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Sitcom following a successful African-American couple, George and Louise “Weezyö Jefferson as they “move on up” from working-class Queens to a ritzy Manhattan apartment. A spin-off of All in the Family.
1982
George is in a price war with Big Sky Cleaners and they are no holds bar. A representative from Big Sky comes to the Jefferson's apartment offering to buy George out and he refuses. When Big Sky comes out with a 1,000,000 customer gimmick George tries to find his own gimmick and people with ""talent"" swamp the apartment including a bearded lady and a lion tamer. But when Louise goes down to Big Sky to end this battle she becomes the 1,000,000 customer. This leads George to decide to sell out.
George has decided to sell out to Big Sky Cleaners and he begins to hang around the apartment like he already has retired. This drives Florence and Louise up the wall since he has gotten into the habit of giving advice to everyone he meets. However, pretty soon, George has second thoughts about giving up his business.
When Tom gets his pants back from Jefferson Cleaners with a stain on them, he wants a refund however George refuses to pay for the pants, charging it was Tom's fault for leaving a candy bar in the pocket. This leads them to take their case to a TV court show.
Florence is unsure of the future when she realizes she doesn't have any financial security. This prompts her to ask George for a pension plan, something George flatly refuses.
Charlie wants George to provide him with a loan for some improvements on his bar. George refuses but does offer him some advice on how to get some more business, including hiring waitresses and dressing them provocatively. This leads Charlie to go to Tom who goes in on the deal and quickly the bar is buzzing with business, something George now wants a part of.
Louise is not looking forward to the visit of one of George's best friends, Johnny Moore, due to the fact that she can't stand his chauvinistic jokestar mannerisms. Things get worse when she inadvertantly gets him to stay at the Jeffersons' apartment during his stay in New York.
At a party thrown by the Willis, the guest of honor, Joe Blake, a successful author, asks Florence out and she can't wait to go out with him. However, soon after he takes her away on their date, Tom and Helen let George and Louise know the fact that he was in prison for murdering his girlfriend.
For George's birthday, Louise books herself, George and Florence on a murder mystery cruise ship for mystery novelists, thus George pretends to be a novelist. George is having fun trying to solve a murder mystery until an apparant ""real"" murder occurs.
The novelists try to solve the apparent ""real"" murder with George trying his best to solve it as well. When it is determind that the victim, Edgar, was poisoned the crew deduces that the Duchess did it, however in the end George discovers the real culprit.
George stops by 8-B, Ms. Sanderson's apartment, to drop off her cleaning bid but soon after he leaves, Ralph stops by and hears Ms. Sanderson having sex with a man named George and Ralph quickly jumps to the wrong conclusion.
Louise discovers some old poems the George once wrote and has them bound in a book. However, in order to get it bound she must order a number of copies, copies which get circulated around to those living in the building. George is furious however his attitude changes when a publisher takes an interest in his poems.
George's investment advice for Tom proves fruitful and puts Helen in a fur coat. This prompts Florence to want to make some money so she asks George for advice. However, since she doesn't have enough money for investing, he suggests she go in on the venture with the other maids in the building. The results of the ordeal prove to be less that satisfying, for George anyway.
While going through a box of momentos, George refuses to allow Louise to see a certain picture and decides to put it in his store safe. Determind to see it and with Helen in tow, Louise tries to break into the store safe but both her and Helen end up in jail.
Florence runs into an old classmate, Pauline, and finds that she has married money. This prompts a jealous Florence to say that she too married wealth, George. This leads to Louise posing as the maid and Florence posing as Louise when Pauline comes over for dinner.
George forgets to pick up opera tickets and this leads to Louise and Helen comparing him to the ""thoughful"" Tom. A miffed George spills the beans about Tom buying an insurance policy and has made a cousin the beneficiary, a cousin who is a racist and is against Tom and Helen's marriage.
With the Help Center on its last legs, Louise and Helen desperately try to find someone who could make a sizeable donation to keep the Help Center going. This prompts Louise to go to her ex-employer, Lillian Warren, whom Louise worked for as a maid and who treated her like a piece of furniture.
