I agree.I was never a huge fan of The Cosby Show.It didn't have the edge and the slick humor that The Jeffersons had.

vainandy said:

"The Jeffersons" was much better. "The Cosby Show" was too middle class, family friendly, and ordinary.

I prefer The Jeffersons also. I still watch them. Even have the box set of the whole series. The only thing that turned me off about The Jeffersons is George had to use the word "honkey" in just about every episode for the first half dozen seasons. I was glad when they eventually took that word out of the script. It was shocking and even funny the first couple of times but it soon got old.

As far as The Cosby Show, I have not watched any of those episodes since their first run. I appreciate it because it was the first show to portray black famalies that weren't poor and down-trodden or came from that background. But, I always thought the show was rather corny.

See I think that it's an unfair comparison now since I believe a lot of people are starting to disconnect what they admired the most about the Cosby show due to Bill Cosby's personal issues/sins. The Jefferson's were slap stick funny, and it was funny seeing someone speak their mind and show unbridled confidence, but you could see people you knew in Cosby you could place yourself in family situation, there was somekind of familiarity in what was said and how it was said. I never placed myself in the Jefferson's world.

The Cosby Show was one of the best and funniest shows ever but i gotta go with The Jefferson's. Both shows were funny, entertaining and did a pretty good job of addressing social issues. Me personally, i could relate more to The Jeffersons than i could The Cosby's. That's kind of strange considering i was roughly the same age as the oldest Cosby children. The thing is i (like a number of other black folks and people in general) didn't really grow up in a Cosby like environment. So even though the Cosby show was mainly entertainment, i still had somewhat of a hard time relating to that Cosby experience. As far as The Jeffersons? I was young(around 8 or 9) when it first aired but even being that young i could feel the realness of the characters and the show. Not so much because of the subject matters or any particular situation but because of the characters personalities. They somewhat felt like people from the neighborhood. They felt relatable.


Of course I'm only speaking on my experiences(in regards to being black and not having a Cosby like upbringing).

Anyway, at first glance, I'm sure quite a few people would say that the Cosby show was the more socially aware of the two shows. I'm not so sure though. The Jeffersons constantly touched on all kinds of controversial subjects. Things like gang violence, racism, sexuality, politics, etc. Shoot if i remember correctly, they even had a episode that dealt with transsexualism. Back then(and hell, even today)that was pretty bold. Most of that stuff was done with humor and didn't get too deep but the main thing is they did address it.


Also, on which show was more enjoyable on a entertainment level? I would say The Jeffersons were. I will say this. The Bill Cosby, Raven Symone, keisha knight pulliam and Deon Richmond(kenny)characters were extremely, extremely funny. I still gotta give it to The Jeffersons though.


Anyway, i was thinking of this one episode of The Jefferson's in particular. The one where George Jefferson saves the ungrateful KKK dude. If i remember correctly, dude was on the gurney and when he found out that a black man(George)had saved him, he said something to the effect of you should have let me die. . IDK but after all these years that episode still gets me thinking. The Jeffersons dealt with race a lot(hell, George was somewhat of a racist) but that one episode. That one got to me.



Regardless of all of this. Its a shame that Bill Cosby tarnished his legacy by doing whatever it is that he did...

[Edited 9/7/16 1:58am]

I don't think the Cosby Show was meant to be funny the way the Jeffersons were

Marla Gibs said she did not know what to expect from Sherman Hemsley when they read through their Pilot script...She said he was almost "bland"...When it was time for Lights, Camera, Action he became George...Sherman was a HIT on 3 shows All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Amen....I read years ago that he was making 6-figures a week on Amen which was a lot for the early 90's...

Isabel Sanford (Weezy) was the FIRST and still the ONLY Black actress to win an Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy, 1980...Only one freaking Black woman...Decades later Tracee Ellis Ross could become the 2nd winner in a couple of weeks...Hollywood should be SHAME, and it prides itself with so-called Liberal values..

SPYZFAN1 said:

"The Jeffersons" win by a landslide. The episodes from the early seasons were classics. As for the "Cosby Show", I only liked a few of the earlier epsiodes. I stopped watching when Lisa Bonet left.

Lisa is all kinds of Gorgeousness on a HIT Crime Drama called Ray Donovan...She's only on for 1-Season but she's making it count...She should really do more Dramas....

I have the Jeffersons complete series DVD collection I'm having so much fun going back and watching all the episodes.Feels like I'm back in the 70s!

Funniest moment on the Cosby Show

SPYZFAN1 said:

"The Jeffersons" win by a landslide. The episodes from the early seasons were classics. As for the "Cosby Show", I only liked a few of the earlier epsiodes. I stopped watching when Lisa Bonet left.

You know the show is getting old when you need to bring in "Cousin Pam"

Remember "Cousin Oliver"?