Coming in 2024, by the author of A Skeleton Key To Twin Peaks and Ey Up! An American Engages With This Is England is an exploration of the American moral soul through primetime art.
I was born the year All in the Family broke its fifth season. The Jeffersons just started. Maude was a runaway hit. Sanford and Son was already in syndication, and Norman Lear was still just getting started. He would run challenging shows in primetime for another 15 years and is still producing American art as I write this.
No other American artist has impacted my system of morals and behavior like Norman Lear. His shows matter. They taught me how to think about poverty, race, and class, but most importantly, they taught me how to laugh with people who didn’t look like me, didn’t talk like me, and didn’t think like me.
But it wasn’t all roses for Lear. He was put on Richard E. Nixon’s (a Bunkerism) enemy’s list. I would argue that no other artist fueled the rise of the Religious Right that became the Reagan Revolution like Norman Lear. All those shows in prime time, making America laugh at rich white people, at bigoted white people, and see deeper into the pit of hypocrisy that binds us all to this day.
But did these shows and their impact make Americans better people? Did we treat each other better because we watched them together? Or did the backlash against the culture these shows helped to create, result in an America that is crueler and is no longer sustainable as a country of The People, For The People, and by The People? Can we even call ourselves a common People anymore?
I will be interviewing people on all sides of the question. I will be digging into my prejudices and moral values as I progress on a project to watch every episode in the order they were broadcast in prime time over 20 years of our American Lives. This Analysis & Appreciation will include insights and conversations about:
All In The Family (1971 -1979) 209 episodes
Sanford and Son (1972-1977) 135 episodes
Maude (1972 -1978) 141 episodes
Good Times (1974 - 1979) 133 episodes
The Jeffersons (1975 - 1985) 253 episodes
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976 - 1977) 325 episodes
The Facts of Life (1979 - 1988) 201 episodes
227Â (1985 - 1990) 116 episodes
In the comments, let me know what you think about this project, especially if Norman Lear’s art made you a better person. It may end up in the book!
Announcing My New Project