15 Norman Lear Episodes That Changed TV History
Reading Time: 9 minutesCelebrate Norman Lear’s 100th birthday with some of the most groundbreaking TV ever made.
The 1970s are often spoken of as a golden age for movies, a time when filmmakers produced challenging classics that refused to pander, combing love for the history of the medium with modern sensibilities. Though it might not look that way from our perch in the Age of Prestige TV, that was true the tube in the ’70s, too.
The era’s renaissance kicked off with James L. Brooks and Allan Burns’ Mary Tyler Moore Show, which dared to imagine a single, professional woman with a career and active love life, a firm break from the sillier and safer shows of just the prior year. The series produced a couple of successful spin-offs, but nothing like the television empire that would rise in just a few months later when Norman Lear’s All in the Family debuted, leading directly to Maude (six seasons), The Jeffersons (11 seasons), and Good Times (six seasons). All in the Family‘s creator, producer, and sometimes-writer, Norman Lear would have a hand in many of the other big TV hits of the era, including Sanford and Son (six seasons) and One Day at a Time (nine seasons). It’s not fair to say that he was the only game in 1970s TV, but it’s hard to imagine that landscape without Normal Lear.
The conservative 1980s saw a move away from characters having difficult conversations on TV, while the ’90s saw a bit more variety in the genre, and a bit more sexual openness. Yet only recently has streaming finally reopened the market for content that might be a little more challenging, and a bit less sponsor-friendly. It’s not just about the creators, it’s about us: the shows put out by Norman Lear and his contemporaries in the 1970s weren’t just smart, they were popular, even as they addressed issues like race, sexual assault, and abortion. Maybe it’s not entirely that TV creators changed, maybe it’s that we got smaller.
Lear’s career continued well past the 1970s, with his various production companies participating in the making of some of the most popular shows of the following decades. He’s also been active in a variety of causes, founding People for the American Way and Declare Yourself, to encourage young people to register to vote. Within the last couple of years, he’s produced the (excellent) One Day at a Time reboot, as well as several other series and documentaries. This week, he turns 100 years old with no plans to retire.
From that groundbreaking era of the 1970s, here are the most impressive and forward-looking episodes written and/or produced by Norman Lear.
Written by: Burt Styler and Norman Lear
Often credited (correctly, I think) as American television’s first openly gay character, Archie Bunker’s old friend Steve (Philip Carey) is also among the least stereotypical. In the episode, there’s no doubt in Archie’s mind that Mike’s sensitive photographer friend is, in Archie’s words, a ‘flamer.’ Escaping to his neighborhood bar for some bro-time, Archie discovers that his deep-voiced, sports-loving, arm-wrestling drinking buddy is a happily well-adjusted gay man…which just about everybody but Archie already knew.
Where to stream: Freevee, Pluto
Written by: Michael Ross, Bernie West, and Philip Mishkin
Less groundbreaking than some other episodes, this second-season episode was bold in its own way. Already having developed a reputation for tackling uncomfortable subjects, ‘Cousin Maude’ crystallized the show’s power by introducing Archie’s perfect nemesis in the form of Bea Arthur, Edith’s ultra-liberal cousin. In earlier episodes, Archie’s loud, very particular, and very recognizable politics had come up against either fate, simple logic, or characters who were no match for Archie in terms of volume. Maude, on the other hand, is no pushover. From the presidency of Richard Nixon to the Civil Rights movement, the two go head-to-head on the same issues of the day that actual families were fighting about in their homes.
From this distance, it all seems relatively quaint—but imagine a major network sitcom in which two main characters yell at each other about, say, the January 6 probe, and you’ll get an idea of how revelatory (and probably stressful) this would have been (Black-ish is the only recent show that might come close). In 1971, it made a TV star of Bea Arthur.
Where to stream: Freevee, Pluto
Written by: Burt Styler
A deplorable degree stigma as remains around discussing issues of women’s health, but the early ’70s were another world entirely. In just two years, First Lady Betty Ford would scandalize much of the country by openly discussing a diagnosis of breast cancer, an illness that many had previously been regarded as something better talked of in whispers. Here, it’s Edith’s developing menopause that’s brought into the light—earning episode writer Burt Styler an Emmy in the process.
