BEST NORMAN LEAR SHOWS
“All in the Family” (CBS, 1971-79) Well, of course. After writing for some of the classic shows of the 1950s, Lear started to build his own dynasty as a television producer with this comedy classic – based on a British series – about unapologetic bigot Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor), his wife Edith (Jean Stapleton) and their family and friends. CBS understandably was nervous about the show before its premiere, but it became a TV landmark.
“Sanford and Son” (NBC, 1972-77) Lear also made a British show the basis for this hit about a junk dealer and his son (Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson) who often were at generational odds over various personal and societal matters.
“Maude” (CBS, 1972-78) The first of several “All in the Family” spinoffs made Broadway veteran Beatrice Arthur a television star as Maude Findlay, whose liberal views frequently echoed the women’s movement of the era.
“Good Times” (CBS, 1974-79) One spinoff begat another as Maude’s housekeeper, Florida Evans (Esther Rolle), became the focus of her own show ... which yielded a breakout star in Jimmie Walker, whose character J.J.’s catchphrase “Dyno-mite!” became standard vocabulary of the late 1970s.
“The Jeffersons” (CBS, 1975-85) A family introduced on “All in the Family” was “movin’ on up” in another signature show of its time, with Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford as upwardly mobile title couple George and
“Ouisie.” “One Day at a Time” (CBS, 1975-84; Netflix, 2017-19; Pop, 2020-present) The previously unknown Valerie Bertinelli became a major TV personality out of the original version of this this sitcom about a divorcee and her two daughters, with Lear and his colleagues successfully updating the concept with a Latino take for its current incarnation.
“Hot l Baltimore” (ABC, 1975) Including Charlotte Rae, James Cromwell and Conchata Ferrell, the purposely and wonderfully diverse cast of Lear’s take on Lanford Wilson’s play about a Maryland hotel and its dwellers made this show distinctive, if also a bit ahead of its time in broadcast-TV terms.
“Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” (Syndicated, 1976-77) Like the serials it spoofed, this soap-opera parody aired daily – or, more accurately, nightly (in most cases) – with Louise Lasser as the title character in the midst of countless complications in the supposedly idyllic town of Fernwood.
“All’s Fair” (CBS, 1976-77) Though this didn’t have the impact of other Lear shows, this conservativevs.-liberal comedy offered a great starring team in Richard Crenna and Bernadette Peters. It also had a supporting player of note, several years before his own star really began to rise ... Michael Keaton.
“The Powers That Be” (NBC, 1992-93) Lear targeted Washington, D.C., for satire – at a time when that wasn’t as common as it is now – by casting John Forsythe as a career politician with relatives and associates whose behavior constantly threatens to land him in headlines for all the wrong reasons.