Traces the history of the popular television series, describes the main characters and lists plot summaries for all of the episodes

The 1970s: Vietnam, Watergate, inflation, and social unrest. Those were the days! On January 12, 1971, a new television series premiered that would address such topics in a comical and satirical manner. The series would sit at the top of the ratings for the majority of its run, redefining the structure of situation comedy, and would go on to be one of the most influential sitcoms in television history. All in the Family dominated the airwaves in the 1970s and reflected an ever-changing society during one of America’s most challenging decades. David Maska assesses the entire series, season by season, and how it continued to evolve and fit into television’s landscape from its inception in the late 1960s as a pilot that nobody wanted to touch, through its celebrated run as the number one show in America, and finally its demise as Archie Bunker’s Place in the early 1980s. With an annotated episode guide for all 13 total seasons (over 300 episodes!), this is a book you can keep next to you for reference while you watch and enjoy this classic series.

An in-depth telling of the Norman Lear's seven-decade career that Publishers Weekly calls a "lovingly detailed portrait" and "a fitting tribute to a consequential figure in television history.” Beginning in the 1970s, writer and producer Norman Lear forever altered the television landscape with such groundbreaking situation comedies as All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, and One Day at a Time. For over half a century his body of work boldly tackled race, class, sexuality, politics, and religion—topics previously considered too taboo to be the subject of comedy on the small screen. Norman Lear: His Life and Times is the unforgettable story of an extraordinary seven-decade career. Veteran author and entertainment journalist Tripp Whetsell offers an intimate portrait of Lear that is the product of years of research and numerous interviews. Whetsell shows how Lear created the gold standard for television comedies, producing shows that were the first to give underrepresented members of society an authentic prime-time voice, while encouraging audiences to confront their own humanity and shortcomings. In the process, he explores one of television’s most transformative periods, detailing Lear’s legacy as one of its chief architects and catalysts. This affectionate and candid tribute combines show-business history with an illuminating consideration of the inner workings of “the man in the white hat”—a figure who singlehandedly redefined an entire medium by reflecting the world around him.