ann: we ll make it. i promise. i love you. norman lear: we grow up in families and we all share these experiences in one way or another. ernest lee thomas: one day at a time, all in the family, maude, good times. all these family sitcoms they just owned the top 10. cut! another health insurance commercial, another aqua-aerobics scene. yup. most health insurance companies see us all the same: smiley seniors golfing, hiking. don t forget antiquing. that s why i chose humana. they see me, not a stereotypical senior. i m pre-diabetic, so i talked one-on-one with a humana health educator who really helped me. now i m taking free cooking and meditation classes. not aqua-aerobics? better care begins with listening. humana. a more human way to healthcare.
we don t really have to go to a recital, do we? ethan alter: and they wound up going in a completely opposite direction. sort of the anti- in a way, the anti-family sitcom. al: now bud, apologize to your sister. bud: no. al: okay. anita sarkeesian: married with children is full of trash people that do horrible things and say horrible things. al: quiet you morons! paul reiser: you were always aware they were just wise guys, you know, zinging each other. al: peg, how could you sell the family playboys? jacqueline coley: looking back on it now, i don t know how that show stayed on air. kelly: is this okay, mom? i haven t worn it since grandma s funeral. jim colucci: married with children helped put fox on the map. ethan alter: this idea of a darker family presentation spoke to people who were bored with what the main family sitcoms were offering at the time. al: family before you go, would you bring old daddy s shot gun and stand close together?
herbie j pilato: in 1970, cbs is trying to change their landscape. they had all these rural family sitcoms; they were looking for more sophisticated sitcoms. patrick gomez: after abc declined to move forward with the all in the family pilot, norman lear made the decision to move the show over to cbs. sally struthers: they said yes but you need a new set of kids. so rob reiner and i were the third set of children for archie and edith bunker. norman lear: so, i made the pilot for the third time. same script. i wouldn t change a word. archie: so let s hear it again, huh? what did you mean by what god? michael: we just don t see any evidence of god, that s all. gloria: that s right daddy. archie: that s right daddy? well i knew we had a couple of pinkos in this house. but i didn t know we had atheists!
to show them the right path. ward: we want you to feel that you can come to me or to your mother with any problem and we ll understand. patrick gomez: in the 1950s, sitcoms were really giving us an idealistic version of america. jacqueline coley: but as we get into the 60s, we ll see different types of family sitcoms. steven: i m sure i ll be able to handle a little washing and to cook an occasional meal.
jacqueline coley: we saw black family sitcoms like martin, like the bernie mac show, those sitcoms showed, parenting to be difficult. bernie: uncle bernie, he s too old to play with dolls. can we play something else? [drumming] jacqueline coley: which was not something you saw on a show like the cosby show. rochelle: chris! get in the bathroom and wipe the pee off the toilet seat. disgusting. cedric: fox network had come on and did really well with black sitcoms, and so then the wb and upn uh, at the time were coming on and they start to diversify and grow that audience. aramide tinubu: they are able to snatch up this audience that the other networks were really ignoring up into that point. jacqueline coley: and so these shows kind of set the stage for the diversity in the family sitcom that can be seen on television today. man: welcome huangs, i m rick. nee hau.