Introduction
September 1970. This started the Golden Year for American network television, specifically, half-hour sitcoms. This retrospective looks back at that time, just a shade over 50 years ago, and celebrates this era of home entertainment.
James L. Brooks
Legendary producer, director, and screenwriter James L. Brooks would kick things off by launching The Mary Tyler Moore Show on September 19, 1970. Brooks, a New Jersey native and NYU dropout moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. His goal was to try and make it as a television writer.
James L. Brooks would bounce around Hollywood for several years. While working on such shows as My Mother The Car and My Friend Tony, he would eventually and successfully pitch the racially groundbreaking show Room 222. Brooks was the creator and showrunner.
CBS and producer Grant Tinker saw the talent and possibilities in Brooks. He was subsequently hired, as was his producing partner Allan Burns. Their goal was to create a show that revolved around TV superstar (and Tinker’s wife) Mary Tyler Moore. The rest is history and would launch everyone’s career into the stratosphere.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show was voted sixth on its list of 101 Greatest Written TV Shows of all Time by the Writers Guild of America. The show would change the trajectory of how Americans viewed single women who were focused on their careers rather than getting married and making sure dinner was on the table.
Brooks won multiple awards for the show. He also went on to have one of the most prolific careers in Hollywood history, winning an astonishing twenty-one Emmys for shows such as The Simpsons, The Tracy Ullman Show, Taxi, and Lou Grant. He also won three Academy Awards for directing, writing, and producing the classic film, Terms of Endearment (1983).
The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its incredible cast and writing team were revolutionary and groundbreaking. The show was considered monumental in continuing the push forward of feminism’s “second wave.” It concluded its seven-year run in 1977 and would lead to several successful spin-offs (Rhoda, Phyllis, Lou Grant).
The Mary Tyler Moore Show’s impact on future generations of writers, directors, and producers cannot be understated. There’s no 30 Rock without The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Tina Fey has said how writers and creators such as herself owe so much to people like Brooks, Allan Burns, and the incomparable Mary Tyler Moore.
Half-hour situation comedies were not the only thing that made 1970 a “golden” year. That same month, iconic comedian Flip Wilson would get launched into the stratosphere after years of hard work.
Flip Wilson
Clerow “Flip” Wilson, Jr. was born in 1933 and grew up in foster homes from the age of 7 on. At the age of 16, Wilson (illegally) joined the Air Force to try and make a better life for himself. During this time, Wilson would discover his instinct for being funny and raising people’s spirits.
Wilson would entertain the troops and improve the morale of those around him. His fellow servicemen would describe Wilson as being “flipped out,” hence leading to the nickname “Flip,” which would stick with him for the rest of his life.
Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s, Wilson would build his reputation as a comedic wild man, touring nightclubs, as well as the “Chitlin Circut,” a group of venues in various parts of the US that would provide an opportunity for African Americans to perform during the era of racial segregation. Below is a clip of Wilson on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1970:
It was during these years that Wilson would hone and sharpen his routine. In 1965, legendary comedian Redd Foxx would go on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show and state that Wilson was the funniest comedian in the country. As a launching pad for so many comedy legends, Carson would have Wilson as a guest numerous times, as would Ed Sullivan.
Taking Chances
By 1970, it was Flip Wilson’s time to take center stage. Finally, the NBC network took a chance on Wilson, and on Thursday, September 17, 1970, the network launched The Flip Wilson Show, an hour-long variety show. Wilson’s career, and the American viewers, would never be the same again.
Wilson’s show, much like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, was groundbreaking. Not only was it the first network variety show to star an African American male, but it was also a show that was hugely successful among a predominately white audience. During its first two seasons, The Flip Wilson Show would jump to #2 in the Nielsen ratings.
The Flip Wilson Show was a predominately “skit” type show that would feature Wilson often dressing in drag as “Geraldine Jones” and creating such other hilarious characters as “The Good Time Ice Cream Man” and “The Reverend Leroy.” His performances were often ad-libbed, unhinged, and completely new for 1970s television viewers.
Wilson also provided a platform for many up-and-coming musical artists of the day, such as The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, and The Temptations. In addition, Bobby Darin, an established star as a singer, composer, actor, and musician, was a frequent guest with whom Wilson had incredible chemistry.
This wildly popular show would conclude its epic run in June of 1974. Flip Wilson, a two-time Emmy, and Golden Globe winner, would pass away in 1998 at the too-young age of sixty-four from liver cancer.
The Odd Couple
On Thursday, September 24, 1970, producer Garry Marshall would roll out the first of many monumental American television shows. Based on the 1965 hit stage play and 1968 film adaptation by Neil Simon, The Odd Couple premiered without much fanfare on the ABC network.
The show starred Tony Randall as the fussy and annoying (yet ultimately lovable) Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as the slovenly yet warm-hearted Oscar Madison. It was a show about two divorced men living together and driving each other crazy. It wasn’t groundbreaking by any stretch of the means.
