Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘All In The Family,’ ‘The Jeffersons’ Restage Towers Over Wednesday Ratings

Jimmy Kimmel’s ambitious star-studded re-staging of two Norman Lear sitcoms dominated Wednesday primetime, scoring a metered market 7.5 rating/13 share, where previous week Toy Story 2 was hovering around 1.6/3.

The clunkily named Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s All in the Family and The Jeffersons pushed the first two of NBC’s Chicago trilogy out of the top spot in their hours.

Starring Woody Harrelson, Marisa Tomei, Jamie Foxx, Wanda Sykes among many others, Kimmel’s 8-9:33 PM passion project scored biggest numbers in first half hour, 7.6/14, trickling down to 5.9/10 for its final few minutes. The broadcast ended at 9:33 PM ET.

Fans of Kimmel, Lear, the original comedies, live TV, etc. who tuned in were well treated to Jennifer Hudson’s belting out of The Jefferson’s “Movin On Up” theme song, Tomei’s spot-on Edith Bunker, and Marla Gibbs surprise appearance, reprising her role as George and Louise Jefferson’s maid Florence Johnston. Foxx had a moment too, but that took flubbing a line and breaking up the cast as he broke character to address.

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'All in the Family' & 'The Jeffersons' Live Shines With Jamie Foxx's Flub, Surprise Guest & More Than Nostalgia

Anyway, all together, they did Whiskey Cavalier some good, too late – though maybe Whiskey‘s cliffhanger helped. The canceled ABC dramedy’s finale clocked an early 2.8 rating compared to previous week’s 1.9.

ABC dominated primetime with a 5.6/10, ahead of NBC’s 5.0/9, with CBS (2.9/5), Fox (1.5/3) and CW (0.4/1) in their dust.

Fast nationals later…..