by Kevin Burton
The television shows produced by Norman Lear were a cultural backbone for 1970s America. In this case, the backbone was connected to the funny bone.
When I read that Lear died Tuesday at 101, my mind went immediately to that instrumental piano-driven song that played over the closing credits for All In The Family.
Lear’s sit-com contributions included Maude, (1972–1978), Sanford and Son (1972–1977), One Day at a Time (1975–1984), The Jeffersons (1975–1985), and Good Times (1974–1979).
But it was All in the Family (1971-1979) that forever changed the way sitcoms were made.
“Before Lear and his pioneering series All in the Family, network sitcoms had as much edge as a butter knife — and Lear himself was more than happy to take credit for changing that,” wrote David Browne of Rolling Stone.
“Before All in the Family, there were a
lot of families on television, but the biggest problem they faced was Mom
dented the fender or the boss is coming to dinner and the roast is ruined,” Lear once said. “America had no racial problems, no economic problems. Women didn’t get breast cancer, men didn’t get hypertension.”
“All those issues and more were addressed in the shows Lear developed, produced and sometimes wrote. All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, and Good Times, among others, brought political and social
awareness to TV,” Browne wrote. “As Robert Redford once said of Lear, ‘He brought humanity, edge, humor and vulnerability into the mainstream and we owe him a great debt for that.”
Lear’s rep, Lara Bergthold, confirmed
his death to the New York Times.
“Norman lived a life in awe of the world around him,” his family wrote in a statement. “He marveled at his cup of coffee every morning, the shape of the tree outside his window and the sounds of beautiful music. But it was people — those he just met and those he knew for decades — who kept his mind and heart forever young.”
“Lear’s family added that he was “surrounded
by his family as we told stories and sang songs until the very end.”
Through his shows Lear shaped his country as much as anybody in his generation. Yet I know next to nothing about Lear the man. Here is more from Browne’s article:
“Born July 27, 1922, Lear endured an early childhood trauma: When he was nine, his father Herman was convicted of selling fake bonds and sentenced to three years in prison. After briefly attending Boston’s Emerson College, Lear dropped out and joined the Air Force during World War II, flying 52 combat missions.”
“He ventured into public relations afterward, but comedy writing would prove to be his forte. In the 1950s, he wrote for variety series like The Colgate Comedy Hour and eventually started a production company, Tandem Productions, with director Bud Yorkin.”
“Lear’s screenplay for Divorce American Style, cowritten with Robert Kaufman, was nominated for an Oscar in 1967. But Lear was destined to change TV.
“In 1968, he adapted a British sitcom,
Till Death Do Us Part, for American TV. The show was based around the bigoted head of a household who reminded Lear of his own father. After knocking around as a pilot for ABC for two years, the networked dropped the show (once called Justice for All), but in 1970, CBS, eager to draw in younger viewers after dropping more wholesome sitcoms like Green Acres,
picked it up,” Browne wrote.
“The first episode of the renamed, re-cast All in the Family — starring Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker, Jean Stapleton as his long-suffering wife Edith, Sally Struthers as their daughter Gloria, and Rob Reiner as her boyfriend and later husband, Mike — started with a disclaimer: “The program
you are about to see is All in the Family. It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices and concerns. By making them a
source of laughter, we hope to show — in a mature fashion — just how absurd
they are.”
“What followed — arguments about Black Power, bits of raunchy humor and sex
jokes — was unlike anything on TV at the time, and it never let up: Brilliantly played by O’Connor with equal parts bluster and vulnerability, Archie, a proud, politically incorrect bigot, antagonized his family (and hippie son-in-law) about race, the Vietnam War and race relations.
Initially controversial, All in the Family became a phenomenon — watched by over 50 million viewers and winning 22 Emmys during its run from 1971 to 1979. (The show was renamed Archie Bunker’s Place and lasted another four seasons.)
“Lear was sometimes asked if the series’ popularity had to do with attracting viewers who were just like Archie. ‘Maybe they continued to agree with Archie Bunker — you can’t change people’s minds, but you can get them to think,” he replied.
“Lear himself had another explanation for the show’s success — that is dispelled one particular TV myth. “The myth is: ‘The average man doesn’t want to come home from a hard day’s work and be faced with problems on television. He wants escapism, entertainment, fluff,’”
Lear told the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights in1972. “All in the Family has tackled many everyday problems and the average American, returned from his hard day’s work, has not only accepted it but made it the most popular show on TV.”
“Lear continued moving into that uncharted TV territory with Maude, an All in the Family spin-off centered around the older, left-wing title character played by Bea Arthur. Lear would later say that, of all his characters, Maude spoke to him the most,” Browne wrote.
“She was the out-front liberal but didn’t really take responsibility for knowing what she was talking about all the time, which is what most of us do,” he once said. “We deal from our feelings more than from the information and the facts.”
Lear also created or developed arguably the first TV series centered around Black families: Sanford and Son (like All in the Family, adopted from a British series with the same premise), The Jeffersons and Good Times. As with All in the Family and Maude, the shows intercut humor with messages.
“When Lear read an article about the rise in hypertension in black men, the story became the basis for one episode. “By the time we went into reruns, we knew that we had to have an advisory at the end of it, advising where people could turn for help,” Lear said. “Because we had had so many calls on the first show that were unanticipated. There were lots of examples of
that.”
“By the dawn of the Eighties and the end of Lear’s heyday, TV had been transformed.”
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