Top 10 Best Norman Lear TV Shows

Norman Lear reinvented television in the 1970s with some of the best TV shows ever made. These shows explored a new range of topics that had never been addressed in situation comedies before.

Which one is your all-time favorite?

The Top Ten

  1. All in the Family

    All in the Family is an American sitcom that aired on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979, for a total of nine seasons. The show was created by Norman Lear and is based on the British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part. It became known for tackling controversial social issues... read more

    I would have loved to have seen the faces of the executives at the play-it-safe network when this one was pitched. Somebody took a wonderful chance, and history was made.

    This show changed U.S. TV forever, dealing with racism and many other topics like never before. It gave us one of TV's greatest characters in Archie Bunker.

    Great show. I think it changed some things in the American character. Thank you, Mr. Lear, and happy birthday.

  2. Maude

    Maude finally presented the first real woman on TV: opinionated, hypocritical, overbearing, and bossy. Right on, Maude!

  3. The Jeffersons

    Spinoff from the Bunkers, showing their neighbors moving on up to the richer side of New York. It featured the Black version of Archie Bunker in the character of George Jefferson.

    This should be movin' on up to number one on the list.

  4. Good Times

    The Evans family represented issues for Black families living in the Chicago ghetto. The show is still Dy-no-mite.

  5. Sanford and Son

    Sanford and Son is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977. The show starred Redd Foxx as Fred Sanford, a cantankerous junk dealer, and Demond Wilson as his son Lamont. It was known for its sharp humor and became a significant influence on American television comedy... read more

    Redd Foxx, as the hysterical Sanford, brought TV the first successful all-Black TV show.

  6. One Day at a Time

    A first for TV. A divorced single mother raising her two kids one day at a time.

  7. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

    The weird Mary Hartman and friends.

  8. The Powers That Be

    A political show for the '90s.

  9. Hot l Baltimore

    A wacky hotel, based on the play of the same name.

  10. Fernwood 2 Night

    A spinoff of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.

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