Norman Lear is dead to me

Norman Lear is dead to me

Just when he was poised to make a come back.

I thought he was dead already. I really am surprised.

Like losing our older brother.

He made us all laugh, but he couldn't live forever.

How long has his obit been pre-written?

Kissinger, Rosalyn Carter, Lear ... not a good time for people who were important in the 1970s.

He was still posting on Twitter last year.

Think of the impact this man had on all of our lives -on American society and the world. And he used his powers for good.

RIP, Mr. Lear.

Will he be buried in that hat?

Predictions for the next two celebrity deaths-John Amos and Marla Gibbs.

r12, I second you. changed american television forever

He brought us so much amazing television. RIP.

I know we all have plenty of snark for everyone, but he changed TV in so many good ways. And he worked hard politically in so many ways.....he was a good American.

I will shed a tear for his passing.

Great New Yorker profile of him from 2016. He had his own IT department!

God will get him for that.

The Mary Tyler Moore show alone should guarantee him immortality.

R20 The Mary Tyler Moore Show was not one of his productions.

All In The Family should guarantee him immortality, but he was also in part or in whole a creative force behind Maude, Good Times, Sanford and Son, the Jeffersons, and everyone's favorite slapfest, One Day At A Time.

I knew a woman who was one of his secretaries for years.

She was pretty high strung herself, and not afraid to speak her mind. She adored him. Never a bad word about him.

Now, there's someone I thought might live forever.

May he rest in humor!

Norman was a great American.

[quote] not a good time for people who were important in the 1970s.

Dionne Warwick next.

Sell your haberdashery stocks ASAP! Great man. Changed the world. RIP.

A true enlightened American.

R14 did you mean John Astin?

Making it to 101 is impressive.

I guess we have to forgive him for giving us Bonnie Franklin.

I feel like......like slapping someone!

BarbaraJulie, get in here! Norman Lear is dead!

Where would DL be without the endless threads about Bonnie Franklin's braless fried egg tits?

RIP Norman, your shows brought us all a lot of joy.

[quote]All In The Family should guarantee him immortality, but he was also in part or in whole a creative force behind Maude, Good Times, Sanford and Son, the Jeffersons, and everyone's favorite slapfest, One Day At A Time.

Wasn't he also involved with DIFF'RENT STROKES and THE FACTS OF LIFE?

A treasure!!!!!

Loved Maude the best.

And I thought Jean Stapleton was the best character in All In The Family. The episode where Edith was almost raped or killed. When Edith died made me cry. Carol Oconners Archie was a masterclass in the death of Edith.

ah, shit

Great man, great TV, a good soul

I probably loved Sanford and Son the most.

I agree, r38. Edith was a great character.

Jean Stapleton was brilliant:

To live to 101, successful, comfortable, knowing you have made a mark in the field you chose. Enviable.

R37 Very distantly....the production company (Tandem) he and Bud Yorkin created to make his shows later made those two. But he wasn't involved in a creative way.

Don't forget his Learjets!

Lear outlasted one of the co-writers of his NYT obit, who died this summer.

Goodbye, Norman Lear / Though I never knew you at all / You had the grace to hold yourself / While those around you crawled ...

Aw, he really is a legend. I had hopes ABC would do those Live in Front of a Studio Audience specials each year as a holiday thing.

He was a grandfather to "227" as well. So many of his children predeceased him: Archie & Edith Bunker, George, Weezie and Lionel Jefferson, Tom & Helen Willis, Harry Bentley, Ann Romano, Dwayne Schneider, Fred & Lionel Sanford, Florida Evans, Maude & Walter Findley, Phillip & Kimberly Drummond, Arnold Jackson, Edna Garrett, Beverly Ann Stickle.

He was like a father to me...almost.

R36- Better those than Irene Cara's

RAISIN TITTIES

"I knew a woman who was one of his secretaries for years. She was pretty high strung herself, and not afraid to speak her mind. She adored him. Never a bad word about him."

She never had to negotiate a contract with the tight assed bitch.

