Why ‘All in the Family’ Was a Radical Move for 1960s Television
Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentBefore “All in the Family” debuted, there was a profound gap between real life and what was being depicted on TV series.In his autobiography “Even This I Get to Experience,” Norman Lear wrote, “Until ‘All in the Family’ came along, TV comedy was telling us there was no hunger in America, we had no racial discrimination, there was no unemployment or inflation, no war, no drugs, and the citizenry was happy with whomever happened to be in the White House.”When Lear and Bud Yorkin pitched “All in the Family” to CBS, that network’s executives were looking for something different — but maybe not THAT different.A week before the un-publicized sitcom debuted on Jan.