Posted on 12/06/2023 7:03:09 AM PST by Red Badger
Lear leaves behind a legacy of trailblazing shows that redefined the subject matter traditional sitcoms could cover.
Norman Lear, the prolific and groundbreaking TV producer whose portfolio of comedies focused on social issues and advanced the idea that sitcoms could help drive the conversation about relevant and taboo subjects, has died. He was 101.
Lear died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by family members, his family said. His death was attributed to natural causes.
"Norman lived a life of curiosity, tenacity, and empathy. He deeply loved our country and spent a lifetime helping to preserve its founding ideals of justice and equality for all," his family said in a statement.
"He began his career in the earliest days of live television and discovered a passion for writing about the real lives of Americans, not a glossy ideal. At first, his ideas were met with closed doors and misunderstanding. However, he stuck to his conviction that the “foolishness of the human condition” made great television, and eventually he was heard," the statement said.
A private funeral service will be held for immediate family, the statement said.
Born July 27, 1922, the five-time Emmy Award winner was a TV legend, with his first credit as a writer listed as “All Star Revue” in 1950, according to the entertainment website IMDb. He climbed the ranks, writing sketches for Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and a slew of variety shows. He also wrote the screenplays for multiple movies in the 1960s, earning an Academy Award nomination for best screenplay in 1968 for “Divorce American Style.”
Lear struck gold in 1971 when he created the CBS sitcom “All in the Family,” based on the British comedy “Till Death Do Us Part.” The show revolved around working-class bigot Archie Bunker, played by Carroll O’Connor, whose old-world views were often challenged in the new era in which he and his wife, Edith, were living.
All In The Family
The pioneering series, which Lear revisited in the 2021 book, “All in the Family: The Show That Changed America,” often appears atop lists of greatest shows ever and addressed subjects that were never discussed on prior sitcoms, including racism, the Vietnam War, women’s rights, abortion, religion and homosexuality.
The show initially struggled to find viewers but would go on to become the most-watched show in the country. It won 22 Emmy Awards, including four for outstanding comedy series, before it signed off in 1979, spawning the spinoff “Archie Bunker’s Place,” which ran for another four seasons.
“The kinds of topics Archie Bunker and his family argued about — issues that were dividing Americans from one another, such as racism, feminism, homosexuality, the Vietnam War and Watergate — were certainly being talked about in homes and families. They just weren’t being acknowledged on television,” Lear wrote in a 2021 op-ed in The New York Times.
“All in the Family” was a game-changer in the annals of TV, but Lear said he had no clue at the time about its potential impact.
“I didn’t even think I was breaking a mold,” he told NBC News in 2014.
Lear, who would be among the inductees in the first class of the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1984, would once again hit pay dirt with “Sanford and Son,” a show about an irascible Los Angeles junkyard owner (Redd Foxx) and his son. That series, which premiered in 1972, lasted six seasons and garnered seven Emmy nominations.
Lear continued to create shows that proved to be critical and commercial hits, including “Maude” and “The Jeffersons,” both spinoffs of “All in the Family.” He also developed “One Day at a Time” and “Good Times.”
Beatrice Arthur As 'Maude'
When I was a kid, the old Amos ‘N Andy TV show was on. I enjoyed it and did not think of it as ‘racist’ in any way.
But now it cannot be broadcast at all...............
'All in the Family' was ripped off from the British sitcom 'Till Death Us Do Part'. He capitalized on that ripoff with spinoffs 'Maude' (which had a spinoff of 'Good Times'), 'The Jeffersons', and 'One Day at a Time'.
'Sanford and Son' was ripped off from the British sitcom 'Steptoe and Son'.
Do not GAS.
Ipso fatso!
Yep.
The Andy Griffith show had lots of propaganda too. And it came out years later that Andy and Don Nots were both gay. Kept under wraps at the time, obviously.
There are Leftists today who hate AITF. They see it as having “humanized a monster”.
They were both married to numerous women and had kids.
I know they were married and had kids. I know I read some stuff about them but I can’t find it now so I’m not going to repeat it now. I did poke around and found out West Virginia took down a statue of Don Knott’s a few years ago. It’s unclear why except some people complained.
What “pioneer”?
I suppose that taking British sitcoms and merely adapting them to US audiences is “pioneering” somehow? The man had not an original thought in his head.
Ok.
.
Yet, you already "repeated it." Even though you have no source but your self. That's so hypocritical as to be humorous.
I heard on the radio today that Mr. Lear was just recently on a zoom call about re-booting one of my favorite shows, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
I really liked Mary Hartman but I liked SOAP a lot more!! Rob Schmidt had a clip of All in the Family on his show tonight Archie going off on immigration OMG I had forgotten how funny that show was, I was laughing at that clip so hard tears were coming down my cheeks! It has been SO LONG since we have had comedy like that, such a shame!! Norman Lear would have been cancelled today by the left!!
Gosh....I thought he was (already) dead, Jim.
Norman was conservative, before he knew it.
Blow it out your ass and do you’re own research. I’m not the only person to bring this up. It’s out there. And Andy Griffith was a hard core leftist. Look it up yourself genius.
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