She was suppose to be the Anti-Archie Bunker, but was she likeable or too brash and abrasive to really like?

http://www.oocities.org/favoritetvclassics_maude/character_maudefindlay.gif

She was like Archie in that her views were sometimes off putting, as well as her demeanor and delivery. But also like Archie, you always got enough insight into Maude to realize that she was a good person deep down. Lear was great that way.

It wasn't that she was unlikable it was just that the show was too much of a dramedy to be fun to watch.

It wasn't that she was unlikable it was just that the show was too much of a dramedy to be fun to watch.


But Sol, couldn't you say the same thing about shows like All in the Family and Good Times?

But Sol, couldn't you say the same thing about shows like All in the Family and Good Times?


Nope Good Times and All in the Family had several fun eps to watch. Can't say the same for Maude

Nope Good Times and All in the Family had several fun eps to watch. Can't say the same for Maude

So, in your opinion, Maude wasn't necessarily unlikeable, just the show in general wasn't funny?

So, in your opinion, Maude wasn't necessarily unlikeable, just the show in general wasn't funny?


It's not a great fall back show. Too many serious episodes. I been watching the Jeffersons all day and been laughing. I guess Maude was too real and only worked because it was new and real.

It's not a great fall back show. Too many serious episodes. I been watching the Jeffersons all day and been laughing. I guess Maude was too real and only worked because it was new and real.


I guess you are right.

for me maude, was an aquired taste , i was born 5 years after maude went off the air and wasnt aware of the show untill recently, watched an epsiode on youtube and got hooked, also it does help a bit if like golden girls, since maude and dorothy have some simiaritys (namely the scarcastic comebacks)

I guess it depends on whether you're conservative or liberal. :lol:

When I was younger (and on the rare occasions when the show actually appeared in syndication), I remember hating Maude with a passion. Just a boring, depressing show with few laughs, and I honestly couldn't understand how the show had been a hit. Nowadays, I appreciate the show a bit more, but it's definitely an acquired taste and a product of its time. As noted, Maude was new and "shocking" for the 1970s and pretty much every notable Norman Lear show of that period was a hit anyhow, but the series didn't have any breakout characters aside from Florida and the wacky neighbors weren't really all that wacky. So you didn't have the catchphrases and assorted comedic bits which lend certain series the rewatchability factor.

I would consider that a compliment for Maude :wave:

It's not a great fall back show. Too many serious episodes. I been watching the Jeffersons all day and been laughing. I guess Maude was too real and only worked because it was new and real.

When I was younger (and on the rare occasions when the show actually appeared in syndication), I remember hating Maude with a passion. Just a boring, depressing show with few laughs, and I honestly couldn't understand how the show had been a hit. Nowadays, I appreciate the show a bit more, but it's definitely an acquired taste and a product of its time. As noted, Maude was new and "shocking" for the 1970s and pretty much every notable Norman Lear show of that period was a hit anyhow, but the series didn't have any breakout characters aside from Florida and the wacky neighbors weren't really all that wacky. So you didn't have the catchphrases and assorted comedic bits which lend certain series the rewatchability factor.


Good points. We watched it largely because we liked Maude on AITF, but it never approached that show's appeal. It was a good, solid show, carried almost completely by the force of the main character. The supporting cast was very good but their characters weren't as substantial, you are right.

Another thing about Maude was that most of the cast was easily over 40. Carol was in her thirties and but otherwise, it was an older cast, and I'd wager it appealed mostly a mostly older crowd. So it kind of makes sense it wouldn't have had the "hot" factor like Good Times, or Happy Days, or Three's Company or others had.

I'm basically a conservative guy but admit I enjoy Maude. I think Maude had a great cast also. I couldn't help but laugh the other day while watching "Arthur's Crisis" when I noticed that the nurse was Mary Joe Catlett. In just a few years she would be working with Conrad Bain on Differen't Strokes as a regular.

I think Maude had many more serious episodes than other Norman Lear sitcoms of the 1970's and that makes it a bit different.

