patrick gomez: in the 60s, you see the sitcom move away from telling stories that are solely focussed on the nuclear, suburban family. jim colucci: divorce had become more prevalent in the 60s, it had become more part of normal american life, but it took a while for it to be reflected in sitcoms. the brady brunch. the brady brunch. that s the way we all became . christopher knight: the brady bunch is the story of two separate families being glued together. lloyd schwartz: a man with three boys, a woman with three girls. the man was going to be a widower. the woman, divorced, but divorce was a taboo topic on television. so they said, let s just leave it so you don t know. [yelling] mike: what s all the yelling about, huh? bobby: she stole our ball. marcia: i m just trying to find out what they did with my school awards. lloyd schwartz: the brady bunch was an evolution from like leave it to beaver, it was shown from the kid s point of view. cindy: will you lend me your skate key?
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?
and you realized norman lear is taking us into a whole new realm of comedy. norman lear: the blowback from the public was buried by the excitement and the applause. bob leszczak: the show was number one for a long time. ethan alter: it changed cbs and their brand as a network. as a result of all in the family, they turned to norman lear to create more shows in that image. archie: there s a person at the door. maude! adrienne barbeau: bea arthur played maude as edith s cousin on all in the family. maude: maudie is here. jim colucci: and she could take on archie head to head. maude: now you can either come to the table and eat, or you can lie there and feed off your own fat. jim colucci: the story goes that by the time that episode had aired, fred silverman, who was in charge of cbs at the time, had called norman lear and said, get that woman her own show.
warren littlefield: alright, then let s put cosby at 8. let s put family ties at 8:30. michael gross: and then family ties went poom in a huge way. michael gross: that great thursday night lineup cosby, family ties, cheers, night court. jacqueline coley: nbc really created this idea of must see tv. you re talking about 20 and 30 and 40 million people tuning in. michael gross: people say you were one of america s most successful fathers. i said no, it was bill cosby. cosby was number one. jaleel white: with respect to what s happened of late. it s like, hugely disappointing to all of us, but he set the standard for what a family sitcom was. jim colucci: the cosby show had proven that the family sitcom was a viable genre again. [audience laughter] lynn: i m mr. belevedere! gerrad hall: by the late 80s family sitcoms were very
there was a formula for what the american family should look like. cybill shepherd: ozzie and harriet. announcer: the adventures of ozzie and harriet. cybill shepherd: i just loved everybody in it, actually. david: hurry up, bring it in. i m starved! candice bergen: it was a happy, gentle american family of the 1950s. ozzie: how much do you need? david: never mind pop, that s okay. ozzie: no don t worry about it, you can pay me back. david: honest pop, i don t want it. ricky: what s the matter with you david, you got rocks in your head? linda lavin: the kids were very polite. everybody was very nice to each other. those were not real people, but they entertained and delighted us. jim: alright kids, dinner is on, we re sitting down. jennifer armstrong: when you get to father knows best, it s very patriarchal, dealing with tiny little problems. jim: ah. a quiet evening at home. i could use it. [slam] billy gray: and i played bud. bud usually had a problem with the truth telling,