What do you think?
Rate this book
Honky in the House: Writing & Producing The Jeffersons
Librarian note: An alternative cover for this ISBN can be found here.
In this witty, very personal and unapologetic account of breaking into the entertainment business, Jay Moriarty serves up a master class in the essentials of writing and producing a TV series. Moriarty was able to realize his Hollywood dream of writing relevant comedy at a time of national upheaval--movin' on up with The Jeffersons, first as a writer, then as Executive Producer.
Honky in the House introduces us to some of the leading minds in television comedy, including Norman Lear, the first TV producer to successfully combine humor with biting social satire. The book is also a reflection on the issues The Jeffersons dared to confront, including interracial marriage, suicide, transsexualism, and even the KKK.
In this witty, very personal and unapologetic account of breaking into the entertainment business, Jay Moriarty serves up a master class in the essentials of writing and producing a TV series. Moriarty was able to realize his Hollywood dream of writing relevant comedy at a time of national upheaval--movin' on up with The Jeffersons, first as a writer, then as Executive Producer.
Honky in the House introduces us to some of the leading minds in television comedy, including Norman Lear, the first TV producer to successfully combine humor with biting social satire. The book is also a reflection on the issues The Jeffersons dared to confront, including interracial marriage, suicide, transsexualism, and even the KKK.
395 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2020
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 18, 2022
My weekly visits with George and Louise Jefferson between 1975 and 1985 were visits I was reluctant to miss. I’m not like those people who memorize huge chunks of “Star Trek” episodes or “Little House on the Prairie” ones. But I could always find something in these erstwhile neighbors of Edith and Archie Bunker that uplifted me and made me laugh.
This is the story of that program as told by one of the two men who did the lion’s share of the writing. He tells it in the third person, which I thought was a bit off-putting, but it didn’t distract me much.
The author describes his devout Catholic beginnings in Ohio, a right-out-of-high-school marriage, and a move to Los Angeles where he was sure he could get work as a screenwriter. It took a while, but those jobs came for him and a newly minted friend. The two wrote for Norman Lear, and the author eventually became a producer of the show.
You get fascinating peaks behind the scenes about the show. This isn’t a tell-all book that lays out the flaws and scandals of the actors. Instead, it’s a touching tribute to one of TV’s most successful sitcoms. If you read this, you’ll see references to specific famous episodes, and you’ll hear about the creative process that gave them birth. Some of those mentioned include one in which Florence, the maid, determines to take her life. Another episode focused on Lionell’s Christmas wedding. Among the author’s favorites was one entitled “First Store.” Set on the day Dr. King died, the episode is a tribute to King and his ideals.
This is highly readable, and you’ll stay with it if you start it. Even if you were a casual viewer of the show, you’ll find memories here and bits of trivia about the show that will fascinate you.
So, do yourself a favor and move on up to this book. It’s filled with actual dialogue from the show’s episodes, and it will bring back a vast treasure trove of memories for you. I don’t normally read a lot of books dedicated to theater, movies or even television, but I loved this one.
This is the story of that program as told by one of the two men who did the lion’s share of the writing. He tells it in the third person, which I thought was a bit off-putting, but it didn’t distract me much.
The author describes his devout Catholic beginnings in Ohio, a right-out-of-high-school marriage, and a move to Los Angeles where he was sure he could get work as a screenwriter. It took a while, but those jobs came for him and a newly minted friend. The two wrote for Norman Lear, and the author eventually became a producer of the show.
You get fascinating peaks behind the scenes about the show. This isn’t a tell-all book that lays out the flaws and scandals of the actors. Instead, it’s a touching tribute to one of TV’s most successful sitcoms. If you read this, you’ll see references to specific famous episodes, and you’ll hear about the creative process that gave them birth. Some of those mentioned include one in which Florence, the maid, determines to take her life. Another episode focused on Lionell’s Christmas wedding. Among the author’s favorites was one entitled “First Store.” Set on the day Dr. King died, the episode is a tribute to King and his ideals.
This is highly readable, and you’ll stay with it if you start it. Even if you were a casual viewer of the show, you’ll find memories here and bits of trivia about the show that will fascinate you.
So, do yourself a favor and move on up to this book. It’s filled with actual dialogue from the show’s episodes, and it will bring back a vast treasure trove of memories for you. I don’t normally read a lot of books dedicated to theater, movies or even television, but I loved this one.
February 17, 2020
Well done!
A solid summary of the Jeffersons and how the author and his partner nurtured the series from cradle to maturation. The fact it ran for another several seasons after their departure speaks to the good foundation. The author influenced many other highly successful sit coms in the 70’s. I also enjoyed the peek behind the curtain on the writing and producing hierarchy in network television. Well done!
D. Charron
A solid summary of the Jeffersons and how the author and his partner nurtured the series from cradle to maturation. The fact it ran for another several seasons after their departure speaks to the good foundation. The author influenced many other highly successful sit coms in the 70’s. I also enjoyed the peek behind the curtain on the writing and producing hierarchy in network television. Well done!
