The Jeffersons
The Blackout
TV Flash files “The Blackout” as hour 79 of 253 in the TV Flash guide — The Jeffersons (1975–1985) on CBS, season 4, episode 18, aired 1978-01-21, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E18: listed hour 79 of 253 in the The Jeffersons guide, hour 18 of 26 in season 4. It aired 1978-01-21 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Lionel Gets the Business” (S04E17). Next is “Florence's Union” (S04E19).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
George and Marcus visit one of the cleaning stores during a blackout to prevent looting, but things go from bad to worse.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Blackout sit in the The Jeffersons guide?
S04E18 is listed hour 79 of 253 — hour 18 of 26 in season 4, season 4 episode 18.
When did The Jeffersons S04E18 air?
The Blackout aired 1978-01-21 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Do I need All in the Family first?
No. The Jeffersons is a clean CBS spin-off: George and Louise have already moved on up. The parent series adds origin flavor, not required homework.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford take Lear's living-room fight to a deluxe apartment in the sky, with Marla Gibbs's Florence refusing to eat anyone's dignity. Eleven seasons of Black upward-mobility comedy, interracial neighbors, and a theme that still sells real estate. Movin' on up as sitcom empire, not a one-season novelty.
The deluxe-apartment premiere is not a novelty stunt. It is a structural promotion: George and Louise Jefferson leave Queens for a Manhattan high-rise after the dry-cleaning money hits, and Norman Lear's race-and-class sitcom goes upstairs with them. CBS's The Jeffersons (1975–1985) spun out of All in the Family and ran eleven seasons, 253 episodes — among the longest-running U.S. sitcoms with a primarily Black cast of its era. Sherman Hemsley's George is the loudmouth antihero; Isabel Sanford's Weezy keeps the…
Filed against
- Sherman Hemsley as George Jefferson
Sherman Hemsley’s George Jefferson took Lear’s living-room fight to a deluxe apartment in the sky — Isabel Sanford, Florence’s dignity, a theme that still sells real estate — then strutted Amen in a deacon’s suit as church-board warfare.…
- Isabel Sanford as Louise 'Weezy' Jefferson
Isabel Sanford's Louise 'Weezy' Jefferson took Lear's living-room fight to a deluxe apartment in the sky — Sherman Hemsley, Marla Gibbs's Florence refusing to eat anyone's dignity, eleven seasons of Black upward-mobility comedy,…
- Roxie Roker as Helen Willis
Roxie Roker's Helen Willis moved The Jeffersons into a deluxe apartment in the sky as interracial-neighbor weather — Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford taking Lear's living-room fight upstairs, Marla Gibbs's Florence refusing anyone's…
- Franklin Cover as Tom Willis
Franklin Cover moved on up as Tom Willis on The Jeffersons — deluxe apartment in the sky, interracial neighbors, Lear living-room fight with Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford, Marla Gibbs's Florence refusing anyone's dignity diet. TV…
- Marla Gibbs as Florence Johnston
Marla Gibbs’s Florence Johnston refused to eat anyone’s dignity on The Jeffersons — deluxe apartment, Lear living-room fight, a theme that still sells real estate — then ran 227’s stoop as neighborhood plot engine. Eleven seasons of…