Jenny is depressed that no one will take a chance on her fashion designs so she stops by the Jefferson's apartment for a visit. Meanwhile, George's bodyguard, Hugo, is determined to find love now that, as he puts it, is in the spring of his life. When he runs into Jenny he falls for her and is determined to make her his even though she's married.
George and Louise prepare for a visit from their foster son, Jimmy. However, they are in for the shock of their lives when they discover their foster son is a grown man who's supposedly been using the money they've sent them on his education.
One evening while playing poker, George and his buddies make a mess of the living room throwing food all over. This prompts Florence to stay up all night cleaning up after George's mess which is why she is exhausted the next morning. This leads George to make a bet with Florence stating that he can do in three hours what she does in a day.
The good life is striking everyone, George has hit success with the stocks allowing Louise to get a ring she wanted, Tom has just gotten a new client and Helen has just been pampered at a spa where she met famous celebrities. Wanting in on the ""good life"" Florence shells out enough money to go to the spa wanting to meet celebrities and unknowingly runs into Gladys Knight.
A young boy befriends Louise and Helen and they become convinced that he has a crush on one of them but the real reason he befriended them was to get to George. He wants to ask George if he would participate in a father-son bowling tournament, since his father is supposedly dead. However, the boy does indeed have a father who's alive, but not-so well, he's a parapalegic.
On the night of a big banquet for Tom, George runs out at the last minute to do an errand at his store in Queens. Once there, we're taken back to 1968 and witness the grand opening of Jefferson Cleaners and we see how George earned his first dollar.
George is trying to drum up some cleaning business from a famous fashion designer, Camille Hendricks. George tricks Jenny into swinging by the apartment to meet her in order to show her some of her designs, however Jenny is unprepared for this unexpected surprise.
George is in yet another promotional battle with Cunningham. This time Cunningham has hired a popular soap star to boost sales, so for competition, George tries to get celebrities too. However, his idea may get him in trouble with the law when he hires celebrity look alikes and is going to try to pass them off as the real thing.
An auction is held to raise money for the Help Center and Florence gets a big surprise when she discovers $2500 stuffed under the lining of a hat that she buys. Florence turns the money into the police, hoping no one will claim it and no one does. However, just as Florence thinks she'll get to keep the money, an apparent owner arrives at the apartment.
When Florence asks for enough money to purchase a new TV set, George flatly refuses. She tries again, this time politly asking and again, George refuses. This leads to George having a dream about entering the gates of heaven after Florence makes a comment that he'll never get by those gates if she held the key.
When her marriage gets into a rut, Louise tries to spice up her marriage by trying to get George to spend some time with her. However, her idea of spending time turns into a disaster when they get into a bicycling accident landing them both with a broken leg.
1983
George has a reunion with some old navy buddies and the fact that Tom has become so gullible becomes a topic of discussion. This leads his old pals to talk him into playing a little con game on Tom to teach him a lesson. However, the con becomes a little to real when George's old pals, Lloyd and Allan make off with $15,000 of Tom's money. Tom fears that Helen will divorce him if she finds out since this was money which was to be used for a down payment on a house that has come up on the market.
A furious Tom almost kills George when he learns he's been hustled out of $15,000, money that he had planned to use to make a down payment on a house. George calls in Jimmy to help him get Tom's money back. Jimmy talks George and Tom into flying out to Los Angeles, where Lloyd and Allan have fled. Once there, they meet Jimmy's cousin, a crafty man who has a well planned out way of getting Tom's money back. Meanwhile, Florence, who knows what George and Tom are up too, tells Louise and Helen and they rush to Los Angeles.
Jimmy's cousin puts his plan into effect which includes getting Lloyd and Allan to believe that Los Angeles is going to be hit by a military attack from a neighboring country. However, the plan could be ruined when Louise, Helen and Florence arrive in Los Angeles.
Tom and Helen are hosting a seminar for newlyweds, a job that George learns that he could be doing if Louise hadn't passed on it without telling him. However, when Tom falls ill, George gets his chance of showing newlyweds how to keep the spice in a marriage, something Louise won't belive until she sees it.
Florence and her friend, Betty go down to the museum in hopes of landing millionaires. Florence is surprised when a millionaire follows her home and begins showering her with expensive gifts. However, his true intentions prove to be extremely painful to Florence.
