The previous reviewer, whose comments were posted over two years ago, seems very reactionary. But I can understand that. I remember watching this episode when it was brand new, and as a kid I guess I didn't take it very seriously. When I watched it today, after all these years, it does seem like a poorly constructed episode.
With a bit of revising, they still could have had the dog jump over the balcony if that plot point was necessary...and they could have gone through the stuff where George tells Louise, Florence and the Whittendales what happened. But maybe we should have found out in the end that the dog lived, like if it had fallen on something soft that cushioned its fall on the balcony below, and the tenants downstairs had taken it to the vet where it will recover. The dog really didn't need to die.
The main reason I am rating this story lower than other episodes is because the death is one thing, but the callous way they brush it aside is almost worse. George is too busy trying to finagle a deal with Mr. Whittendale; and Whittendale himself is glad the dog is dead, because he didn't like it. The writers make a point of having him say it was a vicious animal and that he would have gotten rid of it were it not for his wife's attachment to it. But in the earlier scenes when Poopsie the dog was on camera, he seemed fairly lovable, despite his barking at everyone. It's like the dog shouldn't have been allowed to live as long as it did, if you go by the callous behavior exhibited by George and Whittendale, which seems wrong.
I think Louise should have had a line after the Whittendales left where she told George he was trying to profit off the death of a dog and that was a new low for him. Something to snap George back to reality and get him in line again.
For the most part it's a rather objectionable episode. Sitcoms should still tackle difficult subjects. But in this case, nothing positive came from the dog dying and the story was told at the expense of the Jeffersons' decency.
With a bit of revising, they still could have had the dog jump over the balcony if that plot point was necessary...and they could have gone through the stuff where George tells Louise, Florence and the Whittendales what happened. But maybe we should have found out in the end that the dog lived, like if it had fallen on something soft that cushioned its fall on the balcony below, and the tenants downstairs had taken it to the vet where it will recover. The dog really didn't need to die.
The main reason I am rating this story lower than other episodes is because the death is one thing, but the callous way they brush it aside is almost worse. George is too busy trying to finagle a deal with Mr. Whittendale; and Whittendale himself is glad the dog is dead, because he didn't like it. The writers make a point of having him say it was a vicious animal and that he would have gotten rid of it were it not for his wife's attachment to it. But in the earlier scenes when Poopsie the dog was on camera, he seemed fairly lovable, despite his barking at everyone. It's like the dog shouldn't have been allowed to live as long as it did, if you go by the callous behavior exhibited by George and Whittendale, which seems wrong.
I think Louise should have had a line after the Whittendales left where she told George he was trying to profit off the death of a dog and that was a new low for him. Something to snap George back to reality and get him in line again.
For the most part it's a rather objectionable episode. Sitcoms should still tackle difficult subjects. But in this case, nothing positive came from the dog dying and the story was told at the expense of the Jeffersons' decency.