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Vivian Harmon
''Maude'' is an American sitcom television series that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 12, 1972, until April 22, 1978. ''Maude'' stars Bea Arthur as Maude Findlay, an outspoken, middle-aged, politically liberal woman living in suburban Tuckahoe, New York with her fourth husband, household appliance store owner Walter Findlay (Bill Macy). Maude embraces the tenets of women's liberation, always votes for Democratic Party candidates, and advocates for civil rights and racial and gender equality. However, her overbearing and sometimes domineering personality often gets her into trouble when speaking about these issues. The show was the first spin-off of ''All in the Family'', on which Arthur had made two appearances as Maude, Edith Bunker's favorite cousin. Like ''All in the Family'', ''Maude'' was a sitcom with topical storylines created by producers Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin. Unusual for an American sitcom, several episodes (such as "Maude's Night Ou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new characters in each sketch, and stand-up comedy, where a comedian tells jokes and stories to an audience. Sitcoms originated in radio, but today are found mostly on television as one of its dominant narrative forms. A situation comedy television program may be recorded in front of a studio audience, depending on the program's production format. The effect of a live studio audience can be imitated or enhanced by the use of a laugh track. Critics disagree over the utility of the term "sitcom" in classifying shows that have come into existence since the turn of the century. Many contemporary American sitcoms use the single-camera setup and do not feature a laugh track, thus often resembling the dramedy shows of the 1980s and 1990s rather t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Schiller
Robert Achille Schiller (November 8, 1918 – October 10, 2017) was an American screenwriter. He worked extensively with fellow producer/screenwriter Bob Weiskopf on numerous television shows in the United States, including ''I Love Lucy'' (1955–1957) and ''All in the Family'' (1977–1979) on the CBS network. For the latter series, he received an Emmy Award in 1978 as one of the writers of the episode "Cousin Liz." His second wife was American politician, actress and attorney Sabrina Scharf. Life and career Schiller was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Lucille E. (Block) and Roland E. Schiller, a manufacturer. Schiller began writing for television in 1950. He starred on the 1955 CBS sitcom ''Professional Father'' That same year, he wrote for two competing series, NBC's ''The Jimmy Durante Show'' and CBS's ''It's Always Jan.'' During 1954–1955, Schiller was one of the writers for '' That's My Boy'', starring Eddie Mayehoff and Gil Stratton. Schiller's producin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Checking In
''Checking In'' is an American sitcom television series and a spin-off of ''The Jeffersons'' that aired for four episodes on CBS from April 9 to April 30, 1981. Synopsis In the seventh-season finale episode of ''The Jeffersons'', " Florence's New Job", the Jeffersons' maid, Florence Johnston (Marla Gibbs), accepted a job to become the executive housekeeper at the fictional St. Frederick Hotel in New York City. The series follows Florence's misadventures at the hotel with her co-workers: Lyle Block, her stuffy manager; Elena Beltran, her assistant; Earl Bellamy, the inept house detective; Hank Sabatino, the lewd handyman; Betty, the floor supervisor; Dennis, the bellboy; and Mr. Claymore, the hotel owner. Cast * Marla Gibbs as Florence Johnston * Larry Linville as Lyle Block * Ruth Brown as Betty * Patrick Collins as Earl Bellamy * Robert Costanzo as Hank Sabatino * Fezwick DaPoochie as Jack Niblick * Jordan Gibbs as Dennis * Liz Torres as Elena Beltran * John Anderson as Mr. C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Jeffersons
''The Jeffersons'' is an American sitcom television series that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, to July 2, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of List of The Jeffersons episodes, 253 episodes. ''The Jeffersons'' is one of the longest-running sitcoms in history, the second-longest-running series with a primarily African Americans, African American cast by episode count and the first to prominently feature a married interracial marriage, interracial couple. Show The show focuses on George Jefferson, George and Louise Jefferson, a prosperous African-American couple who have been able to move from Queens, New York, Queens to Manhattan owing to the success of George's dry-cleaning chain, Jefferson Cleaners. The show was launched as the second (and longest running) television spin-off, spin-off of ''All in the Family'', on which the Jeffersons had been the neighbors of Archie Bunker, Archie and Edith Bunker. The show was the creation of Norman Lear. ''The Jeffersons'' eve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hanging In
''Hanging In'' is an American sitcom television series that aired for four episodes on CBS on Wednesday nights from August 8, 1979, to August 29, 1979. Summary After his failed attempt to launch the sitcom ''Mr. Dugan'', Norman Lear reworked the project, finally coming up with ''Hanging In'', the story of Lou Harper, a former professional football star who becomes president of fictional Braddock University. Bill Macy (who had played Maude's husband, Walter Findlay, in '' Maude'') resurfaced as the star of the version that finally did air, in August 1979. Most of the supporting cast of ''Mr. Dugan'' and its several different incarnations (including the final three episodes of ''Maude'' and the unsold pilot ''Onward and Upward'', which featured ''Good Times'' star John Amos) also appeared in ''Hanging In''. As ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows: 1946-Present'' by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh dryly put it, "the actors must have known their lines pretty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Good Times
