The 70’s steamrolled in a new era of sitcom. The top ten sitcoms of the 70’s were not passive comedies, but social commentaries. Sitcoms of this decade unveiled social injustice, grappled with tough questions, and challenged the status quo. Sitcoms of the 70’s ventured into new areas of drama and social justice which were previously untouched by television drama. Much of the credit goes to producer Norman Lear.
Based on content, viewers, and impact on society and culture during the 70’s and beyond, the following are my top ten picks for television sitcoms of the 70’s.
All in the Family, 1971-1979
All in the Family is considered the most controversial, groundbreaking show of the 70’s. Writer’s for All in the Family barreled full speed into social topics that many average, white middle class families refused to acknowledge.
Once Archie Bunker came on the air, voicing chauvinistic, racist, and ethnocentric opinions and attitudes like these could no longer be ignored. Archie was an ugly character. He represented the status quo and the bigoted ideas and beliefs he held were not uncommon in middle class America in the 70’s. Archie delivered exactly what the producers wanted, an expose of bigotry through a character America loved to hate.
I always felt sorry for Edith. She bore the brunt of Archie’s anger, but she was as flighty as she appeared. There were moments when Edit showed tremendous insight. I almost got the sense that she had Archie’s number, but because she loved him, she continued to put up with him and stand up for him, in her own mixed up way.
M*A*S*H, 1972 – 1983
M*A*S*H was another ground breaking show of the 70’s. Set in South Korea, M*A*S*H* was a commentary on the Vietnam War. Through the casualties and horrors of war Alan Alda and the rest of the cast managed to bring home that fact that war involves humans. Injecting humor, pain, and social commentary, the show was a hit borne of the movie by the same name.
M*A*S*H gave Americans a glimpse into the topsy-turvy life in a MASH unit. Radar’s conversations with other units, visiting brass, and other well written situations led us to believe the drama wasn’t too far off for most military camps in Korea.
Not surprisingly, M*A*S*H has made a comeback within the past two years. Maybe it makes us feel closer to the men and women at war, maybe it humanizes them, maybe it makes us want them home. Regardless of how M*A*S*H* makes you feel, it does make you feel.
I’ve thought how interesting it would be to have a M*A*S*H* type show related to the Gulf War, or the War on Iraq. It would hit too close to home right now. Despite the changes in weaponry, housing, and a few conveniences I believe the characters would closely resemble the cast we came to know and love on M*A*S*H*.
Soap, 1977 – 1981
I have to admit, I never watched soap. It is also one of the few sitcoms of the 70’s that has not aired re-runs at some point. I remember the controversy surrounding Soap. It was a hot new sitcom of the 70’s that allowed risqué jokes and sexual humor. I wasn’t allowed to watch it (I was ten when it came on the air.).
I imagine that among today’s sitcoms and dramas it would get nothing more than a nod from censors.
Because it was ground-breaking television it has been included in the list.
Soap centered around two dysfunctional families and was filled with intrigue, drama, and clandestine affairs. The Tates and Campbells were eccentric, but seem to have won America’s hearts, despite their oddities.
Soap could return as a hit featuring the families of two prominent politicians. Cheating, drama, fraud, and cold, calculating manipulation wouldn’t be a far stretch for a new comedy.
Maude, 1972 – 1978
Maude was another socially controversial sitcom of the 70’s. Maude was introduced on All in the Family as Edith’s northern, liberal, outspoken cousin. Maude and Archie were polar opposites who created electricity when they were in the same room.
When her show began, it was back in Maude’s hometown, a suburb of New York. She was married to her fourth husband. Her divorced daughter Carol, and her son Philip, lived with Maude. Maude’s upper middle class family brought liberal and feminist ideals to the forefront of television. By this time, this was becoming common of Norman Lear productions.
Maude, like Archie, was strong willed and opinionated. Unlike Archie, she was intelligent, quick-witted, and articulate. Maude spoke openly, from a liberal perspective, about race, politics, gender, and class. Perhaps her most controversial moments were when she dared to bring subjects like menopause, abortion, and birth control.
The upper middle class family was also one of the first “real” families on television. Maude’s family faced tough times and tough decisions. Her husband was an alcoholic, and ultimately she would let him leave. That completed the fabric of the feminist woman woven by Maude.
One of Maude’s maids, Florida Evans, would spin off into her own show about life in the ghetto during tough economic times, Good Times, another Norman Lear production.
If Hillary doesn’t become president, and she really feels strongly about her social concerns, I’d recommend she take on a show like Maude and deliver her message in a new medium. Judging from what I’ve heard of her mood swings, I think she could pull off the acting.
Good Times, 1974-1979
Maude’s maid, Florida Evans, took us home to her two bedroom apartment in the ghetto filled with her husband and three children. American’s were given a humorous, yet heartrending look at the life of an African-American trying to survive and always trying to work their way out of the ghetto.
At every turn, the Evans family was challenged by race, education, finances, and family tensions common to families living in the ghetto.
What the Evans had that many ghetto families did not have was a full-time father who worked to support the family. This kept the show on a level which Americans could deal with and not be overwhelmed by the social issues which Norman Lear was throwing at them. Had reality been shown, it would have been a working mother with kids who were largely unsupervised because parents were working so hard to make ends meet.
Norman Lear seemed to know the audiences limitations, and pushed the envelope on social issues in Good Times and other shows.
One of the lasting legacy’s of Good Times is Jay-Jay and his catch phrase, “Dy-no-mite!”
Taxi, 1978 – 1982
I remember watching Taxi, but I never really got it. It wasn’t funny, and it had no real meaning to me as a pre-teen. Living in a small town in Alabama, I couldn’t fathom life in a big city. Taxi became a hodgepodge of ideas which never took shape in my mind, until much later.
