SEVENTIES SITCOMS 1972-1973: PROGRESSIVE INCORRECTNESS AND THE BIRTH OF THE NEW CLASS

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Norman Lear laid claim to the top three sitcoms this season. “All in the Family” was still leading the pack and “Sanford and Son” followed up in its first return season. His third hit would be his first spin-off series. Edith Bunker’s cousin Maude, appearing as Archie’s liberal antagonist on two episodes the previous season, would get her own series this year and join the other Tandem produced sitcoms in their notoriety, controversy and popularity.

1972 was probably the most significant season in terms of premieres (if not a close second to 1970). Along with “Maude” CBS premiered the cult classic “Bob Newhart Show” and the legendary “M*A*S*H.” Yet with all the game-changing topicality emanating from the full-frontal brazenness of Cousin Maude and the salacious cynicism of Hawkeye Pierce, it was the sweet romantic comedy “Bridget Loves Bernie” that got the cultural rebuke.

AND NOW THERE’S MAUDE

Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin did not play favorites in their society-skewing satires. As much as Archie Bunker played the uneducated buffoon with his bigotry and bravado, his liberal “Meathead” son-in-law could also be put in his place by way of his own brand of hypocrisy and his general slothful ways. There was no doubt Lear was a staunch liberal and the character of Maude Findlay was based on his wife, Frances. Maude was a middle-aged feminist, married to her fifth husband with a divorced daughter, and as bombastic in her left-wing views as Archie was in his conservative bluster. And Lear didn’t hesitate to show Maude not just nobly involved in her progressive causes but in her constant frenzy of mixed messages and overcompensating intentions gone awry.



In the most talked about television event that season, the episode dealing with Maude’s decision to have an abortion at 47 was Lear’s crowning achievement in “going where no (wo)man has gone before” in terms of sitcom (or any series genre) storylines. Revisiting this two-part episode, one can see how such a progressive event in 1972 can seem rather dated today. The series was known for it’s yelling and ugliness, just as its sister series was. Yet it went further in its staginess (most of the actors were from Broadway) and insensitivity. The poorly regulated comedic shifts, the inherent cruelty of the characters, and the broad delivery of the material in the abortion episode were somewhat redeemed by star Bea Arthur’s exquisitely timed slow burns and measured histrionics.

“Maude” was just as controversial as AITF, if not more so, but it tended to favor it’s distant cousin “Sanford” in its schticky insult setups and jokes. Whereas the trials and tribulations in the Bunker household, as outrageous as they could be, were dealt with in a more serious matter with no loss of laughs or humanity, Maude and her household tended to veer into one-dimensional line readings with multi-dimensional plot elements. This may be one of the reasons that “Maude”, as popular as it was in the early seventies, has not been as fondly remembered or rerun as Lear’s other output.