RIP Norman Lear

He’s moving on up.

Eh, never liked him or his shows, with their oozingly smug patina of liberal condescension, and their cheap videotaped appearance. Sitcoms used to look so beautifully produced, shot in 35mm, but Lear utilized videotape, combined with the era's awful maize colored earth-tones. Dreary as hell, and set a miserable trend. I even remember "Hot L Baltimore." Just horrid, and grossly obnoxious. Lear was buoyed by some talented writers, but he sure derailed television and set it on the course of both trashiness and hyper-politicization. I really hate his legacy, because tv turned into such a noxious, caustic sewer in his wake.

I saw an interview with him a couple of years ago, and he was as sharp as ever and could have certainly passed for someone 20 years younger from a physical standpoint.

I think he was still writing and even hosting events well into his 90s.

He was still giving interviews very recently. Dude was still very sharp witted.

I still quote Sanford and Son (especially Grady) on a regular basis.

Norman’s up there with Weezy , George, Edith and Archie.

Well, let me put this another way. Take away the superficiality of cheap, tacky-looking production values and the innate visual ugliness of the era in terms of fashion, decor, set design and whatnot. Take away the boorish soapbox speechifyin' in the dialogue (and I do loath heavy-handed ideological 'messaging' in my entertainment.

Take all that away. Do you know what I really disliked about Lear's product, as exemplified by "All in the Family," "Maude," "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," "One Day at a Time," and whatnot? I hated all the screaming, shouting characters and their endless dysfunction and neurosis. And all those calculatedly 'dramatic' pauses before commercial breaks. Ugh. I hate dysfunctional people. I hate people full of angst. I hate drama queens. I don't like them in real-life, and I sure as hell don't want them in my entertainment. Those series ultimately came across to me as long, haranguing whine-fests. Sort of the embodiment of that whole inward-looking, self-indulgent "Me Generation" culture of that era. It had manifested itself in drama programming earlier on, but Lear brought it into the comedy genre in the early-1970s. Whiney, neurotic, insufferable stuff. The antithesis of what I seek in entertainment.

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I still quote Sanford and Son

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I still say “I’ll be damned” when something bad happens to me because of that show.

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Ugh. I hate dysfunctional people. I hate people full of angst. I hate drama queens. I don't like them in real-life

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I imagine your house is devoid of mirrors.

For the sane posters, yes Sanford and Son is an all time great and easily remains in my top 10 even after all this time.