D. Charron
July 29, 2021
Last night I finished reading “Honky in the House: Writing & Producing The Jeffersons” by Jay Moriarty (2019).
Now, I read a lot of books about the making of classic television series. It’s one of my go-go subjects as I love reading all of the behind the scenes stuff like the development of a series, the writing, the casting, the shooting of the episodes, etc.
That said, I have to say that “Honky in the House” is one of the best of these types of books that I’ve read. The best of these bring up warm memories of when you first watched an old tv series (“I remember that episode!”) and make you want to watch that series again. Moriarty’s book very much does this for “The Jeffersons”.
For those unfamiliar with “The Jeffersons” (1975-1985), it was a spin-off of another classic series, “All in the Family” (1971-1979), both overseen by Norman Lear.
Starting with the second season, Moriarty and his writing partner, Mike Milligan, joined the writing staff on “The Jeffersons”. Prior to that, they had written episodes of “Good Times” and “Maude” (two other Norman Lear series), “That’s My Mama”, “Joe and Sons”, and “Chico and the Man”.
Moriarty spends the opening chapters of “Honky in the House” quickly getting you through his early years (how he ended up wanting to be a television writer), getting married and moving to California to pursue that dream, submitting a story pitch to “All in the Family” for an episode called “The Draft Dodger” (which went unanswered at the time but which would be made into one of the all time most memorable episodes of that series many years later after Moriarty and Milligan were on “The Jeffersons”), meeting and forming his partnership with Milligan, and their experiences writing the episodes for the series I mentioned above.
However, all of that is covered in just a small number of chapters, after which pretty much the entire rest of the book is either about their time working on “The Jeffersons” or a few side projects they worked on at the same time.
Moriarty and Milligan quickly rose through the ranks at “The Jeffersons”, starting out as “Program Consultants”/“Assistant Story Editors”) for season two (their first season on the series), “Story Editors” for seasons three and four, “Producers” for season five, and “Executive Producers” for seasons six and seven.
Not bad for a couple white television comedy writers on what became a number one hit “black” television situation comedy series. Moriarty addresses this several times, what it was like being asked over and over how a white man can write for black characters. He goes into his philosophy about this and also how his goal was always for his scripts (and the ones he oversaw the development of) to #1, “be funny”, and #2, to have something significant to say about life, society, race, serious issues, family, etc. But he would shelve an “issue” story idea until he and his partner could come up with a sound story to go with it. (“How do we make this funny? How do we explain how this would naturally work within the confines of our series and the lives of characters that we’ve already established?”)
Moriarty goes pretty much chronologically through his years on “The Jeffersons”, season by season, and intersperses where appropriate his working relationships with Norman Lear, the other producers, and the cast (Sherman “George Jefferson” Hemsley, Isabel “Louise ‘Weezie’ Jefferson” Sanford, Marla “Florence” Gibbs, etc.).
He doesn’t try to go into every single episode (this isn’t an “episode guide”). He brings up the ones that meant the most to him personally and also gives his thoughts on a handful of others for each season. (I won’t try to go into any specific ones here but, again, I was constantly going, “Oh yeah, I remember that one!” over and over again.)
The book ends after Moriarty and Milligan completed their six year run on “The Jeffersons” (and also their overseeing the very short lived “Jeffersons” spin-off series, “Checking In”, starring Marla Gibbs’ Florence character which was shot after the completion of “The Jeffersons” season seven in 1981; four episodes of “Checking In” were written and shot very quickly, much faster than Moriarty and Milligan liked, due to an impending writer’s strike; the four episodes were aired, the series was cancelled, and Marla Gibbs returned to “The Jeffersons”, as she had wisely had put in her contract for the spin-off series).
Moriarty and Milligan had already decided to leave “The Jeffersons” at the end of season seven, which they did, to accept an offer to develop new series ideas at another network. “Honky in the House”, being a book primarily about their time on “The Jeffersons”, ends here though and does not follow their careers beyond that. Perhaps Moriarty has a second book in mind.
I highly highly highly recommend “Honky in the House: Writing & Producing The Jeffersons” to anyone who have ever enjoyed watching that classic television series (which at the time was the longest running American television situation comedy series: eleven seasons, 253 episodes). I also recommend it for people who just like to read in general about television shows were made in the 1970s and early 80s.
Now, I read a lot of books about the making of classic television series. It’s one of my go-go subjects as I love reading all of the behind the scenes stuff like the development of a series, the writing, the casting, the shooting of the episodes, etc.
That said, I have to say that “Honky in the House” is one of the best of these types of books that I’ve read. The best of these bring up warm memories of when you first watched an old tv series (“I remember that episode!”) and make you want to watch that series again. Moriarty’s book very much does this for “The Jeffersons”.
For those unfamiliar with “The Jeffersons” (1975-1985), it was a spin-off of another classic series, “All in the Family” (1971-1979), both overseen by Norman Lear.
