Almanac of Story Tellers: Norman Lear

Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to story telling -- in prose and in poetry, in art and in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is the story of July 27th

 ___________________________________________________________________________

    It is the 208th day of the year, leaving 157 days remaining in 2022.

    On this date in 1922, the television writer, producer, and director Norman Lear was born.

Lear with the cast of All in the Family

    He told his stories on the small screen, often developing characters seldom seen on television. He also brought innovative discussions to television, focusing on issues that had long been ignored or considered too controversial -- race, sexuality, bigotry, and other political and social issues of the 1960s and 1970s.

    His groundbreaking series, without doubt, was All in the Family, which premiered on CBS in January 1971. It portrayed a blue-collar family living in the New York City borough of Queens. It was headed by an openly bigoted father and husband, his submissive wife, his feminist if childish daughter, and his liberal hippie son-in-law, who was equally opinionated and willing to argue his views.

    All in the Family is regarded as one of the top situation comedies of all time, bringing serious, albeit humorous, conversations about racism, antisemitism, sexism, and homosexuality. It brought the main character, Archie Bunker, face-to-face with Black families to confront his racism, deal with his wife's battle with breast cancer, and argue the Vietnam War and presidency of Richard Nixon with his liberal and logical son-in-law.

    The show, while controversial, usually was No. 1 in prime time for its first five years.

    But that wasn't Lear's only TV accomplishment. A spin-off, Maude, brought a strong and intelligent feminist to prime time, with her views on women's rights, sexism, and her desire to end an unwanted pregnancy. One Day at a Time showed a single woman raising two teenage daughters.

    Sanford & Son showed two Black men trying to make a living as junk dealers. Good Times featured a working-class Black family living in a public housing project in Chicago.

    In addition to his television work, Lear also wrote movie screenplays -- he was nominated for an Oscar for Divorce American Style in 1967 -- and was an activist who helped found the liberal public-interest group, People for the American Way. He is in the Television Academy Hall of Fame, awarded with the National Medal of Arts in 1999, and has won five Emmys and two Peabody Awards.

    As he celebrates his 100th birthday, he is still working -- in 2019 he was a co-producer on Live in Front of a Studio Audience. He is currently the executive producer of the animated reboot of Good Times.