asner: i ll tell you about the golden age of television. this period in time will be looked upon as the platinum age. lear: our obligation is to entertain, and if we ve left something to think about, so much the better. kunta. kunta kinte. television should not be just entertainment. charges were leveled at the commercial television network. congress has no right interfere with the media. well, excuse me! we have a responsibility to give the audience what it tuned in to see. the years of the 60s, which end in a few hours, have a bad reputation that is not entirely justified. some things got worse, obviously, but tv and other news coverage is better, not worse. we simply developed more demanding standards. when i think of tv, i think of the 70s. what is this world coming to? the american public was hungry for more. what was allowed that hadn t been before? it was the last decade where it was a campfire television, where there was one in the living room. i want to watch an al
and we do not live in the projects in chicago. dy-no-mite! you want to worry your head about nothing, go on and do it. but we got $32 in the shoebox, and i got another $6 right here in my pocket. you worked all night, and all they paid you was $6? there were a lot of folks who were not happy with the show. the black panthers were very upset. lear: when huey newton came to see me, the big complaint was, why can t we see a black man that s doing better than that? the jeffersons started as neighbors of archie bunker. don t call me honky! oh! why you so sensitive all of a sudden? how would you like it if i called you nigger ? [ gasps ] he called me nigger. that s no worse than honky. you re right. nothing s worse than honky except being married to one. norman lear set the stage for other shows in the 70s that just brought gravitas to television. what are you staring at? i was just thinking,