At 100, Norman Lear Looks Back (And Ahead) at What’s Changed
September 7, 2022 10:12 AM   Subscribe

 
In your memoir you wrote, “Of all the characters I’ve created and cast, the one who resembles me most is Maude.” I’m curious why you feel that way, and were you aware of it as you were writing the show?

LEAR I thought of Maude as a horseshit liberal. She was altogether liberal, but she knew far less than she should know to support her point of view. I felt that way about myself. I think about [All in the Family castmember] Rob Reiner, who I obviously adore, who knew everything he was talking about. He was solidly informed on all the things that he was supporting. I can’t tell you how much I admired that because, like Maude, I thought of myself as a horseshit liberal.


As someone who grew up with and is still surrounded by horseshit liberals, I love this.

As a 4-year-old, literally the only thing I remembered about seeing snippets of "All in the Family" was that "the dad was always yelling." Like every snippet I saw, he was yelling. Stop yelling. Why is he always yelling? I hate yelling. I need to change the channel.

Always liked "Good Times" though; the issues about poverty as well as race were compelling. They really, really should bring this back somehow, whether on mainstream TV or perhaps a Broadway musical or something: hey woke people, here's a message first delivered more than 40 years ago!
posted by Melismata at 12:31 PM on September 7, 2022 [2 favorites]


here's a message first delivered more than 40 years ago!
One of my aged indulgences is YouTube Reaction channels, of young or no-cultural-exposure people listening to 'my' old music. People hearing Nina Simone or the Bee Gees or Deep Purple for the first time, etc. Does it hold up?

I'd be interested in seeing current TumblrTeens watch Good Times or the Jeffersons or Chico and the Man.
"They showed this on TV!?"

But first, as an aside,
[Brian Blessed voice] NORMAN'S ALIVE!?
posted by bartleby at 1:03 PM on September 7, 2022 [4 favorites]


Imagine celebrating your 100th birthday by getting the first-ever sitcom about a trans woman greenlit. Who even.

Virtually everything about Lear's career blows my mind.
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 1:57 PM on September 7, 2022 [3 favorites]


TV, and film: Lear's companies executive-produced Start the Revolution Without Me, This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, Stand By Me, Fried Green Tomatoes...
His 2014 memoir, "Even This I Get to Experience," has a trailer.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:54 PM on September 7, 2022 [1 favorite]


This is a great interview and an absolute delight to read.

I was curious why his father went to prison when Lear was nine - Wikipedia says it was for selling fake bonds.

And taking a further look at Wikipedia - I did not know he founded People for the American Way. I hadn't heard about his Declare Yourself project, either - "a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign created to empower and encourage eligible 18- to 29-year-olds in America to register and vote. ... it has registered almost 4 million young people."

I am delighted to hear his voice in my head today and to learn more about this very funny man. If he's right that laughter aids longevity (of course he is), just think how many years he's given us all.

Thank you so much for posting this, Etrigan!
posted by kristi at 9:15 PM on September 7, 2022 [1 favorite]


Lear has had an undeniable effect on American culture and would otherwise have an enviable career, save for the two things about him that stick with me: he ripped off Eric "Cooley High" Monte for the idea for The Jeffersons while he was a writer on Good Times, which he also created with the guy who played Lionel on The Jeffersons; and Bill Macy (Maude's husband Walter) said Lear screwed him (36:00) out of residuals when he made a deal that Macy would only get the first year of residuals after syndication, with Lear taking them after that.
posted by rhizome at 9:48 PM on September 7, 2022


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