventies with TV hits like All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Maude (a spin-off of All in the Family), and Good Times, a spin-off of a spin-off (Maude), returned to his original cash cow, All in the Family, and decided he could spin-off another element of that groundbreaking sitcom. For years, a major source of aggravation for bigot Archie Bunker was his next-door neighbor, black bigot George Jefferson (while George's sweet wife, Louise Jefferson, was a source of great comfort for Archie's much put-upon wife, Edith). Lear reasoned correctly that these two popular supporting players on the number one show in the country would make a great pair for their own series, and in January, 1975, he spun off George and Louise Jefferson into The Jeffersons, as a mid-season replacement (the excellent Grant Tinker/Mary Tyler Moore series, Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers had failed to find a large enough audience despite its powerhouse line-up). George and Louise Jefferson, as their stone-cold groove theme song told us, were movin' on up to the East Side (of New York), to a de-luxe apartment in the sky.

Entering the famed Saturday night CBS line-up, with All in the Family starting things off, then The Jeffersons, followed by The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, and The Carol Burnett Show, The Jeffersons offered just enough diversity to add spice to the night, and it immediately secured huge ratings, landing 4th in the Nielsen's for the entire year, even though it only played for half a season. However, CBS, in a move that would indicate future disregard for The Jeffersons, started to shuffle the show around (while not keeping it close to All in the Family), eroding its ratings to the point that by the end of its fifth season, The Jeffersons had been out of the Top Thirty for two years. For this sixth season, someone at CBS decided to try and save the series by getting The Jeffersons back close to its original inspiration. At the beginning of the 1979-1980 season, The Jeffersons joined CBS's powerhouse Sunday night line-up, which included 60 Minutes (the number one show in the country that year), Archie Bunker's Place, One Day at a Time, Alice, and Trapper John, M.D. - all Top Twenty Nielsen smashes. The Jeffersons couldn't help but climb back into the Nielsen's, landing 8th for the entire year. It was a spectacular resurrection for the show - a resurrection that owed more to its time slot rather than to any noticeable improvement in the show.

It's tough to actively dislike this sixth season of The Jeffersons. Sherman Hemsley is still awfully funny as strutting bantam rooster George Jefferson. He's really a big part of the show's appeal, and he's effortlessly funny and annoying at the same time. It may surprise new viewers, raised on the "nanny culture" P.C. nonsense that rules network TV today, to hear George freely refer to whites as "honkies," and mixed-race people as "zebras" (as well as hearing the laugh track go insane), without getting punished for it, but by this sixth season, George has mellowed considerably (from what I understand, that move was dictated by Hemsley himself, who felt George should grow as a character). George makes efforts here to become better friends with his son Lionel's wife, Jenny Willis Jefferson (the lovely Berlinda Tolbert), despite his fear that his coming grandson may be a "zebra" (Jenny is the daughter of next-door neighbors Tom, who is white, and Helen, who is black). And sassy wise-ass maid Florence (Marla Gibbs) is still a giant pain in the ass to George. Reluctant to work, and never one to let a slam go uncracked, Florence is probably the character most fondly remembered by the fans, and she's still as funny here as she was at the beginning of the show. Louise (Isabel Sanford), or "Wheezy," as she's lovingly referred to by George, is still foghorned-voiced, and sweet, and an equalizing force in blowhard George's life. The Willis, Tom (Franklin Cover) and Helen (Roxie Roker) are still coming to the door at the exact wrong time, sending George for cover, while Mr. Bentley (Paul Benedict) is still delightfully "British" (i.e.: weird).

All the elements are here in The Jeffersons: The Complete Sixth Season, but there's no denying that the stories are getting tired, and the one-liners forced after six years. All the set-ups stay fairly the same, including short, balding jokes for George; lazy, smart-mouth jokes for Florence; honky/zebra jokes for the Willises; and meddling, annoying jokes aimed at Louise. By now, the appeal of the show has to be "the anticipation of the repetition." There have been a lot of successful shows that traded on their audiences' willingness to be entertained exactly the same way, season in and season out, year after year. And The Jeffersons certainly fulfilled that low expectation. Much more a straight-ahead farce at this point, rather than any kind of socially relevant comedy, The Jeffersons: The Complete Sixth Season is the epitome of the low-cruising sitcom that doesn't demand anything from its viewers. It seems to be saying, "If you just tune in, we'll give you 23 minutes to zone out on, and you may get a chuckle or two out of it in the bargain." It's not a disreputable goal to strive for, but it usually doesn't make for knock-out TV shows. And that's pretty much the legacy of at least this season of The Jeffersons: familiarity and mild amusement.

