When they moved out of Queens and into their "deluxe apartment in the sky" George and Louise Jefferson made TV history as the first upwardly mobile African-American couple to star in their own weekly series. A spin-off of 'All In the Family', 'The Jefferson' began its ground-breaking, Emmy-winning, ten-year run on American television in September 1975 and remained a Nielsen ratings hit until it left the airwaves in 1985.



The new two-disc set features the first season's 13 episodes starring Sherman Hemsley as the obnoxiously egotistical George Jefferson and Isabel Sanford, who won an Emmy Award in 1981 as his levelheaded, sarcastic wife Louise - known best to George and the show's millions of fans as "Weezy." In addition to her win, Sanford was nominated seven times for her performances, and the show received a total of 13 Emmy nominations.



Created by prolific television producer Norman Lear, George and Louise Jefferson were originally neighbors of Archie and Edith Bunker. Their special guest spots on "All In the Family" proved so popular that it was a natural to star them in their own situation comedy. The new DVD release marks the first time that the first season has been available as a single boxed set, and offers each episode in an uncut format that showcases one of America's most influential television comedies as it was originally presented.