Definitely landmark shows.

RIP.

PS: Maude (which spun off from AitF) is another of Norman Lear's famous shows.

Oh, and I forgot all about Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. That was a fun, crazy series.

R.I.P.

@DRDMovieMusings said:

All in the Family.

The Jeffersons.

Sandford and Son.

One Day At A Time.

I appreciate your work.

I liked how you didn't mention that John Amos show he had something to do with at all, because as much as I respect Lear and his legacy, that show never failed to give me an uncomfortable feeling while watching it.

RIP

@Rocky_Sullivan said:

@DRDMovieMusings said:

All in the Family.

The Jeffersons.

Sandford and Son.

One Day At A Time.

I appreciate your work.

I liked how you didn't mention that John Amos show he had something to do with at all, because as much as I respect Lear and his legacy, that show never failed to give me an uncomfortable feeling while watching it.

RIP

Well said!

At first, I kinda figured that my not mentioning Good Times was "just an oversight"; but, in truth, it was more likely driven subconsciously by the very same uncomfortable feelings you mentioned.

Even though Amos personally reconciled with Lear, the issues with which Amos took umbrage back in the late 70s remain real. Nobody's perfect, and I certainly side with Amos' concerns about a show about a Black family being written by white people, and putting too much focus on JJ being a clown rather than Thelma and Michael aspiring to education, and meaningful contributions to the betterment of society (Thelma wanted to be a surgeon, and Michael a Supreme Court Justice). There was a chance to predate The Cosby Show modeling Black people with lofty aspirations...but, for whatever reasons, the show's producers and writers weren't ready for that.

While that is a shame, it's also possible audiences weren't quite ready for it either. Sanford and Son was about the Black owners of their own business, Fred a curmudgeon, a Black Archie Bunker with the young son as "Meathead" articulating the progressive voice, but Fred was not educated, refined, thoughtful. The Jeffersons was nifty in that George was a successful business owner living a nice(r) life but, again, he wasn't particularly educated, just another curmudgeon, a Black Archie Bunker, not thoughtful or introspective, but with multiple "Meathead" characters around him leading him forward.

Eventually, we would get The Cosby Show, showing an educated, articulate, affluent Black family. They had family, traditions, taste, beauty, style...there was no "Meathead" leading them forward, but there was Elvin spewing backward ideas, and they lead him forward. Forgetting, for a moment, that the real life Cosby is a scumbag, the show, at the time, was a big deal to a lot of Black society, especially as the show was embraced beyond the Black community as a champion of a new idea - there was more to the Black experience than just ghetto-talking, fried-chicken-eating, clowning foolishness.

Good Times could have been this and more - the struggle of the Black family to keep it all together when there wasn't education and wealth to make it easier.

Yes, we can deem it a missed opportunity, even a failure. But the fallout certainly made it clear that the actors weren't necessarily complicit in the superficial portrayals and the fight for better was bigger than Norman Lear's shortcoming here.

As for Lear, well, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, and Good Times were still steps forward. Some might even argue they were giant leaps. They certainly did help advance the conversation, and win progress. He wasn't perfect, but his work and its impact on tv history is net positive, I think.