The Jeffersons/Awesome
A spinoff of All in The Family centering on a self-made business tycoon and operator of a dry-cleaning chain, many of the characters of The Jeffersons have had their shining moments.
- "Sorry, Wrong Meeting": In an episode that was anything but a comedic case of confusion, Tom Willis is frustrated with a crime wave that has spread to the high rise where the Jeffersons, Willises and Mr. Bentley live, and wants to organize a meeting with the tenants to run the "undesirables" (the thieves) out. In the elevator, he meets Herbert Purcell, a new resident who -- along with his son, Dwayne, and a business partner -- have already planned a meeting to run undesirables out. Tom agrees to come and says he plans to bring George. Having heard only part of the conversation that is only in very general terms, Tom is completely unaware that Purcell is a member of the Klu Klux Klan and that the meeting is to run African-Americans (or niggers, as he calls them) out of Manhattan. At the meeting, George shows up and at first, Herbert thinks it's some kind of joke (George laughs it off at first ... until Herbert states the purpose of the meeting. George is outraged, and so are Tom and Mr. Bentley, with the argument escalating until Herbert suffers a mild heart attack.
This is where the Moment of Awesome kicks in: George -- a black man (the very type of person Herbert Purcell despises) -- is the only one who knows CPR, having remembered his training from his days in the Navy. After a moment of pondering, George agrees to do CPR and revives the man. Not even Herbert's ungrateful attitude -- he tells his own son, "You should have let me die!" (rather than let a black man do CPR on him) -- can take away one of many crowning moments for George.- Later in the episode, Herbert's right-hand man tries to resume the meeting, but the other tenants -- perhaps already having respected George, or coming to see what the meeting is about and disgusted by what they heard -- leave. The awesome kicks in when Dwayne looks at the flyers, tears them up and leaves the room, leaving the lone racist all alone.
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