What The Odd Couple was, however, was incredibly funny, well-acted, and brilliantly written. It’s really unlike anything we have today. Both actors would win Emmy Awards for their work on this monumental show.
While the ratings weren’t great, the critics loved The Odd Couple, and that gave it the juice to survive five seasons. After the first season, the show switched to multi-cam, so every second of these two veteran stage actors’ fast-paced physical and verbal action could be captured. It was a smart move, as was switching over to a live audience.
As viewers, we were introduced to such characters as “The Pigeon Sisters,” “Murray the Cop” (played by Garry Marshall stock player Al Molinaro), and of course Penny Marshall as Oscars’ loyal secretary “Myrna.” The only thing to dislike about the show was the annoying canned laughter piped in over the live audience. It was completely unnecessary.
Syndication
While the series wrapped up in March of 1975, it would remain in syndication where millions of Americans would learn about this extraordinary show and treasure it. The Odd Couple was a staple on New York’s Channel 11 WPIX, where viewers could see it multiple times per day.
The Odd Couple has stood the test of time and is now part of the pantheon of legendary half-hour sitcoms. In addition, the show would serve as a launching pad for creator Garry Marshall, who would create and produce Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Mork & Mindy, all in succession.
Marshall would also branch out to direct such classic movies as Pretty Woman, Frankie & Johnny, and The Flamingo Kid. He also directed the grossly underrated Nothing in Common with Jackie Gleason and Tom Hanks. Garry Marshall would continue writing and directing films right up until he died in 2016 at the age of eighty-one.
Norman Lear
In 1966, legendary producer/writer Norman Lear noticed the success of a British television show called ‘Til Death Do Us Part. He immediately saw himself and his family in the characters, particularly his father. Throughout the 1950s, Lear had been a comedy sketch writer for Martin & Lewis, and Rowan & Martin, among others.
Norman Lear quickly snatched up the American rights to the show and fashioned it after his own experiences as a kid growing up in New Haven, Connecticut. Lear has publicly said that Archie and Edith Bunker were modeled after his parents.
The original pilot of Justice for All was shot for ABC in 1968. In the pilot, Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton played Archie and Edith Justice. A second pilot was shot in 1969, and after numerous complaints from test audiences, the network grew wary of airing a show with a lead that was a bigot with a foul mouth.
The CBS network, right around the same time, was looking to expand its slate of programming from the “rural” shows that it was airing (Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry R.F.D., etc.), and wanted to go in a more “urban” direction, thereby appealing to a broader audience.
CBS jumped at the opportunity and purchased the rights to Lear’s show – which was in TV limbo. The network did some retooling, kept the original cast in place, and shot yet another pilot. This pilot episode would be the first episode of the newly re-titled All In The Family. The third pilot would air on January 12, 1971. It was just a mid-season “filler” show on CBS’s Fall schedule.
All in the Family
The “Justice” family was renamed the “Bunker” family. While the show started slowly in its first season, it caught on like wildfire during the summer reruns of 1971. Yet again, the rest is television history. To say that All In The Family is legendary is an understatement.
For nine seasons and 205 episodes, it would rank at or near the top of the Nielsen rating chart. From 1971 to 1976, it would rank first in the yearly Nielsen ratings. This was the first show in television history to do so. All In The Family didn’t just break new ground. It set the ground on fire and steamrolled right over it.
All In The Family was an integral part of the continuing counterculture movement. It dealt openly (and often hilariously) with topics that had been television taboo for years. Cancer. Racism. Sexism. Vietnam. Politics. Watergate. Antisemitism. Rape. Infertility, and so on and so on. These were topics that had never been discussed on television before.
Dealing with these types of sensitive issues through comedy was groundbreaking. Further, Norman Lear took a huge gamble by doing this in 1970, when a good portion of the country wasn’t ready for a show like this.
Making History
All In The Family is widely considered to be one of the greatest television shows in history, and rightfully so. Every actor and writer on the show shines. O’Connor and Stapleton’s performances throughout the series are iconic. O’Connor developed the “antihero” character years before it would become a common TV standard.
As vicious as Archie Bunker could be, you ultimately rooted for him to do the right thing. It’s those times when he does (and there are quite a few), where the show truly shines and brings the viewer almost to tears.
All In The Family would conclude its monumental run in April 1979. It won an incredible twenty-two Emmys, including four for O’Connor and five for Stapleton. In addition, the show would spin off several successful shows, such as Maude and The Jeffersons. Unfortunately, Archie Bunker’s Place was not nearly as successful. It only would run until 1983.
If there’s a Mount Rushmore of television, Norman Lear has to be on it. In a career that has spanned over seventy years, Lear has created topical and brilliant shows such as Sanford & Son, Good Times, One Day At A Time, and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, to name a few.
Lear is an Academy Award nominee, a five-time Emmy Award winner, and a two-time Peabody Award recipient. His contribution to the television and film industry is the gold standard that others can only hope to achieve. These shows, actors, writers, and producers should continue to be celebrated and handed down from generation to generation.
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