Salon.com > Norman Lear http://www.salon.com Tue, 21 May 2013 03:48:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Is “The New Normal’s” Ellen Barkin a female Archie Bunker? http://www.salon.com/2012/10/14/is_the_new_normals_ellen_barkin_playing_archie_bunker/ http://www.salon.com/2012/10/14/is_the_new_normals_ellen_barkin_playing_archie_bunker/#comments Sun, 14 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13038930 On Jan. 12, 1971, Norman Lear premiered “All in the Family,” the sitcom that would launch an empire of shows soaked in the key social issues of the day — integration, feminism and patriotism — and establish Lear as the preeminent and pioneering voice of the modern television era. Anchored in working-class Queens, Archie Bunker reigned as the racist and sexist patriarch spewing anti-Semitic, anti-Polish, anti-woman venom that sadly mirrored the misguided indoctrination of many white male Americans like himself.

And while we’ve enjoyed some great sitcoms over the last 40 years, it’s been a while since one regularly used our funny bones to engage our intellects. We’ve seen Jon Stewart do this rather well, and “Saturday Night Live” still has its moments, but the sitcom, even groundbreaking ones like “Will and Grace” and “Modern Family,” have only pushed so far. Ryan Murphy has gone retro with his freshman sitcom, “The New Normal,” channeling the ghost of great television past to create what may well be the “All in the Family” of our time.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/10/14/is_the_new_normals_ellen_barkin_playing_archie_bunker/feed/ 7