Where to stream: Freevee, Pluto
Written by: Susan Harris
Five decades later, it’s nearly impossible to imagine a major network sitcom doing what Maude did in its very first season: dealing head-on with abortion. A spin-off of the #1 rated show on television, Maude starred Bea Arthur as the title character, a sometimes knee-jerk liberal to contrast Archie Bunker’s arch-conservatism. In the two-part episode, written by Golden Girls creator Susan Harris, Maude discovers that, at 47, she’s rather unexpectedly pregnant; this was 1972, the year before Roe v. Wade, though abortion was already legal in New York. Maude believably and emotionally wrestles with her options before deciding, with the support of husband Walter (Bill Macy) and daughter Carol (Adrienne Barbeau) that she doesn’t feel at all comfortable with the idea of raising a child in her 50s and beyond.
Though the episode was conceived as a story about vasectomies (which are also discussed in the finished show), producer Lear made bold choices (another early possibility saw Maude’s best friend with the pregnancy) that brought reproductive rights to the forefront. The episode certainly created controversy, but much of it came after the fact. Maude’s first season ended at #4 in the overall TV ratings.
Where to stream: Tubi
Written by: Vincent Bogert
If there’s a theme here, it’s in the notion that not one of these episodes is particularly dated. That’s to the credit of Lear and the writers who worked on these shows, but it’s also mildly demoralizing; you’d have hoped that we’d have moved on by now.
In ‘Archie is Branded’, the issue is anti-Semitism and the victim is, oddly enough, Archie. The roller-coaster of an episode stars off with some of the usual funny business, before the Bunkers discover that their front door has been tagged with a swastika intended to intimidate a Jewish member of the local school board. The incident all but radicalizes Archie, who gets involved with anti-Nazi extremists, leading to a disturbing and violent final act.
Where to stream: Freevee, Pluto
Written by: Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf
Walter and Maude had always been portrayed as the quintessential middle-aged party people: dinner parties and late nights with plenty of cocktails. It all seems like a lot of fun, until it isn’t, and Maude finds herself having to come to terms with Walter’s drinking. As is usually the case, she spots the problem long before he does, and his refusal to consider that he might have a problem leads to a number of fights, one of which ends in a shocking moment of abuse.
The two-part episode is an impressive (for it’s time) look at alcoholism, and the ways in which it can creep up on those affected. This isn’t the last time that the show would touch on Walter’s alcoholism and struggles with sobriety.
Where to stream: Tubi
Written by: Gene Farmer and Paul Mooney
Lear had less to do with the development of Sanford & Son than with most other shows from his golden era, and the show mostly eschews the social and political commentary that marks the others. Largely a vehicle for Red Foxx’s rather brilliant (and unique on television, especially at the time) style of performance, it was very focused on the comedy, which is not to say it never dealt with prickly issues.
Here, it’s the straightforward, but sadly still relevant issue of Black Americans in the criminal justice system. Nephew Lamont (Demond Wilson) decides to fight a traffic ticket in court, only to find Foxx’s Fred jumping in to defend him. It’s a very funny episode that manages to work in some potent material, particularly when Fred demands of the officer who issued the ticket, ‘what have you got against Black drivers?’ just as the camera cuts to the exclusively melanated dock. ‘Why don’t you arrest some white drivers?’
Where to stream: Prime Video, Peacock, Pluto
Written by: Eric Monte
Michael (Ralph Carter) offers his father (John Amos) some lessons in Black history after he’s suspended from school for refusing to apologize to his teacher. The reason? Michael dared to tell his history class that George Washington had owned slaves, running afoul of the CRT panic before it had a name.
Good Times could lean into ‘Dy-no-mite!’-style silliness, but when it was good it was some of the best TV of the era, and this episode remains prescient; depressingly, perhaps, even more relevant today than it was back in 1974. Bookish Michael gets the chance to educate his one family on some key moments in Black history—stuff they’d never learned about in class because schools never bothered to teach them.
Where to stream: Peacock, Freevee
Written by: Rod Parker
Norman Lear has spoken of how Carroll O’Connor’s Archie Bunker was, in most respects, an unflattering caricature of his own father. Lear, though, was also perfectly content to see his own politics and sensibilities mocked where it was called for, and Maude was a perfect vehicle for that sort of thing.
In this episode, Maude starts palling around with a well-known writer (played by Soap’s Robert Mandan, a staple of 1970s and ’80s TV) who just happens to be gay. He’s also a condescending jerk, treating everyone in Maude’s orbit like the help, and smartly making the case that gay people can be as insufferable as anyone else (an early win for representation when it comes to gay jerks). Without realizing it, Maude keeps spending time with him because he’s gay; because she likes what it says about her that she has a gay friend. Her reflexive liberalism becomes its own form of subtle bigotry.
