The Jeffersons
A Secret in the Back Room
TV Flash files “A Secret in the Back Room” as hour 246 of 253 in the TV Flash guide — The Jeffersons (1975–1985) on CBS, season 11, episode 17, aired 1985-03-19, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S11E17: listed hour 246 of 253 in the The Jeffersons guide, hour 17 of 24 in season 11. It aired 1985-03-19 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Hail to the Chief” (S11E16). Next is “That Blasted Cunningham” (S11E18).
Viewer FAQ
Where does A Secret in the Back Room sit in the The Jeffersons guide?
S11E17 is listed hour 246 of 253 — hour 17 of 24 in season 11, season 11 episode 17.
When did The Jeffersons S11E17 air?
A Secret in the Back Room aired 1985-03-19 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…