'George Jefferson' joins the Television Academy Hall of Fame

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The Jeffersons was the longest running sitcom with a predominately African-American cast in the history of American television. Actor Sherman Hemsley memorably played the role of patriarch George Jefferson on the show; now he is being honored by being offered a spot in the Television Academy Hall of Fame. Color Lines reports:

On Thursday, Actor Sherman Hemsley, who played George Jefferson in “The Jeffersons” and Spanish-language variety show host Mario Kreutzberger, aka “Don Francisco,” will be inducted in to the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.

Don Francisco hosts “Sábado Gigante” (or Giant Saturdays), Univision’s longest-running program and the longest-running variety TV show in the world, according to the The Guinness Book of World Records. A new episode has been produced every week throughout the show’s history, with no reruns.

Hemsley is best known for playing George Jefferson on the CBS television series “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons,” the longest-running sitcom with a predominantly African American cast in the history of American television. Isabel Sanford, best known as Louise “Weezy” Jefferson, died of natural causes in 2004—in 1981, Sanford was the first black woman to receive an Emmy for her work on “The Jeffersons.”

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