Louise is eyeing the Volunteer of the Year award for her work down at the Help Center. She's hopeful that she'll win since last year, Mrs. Van Morris beat her out and this year Mrs. Van Morris was away on a cruise. However, Mrs. Van Morris comes back just in time to sway the award toward her side by donating $2500 to the Help Center.
The Jeffersons and the Willis' are all excited with the news that Harry Bentley is returning to New York. However, Mr. Whittendale is the one person who is standing in the way of Harry getting his old apartment back and George quickly joins Whittendale's bandwagon when the new occupant of Bentley's old apartment could make George a lot of money.
George gets a letter from an old friend who had made a bet with George years ago that he could accomplish everything on life goal list before George. This leads George to dig out his old list and finds that there is one thing he hasn't done, get even with a bully that picked on him when he was a kid.
For his latest promotion, George decides to hold a beauty contest to find Miss Jefferson Cleaners. Meanwhile, George's 10-year lease on his stores is up and Mr. Whittendale holds the new lease but he will only give it to George if his punk rocker niece wins the beauty contest.
Refusing to go Christmas caroling with Louise, Helen, Florence and Harry, George and Tom sit home decorating the tree. This prompts reminiscing about Christmas' of the past, spent with their fathers.
Louise discovers that Sammy Davis, Jr. is renting the apartment across the hall in order to get some peace and quiet from his fans. However, an ecstatic Louise has a hard time keeping his secret a secret.
George needs a new gimmick for his dry cleaning business, so he decides to hire Walter, an artist, to put together a animated commercial. However, Walter's job with George is threatened when Louise discovers that he can't read.
Florence is sad because George and Louise are going on a vacation to Atlantic City without her but she soon finds herself in the middle of excitement when she allows police officers to use the Jefferson's apartment to stakeout the neighbors across the street. However, Florence soon finds her self in danger landing her in the hospital.
Louise, Helen and Florence are in awe of the instructor of their self defense class, due to his rugged manly ways. This leads George and Tom to prove they are too are manly and they decide to go on a hunting trip. However, after not getting anything on the trip they hire a taxidermy company to bring in stuffed animals and brag that they caught them.
Louise has had it with George who breaks all his previous engagements with Tom and Mr. Bentley to go golfing on Saturday. This prompts Louise to daydream what it would be like to be in George's shoes and not care about the feelings of those around him.
Florence manages to get George to become the manager of a struggling singing sister group. However, on their opening night, the place where George booked them turns out to be a country western bar and the reception from the audience is less than welcome.
Florence is excited when she learns that her 18 year old cousin, Rhonda, is coming to New York for a visit. This leads Louise and Florence to trick George into allowing her to stay with them. However, her plans for a short visit change when she decides to live permanently in New York. This leads to an argument with Florence which follows with Rhonda moving out and getting a job as a mud wrestler.
George is all excited about having a magazine expose done on him and his cleaning business. However, the magazine wants to present a non-stereo typical view of blacks, and this is a problem for Otis, a shoeshine man who has his stand right out side of George's Harlem store.
Ralph, the doorman, wants a raise and Louise and George give him the confidence he needs to ask Mr. Whittendale. However, the results are totally unexpected to him, when Mr. Whittendale announces, the fact that he will no longer be needed since they're going to install an automatic elevator.
Louise finds a perfume soaked letter in the mail to George from an old girlfriend. After a discussion, Louise decides to allow him to meet with her, which turns out to be a big mistake. Almost as soon as she arrives, she pulls a gun on him with intent to kill him.
Tom and Helen's 30th wedding anniversary is anything but happy when they get into a big argument over where they should go to spend the day together. They finally decide to go to the hotel where they spent their honeymoon. However, once they arrive, thing go from bad to worse.
Jimmy arrives at the Jeffersons' apartment with a bag full of gambling chips and a wild story of how he got them. However, George is ready to kill him, when he discovers the chips aren't Jimmy's and a collector is on their tale ready to repossess the chips at all costs.
Isabel Sanford
Louise Jefferson
Sherman Hemsley
George Jefferson
Roxie Roker
Helen Woodroow Willis
Franklin Cover
Thomas "Tom" Willis
Paul Benedict
Harry Bentley
Marla Gibbs
Florence Johnston
