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 popular among the big three networks. gerrad hall: there was this incredible resurgence. jesse: this is great, we should be mothers. joey: ah yeah! ethan alter: families tuned into these tv shows to see an aspirational version of what family life could be. urkel: did i do that? jennifer keishin armstrong: shows like silver spoons and growing pains and all that. it s constant hugging and learning, right? [audience clapping] ethan alter: with the family sitcom at the height of its popularity, fox started moving into the television arena. cedric: fox was new, building their network. they were one of the last majors to build a network. patrick gomez: they decided they were going to use the family sitcom to do that and compete against the big three. peggy: al, look at our little girl.
to go as crazy as you want to go. uncle charlie: i think that shirt s done. robbie: oh my gosh my shirt! steven: well, robbie you ll just have to wear your pants higher. 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
john lithgow: it was jaw dropping. it was funny, but it was very challenging, and you realized norn 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
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?
uncle charlie: i think that shirt s done. robbie: oh my gosh my shirt! steven: well, robbie you ll just have to wear your pants higher. 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