Starting with the second season, Moriarty and his writing partner, Mike Milligan, joined the writing staff on “The Jeffersons”. Prior to that, they had written episodes of “Good Times” and “Maude” (two other Norman Lear series), “That’s My Mama”, “Joe and Sons”, and “Chico and the Man”.
Moriarty spends the opening chapters of “Honky in the House” quickly getting you through his early years (how he ended up wanting to be a television writer), getting married and moving to California to pursue that dream, submitting a story pitch to “All in the Family” for an episode called “The Draft Dodger” (which went unanswered at the time but which would be made into one of the all time most memorable episodes of that series many years later after Moriarty and Milligan were on “The Jeffersons”), meeting and forming his partnership with Milligan, and their experiences writing the episodes for the series I mentioned above.
However, all of that is covered in just a small number of chapters, after which pretty much the entire rest of the book is either about their time working on “The Jeffersons” or a few side projects they worked on at the same time.
Moriarty and Milligan quickly rose through the ranks at “The Jeffersons”, starting out as “Program Consultants”/“Assistant Story Editors”) for season two (their first season on the series), “Story Editors” for seasons three and four, “Producers” for season five, and “Executive Producers” for seasons six and seven.
Not bad for a couple white television comedy writers on what became a number one hit “black” television situation comedy series. Moriarty addresses this several times, what it was like being asked over and over how a white man can write for black characters. He goes into his philosophy about this and also how his goal was always for his scripts (and the ones he oversaw the development of) to #1, “be funny”, and #2, to have something significant to say about life, society, race, serious issues, family, etc. But he would shelve an “issue” story idea until he and his partner could come up with a sound story to go with it. (“How do we make this funny? How do we explain how this would naturally work within the confines of our series and the lives of characters that we’ve already established?”)
Moriarty goes pretty much chronologically through his years on “The Jeffersons”, season by season, and intersperses where appropriate his working relationships with Norman Lear, the other producers, and the cast (Sherman “George Jefferson” Hemsley, Isabel “Louise ‘Weezie’ Jefferson” Sanford, Marla “Florence” Gibbs, etc.).
He doesn’t try to go into every single episode (this isn’t an “episode guide”). He brings up the ones that meant the most to him personally and also gives his thoughts on a handful of others for each season. (I won’t try to go into any specific ones here but, again, I was constantly going, “Oh yeah, I remember that one!” over and over again.)
The book ends after Moriarty and Milligan completed their six year run on “The Jeffersons” (and also their overseeing the very short lived “Jeffersons” spin-off series, “Checking In”, starring Marla Gibbs’ Florence character which was shot after the completion of “The Jeffersons” season seven in 1981; four episodes of “Checking In” were written and shot very quickly, much faster than Moriarty and Milligan liked, due to an impending writer’s strike; the four episodes were aired, the series was cancelled, and Marla Gibbs returned to “The Jeffersons”, as she had wisely had put in her contract for the spin-off series).
Moriarty and Milligan had already decided to leave “The Jeffersons” at the end of season seven, which they did, to accept an offer to develop new series ideas at another network. “Honky in the House”, being a book primarily about their time on “The Jeffersons”, ends here though and does not follow their careers beyond that. Perhaps Moriarty has a second book in mind.
I highly highly highly recommend “Honky in the House: Writing & Producing The Jeffersons” to anyone who have ever enjoyed watching that classic television series (which at the time was the longest running American television situation comedy series: eleven seasons, 253 episodes). I also recommend it for people who just like to read in general about television shows were made in the 1970s and early 80s.
March 31, 2020
This book rates higher than 5 stars - really wonderful!!!
January 16, 2022
Great book, great stories, Interesting to learn about the Jeffersons and other shows he wrote and produced for.
April 12, 2024
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I was thrilled to receive it as I've just finished rewatching all of the Jefferson's episodes. It was fun to read some of the insights but I mostly loved to see the "fan mail." I dropped a star because it was distracting that "Murph" does all of these things. Thank you for writing this book and sharing it with the world.
August 11, 2021
Informative and Funny
Really enjoyed this book and it was quite entertaining. I am fan of the a Jeffersons and still enjoy the show in syndication. Job well done on the book. Learned lots of new things. Will watch The Jeffersons with a new perspective now including the show’s credits.
Really enjoyed this book and it was quite entertaining. I am fan of the a Jeffersons and still enjoy the show in syndication. Job well done on the book. Learned lots of new things. Will watch The Jeffersons with a new perspective now including the show’s credits.
April 6, 2022
It's ok reading
Moriarty begins with his he got the writing bug, moving to Hollywood to start a career, starting a partnership, and finally achieving success writing for sitcoms in the 1970s. Besides the Jefferson's, he wrote for other successful, (and unsuccessful) shows as well.
Moriarty begins with his he got the writing bug, moving to Hollywood to start a career, starting a partnership, and finally achieving success writing for sitcoms in the 1970s. Besides the Jefferson's, he wrote for other successful, (and unsuccessful) shows as well.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews