People, while “The Jeffersons” was the more important of the two Lear shows for African-Americans because it showed a successful black man who was no longer striving but had alreadyĪrrived. In an interview in the documentary, Simmons characterizes “Good Times” as a show about blacks for white The Chicago projects and “The Jeffersons,” about a black man who becomes so prosperous in the dry-cleaning business that he and his wife can afford to live in an apartment in a high-rise He provides a fascinating and eye-opening point of view on two of Lear’s shows - “Good Times,” about an impoverished but striving African-American family living in One celebrity in the film who appears to have no personal relationship with Lear or Lear’s story is Lear shows were in prime-time’s top 10 shows. As the film points out, at one time in the 1970s, 120 million watched his shows every week. Producer” in TV history, then Lear can probably stake a pretty strong claim to it.
This claim is not thoroughly proved in this documentary, but if there is such a title of “most influential They all seem to be acquainted personally with Lear, but the documentary doesn’t really explain their roles here, other than to heap even more praise on Lear.Īt one point, Poehler declares “All in the Family” to be “the best show on television ever!” - testimony that could have come fromĪnyone. Similar testimony that was just as unnecessary comes from Phil Rosenthal, co-creator of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” who calls Lear “the most influential producer Reason other than that it’s a catchy tune.Īlso in this documentary for reasons that are not at all clear are George Clooney, Amy Poehler and Bill These giants of TV’s first 15 years included Martin and Lewis (Dean and Jerry), Martha Raye, George Gobel, Andy Williams and Tennessee Ernie Ford.įord’s famed recording of “Sixteen Tons,” a song about coal miners, becomes a recurring piece of theme music in the documentary, seemingly for no apparent Lear’s enthusiastic participation, this 90-minute film tells his life story - from his boyhood in New Haven, Connecticut through his military service in World War II and then on to hisīetcha didn’t know that Norman held a series of writing jobs for some of TV’s top entertainers before he hit his strideĪs a show-runner in the 1970s. In the journalism business, we call such profiles “puff pieces,” and this documentary on Lear is no exception.
Itįeels right at home on “American Masters,” where the majority of biographical documentaries the series airs are less like actual biographies and more like “celebrations” of First seen in limited theatrical release last summer, “Just Another Version of You” was scooped up for its TV debut by PBS’s “American Masters” series.
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