Norman Lear: Brilliant, Funny, Kind, Woke As Hell

A TV legend dies at 101.

Norman Lear is gone, but there’s no way anyone will forget him. His impact on television endures, even when sitcoms were too cool for school and avoided “hugging and learning.” Lear’s work remains a personal touchstone for me: “All In The Family,” “The Jeffersons,” “Good Times,” “Maude,” “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” “Fernwood 2 Night,” and of course “Sanford and Son,” a show my mother and I used to watch every night at 11:30 p.m. during summer break.

Lear died Thursday at his Los Angeles home. He was 101, which is a full life by any account. His mother was from Ukraine and his father was from Russia. I wouldn’t say his heritage defined his work, but as a writer, he was able to empathize with everyone while never rejecting the humanity of anyone.

I learned that Lear had died around the time I’d watched an annoying clip of the upcoming Daily Wire-produced sitcom “Mr. Birchum.” The lead character is very much like Archie Bunker, a traditional, conservative white male railing against a changing society he holds in contempt. Unfortunately, this series will never grow past the simple right-wing theme that “different people are different and that makes them bad.”

We joke that reactionary right-wingers suck at comedy, but this is why: They are incapable of empathy, and they lack Norman Lear’s deep-felt love of all people. He didn’t produce comedies to make fun of people who were different racially or ideologically. His intent was to help audiences understand them, to see the humanity beneath the sometimes noxious surface.

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Lear gave Archie Bunker positive human traits while never glamorizing his bigotry. He also wasn’t afraid to highlight the flaws in his liberal stand-in Michael (Rob Reiner). The creators of “Mr. Birchum” could never meet this simple artistic challenge: What is something good and human and decent about the people who are different from me?

George Jefferson is one of the greatest TV characters ever, and he was more than just “black Archie Bunker,” although he was often just as prejudiced and ignorant. Jefferson didn’t just call white people “honkeys,” though. He had a heart. The episode where we learn how Jefferson made his first dollar as a businessman made me cry in 1983 … and still does 40 years later.

This is also an appropriate time of year to rewatch the 1977 Christmas episode “984 W. 124th Street,” in which we learn that George has played Secret Santa to the people who live in the Harlem apartment where he grew up. “There were a lot of
bad Christmases here,” he tells his wife Louise. “We didn't have presents or tree or nothin'. You know how that makes a kid feel. I promised that if I made it big, there wouldn't be no more bad Christmases in this apartment. I’m just keeping a promise.”

Lear’s brand of progressivism informs all the shows he developed and produced, and his humanity ensures that few episodes feel dated. More often than not, they stand out as if they could’ve been written today. One example is the episode of “Good Times” in which Michael is suspended because he refuses to apologize to his white teacher for (correctly) informing his class that George Washington owned slaves. Historical revisionism has been an issue long before the current critical race theory panic.

“Maude” criticized the lead character’s reflexive white liberalism and performative “wokeness” when she remains friends with an insufferable asshole solely because he’s gay and she thinks having a gay friend makes her look open-minded. In reality, it just makes her look like someone who has crappy taste in friends, regardless of sexual orientation. This is complexity that modern sitcoms would avoid, even if they proudly ditch the laugh track.

“Mr. Birchum” will certainly relish in sending up the worst excesses of white liberalism, but the creators will probably refuse to imagine that their woke strawmen might have any positive motivations. You want to be a better person but sometimes fail, especially when your vanity and prejudices get in the way. Right-wingers just assume liberals just hate them and want to make them miserable and vegan.

Last year, Ross Johnson at Life Hacker listed 15 Norman Lear episodes that “changed TV history.” Some I’ve already mentioned, but it’s important to note that these episodes weren’t chasing fads. They were more than just topical references. They were fully realized human stories: George Jefferson learning to accept an old friend who has transitioned (this aired in 1977). Edith standing up to her husband Archie, when he threatens to out her late cousin’s lesbian partner. (This episode is considered a direct response to California ballot referendums intended to ban LGBTQ people from teaching in public school.)

It’s a quaint observation, but Norman Lear never wanted audiences to laugh at anyone, but with them. Humor was intended to heal divisions, not exploit them. We could use a man like Norman Lear again, but he was one of a kind.

[Life Hacker]

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