A Television Pioneer

This week the world was saddened at the passing of television pioneer Norman Lear.  He was the creator of such television shows as All in The Family, Sanford and Son, Maude, Good Times, The Jefferson’s, and The Facts of Life.  Much of Lear’s work was groundbreaking, yet controversial.  Norman Lear had the ability to make millions of people laugh and not be offended by it.  He kept the broadcast sensors on their toes and many people saying “you can’t say that on television” or “that’s too controversial to talk about on television.”

 Lear talked about such topics as racism, homosexuality, woman’s rights, abortion, and drug abuse.  Lear didn’t want people to keep their heads in the sand that such problems in the world existed.  He didn’t beat you over the head with it, and he took a humorous approach to the problem.  He made you laugh at it, but he also let you know that it’s wrong and that in the case of racism, we are all of one race.  The human race. 

 Most of his characters are embedded in our memories if we were children of the 1970’s and 1980’s.  One of his most iconic character’s was Archie Bunker from All in The Family.  We may not have like Archie’s point of view on the problems of the world, but the way he put his comic spin on it made us laugh, but also think we needed a solution to problems.  His other characters Fred Sanford of Sanford and Son where he poked fun at a poor African American junk dealer who was trying to make in the world that seemed like it was against him which he was actual rich with the family and friends that he had.  George Jefferson from the Jefferson’s who proved that an African American man could be a self-man made in a world full of rich, white, snobs. The Evans family from Good Times always reminded you though you may not have had much money living in the poor section of Chicago, you always had your family and your neighbors to live like royalty.  And Maude Findley, the foil to Archie Bunker, demonstrated that she could make us laugh, cry, and made politicians and citizens scream at the top of their lungs .

Lear’s writing, producing, and directing of his shows didn’t slap you in the face with societies problems, he let humor entertain you and then let the drama of the moment make you aware of the problem then let our society try to come to a solution. 

 Norman Lear’s tenacity and bravery in creating of his television shows of the seventies and eighties was a true television pioneer.