70's Shows

In this sitcom based on Christine Houston's play about the lives of black women residing in an apartment building in 1950s Chicago, Illinois. Marla Gibbs, who first shot to stardom for playing Florence Johnston, the sarcastic housekeeper to Louise and George Jefferson on The Jeffersons (1975), got her own series. Gibbs starred as tart-tongued Mary Jenkins. Her husband Lester (Hal Williams) was a construction worker and they had a teenage daughter, Brenda (Regina King). Pearl Shay (Helen Martin) was an annoying but open-minded neighbor who gossiped with Mary, and Rose Lee Holloway (Alaina Reed-Hall) was Mary's best friend, who lived in the building with her daughter Tiffany (Kia Goodwin) and was sympathetic to the neighbors. The landlord died in the pilot episode and Rose took his place until season four. Attractive, sassy vamp Sandra Clark (Jackée Harry) showed up later in the show's run.

Welcome to Weemawee High School, where being in the right clique can make one's years in school memorable. Enter Patty Greene and Lauren Hutchinson, two freshman who tried hard to be accepted into these cliques. The only problem was they stood out like sore thumbs. Patty was brainy and wore glasses, and Lauren was overweight and had braces. Thankfully, two other "square pegs" accepted them. They came in the form of aspiring comedian Marshall Blechtman and New Wave rocker Johnny Ulasewicz (aka Johnny Slash). Still, Lauren and Patty wanted to be in with the cool kids who came in the form of Jennifer DeNuccio, a wanna-be Valley Girl; LaDonna Fredericks, the hippest black girl in Weemawee High; Jennifer's boyfriend Vinnie Pasetta, a John Travolta carbon copy; and Muffy Tepperman, who joined anything from JV pep squad to science fair organizer.

"The Jeffersons" was perhaps the most-successful spin-off series to "All in the Family." George Jefferson was the Black version of Archie Bunker in many respects: both were loud-mouthed, opinionated, and set in their bigoted ways. By 1975, Jefferson's fledgling dry-cleaning business, Jefferson Cleaners, had successfully grown into a small chain; his newfound wealth led to moving his family to a "deluxe apartment in the sky" in Manhattan. His family included his wife Louise, a level-headed and open-minded woman who often had to scold George when his mouth got him into trouble; and their son Lionel, an engineering major at a local college. George especially disliked Tom and Helen Willis, an interracial couple (he was white, she was Black) whose daughter Jenny was dating and later married Lionel; Florence, his sharp-tongued maid; and Harry Bentley, the esoteric Englishman who lived next door. George often flaunted his wealth and displayed rude, arrogant, bigoted behavior; however, he often found that money didn't open every door or win him favor with everyone. In later years, George and Louise became grandparents when Lionel and Jenny welcomed their adorable little daughter Jessica; and Lionel and Jenny found work, he as an electrical engineer, she as a fashion designer; but Lionel and Jenny's marriage crumbled. Meanwhile, as Jefferson Cleaners continued to expand, George continually had to deal with competing dry-cleaning franchises who sought to put him out of business. In the final season, George and Tom formed a partnership and purchased Charlie's Bar, their favorite hangout.

A former funk star named Steve Hightower enlists as a high school music teacher away from his original career in Chicago.

Inspired by the comedy of Lil Rel Howery ("Uncle Drew," "Get Out," "The Carmichael Show"), REL is a multi-camera comedy starring Howery as a successful, hardworking father and husband on the West Side of Chicago, whose life is perfectly on track. That is, until he finds out his wife is having an affair with his own barber - the worst person for your wife to sleep with, because as hard as it is to find love, it's even harder to find a good barber. Now separated, and with his son and daughter having moved to Cleveland with their mother, Rel must begin the difficult task of rebuilding his life as a long-distance single dad. Offering Rel support are his best friend and unfiltered sounding board, BRITTANY (Jessica "Jess Hilarious" Moore, "Wild 'N Out"), and his recently out-of-jail, excitable and overly encouraging younger brother, NAT (Jordan L. Jones, "NCIS: Los Angeles"), as well as his proud and recently widowed DAD (Sinbad, "A Different World", "The Sinbad Show"), who finds both his sons deep disappointments. As Rel works to repair his life, he often finds himself the victim of his own well-intentioned hubris. He is the "Icarus" of Chicago's West Side - repeatedly flying too close to the sun and getting burned. But, ever the optimist, he always dusts himself off to try again. REL is produced by 20th Century Fox Television. Jerrod Carmichael ("The Carmichael Show"), Mike Scully ("The Carmichael Show," THE SIMPSONS), Howery, Josh Rabinowitz ("The Carmichael Show," "Broad City") and Kevin Barnett ("The Carmichael Show," "Broad City") are executive producers. Gerry Cohen ("The Carmichael Show," "Married with Children") directed the pilot.