Where to stream: Tubi
Written by: Don Nicholl, Michael Ross, Bernie West, Barry Harman & Harve Brosten
The first episode of The Jeffersons broke ground; perhaps, most significantly, it kicked off the 11-season run of one of the most popular sitcoms of the era, which happened to star a successful Black family. The smartly written pilot establishes much of what would make the show so beloved, and was recreated (with Wanda Sykes, Jamie Foxx, and Marla Gibbs) for the first of Jimmy Kimmel’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience specials. We’re also introduced to upstairs neighbors Tom and Helen (Franklin Cover and Roxie Roker), one of TV’s first interracial couples, and certainly the first in which the characters would have anything close to the series-regular status they enjoyed.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Tubi, Pluto
Written by: Hubert Geiger, Roger Shulman, John Baskin, and Hubert Geiger
Several Lear-adjacent shows dealt with gun violence, but Good Times had a perspective that none of those other shows had: this was a Black family in a poor neighborhood in which crime was presented as a real issue. In ‘The Family Gun,’ James (John Amos) gets fed up and buys a gun to protect the household, against the wishes of matriarch Florida (Esther Rolle). When daughter Thelma (Bern Nadette Stanis) is mugged, James feels vindicated…until he realizes the gun he purchased has gone missing. The resulting turmoil touches on a number of issues that haven’t gone away: crime, over-policing, and the dangers of guns bought for protection that fall into the hands of children.
Where to stream: Peacock, Freevee
Written by: Michael S. Baser & Kim Weiskopf
Another American TV first, this fourth-season Jeffersons episode features a transgender character who is treated with what. for the time, looks like sensitivity. George’s old Korean War pal comes for a visit, having, in the intervening years, transitioned medically and socially. Edie is played (very well) by a cisgender woman (Veronica Redd), a casting choice that hasn’t aged tremendously well—but given the intervening decades of often-not-great trans representation on TV, it’s hard to fault this early effort at understanding. In coming out to George, Edie cuts right to the heart of things in explaining her life to George (and the audience): ‘Everything about me was a woman, except for the way I looked.’ Of course, there’s some resistance, but George and Weezie comes to realize that Edie is the same person she always was, only living more authentically.
Where to stream: Prime Video, Tubi, Pluto
Written by: Barry Harman and Harve Brosten; Bob Weiskopf and Bob Schiller
Archie and Edith are at their best in this late-series episode for which the writing team won an Emmy. When Edith’s cousin Liz dies, Archie has hopes for an inheritance. As it turns out, Liz was gay and her ‘roommate’ Veronica (K Callan) was, in fact, her partner, and asks Edith for the valuable silver tea set that the two had used each day of their lives together. When Archie discovers that Edith has agreed, he hits the roof, threatening to expose Veronica, a teacher, which would certainly cost her job. Horrified Edith can’t believe even Archie would be so cruel, quietly but firmly putting her foot down as the character never would have done in earlier seasons.
The episode landed amid a number of anti-gay ballot initiatives across the country, including a California referendum to ban gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools, and is credited by some with moving the needle in a positive direction on some of those measures.
Where to stream: Freevee, Pluto
Written by: Bob Weiskopf and Bob Schiller
A dark TV first, the two-part ‘Edith’s 50th Birthday’ is one of the toughest to watch in the series’ long history. It’s the first time that a sitcom dealt directly with rape. With the rest of the family next door planning a birthday party, Edith narrowly fights off an attacker posing as a police detective. The attack itself isn’t as powerful as the aftermath, as Edith struggles with traumatic stress and depression; Lear and company consulted with rape crisis and treatment professionals in order to make Edith’s emotions feel both authentic and believable. It’s not the first sexual assault in the series: Gloria was attacked while walking home from work in a third season episode, and Edith had described an attempted date rape that she’d been subjected to as a teenager. That prevalence of sexual violence is something else that the show gets heartbreakingly right.
Where to stream: Freevee, Pluto
Written by: Phil Sharp
Another from the very strong eighth season of All in the Family, this one sees Mike and Archie trapped in the storeroom underneath the bar. Time-tested sitcom setup, no question, but here it leads to hard-won confessions from the two men, particularly Archie. He admits, as much to himself as to Mike, that his racist attitudes are the legacy of his own sometimes cruel father. With the line ‘How can any man who loves you tell you anything that’s wrong?’ Archie speaks eloquently to the generational cycles of bigotry and abuse that so many families find themselves locked in. It’s a lovely bit of writing.
Where to stream: Freevee, Pluto