The Life and Death of Sherman Hemsley

Sherman Hemsley, most known from the popular 1970’s sitcom, “The Jeffersons”, has died at 74. According to Eonline.com, the star died of natural causes. An emergency call was made from his home early Tuesday morning in El Paso, Texas. Initially, the coroner determined the need of an autopsy, but reversed it later today. It’s refreshing to hear that a celebrity passed with out the effects of drugs, alcohol and or suicide. However, it is sad to hear bad news of such an awesome actor. 

                                              (Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)

Hemsley, better known as George Jefferson, strutted into our hearts; that signature strut, as the owner of a dry cleaning business. Initially, Hemsley had a recurring role on “All in the Family” as the heavy hitter to the abrasive Archie Bunker. The two would argue back and forth about each other’s race and their reservations about the opposite. The spin off ultimately became “The Jeffersons”. Along side Hemsley was the late Isabel Sanford who played Louise, also known as “Wheezie”.  The Jeffersons highlighted an African-American family that had moved into a …”deluxe apartment in the sky”. Hemsley’s character had to let it be known that he was wealthy, black and in charge, no matter how his fellow tenants felt about it. The show was full of laughter, truths and love through its tenure of 10 years.

                                                       (nydailynews.com)

Afterwards came “Amen”, where Hemsley played a lawyer and not so heavenly deacon, of First Community Church of Philedelphia. Personally, I LOVED this show! I still watch the reruns on TV One or who ever else has the show in syndication. The show only ran for five years, but it was full of memorable characters that are still on sitcoms and featured in films today.  According to latimes.com, Hemsley was also the voice on “Dinosaurs”, had a few cameos on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and in commercials for the Gap, Old Navy (along side Isabel Sanford) and Denny’s. 

Sherman Hemsley will be greatly missed and I doubt another character actor that can fill his shoes in the world of entertainment. Rest in peace “George”, you will be greatly missed.

Where are my channels?

  If you have Dish or DirecTV, you may be asking “where are my channels?”  As a Comcast customer, I do not have to ponder. For the last month I have seen disclaimers scroll across my favorite show alerting me that if I were to remain with Dish or DirecTV (which I don’t, luckily) I would lose the channel I was watching. Those channels being Comedy Central (so long Boondocks), MTV, Nickelodeon, Vh1 and BET. I don’t know how many times I’ve said “There’s nothing on TV” and had to suffer through some mundane documentation of strangers learning to dance with celebrities or a talk show with topics of no interest to occupy me for the time being. With Dish or DirecTV there literally is NOTHING ON TV!

  I am a young person in the middle of these “banned” channels’ target audience. Furthermore I’m personally invested in the entertainment industry and I need my shows. There are ways around it, and I loathe admitting this, but with out the Viacom roster, I’d be one bored lady. The reality is, Viacom is a higher costing program that Dish and DirecTV distributors can’t afford to keep.  The three companies haven’t been able to reach a contractual agreement over content fees. Sadly subscribers have lost viewership while negotiations continue forward.

( Image from http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT8HWM46V_BjaxynfinzdP4b5gsW-Fjz9aZPWdwfqtf0csIunrU7BE4_zaOVQ)

  According to huffingtonpost.com, TV distributors pay media companies a few cents per channel per subscriber each month; therefore they attempt to sell packages of channels for more. As those cost increase, monthly service bills do the same.  Needless to say, the price of television is going up. In April and May, 1,369 Americans who were surveyed by the Leichtman Research Group reported that their monthly TV bill raised an average of 7 percent from a year ago, to $78,63. With Comcast, neither has my bill gone up, or have I lost my favorite channels. Comcast doesn’t always give me the best selection of shows, but I wouldn’t be able to deal if they cut the Viacom channels. The irony is uncanny, yet I say thank you Comcast and welcome to the new subscribers that come as a result of this blackout.