Judd Hirsch, Marilou Henner, and Danny Devito are the first three names that come to mind when I think of Taxi. Devito was a snotty, sarcastic dispatcher; a stereotypical role from which Devito has yet to escape. The remainder of the cast consisted of the cab drivers who go about their daily tasks, always dreaming of bigger and better things. Devito bossed and jerked them around from behind his dispatcher’s cage, while the driver’s forged friendships and bonds that constituted a family.
Americans were drawn, not only to Hirsch’s dry Humor, but the constant unpredictable and dynamic interaction of the characters.
Taxi was filmed in a garage on Hudson Street, in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. I’m not sure a sitcom could be filmed on location anymore, at least not with much ease.
It would be interesting to replace Devito with Flava Flav, who spends his time in search of love when he is not bossing the cabbies around. Hirsch and Henner could still make the show, for added dimension throw in the Seinfeld crew. It sounds like a winner to me.
Mary Tyler Moore, 1970-1977
Mary Tyler Moore played from the time I was 3, until I was ten. Despite my young age, I remember Mary Tyler Moore because of her connection with Lou Grant, who would spin off his own show. I’m also reminded of Mary Tyler Moore because the show is considered such an icon classic.
Mary Tyler Moore, in the show that bore her name, The Bob Newhart Show, and Rhoda used her poised her television sitcoms right in the gap between television entertainment to which America was accustomed, and Norman Lear’s more cutting edge social commentary sitcoms.
Mary Tyler Moore didn’t shy away from social issues, but she addressed the issues in the larger context of life and the paradoxes that changes were creating. Mary was a progressive working woman; on the other hand, she wanted for love. Lou Grant is Mary’s boss, but it seems she turns to him as a father figure.
Other characters give meaning to plot and the lives of the characters, but Mary finds herself in the world of work, the envy of many women, surrounded by the same people with whom she would be in contact in daily life. An arrogant, self-centered man and an overly socialized woman help create drama in the news room.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show demonstrates that people are just people and nothing more, whether you are in the boardroom or the bedroom.
Mary Tyler Moore tried to replace the chemistry she had created in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, but was never quite able to do so. It seemed television audiences wanted to see women moving further ahead.
Three’s Company 1977-1984
Three’s Company broke into America’s homes not only as a sitcom, but as a social statement that men and women can be friends. There were always undertones and overtones of sex in the sitcom, but in the end the roommates always did the right thing.
Jack and Janet were joined by three different roommates throughout their stay in their shared apartment. Jack’s over dramatization of the stereotype of a homosexual, in order to convince his landlords to let him live there brought the issue of homosexuality out in the open, even though Jack was only playing a homosexual.
Jack’s double life with the girls juxtaposed a question of whether lying to the landlord or being honest and risking losing their home was the greater of two evils. While on every other count, the roommates made sound moral decisions, letting themselves slide on this one.
Three’s Company blurred the line between absolute right and wrong. In most cases, situational ethics were the same as standard values, but in other cases they were not.
This was a complex situation, though handled very well by writers, to which Americans were introduced for the first time. The storyline was always humorous and social messages were more concealed than in most sitcoms of the 70’s, with the exception of the platonic living arrangements.
I think Will and Grace may have been a rough attempt at the same type of show, but the fact that Will really was gay, took away some of the humor and replaced it with too much drama. Three’s Company was one of the few light and fun shows of the 70’s.
Sanford and Son, 1972-1977
I’ve got clutter and nothing reminds me of that more than the 70’s classic Sanford and Son. Sanford played by Red Foxx and his son Lamont work together in a junkyard trying to make a living. Truthfully, Lamont works while Sanford coordinates. The problem is Sanford coordinates more trouble than he does business.
The sitcom deals with the relationship between an elderly father and his son who needs to venture out into the world, take care of his father, and be nurtured by his father all at the same time.
Both fun and funny, Sanford and Son dealt with issues ranging from personal and social, to political and economic. Everything was fare game, and subject to the attack of Red Foxx’s quick wit.
Sanford and Lamont had chemistry on-screen, and despite what hardships they faced they always ended up facing them together. The proved that mother or father, son or daughter, a family is a family regardless of who composes the members and a family can always stick together.
Chico and the Man was a Latino knock off. It was a similar show which enjoyed some popularity, but never gained the traction of Sanford and Son. No one could replace Sanford’s wit, wisdom, wise-cracks, and weekly heart attack.
Sanford and Son, if recast now, would have to be a reality T.V. show, in which struggling families try to keep their lives together with scant work, and lots of wit.
Happy Days, 1974-1984
Eeeyyyy! Of course we can’t conclude the list of the top ten 70′ sitcoms without including Happy Days. Happy Days was the story of a typical middle class American family with a straight A student in high school, and a flirty teenage daughter right on his heels. For the most part, the stories involved Richie Cunningham, Ron Howard, and his high school friends.
They hung out at a local malt shop, Arnold’s, played in a band, talked life and love, hit on girls, got rejected by girls, and tried to understand the meaning of life.
Happy Days was a show that reflected the simple life and innocence of the 50’s, but with a daring peek into the flip side of the 50’s which were not reflected in 50’s television. The Fonze, a too, cool motorcycle dude and his flock of chicks gave the show a little edge, as did his number one girl Pinkie.
Kids and teens enjoyed the show, and account for most of it popularity. It dealt with the situations they faced every day. Plus, it was light hearted and fun.
It’s interesting that after the powerful social commentaries of the 70’s, sitcoms of the 80’s stepped back into fun and fantasy. It was an attempt to suspend reality and use television not so much a medium for social change, but a tool to escape the mounting pressures of life.
Resources:
Mary Tyler Moore, Transparency
Fry, Catherine. Maude
Sitcoms Online
Taxi, imbd