DISC ONE:

The Announcement
Lionel and Jenny are thrilled to be expecting a baby, but they're afraid to tell George for fear he'll make jokes about the baby's color.

A Short Story
George has been selected to receive an award from the small businessmen's association, not realizing that he is being honored for his short stature.

Louise's Old Boyfriend
Louise is afraid that George won't approve of her having lunch with an old boyfriend, so Florence goes in her place and pretends that she's Louise.

Now You See It, Now You Don't (Part 1)
On Halloween, Louise looks through Mr. Bentley's telescope out on the balcony and sees a man murder someone -- while dressed in a rabbit costume.

Now You See It, Now You Don't (Part 2)
After the others have left for the costume party, Louise is left alone and is shocked to discover the Killer Rabbit has tracked her down.

Where's Pappa?
George makes arrangements to move his late father's grave, but then Louise and Florence find out the original grave marker has been lost.

The Expectant Father
When Jenny, Lionel and their parents meet with a baby furniture salesman, Lionel panics about becoming a new father and storms out.

Joltin' George
While teaching an employee how to box, George has a run-in at the gym with a fellow boxer and is challenged to settle it in the ring.

Baby Love
Being around pregnant Jenny has Florence's biological clock ticking so she joins a video dating service in order to land a potential husband and father.

DISC TWO:

Louise vs. Florence
Just as George is about to host a dinner party for a wealthy couple, Florence and Louise have a huge argument about each other's annoying habits.

Me and Mr. G.
The Jeffersons open up their home to an orphan girl who only responds to George. But when his prejudices start to rub off on the child, she's taken away.

One Flew Into the Cuckoo's Nest
When George makes a delivery to a mental institution, one of the inmates escapes with his laundry bag and George is mistaken for one of the patients.

Louise's Setback
Excited about being interviewed on television for her work with the suicide hotline. Louise unintentionally neglects a teenage girl who tries to kill herself.

Brother Tom
Tom feels left out when Helen entertains two old friends from high school, so he asks George to teach him how to "act black" in order to fit in.

The Arrival (Part 1)
With Lionel at a job interview, George reluctantly takes Jenny to her Lamaze class, where she goes into labor after everyone else has gone home.

The Arrival (Part 2)
While friends and family members are rushing to the hospital for the birth of the baby, it's left to George to be in the delivery room with Jenny.

The Shower
Jenny is convinced that Lionel is a workaholic when he abruptly leaves little Jessica's baby shower and rushes off to the office.

DISC THREE:

The Longest Day
When the women spend the day at a fashion show, the men stay at home to watch the baby -- with disastrous results.

George's Birthday
On his birthday, George hangs out at Charlie's bar, depressed that he has no friends and unaware that Louise is planning a big surprise party for him.

A Night to Remember
For their wedding anniversary, George and Louise plan to spend a romantic evening at a hotel but instead they have a huge fight over George's lack of honesty.

The Loan
Lionel wants to secure a bank loan all by himself, but one by one, George, Louise, Tom, and Helen visit the bank to secretly co-sign for him.

Louise Takes a Stand
The lease for Charlie's bar is up, and George intends to take advantage of the space in order to expand his dry cleaners -- but not if Louise can help it!

The First Store
Louise and George reminisce about the lean years, when George was trying to open his first store in Harlem in the aftermath of Martin Luther King's assassination.

Once Upon a Time
George reads a bedtime story to his granddaughter Jessica, imagining himself as King George, with all his friends and family as various members of his court.

The DVD:

The Video:
I was a little concerned when I started the first disc of The Jeffersons: The Complete Sixth Season; the first two episodes had a fuzzy jerkiness to the characters' movements that indicated either a really bad transfer or worse, time compression. But the rest of the episodes smoothed out, and the problem disappeared (I checked the disc on several players, as well, to be certain it wasn't my equipment). Still, The Jeffersons was never a great show to look at, with really cheap video and bland, blah art direction. The full-frame video image looks about as good as you're ever going to get here.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English 2.0 mono soundtrack is an accurate reflection of the original broadcast presentation. There are no subtitles, but your TV's close-captioning option works here.

The Extras:
There are no extras for The Jeffersons: The Complete Sixth Season.

Final Thoughts:
Rabid fans of The Jeffersons will obviously want to complete their collection by buying this trim little box set. But the uninitiated and those who dimly remember the series should rent it first before they commit to buy; unfortunately, by this sixth season, the series was running out of steam. Rent The Jeffersons: The Complete Sixth Season.