Boy, the way Glen Miller played.

He was a friend to the gays, too

RIP

Interesting to read about All That Glitters.

Apparently Gary Sandy - one of my first TV crushes - played a version of WKRP's Jennifer on All That Glitters - e.g. the secretary who exists for eye candy.

R3 I kinda did too even though I know he is old as dirt. One word: ICON. His shows nearly make up the entire Television History & Form class at NYU.

Complete episode of 'All That Glitters' from 1977 just uploaded online. (Link) Without a live audience or laugh track it seems a bit strange.

If you think about the characters he created, R52 lists many of them, they were incredibly memorable with distinct personalities. We are not likely see another Norman Lear again.

One of my favourite episodes of All in the Family is the one featuring Anthony Geary and Phil Carey. Archie is disgusted by Geary’s character who he thinks is gay. It’s actually Carey’s character, a former football player, who is. This was so important to see when I was a kid in the 70s.

This man was a legend, he changed American television in the 70’s and helped shape tv for the next few decades, RIP.

For R32 : He died fighting an oil rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico. He was one hundred and one!

Liked the All in the Family episode where Archie's buddy turned out to be gay!

[quote]Where would DL be without the endless threads about Bonnie Franklin's braless fried egg tits?

The Bonnie Franklin and Linda Lavin threads always make me laugh, very funny stuff.

The Maude episode about the gay bar was amazing for the time. Gay men being portrayed as "normal" and non-stereotypical on a sitcom was quite something for those days.

Lori Shannon, as Beverly LaSalle on AITF, was another groundbreaking character. He made 3 appearances on the show before being killed off when the character was mugged.

Norman Lear’s work has given me so much enjoyment. I liked his hats, too.

All in the Family, my favorite of all his shows (although I love them all) has gotten me through some low points in life.

It was nice how all of the major broadcast networks honored him tonight at the top of the 8pm hour. Very classy.

I worked with him on two projects. He was the kindest, gentlest soul.

I absolutely adored him.

Everybody should be lucky enough to live to 101.

Well, except Republicans.

[quote]For [R32] : He died fighting an oil rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico. He was one hundred and one!

Well, it's great that he was able to work right up to the end.

He lived a good life and a long life. RIP Norman, and thank you for all your contribution.

He was a huge, liberal inspiration. Not surprising but sad.

I’m sad about this. His shows remind of watching TV as a teen with my mom and dad. Those were happy times listening to my parents crack up.

RIP.

I didn't realize that Norman Lear was responsible for One Day At A Time and Bonnie Franklin.

R82 his production company produced many shows.

Songs that made the hit parade.

[quote] Complete episode of 'All That Glitters' from 1977 just uploaded online.

R63 Wow, just like in 1977, the main attraction for me is Gary Sandy’s bulge. All That Glitters was one of the few Norman Lear shows I didn’t like. It seemed like standard soap opera writing in which the male and female actors traded scripts. I thought it was lazy satire: you got it in the first 10 minutes, and after that the conceit wore thin. In contrast, I loved Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (although it too started to wear thin after the first season of episodes).

The Beverly LaSalle episodes were so good, particularly Beverly's death.

On the one hand it did play into the Kill Your Gays trope. But.....Edith really loved and cared for Beverly, so much so that her murder made Edith question her own faith. It really mattered to Edith, not just a character blown up for the gore of it all, as so often seems to happen these days.

I, as a younger guy, love a lot of his series. Maude, AiTF, The Jeffersons...the list goes on. But one thing that rubs me the wrong way, is that the conservative audience uses Archie Bunker as some kind of biblical text on how to be a truly hateful closed-minded conservative. They forget that Archie is FICTION and honestly is a parody of most bigoted lower middle-class men of the 20th century.

Mr. Lear, a true progressive-minded American, likely didn't expect that kind of reaction to his characters. RIP to him, his shows will probably be rerun until the end of mankind. They're timeless.

