Television producer and creator Norman Lear, 101, died yesterday. In his long life, he became famous for his "urban-based" sitcoms of the 1970s which are considered landmarks in American television history. Some of these series were based on earlier UK sitcoms, and frankly, Lear and his longtime partner Bud Yorkin did it better.
The most famous and "revolutionary" of Lear's sitcoms was 1971's All in the Family, which premiered in the middle of the 1970-1971 television season. It was based on the UK sitcom, Till Death Do Us Part. It became an immediate hit and controversial program because the central character, Archie Bunker, a dock worker, was an unabashed bigot. This would have been repellent all on its own, and in the earlier UK program the central character was totally repulsive, but veteran actor Carroll O'Connor gave Archie a multidimensional portrayal than just a mere stereotype of Richard Nixon's "hardhat" supporters. The show often focused on current events, which, upon watching the series fifty years later, isn't all that dated. All one had to do was substitute current politicians and the show still works as a comedy. Meanwhile, Archie got more mellow as the years wore on, but this was because of all the lessons he had to learn about accepting others and treating them with respect. O'Connor, a brilliant actor, was ably assisted by Jean Stapleton as his "dingbat" wife Edith, Rob Reiner as his "meathead" son-in-law Mike, an unabashed liberal and as stubborn as Archie, and Sally Struthers as Archie's "little goil" Gloria. The show was a hit for many years, but it jumped the shark when Stapleton decided to leave the series and the character of Edith was killed off. Not deterred, the producers revamped the show to center it on Archie primarily since Carroll O'Connor was the only original cast member left (Reiner and Struthers left the show a couple of years prior). The new series, which lasted a few seasons, was called Archie Bunker's Place.
Lear didn't originate the idea of "spinoff" television series, but he might have been the most famous television producer to employ this idea that a hit sitcom could generate other hit sitcoms using popular characters from the original. He didn't just have spinoffs from All in the Family, he also had spinoffs of spinoffs. Example was the sitcom Maude, which debuted a year-and-a-half after AITF after star Bea Arthur, a noted stage actress, was positively received by viewers when she made her original performance in one episode as Maude, a cousin of Edith. Maude became a big hit and was controversial in its own right. One of the most popular characters in this show was Maude's housekeeper Florida, played by veteran actress Esther Rolle. Again, the producers decided to create a television series centering Florida and her family titled Good Times. That show also became a hit and ran several seasons. I would say it was the blue-collar counterpart to the below-mentioned The Jeffersons, with both series centering on African American families.
Another spinoff of AITF was The Jeffersons, which centered on the Bunkers' neighbors, the Jefferson family, which found success in a string of laundry businesses, as a I recall. This sitcom might have been the best of all of them, nothing short of hilarious at its best, with a stellar performance by Sherman Hensley as George.
Yet another famous hit television sitcom from Lear and his partner Bud Yorkin was Sanford and Son, which like AITF, was based on a UK sitcom. This show was adapted from Steptoe and Son. Again, African American actors headed the cast, with Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson playing the title characters, respectively.
He created the soap opera parody, Mary Hartman, Mary Harman, which in turn spun off a series called Fernwood 2night.
Lear had made some feature films prior, but they weren't the hits his television series were. Few people in television history had the golden touch Lear and Yorkin did back in the 1970s. Fortunately, all of the Lear sitcoms are on DVD, for those interested in physical media.
Lear was also known for his political activities. He was well known for his liberal politics. At one point in his life, he was rich enough to buy one of the original printed copies of the Declaration of Independence, and he had this document on tour all around the country, including Portland, Oregon, where I got to view it back around 2003. When he wasn't purchasing rare documents, Lear poured money into founding People for the American Way, which has as one of its goals exposing the antics of the political right. It created the YouTube/Twitter site, Right Wing Watch, featuring some unintentionally hilarious and/or alarming comments from prominent right-wing commentators, televangelists, and politicians, using their own words.
Norman Lear was born on July 27, 1922, in Hartford, Connecticut, and his childhood wasn't all laughs. When he was 9 years old, his father went to prison for fraud for selling fake bonds, and his mother sent him to live with his grandparents.
He later said his father served as an inspiration for Archie Bunker.
"The intention was to show there's humor in everything. And I never thought of him as a hater so much as a fearful man of progress," Lear told "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King in 2017.
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