Saturday, April 20, 2019

They're movin' on back!: The Jeffersons & the Bunkers return

This has sweeps stunt written all over it, and the internet seems to be divided.

"It" is a one-night only return of two of Norman Lear's classic sitcoms from the 70's, All in The Family & one of its most enduring spin-offs, The Jeffersons. On Wednesday, May 22, ABC will present a live, 90-minute special recreating classic episodes of both series.

The mastermind behind this project is late night host Jimmy Kimmel, who made the announcement on his show on Thursday. Kimmel also revealed a large chunk of the cast for the special.

For All in The Family, Woody Harrelson (ex-Cheers, True Detective) and Marisa Tomei ("Spider-Man: Homecoming") will fill Archie & Edith Bunker's chairs, with Ellie Klemper as Gloria.

For The Jeffersons, Wanda Sykes will play Louise opposite Jamie Foxx (Beat Shazam) as George. Will Ferrell will play neighbor Tom Willis.

While acknowledging that the two series are products of their era, there is concern online that Kimmel will use the special to make not-so-subtle statements against President Trump. Kimmel and CBS counterpart Stephen Colbert have both made Trump a very public punching bag in their monologues, but we'll see come May 22 if those fears are justified.

For now, we'll leave you with a season 1 intro from The Jeffersons:

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