I am pleased to announce that I finally signed a contract with McFarland & Co., Inc., Publishers (www.mcfarlandpub.com), and my book about Norman Lear's impact on the American culture through his television shows will finally be released! The date on that is tentative, but it will come out probably around this time next year, but possibly sooner, including before the end of 2006 (that is what we are striving for). The book contains never-before seen interviews with Rue McClanahan and Bill Macy from Maude, Susan Harris, who wrote the abortion episode of Maude, Marla Gibbs and Franklin Cover of The Jeffersons[I], and Lou Richards of [I]Gloria. The book is about 79,000 words (give or take a bit), and contains information such as the following:

~The character that the original draft of Maude's the abortion episode revolved around
~Death threats Norman Lear received in response to certain show decisions he made
~The original actor who was supposed to play JJ

But most of all, the book looks at how the show had a true impact on the American culture. For more, visit my website at www.dear-norman.com.

A fair third of the book is about All in the Family; Good Times is the second longest section with like 15,000 words (give or take); Maude is the third longest, and One Day at a Time, Sanford and Son, and the Jeffersons have about 6,500 words a piece. All numbers are subject to change.

If you would like to be the first to know about when this book is coming out, and how you can purchase it, please send me an email at sean@dear-norman.com. I am trying to put together a mailing list of all the people who might want a copy, so that I can notify them when the time comes. I think this would be the most organized way, and quite a few people have already mentioned to me in the past that they would be interested. So simply send me an email with your name and email address, and if you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them.

I apologize that I am posting this on the boards of the other Norman Lear sitcoms; however, not everyone looks at every show, so I am just trying to get everyone that is interested down on the mailing list.

Thank you,
Sean Campbell
www.dear-norman.com
sean@dear-norman.com

congrats on getting the book published and i will defeantly read it i always thought there should have been a book like yours published a long time ago thank you on behalf of all the norman lear fans like myself

Congratulations. It looks like it's a going to be a great book.

Congrats, I know that you worked really hard on it.

Hey sean don;t forget your buddy Solomon helped you out with this boo with all the Vintage Photos-lol
All jokes aside, Congrats on the book getting Published.

Don't worry Solomon, I put you in the acknowledgements for helping me out.

One mroe thing Solomon - I couldn't get those photos in there because of copyright restrictions. Television studios are very anal about those sorts of things. Per show, I was only allowed to get one still with them dressed as their characters (otherwise getting sued is a possibility). However, I did try to pick the most original ones, and I got a lot of cast headshots. I have a photo with Bill Macy and Norman Lear, which I like a lot. I sent out the manuscript with 19 photos for this book. I would've liked more, but I don't wanna get sued lol.

Don't worry Solomon, I put you in the acknowledgements for helping me out.



Thanks Sean. So will the book be in stores like Barnes and Noble?

I know that Barnes and Noble carries the other books that this publisher publishes, so the answer to your question, Solomon, is yes. You may have to tell your local BN to get the book if they don't have it in that specific store. Also, they will be on amazon.com. This publisher has been around for close to 30 years, and is a leading publisher in the US of scholarly, reference, and academic books. It is McFarland & Co. (www.mcfarlandpub.com). They have a lot of books on television and sports.

maybe Norman Lear will tell everyone if "Good Times" was a spin-off of "All in the Family" or "Maude" and we can FINNALLY put an end to that debate!!!

maybe Norman Lear will tell everyone if "Good Times" was a spin-off of "All in the Family" or "Maude" and we can FINNALLY put an end to that debate!!!


Well if the producer of Good Times said it wasn't a spinoff I'm sure Lear would say the same thing

let's not start that debate AGAIN!

Well actually Norman Lear answers that question VERY vividly in the book, which could put an end to all the madness.

GOOD!!! Then hopefully people will stop debating it once and for all!