This was an urban comedy following the lives of three black men. Raj is newly married and trying to write while his two buddies, Rerun and Dwayne are sharing a bachelor apartment. Rerun is working as a used car salesman while Dwayne is a computer programmer. This syndicated program was on the air between September 1985 and September 1988.

This "All In The Family" spin-off centers around Edith's cousin, Maude Findlay. She's a liberal, independent woman living in Tuckahoe, New York with her fourth husband Walter, owner of Findlay's Friendly Appliances; Carol Traynor, her divorced daughter from her second marriage; and Carol's son Philip. Other characters included: Dr. Arthur Harmon, Walter's conservative best friend from their Army days--he and Maude were always at odds about politics and just about everything; and Vivian Cavender-Harmon, Maude's naive best friend from their college days who married Harmon in season three. During the show's run, Maude went through three maids: Florida Evans, Nell Naugutuck, and Victoria Butterfield; but Florida and Mrs. Naugutuck were the most memorable. Although it was a situation comedy, it dealt with serious and often controversial issues, much like Norman Lear's other shows "All In The Family", "One Day At a Time", and "Good Times."

The new head of Philadelphia's First Community Church, Rev. Rueben Gregory, finds dealing with the headstrong, opinionated, and unethical Deacon Ernest Frye--who works as a lawyer when not tending to church business--won't make his job easy.

Roger, Rerun and Dwayne are three buddies growing up in Los Angeles. The three of them always have a penchant for getting into mischief and trying to find ways of getting rich quick. Almost always the trio's schemes wind up getting them into trouble and it is up to Roger's mother to get them out of it. Also, half of the time, the boys get into trouble because of Roger's bratty sister Dee.

Clifton likes being a barber in Washington, D.C., where he works in the business started by his father. He also enjoys being single, but his widowed mama Eloise has other ideas, and wants him settled like his sister Tracy and her conservative husband Leonard.

Follows the lives of several single male and female roommates and friends in 1990s Brooklyn, New York.

Carl Kanisky is chief of police in Glenlawn, California. After the death of his wife, Margaret, he asks her friend, Nell Harper, to come in to keep house and take care of his children, Katie, Julie, and Samantha, in short, be like a mother to them. Later, Carl's father, Stanley, moves in. Around the same time, Nell takes in young Joey Donovan as her foster son.

A group of students at a historically Black university struggle to make it through college.

A greasy-spoon diner in Phoenix, Arizona is the setting for this long-running series. The title character, Alice Hyatt, is an aspiring singer who arrives in Phoenix with her teen-age son Tommy, after the death of her truck-driver husband. Alice is hired at a diner owned by Mel Sharples, a gravel-voiced, male-chauvinist fry cook. She waitresses at Mel's Diner while awaiting her big break. Her fellow waitresses are raucous redhead Flo and naïve Vera. Flo is later replaced by Southern blonde Belle, who is soon replaced by spunky curly-haired Jolene. Alice and her friends experience several interesting years together at Mel's Diner, which is frequented by quirky truckers, repairmen, and other blue-collar types, and by several Hollywood celebrities who appear as themselves.

Television sitcom which was a continuation of 'All in the Family.' In this series, Archie Bunker gets to loudly voice his opinions in his own bar, instead of at home.

Julia Baker is a young African-American woman working as a nurse. She is also a widow (her husband died in Vietnam) trying to raise a young son alone.

One of television's all-time classic sitcoms, the Norman Lear-produced "Sanford and Son" debuted just three days after the one-year anniversary of Lear's fabulously successful, "All in the Family." Fred Sanford is a cantankerous 65-year-old, black, widowed junk dealer living in Los Angeles' Watts neighborhood. Helping him is his restless son, 34-year-old Lamont; Fred's beloved wife and Lamont's mother, Elizabeth, had died more than 20 years earlier. Fred's schemes and bigotry especially toward Julio, a Puerto Rican who was Lamont's friend, whites and other minorities often frustrated Lamont. Fred also showed overt disdain for his sister-in-law, Aunt Esther (the feeling was mutual). Many times, Lamont threatened to leave for meaningful work, but Fred faked a heart attack each time ("Oh, this time its real, I'm a-comin' 'Lizabeth!") as a sympathy ploy to get his son to stay. By 1977, Fred and Lamont had sold their business (stars Foxx and Wilson wanted to leave the series); it became the Sanford Arms, a rooming house. The show continued as the short-lived "Sanford Arms" (without Foxx or Wilson); it was revived in 1980 on CBS as "Sanford" (starring Foxx and without Wilson).

Archie Bunker, was a bigoted working-class family man who held his views of the world. His viewpoints clash with nearly everyone he comes into contact with especially his son-in-law Mike Stivic (or, as Archie delights in calling him, "Meathead").