I guess it depends on whether you're conservative or liberal. :lol:
But I'm a conservative and I love the show. :lol:

I can't stand when shows preach at you but I always felt different about Norman Lear shows. They never sounded like a lecture. Maybe because I grew up with the shows or the fact that I don't think liberals or conservatives come off as perfect on Norman Lear's shows. I think he had an agenda but he knew that he had to get the right wing viewers for the shows to be a mass hit. Maude was more political then other Norman Lear shows with the way they presented the message and maybe that's why it hasn't done well in syndication. I really don't know. Bea Arthur's a hoot as Maude. :lol:

But I'm a conservative and I love the show. :lol:

I can't stand when shows preach at you but I always felt different about Norman Lear shows. They never sounded like a lecture. Maybe because I grew up with the shows or the fact that I don't think liberals or conservatives come off as perfect on Norman Lear's shows. I think he had an agenda but he knew that he had to get the right wing viewers for the shows to be a mass hit. Maude was more political then other Norman Lear shows with the way they presented the message and maybe that's why it hasn't done well in syndication. I really don't know. Bea Arthur's a hoot as Maude. :lol:

I think it's also apparent to me that while Lear was obviously very liberal, he was not a 'hater'. He loved Archie, despite more than likely disagreeing with him about most issues. He understood Archie and why he thought the way he did, and when you understand someone, you see them as a person, not "the enemy". That, IMO, is the problem with most political discourse today; people don't just dislike the view, they dislike the person.

And with Maude, whom he probably agreed with most of the time, he understood that she was just a human being, not a 'vessel of truth' that could do no wrong. Kind of like Mike on AITF, Lear was not afraid to stick it to her when she was being hypocritical or foolish.

I think it's also apparent to me that while Lear was obviously very liberal, he was not a 'hater'. He loved Archie, despite more than likely disagreeing with him about most issues. He understood Archie and why he thought the way he did, and when you understand someone, you see them as a person, not "the enemy". That, IMO, is the problem with most political discourse today; people don't just dislike the view, they dislike the person.

And with Maude, whom he probably agreed with most of the time, he understood that she was just a human being, not a 'vessel of truth' that could do no wrong. Kind of like Mike on AITF, Lear was not afraid to stick it to her when she was being hypocritical or foolish.
I do think you are right about that. I remember someone once asked Caroll O'Connor if he hated Archie and he said pretty much what you just said. I think today's producers could learn a thing from watching Norman Lear shows. I enjoyed them all. I even liked The Powers That be. I wish that show would have lasted longer. It had a great cast.

When I was younger (and on the rare occasions when the show actually appeared in syndication), I remember hating Maude with a passion. Just a boring, depressing show with few laughs, and I honestly couldn't understand how the show had been a hit. Nowadays, I appreciate the show a bit more, but it's definitely an acquired taste and a product of its time. As noted, Maude was new and "shocking" for the 1970s and pretty much every notable Norman Lear show of that period was a hit anyhow, but the series didn't have any breakout characters aside from Florida and the wacky neighbors weren't really all that wacky. So you didn't have the catchphrases and assorted comedic bits which lend certain series the rewatchability factor.

This is about what I feel about the series. It was on first run when I was a child, and neither I nor my parents liked it (and we loved All in the Family like the rest of America). The lead is a big, ugly, harridon of a woman, married to a wimpy husband, who was a failure and a whiny drunk.

A hot 1970's "liberated" daughter (well, Maude's daughter) who went out and slept with different men without committment with a goofy looking son. Everyone fighting, arguing, drinking, in that garish 1970's house.

The theme song to Maude did rock. I also liked the camera trip from NYC to her house and then 20 minutes later running away back to the sanity of 70's NYC. I am surprised that the show did well enough with Middle America to stay on as long as it did. It was too loud and Jewish for us.

Golden Girls I loved (except the one still breathing.........)

This is about what I feel about the series. It was on first run when I was a child, and neither I nor my parents liked it (and we loved All in the Family like the rest of America). The lead is a big, ugly, harridon of a woman, married to a wimpy husband, who was a failure and a whiny drunk.

A hot 1970's "liberated" daughter (well, Maude's daughter) who went out and slept with different men without committment with a goofy looking son. Everyone fighting, arguing, drinking, in that garish 1970's house.

The theme song to Maude did rock. I also liked the camera trip from NYC to her house and then 20 minutes later running away back to the sanity of 70's NYC. I am surprised that the show did well enough with Middle America to stay on as long as it did. It was too loud and Jewish for us.

Golden Girls I loved (except the one still breathing.........)
Too Jewish? Please explain!

Too Jewish? Please explain!

LOUD

Liberal

Promoting values outside the mainstream of America.

Pushing abortion, divorce and casual sex as mainstream to mainstream America.