''Good Times'' is an American television sitcom that aired for six seasons on CBS, from February 8, 1974, to August 1, 1979. Created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by executive producer Norman Lear, it was television's first African American two-parent family sitcom. ''Good Times'' is a spin-off of '' Maude,'' which itself is a spin-off of ''All in the Family'', making ''Good Times'' the first television spin-off from another spin-off. In September 2020, it was announced that the series would receive an animated sitcom revival produced with Norman Lear executive producing alongside Seth MacFarlane and Steph Curry for Netflix. Synopsis Florida and James (renamed from Henry) Evans and their three children live at 921 North Gilbert Avenue, apartment 17C, in a public housing project in a poor, black neighborhood in inner-city Chicago. The project is unnamed on the show but is implicitly the infamous Cabrini–Green Homes, shown in the opening and closing credits. Fl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All In The Family
''All in the Family'' is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS for nine seasons, from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. Afterwards, it was continued with the spin-off series '' Archie Bunker's Place'', which picked up where ''All in the Family'' had ended and ran for four more seasons through 1983. Based on the British sitcom ''Till Death Us Do Part'', ''All in the Family'' was produced by Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin. It starred Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Sally Struthers, and Rob Reiner. The show revolves around the life of a working-class man and his family. The show broke ground in its depiction of issues previously considered unsuitable for a US network television comedy, such as racism, antisemitism, infidelity, homosexuality, women's liberation, rape, religion, miscarriages, abortion, breast cancer, the Vietnam War, menopause, and impotence. Through depicting these controversial issues, the series became arguably one of television's most influential comed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainment and a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. History SPT's history goes back to 1947, when Pioneer Telefilms was founded by Ralph Cohn, whose father Jack and uncle Harry co-founded Columbia Pictures. Pioneer was bought by Columbia and renamed Screen Gems in November 1948, reincorporated as Columbia Pictures Television on May 6, 1974, and merged with sister studio TriStar Television (formed in 1986 and relaunched in 1991) to form Columbia TriStar Television on February 21, 1994. On September 16, 2002, Sony Pictures Entertainment renamed the American studio as Sony Pictures Television and its international division as Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI)). In summer 2007, SPT introduced The Minisod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columbia TriStar Television
Columbia TriStar Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CTT) was an American television production and distribution company that was active from 1994 to 2002. It was operated as the third name of the early television studio Screen Gems and the fourth name of Pioneer Telefilms, both part of Sony Pictures Entertainment and the third company to use the Columbia and TriStar names together (the first being Columbia TriStar Home Video, later Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and the second, Columbia TriStar International Television, later rebranded as Sony Pictures Television International). History Beginnings Columbia TriStar Television was launched on February 21, 1994, from the merger of Columbia Pictures Television and TriStar Television, under the leadership of Jon Feltheimer, who was president of TriStar Television from 1991 to 1994 and of New World Television until 1991. After the merger, Columbia Pictures Television Distribution was renamed Columbia TriStar Television Distribution ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CPT) was launched on May 6, 1974, by Columbia Pictures as an American television production and distribution studio. It is the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gems (SG) and the third name of Pioneer Telefilms. For 26 years, the company was active from 1974 until New Year's Day 2001, when it was folded into Columbia TriStar Television (which is currently known as Sony Pictures Television), a merger between Columbia Pictures Television and TriStar Television. A separate entity of CPT continues to exist on paper as an intellectual property holder, and under the moniker CPT Holdings (the initials standing for Columbia Pictures Television) to hold the copyright for the TV show ''The Young and the Restless'', as well as old incarnations from the company's television library such as ''What's Happening!!'' History Screen Gems (1948–1974) Screen Gems was a television production company that was owned b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Embassy Communications
ELP Communications (formerly known as T.A.T. Communications Company, Embassy Television, Embassy Telecommunications, and Embassy Communications) was an American television production company that originally began in 1974. History Beginning ELP Communications was originally formed in 1974 as T.A.T. Communications Company when Norman Lear joined up with former talent agent Jerry Perenchio, a year before Bud Yorkin ended his partnership with Lear. "T.A.T." stood for the Yiddish phrase "Tuchus Affen Tisch", which meant "Putting one's ass on the line." The first sitcom to be produced by T.A.T. Communications was ''The Jeffersons'', which was spun off from the sitcom ''All in the Family'' in 1975. Acquisition of Avco Embassy and rename Television producer Norman Lear and his business partner Jerry Perenchio bought Avco Embassy Pictures Corporation in January 1982 and decided to drop the name "Avco" from the name to bring back the name Embassy Pictures and T.A.T. Communications Co. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Embassy Telecommunications
ELP Communications (formerly known as T.A.T. Communications Company, Embassy Television, Embassy Telecommunications, and Embassy Communications) was an American television production company that originally began in 1974. History Beginning ELP Communications was originally formed in 1974 as T.A.T. Communications Company when Norman Lear joined up with former talent agent Jerry Perenchio, a year before Bud Yorkin ended his partnership with Lear. "T.A.T." stood for the Yiddish phrase "Tuchus Affen Tisch", which meant "Putting one's ass on the line." The first sitcom to be produced by T.A.T. Communications was ''The Jeffersons'', which was spun off from the sitcom ''All in the Family'' in 1975. Acquisition of Avco Embassy and rename Television producer Norman Lear and his business partner Jerry Perenchio bought Avco Embassy Pictures Corporation in January 1982 and decided to drop the name "Avco" from the name to bring back the name Embassy Pictures and T.A.T. Communications Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