Also, his grandson Noah LaPook is HOT.

r88 get your eyes checked

He’s awe inspiring. The Mod Squad, Room 222, The Waltons, MASH, Happy Days, Welcome Back, Kotter, Three’s Company…need I go on? Because I would be here all night. Cheers, Mr. Leer.

[quote] Cheers, Mr. Leer.

I didn't realize he also produced Cheers!

He was pretty dashing before he lost his hair.

RIP

R10, You omit the world-altering Sandra Day O'Connor.

[quote] He’s awe inspiring. The Mod Squad, Room 222, The Waltons, MASH, Happy Days, Welcome Back, Kotter, Three’s Company…need I go on? Because I would be here all night. Cheers, Mr. Leer.

R91 I think you made a wrong turn at one of the Larry King threads.

"The Nancy Walker Show"!!

Watching any of his great shows -it drives home the fact that today people are so weqk, thin-skinned and politically correct .

Wasn’t his first wife the template for “Maude”?

R87 I believe for the majority of regular viewers of AITF, Archie Bunker was a person who was a bigot but grew in his views as the series progressed. He was redeemable. But for others what should have been a teaching situation and a cautionary tale, they took it as someone to identify with and a license to be xenophobic. If you observe some of Archie Bunker's earlier series sentiments it's easy to see the similarities with Donald Trump comments of today.

You’ll forgive us if we don’t send flowers…

Damn. Pearl Harbor must have did you in.

All in the Family was such a difficult show for me to watch when I was a kid, because watching Archie Bunker was like watching my own father. They even looked alike. I didn't like it then, but looking back at it now as an adult, it was brilliantly written and Carol O'Connor's portrayal of a bigot couldn't have been more spot on.

He had as many failures as successes, perhaps even more, but he did change the conversations that were had on TV, at least for a while.

R97, Lear was a liberal i.e. "politically correct"

Conservatives are the most thin-skinned people out there. Look at Trump.

Ugly and looks exactly the same in every picture. Glad he’s dead. Move on.

John Amos wrote a beautiful tribute.

Has JJ Walker commented yet?

Many BBC loving gay boys wished a younger John Amos was gay, for sure.

Carol Bayer Sager set him up on a date with Elizabeth Taylor. A very funny story in her very funny autobiography. After the date, Carol asked Norman, who truly seemed to enjoy the date, whether he was interested in a romance with Liz, he said, "No, she's got too many fingers." Meaning, she'd required too many rings/expensive jewels.

Here's a compilation of celebrity tributes to Norman Lear. Scroll down to see the social media posts.

Has Sally Struthers commented?

^ She's too busy polishing off a supersize bag of Doritos.

He was a good man and a great man. RIP, my dear sir.

Ozempic strikes again!!! When will these vain, self absorbed Hollywood stars stop killing themselves to be perfect while also stealing much needed medicine for mid western fat shores like me?!?!?!?!?

A legend and a groundbreaking genius. The Jeffersons is one of my favorite shows with one of the best themes.

[quote]Ugly and looks exactly the same in every picture. Glad he’s dead. Move on.

You go first.

Only television? Well, I guess it's a living.

I try to remember, there’s High Art and low art.

Tonight at 8pm EST on CBS: "With rare material from the Entertainment Tonight vaults, a prime-time special pays homage to the great TV producer Norman Lear, who passed away this week at 101. His groundbreaking comedies on CBS (All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times, One Day at a Time) and NBC (Sanford and Son) changed the face and possibilities of TV by injecting social commentary and satire into the sitcom format. Nischelle Turner hosts the hourlong tribute, with appearances by Jimmie Walker (Good Times) and Mackenzie Phillips (the original One Day at a Time) and excerpts from an in-depth interview conducted by Kevin Frazier to mark Lear’s 100th birthday.

Also of note, Catchy Comedy presents The 200th Episode Celebration of All in the Family (8/7c), a replay of a 90-minute retrospective special of Lear’s greatest, most groundbreaking series. (MeTV will show it Sunday at 6/5c.)"

Huh, finally CBS takes a second to remember one of its former talents

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