Jack Shea Movies

The seventh and final season of Growing Pains begins as Mike Seaver (Kirk Cameron) launches his teaching career with an assignment at an urban high school attached to the Community Health Clinic. This allows the series' producers to introduce two new characters this season: Mike's boss Mr. Tedesco, played by Fred Applegate), and troubled student Luke Brower--played by no less than Leonardo DiCaprio). Elsewhere, Chrissy (Ashley Johnson) comes to grief following the advice of brother Ben (Jeremy Miller) when she enters the first grade; and Carol (Tracey Gold) likewise learns to regret her decision to move into a dorm. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Luke (Leonardo DiCaprio) is afraid to go to the doctor, so Jason (Alan Thicke) goes along with him from moral support. Ironically, though Luke is given a clean bill of health, Jason is diagnosed with a hernia and slated for surgery! This means that Mike (Kirk Cameron) will have to take Jason's place at an important psychiatric banquet--but Mike shifts his responsiblities to Luke and Ben (Jeremy Miller). Even so, the "fun" doesn't really get under way until Jason begins exhibiting bizarre side effects from his painkillers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Aspiring actor Mike (Kirk Cameron) is convinced he's on the cusp of stardom when his character on the TV soaper "Big City Streets", Strong Waverly, is scheduled to emerge from a coma and speak his very first lines. At the same time, Luke (Leonardo DiCaprio) prepares to move out of the Seaver household and into the home of his foster family, the Kimballs. Trouble begins when Mike accidentally tips off Carol (Tracey Gold) about a "secret" plot twist that will soon be revealed on the TV show--and things get worse when he is forced to choose between his acting career and Luke's wellbeing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jockeying for a promotion at her job, Blanche (Rue McClanahan) is determined to complete her college degree in night school. Coming to her psych teacher, Professor Cooper (Jerry Hardin), for extra help, Blanche is surprised (but not altogether displeased) when the prof makes a play for her -- then offers to give her an automatic "A" in return for the usual certain favors. Meanwhile, Dorothy (Bea Arthur), Rose (Betty White), and Sophia (Estelle Getty) try to get tickets for a sold-out Sinatra concert. ~ All Movie Guide

Louise Jefferson (Isabel Sanford) is primed to attend her class reunion in the company of her husband, George (Sherman Hemsley). Alas, a quarrel breaks out between the Jeffersons when Louise finds out that, according to the dictates of George's new will, she will not inherit a penny if she remarries. As she angrily heads to the reunion alone, Louise is determined to find out if George will really cut her off if she finds a new husband. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A fight between Tom Willis (Franklin Cover) and his son Alan (Jay Hammer) spills over into the apartment of the Willis' neighbors, the Jeffersons. As a result, Louise Jefferson (Isabel Sanford) angrily walks out on husband George (Sherman Hemsley) -- just before a reporter from Black Life Magazine is due to arrive for an interview with "perfect black couple" George and Louise. In desperation, George persuades his acid-tongued housekeeper, Florence (Roxie Roker), to pose as his wife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Neither George (Sherman Hemsley) nor Louise (Isabel Sanford) will be able to celebrate their wedding anniversary this year. George has mistakenly scheduled a business meeting for that night, while Louise is slated to attend a convention in Los Angeles. Both George and Louise wonder how to break the news to one another -- and when Louise does, George doesn't, leading to a typically frantic comedy of errors and misunderstandings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On the night that George and Louise Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford) plan to celebrate the anniversary of their first date, the heating in their apartment building goes on the fritz. Rather than freeze in their own apartments, Tom and Helen Willis (Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker) and Harry Bentley (Paul Benedict) converge upon the toasty-warm Jefferson living room. As things become too crowded for comfort, tempers roar into flame. This was the final episode of The Jeffersons' fifth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Scripture-quoting Buzz Thatcher (Larry McCormick) has been dating the Jeffersons' housekeeper, Florence (Marla Gibbs), for only a month when he suddenly proposes marriage. Naturally, Florence is eager and willing to go marching down the aisle with such a pious beau. But her employer Louise (Isabel Sanford) is worried about Florence's prospects for lasting happiness when she learns a few disturbing truths about Buzz' religious fervor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Helen Willis (Roxie Roker) is mad when she finds out that her husband, Tom (Franklin Cover), is going to attend a business convention in Mexico without her. She is madder still when she learns that Tom is going to be accompanied by a beautiful blonde (Judy Landers). What Helen doesn't know -- until it is almost too late -- is that the blonde is the mistress of Tom's boss. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having just had an argument, George and Louise Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford) are hardly in the mood to be tied up back-to-back while a burglar (Philip Charles MacKenzie) ransacks their apartment. Brooding over their predicament, the feuding couple begins recalling the highlights -- and lowlights -- of their marriage. The late Zara Cully appears as Mother Jefferson in lengthy clips from earlier Jeffersons episodes, as do Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton in vignettes culled from All in the Family (in which the characters of The Jeffersons were first introduced). Originally telecast as a 90-minute special, "George and Louise in a Bind" has since been divided into three separate 30-minute segments for syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Jeffersons episode represents a rare pre-Diff'rent Strokes appearance by the irrepressible Gary Coleman. When George and Louise Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford) agree to look after their eight-year-old nephew Raymond (Coleman) for six weeks, they have no idea what they're getting themselves into. In true "Eddie Haskell" fashion, Raymond butters up Louise while simultaneously making life miserable for George. Things reach a head when the capricious youngster runs away from the Jeffersons' apartment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For the benefit of those who weren't around in 1977, this episode was inspired by President Jimmy Carter's real-life habit of visiting "average Americans" at random. George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) calls up 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, hoping that President Carter will accept an invitation to dine at the Jeffersons' apartment. Alas, George loses his temper with a White House operator -- causing the Secret Service to conclude that our hero somehow poses a threat to the Chief Executive. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide