Don Nicholl & Michael Ross
The Jeffersons

How many forms can the American Dream take?

Countless; among many, the move from the slums of Harlem to the skyscrapers of Manhattan is the one that presents itself one fine day to the Jefferson family.

But, mind you, the American Dream in its noblest sense is not fortune fallen from the sky but the fruit of hard work, and indeed the family patriarch George has carved out his place under the sun of the upper-middle-class Big Apple, coming to preside over a chain of laundries ("7 stores, one near you" is George's favorite refrain), after a long period spent washing other people's dirty clothes.

The Jefferson family lands on CBS's small screen in 1975, when TV series have not yet degenerated into sitcoms and can afford to have a gem like "Movin' On Up" as a theme, holding the position for ten years, raising the banner of a politically incorrect stance that might seem harmless today but was certainly not so forty years ago.

It all (almost) revolves around George, a quirky and perpetually grumpy fellow, whose evident peculiarities include unbridled greed, an egocentrism that excludes everything, crude chauvinism, a chilling sense of humor, and these are just some of the aspects that denote him positively.

Because then George also has his negative sides, which emerge in his typical day: he launches into heated tirades against mixed marriages, aiming at the favorite target of the Willis family, the neighbors affectionately dubbed "zebras" (he, Tom, is a white-face-pale, while his wife, Helen, is black); he has a blast slamming the door in the face of his next-door neighbor Bentley or walking on his back to cure his "witch's strike" (and may God curse the English!); but he also takes on his fellow black brothers, whom he never spares the derogatory epithet "negro" in the moments when he's beside himself, that is, most of the time; and he becomes a theorist of class struggle, every time he lectures his naïve wife Louise to not fraternize with the inferiors, especially if it involves the maid Florence.

Because George has a damn fear of Florence, as the maid, overturning roles, always and anyway puts the master in his place and doesn't hesitate to give him a hard time as soon as there's a reason (and if it's trivial, even better) to do it. What an extraordinary character Florence is, a lazy maid (never seen going to open the door or answer the phone, in over 200 episodes, as she's busy flipping through a magazine lounging on the living room couch or in any other activity that doesn't cost a drop of sweat): extraordinary to the point that, when the series is nearing its end, the producers plan a spin-off that features her as the protagonist, but it has a very short life. Because, without George, Florence has no reason to exist.

But if Florence is the brightest among the secondary characters, one cannot overlook Louise "Wizzie" (and if George is Mr. Hyde, his wife is Dr. Jekyll), always flustered to remedy her husband's setbacks and withstand the deadly thrusts of her mother-in-law Mother Jefferson (if not like Florence, she's close), clouded by an unhealthy passion for Bloody Mary; nor of the Englishman in New York Mr. Bentley, an addled translator at the United Nations, who enjoys narrating absurd family stories much to George's despair; nor of Ralph, the sycophantic doorman ready to die for a nickel tip; or Charlie, the bartender always ready to ease George's troubles with the help of alcohol's fumes and to dispense pearls of wisdom.

And even if the stories are always the same and George shouts "Porca zozza!" until it becomes a catchphrase, it all guarantees utmost fun.

So entertaining, "The Jeffersons," that even the canned laughter fades into the background.

So "ahead," "The Jeffersons," as to foreshadow (in 1975!) the rise of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States.

PS: For anyone who doesn't know them and has reached here with a minimum sense of curiosity, "The Jeffersons" air on free-to-air on the digital terrestrial channel Canal One, every day for a couple of hours around 5:00 PM and then around 10:00 PM. Enjoy your viewing.