Biting The Hands That You Feed
The upcoming American Masters: Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You will be airing on PBS Tuesday, October 25 at 9 p.m. ET (check local listings). In this preview segment, Lear, veteran of a hit string of sitcoms in the ‘70s (including All in the Family, Maude, Sanford and Son and One Day at a Time) is interviewed at the time by the late Mike Wallace about him, and other successful writers, challenging censors at the networks. It was a time when TV was transforming from its role as a tasteful guest in the family living room into a medium which challenged established social norms and conventions through dramatic content. Lear feels that it wasn’t the writers biting the hand (the networks) that fed them, but the other way around. They were feeding the network with the most valuable fuel of all — creativity. —Eric Gould